10/09/2010

 NEXT MORNING, 0700hrs

We had to get going.

Breakfast was on our boat, which we had packed for. I hadn't packed for dinners because I thought we'd appreciate the time off our boat after a full day and I didn't want to have to take the time to prepare a meal and clean up and I really didn't know how well the stove, convection oven would work. Breakfast and lunch were taken care of.

Back out into the sound and the weather wasn't bad, which was a nice change. There were still some 1-2 foot rollers but our boat just moved right along. We had only covered 10-15 miles the previous day so we really had to get some water under the keel. Yes, being a semi-displacement boat she (that's our boat, not Jane, she always has an even keel) has a modified keel.

We had checked our fuel before we left Old Saybrook. The site glass on each tank, they are each 250 gal for a total of 500 gals, was about an inch, maybe 2 down from what was presumed as the top. Today's inspection showed that the fuel had dropped but not to a point of being any concern.

Down the Sound we went.

The Light on Little Duck Island

Our Boat only goes about 10-12 kts but Harvey's newly charged laptop was showing about 8 mph over ground. If you aren't in a hurry, which will be most of our cruising time, then the leisurely pace of a trawler is comforting. You get to go faster than a sailboat, you don't need to always be watching the sails and if it gets cold or rainy you go inside to steer. But if we could go 8 kts, that would be about 10 mph and we could do 100 miles in 10 hours which would be a great day.

About 2 hours out, Harvey's laptop reached the end of it time again and we still didn't have a solution. This is where Chadd showed his metal, again. He offered that we could disconnect the VHF radio and use that power. I didn't think it prudent to do that even though I had a portable VHF radio I had acquired from my new 'best' friend at West marine, but the Loran wasn't usable so we disconnected that and hooked the cigarette lighter receptacle, alligator clips to the wires and viola, we were operational with a circuit breaker switch to boot.



Harvey & Chadd at the lower helm.

Not mentioned previously, Chadd had also saved the previous day with his Blackberry finding the way into the river to the tie up. It didn't give depth, I'm sure there is an app for that, but it was good enough to get us into the river and the depth finder helped with the rest.

As we passed by Kings Point, on our way into NY, I think Chadd had a touch of nostalgia about his Alma Mater. It was nice to see it from that vantage point, I'm sure he had seen it that way many times but being a Kings Point (KP) lover from the day I walked onto the campus, it was nice to see it from that angle as well.

















We started going down through the city, NY that is, down the East River, past the UN, under the Brooklyn Bridge and out into the Hudson River.

This is boating for some who need to be watched all the time, but I guess if you need to be in prison, there are worse places



Let's go out for a row on the river



A different angle for the UN



At that point we'd made about 75 miles and still had a little way to go. If I remember correctly it was about 1630 hrs and we still had daylight.

Harvey had thought we could stay at the Liberty Harbor Marina opposite the Liberty State Park Complex in NJ but a call to them resulted in a full house with a group that came in so it was now a scramble to find another spot. At this point we'd done about 90 miles and needed a place for our boat and ourselves for the night.

Again, Chadd with his Blackberry (I got to get one of those, I just don't need the extra expenses on top of my 5 lines and all the rest I'm paying for now) found another marina just a little further up the Hudson, in Jersey City, which we got to with little trouble and tied up a little before dark. I can't remember the name of the marina and a check on Google doesn't come up with it but the restaurant where we ate, in the marina, is listed and it was Michael Anthony's restaurant. This is located in Harsimus Cove, Jersey City, New Jersey.

A little straightening up and up the dock to dinner.

Another restful night on our boat.



I grabbed this picture the next morning when I got up to take care of my personal duties. We used the shore side facilities when we could since we weren't sure of the sanitation facilities on board. We just couldn't find the switch to turn on the toilet and the electric-Scan, but more on that later.