Newport, Point Judith, Port Washington

9 September, 2015

I eased out of the slip a little before daylight, to take advantage of the early morning's lighter winds.  This time going out, I went through the main channel at the high spot in the bridge, and headed around Bull Point, where it was light enough to see the shoreline clearly.  Then it was pretty much a straight shot for Point Judith, where I ducked into the opening on the eastern side of the breakwater, and up the river to Point Judith marina to take on fuel. 

The Point Judith marina is large, has good floating docks, and the cheapest fuel around the area.  ($2.10/gal plus RI tax.)  No one was around when I docked, and they didn't answer the radio, but, by the time I'd tied up, and grabbed the phone to call, someone was there.  After taking on fuel, and topping off the gas tank for the dinghy, the dogs and I walked around a bit to stretch before the long day.

I was watching a weather window open and close for the NJ coast, where at the least, this boat must go offshore between Sandy Hook and Manasquan Inlet, and again between Atlantic City and Cape May.  I planned to make a long day to Port Washington.

I went out the western opening in the breakwater, and headed for Watch Hill Point.  I was surprised how much sandy beach was along the coast.  It was nice to be able to see the coast, as when we'd passed through Watch Hill Point last, it had been very foggy.

I would have liked to make a direct pass through the Race, to run up Long Island Sound, but, would have been hitting it about the time of the 4.3 kt max current for the day hitting us on the nose.  Instead, I ran close in by Fisher Island, enjoying the break from the southwest sea, and then changing course for Port Washington, NY, about a WSW angle.

It was afternoon before the current changed in my direction, which while welcome, also made for a shorter chop.  I angled a little more to the SW as the winds picked up, putting us in the lee of the high hills of Long Island.  We paralleled the coast, staying within a mile to a mile and half off.

By the time darkness fell, the seas were knocked down, there were very few traps, and the current was giving us a great push.  I was glad to be able to pull into a calm, familiar harbor at Port Washington.  As I idled in, I saw a couple of empty transient moorings to the right of the channel.  The first one I went to had no painter, but the second one I eased up to did.  

It was warm and still when I hit the rack, which was shortly after taking the mooring.  I scrambled out of bed as torrential rain began, to close the hatches.  I don't think from the time I woke up until the time I'd closed 20 skylights, and portholes, and doors, and was back asleep was more than a couple of minutes.  I was tired!    128.5 nm today.

Port Washington to near Newport, NY

Sunday, 12 July 2015

I can't say enough what a great area this is for transiting boaters!  (See the previous post on easily accessible places here.)  But, with new places to go, and explore, we continued on..

We cruised easterly up Long Island Sound, cutting to the south in Oyster Bay Inlet.  There was another Nordic tug our size, only red and white, going into the inlet just far enough in front of us that we couldn't read their name.  Instead of turning into Oyster Bay, we continued all the way through to the town of Cold Springs.  There was a great Sandy Beach there, and the area was pretty.  There was plenty of room to anchor near a mooring field there.  It was early enough in the day that we didn't stop, but continued back out the inlet, and up the Sound.

Some of the homes here are like castles!  All of them are pretty spectacular.

We have a couple of different apps that let us keep up with some of our friends, and we saw Tugnacious on the iPhone, and set our boat on an intercept course.  We hadn't seen Bill and Diane in a couple of months, and it was good to see them again.  We talked over the rail for a few minutes before we each continued to different places.

We turned into the Huntington Bay Inlet, and into Newport Bay, anchoring tucked up behind the long sandy beach, an evident favorite of locals.  40 55.302'N  073 24.017W

We launched the dinghy and went ashore, letting the dogs walk the beach, and swim.  The beach is sand, and rock, and shell, depending upon where you are.  It is definitely a place for shoes!  There were places that shells were two feet high on the beach!

By dark, the dozens of boats cleared, leaving us to our solitude anchorage.  The wakes also stopped at night, making this a nice place.  We watched as the eight foot tide buried much of the beach, and raised our perspective enough to see over to the inlet we'd come in.

Havershaw to Port Washington, NY

Friday, July 10, 2015

Navigating around here involves a careful study of the current charts.  I determined when we needed to leave to be at Hell Gate at the right time.  This involved riding the ebb current down the Hudson, and down the Harlem River, and riding the flood current out the East River into Long Island Sound.

We were making 11 kts down the Hudson, turning 1400 rpms for awhile (fast for us!)  The extra speed caused us to reach the Spuyten Duyvil Railway Bridge a little earlier than anticipated, which was good, since our "open on demand" bridge tender told us to wait 20 minutes, at which time a train passed through.  By the time he opened 35 minutes later, there were 5 vessels waiting to get through, including a police boat, who I suspect called someone to get the bridge tender moving.  We still had the current with us, changing as we got to Hell Gate (love it when a plan comes together) putting us flying out the East River at 10kts.

Hell Gate is named, I think for the little dancing waves and whirlpools formed by the tidal current charging 4.5kts thru water that if full of holes and rocks.  (There was only half that current when we came through.)

Today we passed Sing Sing Prison in the Hudson, as well as Rikers Island, which is HUGE! 

The town of North Hempstead/Port Washington has done it right to bring boaters to their community.  They have a great mooring field in a protected bay.  The moorings are good, and they are FREE for two days.  There is a town dock, with a free pump out, and two different dinghy docks.  The northern town down is right across from a grocery store, and about 1/4 mi walk from a Rite-Aid, and a West Marine.  There are dog walk bags and trash cans by the north dock.  There are shops, and places to eat.  The closer dock has a park area, where a band was playing under the clamshell this evening.

You can catch the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station every 30 minutes on the week-ends, didn't check the week-day.  

So glad we came to Port Washington!