Enetai - Champlain-Hudson-Southern New England Coast, 2015
Part 3: July 20 to July 22, New York City to Stonington Connecticut, 113 nautical miles
Monday July 20 New York City to Norwalk Islands, 44nm
We timed our morning departure to be at the Battery an hour and a half before low tide, to proceed northeast in the East River with the current.
The distance from the Battery in NYC to Throgs Neck at Long Island Sound
(LIS) is nearly 14 nautical miles. The Harlem River comes into the East River
at Hell Gate ('Hellegat' a
common name for waterways and towns in Holland) about half way. This
confluence with the Harlem River ebbing or flooding to the Hudson, and the East
River (which is really a strait) ebbing or flooding between NY Harbor and LIS
can get quite turbulent.
.
Slack water at Hell Gate reportedly occurs about 1-¾ hr. after
low tide at the Battery.
There was an unbelievable amount of traffic on Monday morning - multiple
ferries - yellow, white, blue, many tugs, motor boats, and even float planes!
Yes, while we were motoring along we heard a buzzing over our shoulders, looked up and in came a float plane
.
And on and on they came. Not only that, besides all kinds of water transportation, on the land we could see cars, trucks, taxis, and buses, subway stops, and to cap it all off, an aerial commuter tramway going across the river from Roosevelt Island!
We passed some cormorants nesting off the United Nations, never saw such Dr.
Seuss-style nests!
Hell Gate was, on the other hand, uneventful - but we were glad to have the current with us.
We sailed past Astoria Park and Rikers, where still there is a large prison barge across the water from the prison with prisoners out on the fenced deck. Last time we were through here, they were housing prisoners in an old ferry with bars welded over the windows. La Guardia Airport adds the final touch with planes streaming overhead on approach.
After passing Flushing Bay, all of a sudden we were in Long Island Sound - wide, calm, steel gray under smoggy skies, and without a breath of wind. It was so hot, we stopped the motor thinking we must be going the exact speed as a breeze behind us, but there was no wind, not even from motoring at 5 knots. The air was just too thick to stir. We only saw jumping fish for entertainment.
The Norwalk Islands, after which our boat design, the Norwalk Islands Sharpie, is named, are in Long Island Sound. The designer of the boat, Bruce Kirby, lives in Rowayton, CT, where Fivemile River goes inland from the Sound. After dithering a little, we decided to take a detour up the river to see if Bruce Kirby was there and might want to see 'Enetai'. This channel had boats moored in linear trains, bow to stern, lining the channel, effectively preventing shore approach. This is the first time we'd seen mooring like this.
As it turned out, the Kirbys were at home and delighted to meet 'Enetai'.
Bruce and I spent some time looking over 'Enetai' while Gina went with Margo to get ice (still hot). 'Enetai' was later featured in the real estate ad for the Kirby's lovely home!
The Kirbys recommended an anchorage for the night at Chimon Island where we had a wonderful swim and were treated to a beautiful sunset.
(Chimon and Sheffield Islands are the two largest of approximately 25 islands that comprise the Norwalk Islands).
Tuesday July 21 Chinon Island to The Thimble Islands, 36nm
As we headed out of the Norwalk Islands, we saw oyster boats dredging for oysters on the shallow bottom. These must be the same banks that New Haven Sharpies tonged before mechanization came to the fishing industry. I could just picture my old "Chapelle" sharpie that I built in the '70s anchored over these banks.
Tuesday we had a lunch date in Branford, CT. We motored into the harbor,
where we had anchored last in 1987, and found another channel with boats lined
along both sides, as well as marinas further up the Stony Creek channel, where
we stopped to ask about docking. The marina where we stopped said they don't
take transients. We turned around and decided to anchor in the limited harbor,
Lindsey Cove, off the town park.
We had a delightful lunch with Michèle and John at Nellie Green's. There was a
deck but we sat inside in the air conditioning. The waiter was grateful.
Our destination for the night was the Thimble islands, a rocky group with
buildings on nearly every rock - no matter how small the rock it seemed it was built on!
The anchorage was tight and we ended up with little choice but to drop the hook a little close to some moored boats. There was an evening thunderstorm but little wind.
Well, the wind came up about 2AM and Bo had to let out more scope on the anchor rode, sitting out in the cockpit for a while watching our dingy swish back and forth under the bow of a brand new J-something to leeward. Back below after an hour of this. Set the GPS anchor alarm (lots of beeping as I set the alarm, Gina noted) and crawl back into the bunk. In the morning the anchor alarm went off as we got underway and we had trouble turning it off.
Wednesday July 22, Thimble Islands to Stonington, 33nm
We went out "the back way" from the Thimble Islands. Weather still very hot. Proceeding along the coast, we passed Old Saybrook and its line up of mansions along the coast. (Gina had read that Kate Hepburn's house was near the Saybrook entrance, and she was trying to spot it).
Our destination was Stonington, where Bo's cousin Alice, and her husband Stuart, have settled into the home they beautifully renovated.
We had a brisk evening sail in the Sound off Stonington.
We left the boat on a mooring and slept indoors for the first time in a couple of weeks.