Lloyd Harbor

Monday August 6, 2012
40 54.821 N
73 26.398 W

Did I mention previously that "some parts" of New Jersey remind me of Eastern Europe in the 60's? This morning we wanted to get away early but in practice could not leave until 9AM because we had to "return the key or lose our deposit" and the office did not open till 9AM. These guys do not seem to realize that "time and tide waitith for no man!"

So we were out the gate soon after 9AM and crossing in front of Battery Park moments after. We had made a big effort to understand the tides and the current, and figured we had about 3 hours to make it thru to the LI Sound with a favorable "flood" current. (For my non-nautical readers, let me explain. The ebbing and flooding of the tide causes currents. The bigger the body of water behind the tide, the bigger the volume of water that has to move. The smaller the channel, the faster that volume of water has to move. Well, Long Island Sound is BIG, and the Atlantic Ocean is BIG, and all the western Long Island Sound tide flows thru the east River. I have seen tidal rapids in the East River that are 6' or 8' high.)

Heading up the East River

As soon as we made the turn we started to speed up. We normally travel about 7.5kts. Shortly after entering the river we were doing over 10.0 kts and that sped up to13.5 kts in places.  It would have been fun if I had not been so nervous. Also, when all this water hits things that do not move - like bridge abutments - it reacts rather violently and it can be hard to control the boat.

I wanted Deidre to take photos, but I also wanted her to continuously walk me thru the navigation, like: "We are coming up the the first buoy for Roosevelt Island. It is rocks behind it. You need to start moving over to the west to make it past" etc etc. Adding a bit of extra stress were all the river cops! They were everywhere in their fancy boats. We had to pass the United Nations building, and also the end of the LaGardia Airport runway - both heavily policed.

Well behaved barge

First, we passed under a procession of bridges. (Manhatten has a resident population of about 1.8 million, and a work day population of about 6.0 million. The difference cone to work over these bridges and tunnels.) First the Brooklyn Bridge, then the Manhatten, then the Williamsburg and then the Queensboro. We had also been warned that "some people" liked to drop things like concrete blocks on passing boats, and had been advised to change course several times as we went under. Ha, the boat was doing that all by itself! Then, between the Manhattan and the Williamsburg a barge "suddenly appeared". In theory we should all pass "port to port" but he had to turn to do so, so I had to wait, and that kept our attention for a long 5 minutes. But he did, and all was well.

Under one of the bridges we hit something. There was a big THUD and a bit of a shake. We were well clear of the abutments and could not see anything in the water as we passed. Deidre thinks it must have been a body. Maybe we will see it on CSI in a few months.

Looking back at the QB and the cable car

Right before the Queensboro Bridge is the United Nations building, and right after the bridge is the cable car and the Rosevelt Island apartments where we lived back in 1976. The Island looks totally built-out now, but it looks well cared for and with plenty of gardens and trees. Probably still a great place to live.

Passing the end of the Island put us into "Hell's Gate". The current here was the most awkward, with several places where the current was welling upwards, as if a giant water main had burst under the river. No probs, we were almost done.

Once thru Hell's gate the river started to settle down and all was "smooth sailing" although still at a handy clip. Once we passed under the Triborough Bridge we were officially in the Sound and the current dissipated.

Sunset, Lloyd Harbor

Hearing of our schedule a "friend of a friend" offered us use of their mooring in Lloyd Harbor. This destination would make our day about 45 miles and be a nice change from Jersey City. We plugged the co-ordinates into the GPS and by 2:30 PM we were secure. The anchorage was just outside Huntington Bay, a popular boating spot, so we launched the dink and took a ride into town for dinner. We were back in time for a great sunset.

But internet access was bad!