Port Jefferson

Saturday August 11, 2012
40 57.019 S
73 04 236 W

Friday night Deidre and I were just too dysfunctional to decide where to go in the morning. There were storms in the forecast for Saturday and we were concerned about spending another night in the Block island anchorage. I just wanted OUT. So we went to bed with no firm decision for the next day, just that we were leaving.

We did agree that we needed a pump-out, so first thing in the AM we radioed the pump-out-man. Long Island Sound is a "No Discharge Zone" so even if you have a sanitation system (we do) you still cannot pump the net product over the side ("But officer, it is cleaner when we pump it out than when we pump it it!" No matter, its a $1,000 fine.) The pump-out service at Block Island is free. The operator works for tips and we gave him $5.00 - worth every penny!

We were still contemplating our destination next morning as we left so I had to make a decision and I made the most conservative one available.

We were expecting bad weather, so I would prefer to be under way. I wanted a secure place for the night with an easy entrance in all weather. So I decided to head all the way to Port Jefferson. It was 60 plus miles away. It would be a long day.

Sure enough, there was a big summer storm soon turned up on the radar, approaching from the south west. We watched it as it slowly moved north-east towards us. It had plenty of "red spots" in it but was sorta "long and narrow". We were heading south west, just keeping out of its reach as it moved north-east. There was plenty of wind, the sea was slate gray, and the wind was blowing the tops off the waves, but no rain and no big gusts. We abandoned the flying bridge and went below.

The Pilot House feels very secure. It has great 270 degrees of visibility. It is in the center of the boat so the boats motion is minimized. We have the radar on one screen and the chart plotter on the other, and steer using the auto pilot. But most important, it is closer to the galley!

Tide Hiker was handling the weather well, although we were only making 7 knots into the wind. Deidre started "not feeling well" and went below to get the ginger and have a snooze. We continued our "end run" around the head of the storm. By 1 PM we had made it into the lee of Long Island and the swells disappeared, but there was a 3' - 4' confused chop and we were still getting spray on the windshield. Deidre discovered we had left the porthole in the forward head open, and the whole room was wet.

Admiral spotting the buoy

We called the Jefferson Harbor Master and ordered a buoy for two nights with an ETA of 7.00 PM. We arrived right at slack so the entrance and picking up the buoy was easy. The storm passed us to the east, Deidre made a great salmon and bacon salad that we ate on the aft deck. We found a movie on the TV, but were just to tired and hit the sack early, and slept like logs. The storm missed us to the east.





Sunday August 12

I woke up with a sore throat. The price of the buoy included the water taxi, so we went ashore for breakfast and a paper. We met a couple from Manhasset on the taxi, and decided to breakfast together. It gets lonely on the boat, and a bit of company is fun. We mailed some letters and now we are back on the boat for a quiet afternoon.