Hello virtual crew members and fellow adventurers!
Eric here with the latest travels of Still Waters II.
Summary of week:
The crew left Liberty Landing on Monday and headed to Port Washington on the Long Island Sound. Thursday the crew went further down the New York side of the Long Island Sound. On Friday, the crew crossed the Sound and entered the Connecticut River to anchor for the night. Saturday the crew made a short jump to New London where they will stay for the weekend.
Click on the link to read the day-to-day travel log.
Still Waters II VIMEO site
At the Box Office, this week is a video of Still Waters II leaving Manhattan and cruising to Port Jefferson.
Manhattan from Still Waters II on Vimeo.Click on the link to the Still Waters II Vimeo site for other videos.
Sunday, Aug 6, 2017
The Admiral wanted to attend church service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The skipper spent some time and figured out that they could take a subway within two blocks of the church. To get to the subway, the crew took the ferry back over to Manhattan. They then walked past the 911 Memorial to catch the subway over to Brooklyn. After arriving in Brooklyn, they walked two blocks and got in line at 1030 for the 1100 service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. At 1045, the line started moving and the crew entered the building.
The worship started on time and the church and choir sang for most of the first hour. Wonderful worship experience. Jim Cymbala spoke for 30 minutes or so and the congregation left about 1230 so the third service of the morning could start at 1300.
It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.
Monday, Aug 7, 2017
The crew left Liberty Landing in an overcast, cloudy, dismal grey morning. The forecast was for rain for much of the day and night. The crew crossed the Hudson River and entered the East River just south of the Battery at Lower Manhattan. The crew got a 4-knot push by the current as they transited the East River.
As they continued towards the Long Island Sound, the homes began to get larger until they pulled into Manhasset Bay. Then the homes became large colossal Mansions.
Turns out the second largest home in America is located on Long Island, the Oheka Castle. The skipper will try to figure out how to visit this home on the way back from Maine. The largest mansion in the US you ask? The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
As the crew approached Port Washington they located the town mooring field and found the yellow mooring balls. The yellow mooring balls are free for the first two nights.
The crew will swing on the mooring ball for the next few days and cruise further down the Sound on Thursday.
Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017
The rain continued through the night and into the morning hours, but finally dried up after lunch. The crew decided to call the Water Taxi to get a ride to shore.
The mooring fields in these parts usually have a Launch (or Water Taxi) to ferry people back and forth from their boats to shore. A nice amenity when you consider the size of some of the mooring fields.
After arriving at the Town Dock. the crew set off to scout out the local train station for a trip in the morning. After finding the train station, about a mile from the Town Dock, the crew headed to the Public Library to attend to a little business, print some documents, and charge devices.
While using the printer at the Library the skipper had an interesting conversation with the Librarians. He had a 72-page document that he needed printed. The charge should have been $7.20. After he put the first two dollars in the machine, the machine decided it would not accept anymore money. The skipper decided to print the first 20 pages and then try to print the rest of the document.
To the skipper’s surprise, the whole document printed. When he glanced over at the pay machine it was still showing $2 available. He pressed the button to return the cash and the machine only would give a message that he needed to print one page before any money would be returned.
The skipper went over to the book checkout station and informed two ladies working the counter that he thought the machine was broken and that he owed them $5.20. They both gave him a quizzical look and in unison both said “you just need to run for it.””
He asked them if they wanted the $5.20.
They responded “no.”
Not the response he was expecting, so he did as advised and ran upstairs to the second floor and began to edit his document.
Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017
The Texas Rangers were in town to play the Mets. The crew took the Water Taxi back to the Town Dock, they then walked the 15 minutes to the Train Station and bought tickets to the stadium.
When the skipper first asked for two round trip tickets to the Mets drop off point, the clerk asked “Why do you want to go there?”
The skipper responded with, “You a Yankees fan?”
The clerk smiled and said “Yes”
The skipper announced that they were from Texas and were going to go watch the Rangers play.
The clerk said, “oh that will be acceptable, I will sell you the tickets.” The skipper got a big kick out of the exchange.
It was about a 30-minute ride on the train to the ballpark. The crew had a near miss while trying to get off the train though. When the train stopped, the side door of the car the crew was on did not open. The skipper noticed that there was no platform to step off onto. Someone yelled out to go ahead into the next car and exit. When the skipper got to the next car, he could not get the door open to enter the car. He finally got the door open and they rushed to exit the train as the doors were closing.
After arriving, the crew walked around the Flushing Meadows Park for a while. This is home to the US Open Tennis and the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Unisphere was the centerpiece of the 1964 World’s Fair, and is the world’s largest globe. The sphere is 120 feet in diameter and weighs 700,000 pounds. The water fountains were placed to make the globe appear that it is floating in air.
As game time approached the crew made their way to the ballpark to enjoy the game. The game was enjoyable because the Texas Rangers won, but it was a strange game. In the first inning, with runners on first and third, the Met’s pitcher balked and caused the Rangers to take the lead. All nine batters in the Rangers lineup saw the plate in the first inning.
In the top half of the second inning, the Met’s pitcher continued to struggle. By the end of the second inning he had already thrown 72 pitches. The skipper mentioned at that pace the pitcher was not going to last long. He did not. He was replaced in the top half of the fourth inning when the Mets took the field. He had thrown 87 pitches in just three innings.
Then later in the game, the Rangers had the bases loaded and the Mets pitcher decided to walk the batter. It is not often that you see two runs scored without the ball even put in play.
The Mets only score was strange also. Initially, the second base umpire called the hit just a hit and the batter had a stand up double off the outfield fence. The Mets fans were booing pretty loudly. The home plate umpire called a conference. While the umpires were discussing the situation, the scoreboard operator showed the ball striking an orange M&M on the outfield fence above the orange paint. Anything over the orange line is a home run. He continued to show the ball hitting the fence several more times, and it was clearly a homerun. The second base umpire finally raised his hand over his head and made a circle motion indicating a home run. The Met on second completed his jog around the base paths to the fans delight.
The left field wall with the orange paint signaling a home run even if the ball does not clear the fence is only one of several strange things about this field. I guess the designers are trying to keep some of the quirks of both the old Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium alive and well.
After the game, the crew reversed course and returned to the marina. The crew went to the local Stop-n-Shop grocery store for a few provisions. After the purchase, the water taxi picked them up at a dock across the street from the store and returned the crew to Still Waters II.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
The crew left Port Washington and headed down the New York side of Long Island Sound to Port Jefferson. The weather was great and the cruise was full of beautiful scenery.
Execution Rocks Lighthouse was in the Sound as the crew left Manhasset Bay.
A sailboat along the route
Lighthouse onshore
Entrance to Port Jefferson.
The crew anchored out for a calm night in the harbor before moving on the next morning.
Friday, August 11, 2017
The day got off to a slow start as the crew had trouble pulling the anchor out of the mud. When the anchor chain had been pulled back onboard, the chain was taught down to the anchor, but would not break free. After 30 minutes of attempting to use the boat to break the anchor free the skipper resorted to additional means. He fastened a line to the anchor chain and tied the other end off to a boat cleat. This prevented the chain from playing back out when the boat put tension on the chain. With this aide the anchor let loose and came up with a huge mud ball.
From Port Jefferson they charted a course across the Sound towards the Connecticut River. They passed the Faulkner Island Lighthouse. The water was amazingly calm with the exception of large boat wakes by sport fishing boats.
When they approached the Connecticut River they looked for the Katherine Hepburn home. The home was destroyed back in 1938 by a hurricane. The home was rebuilt and reopened in 1939. Kate lived here till her death in 2003. It is currently on the market at the bargain price of 11 Million, recently reduced from 14 Million.
After travelling four miles up the Connecticut River, the crew dropped the anchor in a scenic side creek.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Just before weighing the anchor, the skipper got an e-mail from the marina in Mystic that the crew planned to stay in for the weekend, that the marina was now full and could not accept Still Waters II. The skipper started looking for another marina and could not find anything in Mystic. He then started looking in the New London area. He finally found a marina in the Thames River. With a slip secured, the crew weighed anchor for the 24-mile run to New London.
As they were leaving the anchorage, the RR Bridge began to close.
The bridge has a sign that displayed a twenty minute wait for the bridge to re-open. In that wait, two trains passed over the closed bridge.
Once the RR Bridge opened they made their way to the Connecticut River entrance and headed back into the Long Island Sound.
The waves in the Sound were 1-2 feet, but were frequently overcome with 3-5 foot wakes from the many ferry boats and sport fishing boats.
The crew entered the channel leading into the Thames River and saw three lighthouses.
The crew was glad to have a spot to spend the weekend. The skipper will have to spend some time figuring out their next moves on their way to Maine.
Boat Name of the Week
Next Week –
The crew will head towards Boston. They would like to make stops in: Mystic, Connecticut, Newport, Rhode Island, and Plymouth, Massachusetts before arriving in Boston. However, they may just motor to Boston and rent a car to go visit these ports. Time will tell.
Loop On –
The water goes on forever and the adventure never ends.
Then it was time to cross over and go under the historic Brooklyn Bridge. It took 14 years to span the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. When the 1,595 foot bridge opened in 1883, she became the first steel-wire suspension bridge and the longest suspension bridge in the world.
Voyaging America's Great Loop Aboard Still Waters II 