The night was cool and calm. Bright sun greeted us and stayed all through the day with only some lingering clouds early in the day. Light E wind to start then breezy SW in the afternoon made for relatively easy ride. Temperatures started in high 30s and made it to low 60s.
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Click here to view map of our trip
The winds were calm last night and the sky was clear - this time of year that means a cold night. It made it into the thirties and the boat was cool when I got up at 0415 to prepare for an early start of a long day. The diesel heater and generator with the electric heaters soon made it warm enough to coax the Admiral out of bed.
I am pleased to note that our efforts paid off and we checked off three states today - NY, CT and RI. That is tough to do in a boat. I can't think of anywhere else that that might be possible. It feels wonderful to be back in familiar territory. We are pushing to get to NH on Thursday as the weather window looks like it will work and the Admiral can be home for Mother's Day. So wish us luck and fair seas.
To make our long run of 111 miles and nearly 11 hours, we had to leave early. As you can see the Admiral is up and at 'em before the sun is even up - she is a keeper.
And here are shots of moving back down the estuary.
And reaching the entrance, or I guess in this case exit. But I never have hear an inlet entrance referred to as an exit.
And as you saw, Mattituck is home to a number of commercial fisherman. Believe the boats seen below are out lobstering. There are some traps around but pretty scarce - so I am not sure how productive the efforts are as compared to Maine.
The air is clear and crisp - and there is just one band of clouds that needs to move to the east to give the sun full dominance.
The passing of the cloud line makes for some beautiful light and sights.
One of the major reasons to start so early is the tide at the eastern end of Long Island does the same thing that it does in the East River at NYC. It runs like a freight train down hill. And at the very end of the east tip of LI the pathway narrows and the current runs the hardest. The light you see is at the very end of LI and the area is called The Race - for the reason the tide races in and out through here - at up to 5 knots. I surely didn't want to fight the current and made it just right to catch the end of the ebb tide to get through The Race.
And once past The Race the next land mark was Block Island. You may recall we stopped here last year on the way to NYC. As we are looking to beat feet we passed by and set our sights on Hadley Harbor at the approach to the Cape Cod Canal. It is in the distance so it is tough to see, but glad we aren't passing by a place we would have liked to see.
The light breeze of the morning quickly gave way to southerly tail winds that built to 15 knots with gusts to 20. The seas rose up to a robust chop that I was glad I was using as a sleigh ride. Even with the waves behind, it is a chore to steer the boat. I slowed down to let the waves pass more under us instead of running down one and into the next that makes the boat want to turn hard to one side or the other. By matching the boat speed to the waves the autopilot was able to continue the fine job of keeping us headed in the right direction.
And around 1430 we are turning into the Woods Hole Channel and on our way to Hadley Harbor.
Straight ahead is Woods Hole.
We turned right into the approach for Hadley Harbor.
The islands are all private and they have been rusticated for many years. You can tell it is struggling to become spring here since there are no leaves on the trees. But that makes it nice to see the beautiful homes that line the harbor - they are very New England.
There are moorings to use in the harbor, set out by owners of the properties. And it is possible to land on the small Bull Island. Apparently this arrangement is in exchange of conservation tax breaks - works for me!!
We are now on a mooring and the photos below are from our spot on the earth for the night.
And remember that bag of Italian goodies we dragged from Lombardi's yesterday? Well, they are the source of a wonderful repast this evening - yum again.
It has been a long and productive day. Time to relax a short while and catch up on some sleep.
So, I will say .........
Good Night and May God Bless
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