STILL IN LONG ISLAND

So we’re taking a short break from cruising place to place every day and are settled in Port Washington on Long Island for the week. This has given us the chance to see our daughter and our Son-In-Law for a few days as well as get caught up on some boat maintenance.

Sunday, June 7

One of the reasons I removed the built-in table on the flybridge was to make room for a comfortable deck chair.

Pilot chair

There is a nice, comfortable pilot chair, but whoever is not at the helm either sits on the cushions or on a separate, portable chair/cushion which is several years old and a bit worn out by now.

Deck Chair

So, today, we bought a nice deck chair which we will be able to keep on the bridge for the “co-pilot.”

On the way back from picking up the chair, we stopped by a street fair going on in Port Washington. Part of the fair was a “milk carton sailboat” race on a nearby pond.

Mil-carton sailboat races

The boats got dumped into the pond at one end with the finish line at the other end. Since there was no wind today, they “assisted” with a fan from shore directed at the sailboats. I’m not sure there ever was a winner of the race.

After a provisioning stop at the grocery store and getting things put away on the boat, we drove over to Brooklyn to watch a cabaret performance put on by Brooklyn Community Choir members. Mariko is heavily involved with the choir, was a musical director for this performance and performed, as well. It was an entertaining afternoon. Later, we hopped on the subway over to the East Village with Mariko to watch an improv performance by her husband, Sean.

The last entertainment of the day was back in Brooklyn, watching the 2nd game of the NBA finals on TV. Since it was being played on the West Coast, it finished late here in NYC and we didn’t get back to the boat until after midnight.

Monday, June 8

After sleeping in a bit, Elaine took off to spend the day with Mariko while I started in on the boat maintenance. The main project was changing the oil and filters in both engines, now that we have run them almost 200 hours since we left Florida. Being at a protected marina makes this job a bit easier, but it is still a chore. A few other projects kept me busy the rest of the day. Elaine will spend tonight with Mariko in Brooklyn and they’ll be back at the boat tomorrow. 

It’s about time to think about where we are headed next. We’ll be leaving this marina on Wednesday, tentatively planning on getting to the Hudson River via a shortcut on the Harlem River.  To do this, we do have to transit the East River’s Hell Gate one more time, so checking the tide and current tables will be a must…