Chop chop

We are under way westbound in Long Island Sound, just south of Norwalk, Connecticut.  This morning found us anchored in a small cove off the Sound known as "The Gulf", off Gulf Beach in Milford, Connecticut (map).  We tucked in as far north as depths would allow, to get some protection behind Welches Point from the easterlies and the two-foot swell they were pushing.

Yesterday's cruise was pleasant, owing primarily to the fact that the wind and swell were directly behind us.  We were more or less matching the speed of the waves, giving the appearance we were surfing a crest all the way.  We did not get under way until after 3pm, so as not to be pushing against an outgoing tide.  That made for a short day, and we dropped the hook just after 5pm.

We had hoped to perhaps take the tender up the channel to the small downtown in Milford for a nice dinner, or at the very least go half that distance, to the yacht club just inside the breakwater.  But it was cold, bleak, windy, and choppy when we got settled, and we did not relish the thought of splashing the tender and fighting our way ashore in that weather.  At least we had enough protection there to be comfortable overnight, with just a slight, gentle roll.

It really would not be life on a boat without something breaking, and yesterday's victim was the WiFi router.  We have a Ubiquiti Bullet on the flybridge, directly coupled to a high-gain omni antenna, which we use to pull in distant WiFi.  It's been a real boon so far, especially here in the Sound, where we've been able to find usable open WiFi at every anchorage.

At the moment, it all seems to be working with the notable and critical exception of the "site survey" function, which is what tells us what WiFi networks are available, which are open versus locked, and what the signal strength and noise floor is for each.  If I know the SSID of an open and available network, we can get on, but otherwise I can't tell what's out there.  A short-term workaround is to take a laptop up to the flybridge to survey what's available, but, of course, the laptops can't see as many networks as the Bullet could with its high-gain antenna.

Today I'm leaving the unit powered down during the cruise, to see if that helps  (power-cycling alone did not fix it), and if that fails, I will re-flash the firmware and do a master reset.  Otherwise I will be on the phone to Ubiquiti on Monday, but I am guessing the only remedy will be to replace the unit.  Fortunately, they are not very expensive.

This morning we weighed anchor before 7:30, to have a downhill run westbound on the flood.  It's even choppier out here today than it was yesterday, but it is once again behind us.  It's Saturday, though, and at every inlet we encounter a dozen or so small boats, out fishing.  They are bobbing around like corks, and one anchored boat even had waves breaking across it's bow.  Reminds me of the old saw about "the worst day fishing."

We'll have the current behind us most of the way to today's destination, behind the breakwater at Stamford harbor.  We'll have the hook set by 11:30 or so, giving us all afternoon to relax aboard.  If things are calm (and warm) enough in the harbor, we might even get the tender down and make it ashore for dinner.  We've been in Connecticut for three nights and have yet to set foot on land, and tomorrow we'll be back in New York.