North Fork diversion

We are underway westbound in Long Island Sound, bound for the familiar stop of Port Jefferson harbor. We caught a break today on the tide cycle, and we are flying along at eight knots, with the plotter estimating an arrival well before 3pm.

Post-storm sunset over Sag Harbor.

It was an uphill climb after I posted here last Thursday, with heavy tide against us all the way to Fishers Island. We had the hook down around 1:30 in a brand new spot for us, just outside the mooring field in West Harbor (map). That was protected enough for the conditions, and an easy tender ride to the dinghy dock at the Fishers Island Yacht Club.

After settling in and resting up from the cruise, I tendered ashore to walk part of the island. There are no hotels on Fishers, nor any AirBnB type rentals, and so apart from the occasional visitor arriving via the yacht club, there is no one on this island who is not a local. Everyone waved and was friendly, but I definitely had the sense that I was "from away" as they would say down east.

"Downtown" Fishers Island.

I stopped in to the small but surprisingly well-stocked market, where I found plenty of fresh items, a good selection of beer and wine, and the usual dry goods. Good to know if we ever got pinned down here by weather. I walked through the diminutive town and looped past the lone dinner restaurant on the entire island before heading back home.

I was impressed by the fresh produce at the little market on the island.

I never even disembarked the tender back at Vector, instead simply picking Louise up and tendering right back to the yacht club for the half-mile walk to The Pequot Inn. Name notwithstanding, there are no longer rooms for rent here, but the restaurant is something of a gathering spot for the whole island. The food was good and they had a nice selection of drafts.

The nice patio at The Pequot Inn.

We had a very nice stop at Fishers Island and are grateful to the yacht club for the use of their dinghy dock. While I certainly could have walked some more of the island, one night was plenty and in the morning we weighed anchor right at 9am to have mostly slack conditions as we crossed The Race.

While we were basically crossing The Race at right angles, the nuclear attack submarine USS Virginia was coming into the sound from sea, traveling around eight knots on the surface. They were broadcasting a 500-yard security zone and the plotter said we would cross in front of them. Our CPA was close enough that I had to call them to make arrangements, and with just about a mile between us neither of us had to deviate. I snapped a photo as she passed astern of us, but the view from a mile was better through the binoculars. I was surprised she did not pick up her Coast Guard escort until closer to the Thames and New London.

USS Virginia, SSN-774, passes astern of us by about a mile.

As predicted, making slack at The Race meant we climbed uphill the rest of the day. The other slack would have been favorable, but was not until 3pm and would put us in after dinner time. After passing the Gull Islands we made our way into Gardiners Bay and then around Cedar Point and into Sag Harbor, where we dropped the hook in a familiar spot near the gap in the breakwall (map).

That was our second-choice spot; our first choice was occupied by a Nordhavn 60 that was eerily familiar. That's because we had cruised with it for several months when it belonged to our friends Stephanie and Martin and was named Blossom. The new owners have renamed it, but it was still unmistakable. After settling in, we tendered ashore for a casual dinner at Sag Pizza.

Two charge controllers mounted to a backboard. Breakers will mount at left later.

Saturday the wind blew 20-30 all day. Not uncomfortable on Vector, but enough to make a casual tender ride ashore unappealing, even more so in an unseasonably chilly fall. I spent the day aboard working on the solar panel project, drilling holes into inaccessible voids in the millwork and running pull strings to get the wiring for the panels down from the flybridge and into the battery compartment. When I am done I will write the entire project up in a separate post.

I drilled this hole through a cabinet to get into a wall. Always nerve-wracking cutting holes in the boat.

At dinner time we decided to brave the winds and bash our way ashore. We have a blanket we put over our laps to mitigate the spray. With possible rain in the forecast, we just went to the closest joint, The Corner Bar. The rain held off until after we were home, and we had a much calmer tender ride as well.

Part of the Sag Harbor marina behind a low bridge. You need to get your feet wet to get your boat from this section.

Sunday it rained all day, and I once again spent most of it on the solar project. This time, now armed with better information on cable lengths, I put together my bill of materials and started placing orders. Much of it was sourced on Amazon and headed to the locker in Port Jeff. By dinner time the rain subsided to just a drizzle and we headed ashore to LT Burger for dinner. The menu is basically just smashburgers and, honestly, it's not worth a return visit.

Monday was finally a nice day, and I treated myself to a big walk around the neighborhood. I first stopped at the hardware store, where I passed on spending more for eight fasteners than I will pay for 50 from McMaster-Carr, and then into the small but nice library. I've been on something of a public library kick lately, finally stopping in to historic libraries in towns we've been visiting for a decade.

The best I could do to capture the ceiling and fireplace in the John Jermain Library.

At dinner time we met up with local friends Dave and Cora for dinner at Sen. We missed them last season, and it was great spending a couple of hours catching up. When we returned home we decked the tender and made ready for an early start Tuesday morning for Port Jefferson, a nine-hour trip with an early morning favorable tide.

I have no cell signal in Sag so I used the library's WiFi, and also this charger.

That was the plan, anyway, and we weighed anchor just before 7am for the tide. Wind was forecast at 5-10 with waves two feet on the Sound. As soon as we nosed out into Gardinders Bay, however, it was clear the forecast was wrong. It was blowing 25-30, and waves were already over two feet just on the bay. We would have been clobbered if we continued through Plum Gut.

We waved off altogether and instead continued north and around the corner to Greenport, where we dropped the hook across the channel in Dering Harbor (map). The mooring field has expanded and we found ourselves in slightly deeper and less-protected water, but we were in a bit of a lee and it was comfortable enough.

This store full of little rubber ducks of every persuasion is always a highlight of Greenport.

The channel itself wasn't too bad, and I tendered ashore to get in a walk. I was surprised to find the dinghy float missing and a sign on the fixed portion of the dock saying No Docking. I ended up circling around the ferry dock and tying up at Mitchell Park Marina, where the $1/foot day rate cost me $10 for the dinghy. The dockhand confirmed what I already suspected, which is that no one would notice or care if we tied up to the fixed portion of the town dock. The float was destroyed in the last storm, and I would guess the town is trying to minimize their liability.

Really?

I strolled town a bit to see what was new, picked up a few needed provisions at the IGA grocery, and filled my growler with Black Duck Porter at Greenport Harbor Brewing. The town was quiet and the marina nearly empty — the whole place clears out after Labor Day. My $10 covered to the end of the day, and we tendered back to the dock at dinner time and walked to old standby Andy's. Not many changes in town since our last visit.

Yesterday conditions were still unfavorable for departure and we spent another day in the harbor. It was gray and rainy all morning and I spent most of it lining up a pair of 600w solar panels, which we will have to drive down to Pennsauken, NJ to pick up. After lunch we tendered ashore to Shelter Island for a walk.

The historic jail is right next door to the Greenpart Harbor Brewing company, to the left. To the right is the Stidd helm chair factory.

We had figured to need to bash our way over to Greenport again for dinner, since my web search in the Dering Harbor for a restaurant had come up empty. But on our walk we passed a nice-looking Italian place, Isola (clearly they did not pay the vig to Google), and I called and made a reservation. We also passed an inn, Chequit, with a nice-looking restaurant, and a drug store with an honest old-fashioned soda fountain.

Soda fountain in the drug store. Frozen in time.

In the evening we returned to Isola for dinner, which was very good, and we also walked out to the ferry landing and back. I filled the tender at the local Mobil station, and we looped through the harbor on our way home, finding a better spot to anchor next time. We again decked the tender for an early start this morning.

We'll be in Port Jeff at least two nights, maybe more, while I collect all the materials I ordered on Amazon, and wait for the shipyard to be ready for us. Our next stop from here will be Derecktor Shipyard in Mamaroneck for paint touch-up and to install the solar panels. I expect to be there at least two weeks, and I will try to update the blog at least once while we are there.