We departed from Oyster Bay, NY at approximately 1040 hours. We planned our destination for the day to be New York City… anchoring behind the Statue of Liberty in a small anchorage area adjacent to Liberty State Park.

We departed late on purpose so that we would have favorable currents through the East River and Hell Gate. It switched from flood to ebb tide at approximately 1430 hours at Hell Gate… leaving after 1000 hours would put us at Hell Gate at approximately 30 minutes after the tide switched to ebb.

We arrived to Hell Gate at 1506 hours and we were already getting a 1.5 knot boost in speed and soon we were going 9 knots down the East River. It’s really nice when you get a boost of speed like this and I was not even running at cruising rpm… we should have been going about 6 knots at the rpm I was running and we were doing 9 knots… very nice!

Being Saturday the boaters were out and playing… saw too many boats to even begin to recount them now. One thing was nice was that we noticed a lot of boats that were doing as we are… heading south to warmer weather. I imagine the further south we see even more cruisers headed south.

Wind and waves were not an issue today… we did see winds up to 30 knots but they were not creating any waves to speak of… 1-2 seas all day… well almost all day. When we got to New York Harbor and the Hudson River the waves did pick up but not from the wind…. From the boat and ship traffic… it always seems to the case in this location.

We pulled past the Statue of Liberty and into our anchorage area and who did we run into but one of our winter neighbors from Punta Gorda. Dick who was our neighbor almost directly behind us at Fishermen’s Village… can’t remember his last name… but there he was aboard his 34’ Marine Trader. We swung along side and exchanged some hellos and small talk… sure was nice to run into him. He is headed back to Punta Gorda again this year. So I am sure our paths will cross again as we travel south.

We anchored at approximately 1630 hours at N40°41.763’, W074°03.875’. There is a boat ramp just west of us that has a floating dock. Makes it real handy to go ashore and walk Beecha.

We traveled today for 5 hours and 50 minutes covering 36.65 nautical miles averaging 6.28 knots.

Waited out a weather front today... Did not move... Will head out Saturday.

Arriving early at Guildford Yacht Club yesterday allowed us to complete a few tasks on the boat as well as SAILS got a nice hose down to wash the salt off from the first two days of cruising. We spent a wonderful evening with Don and Beryl Gillette… fantastic dinner and a lot of catching up…. Had been a year since we had last visited them… it was very nice. Thanks Don and Beryl for an awesome evening!

When we arrived to Guildford yesterday we came in at about an hour after low tide and the channel was very shallow so we opted to depart today about 2 hours after low tide to give a little more leeway in the channel. We departed at 0920 hours and the depth sounder worked the entire way out of the channel… hate when it says 5.0 and starts flashing… meaning it is less than 5 feet deep… we draw 4 foot 8 inches so it’s a little nerve racking when this happens.

Forecast for the say was for SE winds 5-10 knots with seas less than 1 foot… it was fairly accurate today and we had a very pleasant cruise. We also had a great boost to our speed from the flood current today… 8 knots for quite a while. Saw a lot more boats moving about today than we have the last 3 days combined. A few commercial ships moving in and out of New Haven, CT… saw Ferries coming and going from CT to NY at Port Jefferson and dozens of people out fishing in all size boats. It was a great day… sunny and much warmer than it has been.

Forecast for tonight and Friday is for higher winds and rain as a front moves across the area… so we decided to pull in to Oyster Bay, NY to wait as the front passes over. We have anchored here in the past a few times and it is well sheltered from wind in all directions… it will be a good place to stay for tonight and Friday.

We anchored at approximately 1640 hours at N40°52.850’, W073°32.314’. We are just off of a boat ramp that makes a great spot to go ashore and walk Beecha. It is adjacent to a public park and beach.

We traveled today for 7 hours and 20 minutes covering 49.24 nautical miles averaging 6.72 knots.