When we heard people talk about Long Island Sound, there were comments about The Race at the eastern end, but otherwise not much said about tidal currents. Therefore we were a bit surprised to experience the current most of the time for the past three days.
Knowing that The Race had strong currents, we planned to hit it at the appropriate time. Not knowing all about the area, we didn't choose to go through in the channel but rather a slightly shorter route south of the Race itself. This could have been a mistake in bad weather. The water depth where we traveled went from 130 feet to 270 feet in a very short distance. This created a tidal rip with steep, choppy waves crossing our path – this is otherwise calm weather. In windy weather this rip would have been really nasty. We were lucky but won't make the same mistake again.
Then, however, the tidal current helped carry us the remainder of our day to Truman Beach. Then on the next day as we traveled to Port Jefferson, we had a good push for the entire trip, saving us some time as we tried to get anchored before a front hit. Today we traveled again – this time to Port Washington, and again the tide pushed us most of the day. We were glad to have the luck that the tide was running our way, since we didn't know it was an issue and didn't plan for it.
Traveling Long Island Sound is truly a different experience from our NE travel. The coast looks different, offering no evergreens but lots of bluffs and cliffs overlooking the water. Our stop at Truman Beach was interesting, since it was a beach of pebbles rather than sand. Much of it was quartz and had the look of jelly beans. They almost looked good enough to eat.
Port Jefferson was a great stop, given the cold front that came through. We worked to get there early before the front hit and were successful, thanks in part to the tidal current. We had good protection from the strong north winds and also got to enjoy some time at a secluded beach with lots of shells for Sandra to collect.
Today we're on a mooring at Port Washington in Manhasset Bay, thanks to some guidance from other cruisers we met up in Maine. Dan and Kathy, who sail and live on Majiks, are traveling south ahead of us and have shared from their experience as we both travel. We plan to spend the day here tomorrow before sailing down the East River by Manhatten. We're looking forward to seeing the UN from the water as well as perhaps the 9-11 memorial before we pass by Liberty. What a great adventure we are on this year. New spectacular sights and meeting people along the way.
Captain Bob
Carpe Diem
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