Big day tomorrow!

Start spreadin' the word... Tomorrow its New York, New York.

We're bobbing at a mooring in Manhasset Bay, ready to dive into the East River. The timing of our passage vis a vis the current is critical. The fastest part of the East River is Hell's Gate, where the Haarlem River comes in, and has a 3-4 knot current, eastwards on the flood tide, westwards on the ebb. We'll be going west.

The current will be in my favor (ebbing) between about 5 am and 11 am tomorrow. So we need to get an early start, which is why we are here in Manhasset, within sight of the Throgs Neck Bridge, the eastern end of the East River.

We had an enjoyable 2 days in Northport Harbor, anchored 1/4 mile from the house I grew up in. Walking the old neighborhood was a time trip. The hills seemed smaller, plus the whole neighborhood has gone quite upscale. It was sort of a bummer that I couldn't legally land the dinghy anywhere near the old neighborhood as its all private property with private docks. The neighborhood assn. has its own dock and there I met resident Ed Thompson, who gave us permission to tie to that dock for our exploration. Thanks, Ed.

This morning we left the old neighborhood at sunrise, since we needed the high tide to get out of the head of Northport Harbor. After 1/2 hour we dropped anchor at Asharoken Beach for two beach runs and breakfast, then headed west in LI Sound. It was a 4-hour cruise, into stiff wind, to Manhasset. En route we had our first views of the Manhatten skyline.

At first light tomorrow (after a quick beach visit for Riggs), we head out, to pass under the Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Triborough, Manhatten, Brooklyn, and Verrazano bridges, and end up at Sandy Hook, NJ. I'll take a bunch of pictures.