FINALLY HEADED OUT
Bye, bye birdies...
September 18-Well, for a day that started out pretty slowly, it soon became pretty eventful. Having asked for an extra half hour's sleep, Bill exhumed himself from bed and we emptied the rain out of the dinghy and loaded it on the swim platform. Anyone who tells you that a 13 foot aluminum boat doesn't weigh that much is probably my husband.
South Bay was calm and the winds were pretty light. We enjoyed the Fire Island sights as we headed to the Inlet and out to sea.
The Fire Island Light
Interesting version of a fishing charter boat - can take 30-40 people, and they serve lunch! We saw many on our way through the inlet - but no one seemed to be catching any fish.
Our doorway to the sea - the Robert Moses Causeway.
To say we weren't prepared for our entry into the ocean would be the understatement of the year - all we could see were breakers ahead - all across the horizon. Given the depth on the charts, I thought for sure we were heading for a grounding. Silly me! Those weren't breakers, they were rollers! As we headed down the trough of one and up into the foam, we crashed down the other side, getting soaked all the way up to the flybridge! Lost at least one plate on that one, and later discovered everything we had forgotten to secure! (Just when you think you've got it aced - hah!)
(THIS IS WHERE I'M GOING TO PUT THE VIDEO IF I CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT - NO VIDEO WIDGET - YOU GET A FIRSTHAND LOOK AT CRASHING THROUGH THE WAVES.)
MAN... UH, DOG OVERBOARD
Thank God Bill happened to be looking in the right direction or we would have lost Bucky for sure. Despite the relatively mild sea, he must have been trying to get up on the gunwhale only to be knocked off by a wave. With the dinghy tied on the back, we had a dilemma - how to get the dog back on board. I threw him a life ring (honest to God, he put a paw in it) and we hastily untied and dumped the dinghy into the water. Each of us hauling a leg, we managed to get him up on the swim platform. Bill was so worked up he almost single handedly hauled the damn dinghy into the aft area - gel coat be damned!
From that point on, the dogs were locked in the cabin, as they kept wanting to jump ship. Time went pretty slowly after that. Saw lots of big ships moored out, waiting their turn to head into New York to unload.
You can almost make out the City skyscrapers in the background.
Charming and tranquil, Glimmer Glass.
After a very long stretch of watching the rollers crash on the beaches of New Jersey, our GPS indicated that we were only 2 miles from out destination - we were damned if we could see it, There was a long jetty made of unusual rip rap, but it was supposed to have a twin that was not visible. Ah wait - there's a boat going in there - I turned the helm over to Skipper Bill, cause he can see better that I do. At the very end of the jetty, some nitwit was snorkling in the rip tide! I couldn't believe it - had his little scuba flag up and everything. Huge surge coming into the river off the sea - wow! Almost a mile upriver, Crab Creek takes a left and brings you into a lovely area called Glimmer Glass. We were to wait for the draw bridge and proceed to an even more protected pond. Home for the night. Dropped anchor, cajoled dogs into dinghy for potty time onshore, and had a nice steak dinner when we got back. Hell, yeah!
Coming through! (Holdin' up traffic and loving it!)