Sheepshead Bay, NY

After a blissfully calm night at our quiet anchorage in Barnegat Light, we woke up early on Saturday, June17 and took Archie for a walk through that tidy seaside town. There is a big dog park nearby but it is locked and only open to residents who always let us in. This time, as Jonny discovered last night, no one was using it. Instead, we walked across the narrow barrier island to the beach, but dogs aren’t allowed there at this time of year.

Returning to Zendo, we pulled up the anchor at 8:35 and took off for our long cruise up the Jersey shore to Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club in Brooklyn.  It was a beautiful day with relatively calm seas and the weather was welcome after our stormy day yesterday. As we approached New York City the sky became quite hazy and the smell of smoke from the Canadian forest fires was in the air.  All was calm until we were just outside of Sheepshead Bay.  All of a sudden, the skies clouded up and it poured rain.  Jonny slowed us down so we could linger outside the entrance to the bay until the storm passed.  And fortunately it was short lived and we were able to safely enter the yacht club and get our assigned mooring.

Once we were tied up, we took the launch into shore to take Archie for a walk. This is not an attractive part of town but we knew of a waterfront park a half mile away and we headed there.  Next to the park is a beach where we were able to let Archie off his leash for a walk.

There were less than half a dozen people on the beach.  Not surprising because it was strewn with tons of seaweed filled with what looked like deteriorating plastic bags. It was quite an astonishing site to see.  When we returned to the marina we asked one of the members why and and he explained that it was the result of storm drains in the surrounding area discharging garbage that ended up on the bay’s beaches. It’s another convincing reason for us to drastically reduce our use of plastic.

Jonny prepared our dinner of meatloaf, potatoes and broccoli and we had a quiet evening onboard catching up on the news and other entertainment. Tomorrow we continue our journey heading up the Hudson River.  Next stop, Nyack, NY.