Northport, NY

We left City Island on Saturday, July 31 at 11:20 for the short 3.5 hour cruise to Northport, NY.  There were lots of sailboats on the Sound clearly relishing the breezes and the beautiful weekend weather.

Our efforts to secure a mooring in Northport for two nights were proving difficult. We were able to reserve one night at a mooring field close into town.  Finally, we booked two nights at a mooring at the Northport Yacht Club but when we arrived and contacted them to tie up, they directed us to a mooring ball that was adjacent to the area where we could anchor for free! So we said no thanks and dropped anchor in a perfectly fine location.  We were across from some of the amazing homes that line the waterfront here.

As soon as we got settled we took Archie on the dinghy into the town dock which is located adjacent to a big beautiful village green overlooking the water.  This area turned out to be a perfect place to practice some of the skills we’re trying to teach Archie.

Northport is a historic maritime village on Long Island’s north shore and is part of the town of Huntington. It was originally called Great Cow Harbour and was settled by 17th century English colonists.  It is very pretty with lovely Victorian era homes. Some of the streets are partially cobblestoned and Main St. has the remnants of an old trolley rail down the middle of it.  The village is extremely welcoming to boaters and dogs and we met many people enjoying the park and outdoor restaurants.

After strolling through the village center, we stopped at a tiny local brew pub called Sand City for a beer and chatted with a nice young couple who had sailed over from Fairfield (Lynn’s hometown) and who were expecting a baby the following week!  That evening we ate dinner on board and experienced a very calm and comfortable night at anchor.

The next morning Jonny inflated the paddle board for the first time this trip and took off for a paddle. He returned after a short time to see if Archie wanted to try it. Our little dog was game and took to the paddle board like a champ! We were so proud of him and captured the excitement on video!

By the time they returned to Zendo it was time for breakfast so we took the dinghy into town to have breakfast at Copenhagen Bakery which had great reviews.  This was a  very casual place with lots of outdoor seating. We put our orders in and found a table where a local band called Memory Lane was playing oldies from our era.  They were quite good and we enjoyed both the music and delicious omelets that were particularly chock-full of our designated ingredients!

In the afternoon we moved Zendo closer in to the harbor and took a mooring ball at Seymour’s Marina.  It was a great location, much closer to the village and we could take advantage of the launch to bring us in.

Later in the day we took the launch in and walked around town again and had a beer at another pub and met more friendly people and their dogs.

That evening we had an easy crab cake and zucchini dinner on board Zendo and finished watching A Bronx Tale on Netflix. After hearing of our adventures in Bronx’s Little Italy, our friend Henry, who is from the Bronx, recommended that we watch it. We thoroughly enjoyed this movie that  Robert DeNiro directed and starred in, especially after we had just been to the area that it was all about.

All in all we very much enjoyed our stay in this affluent but unpretentious and welcoming village.  We are excited about our next stop which will be across the Sound in Milford, CT where we will see Lynn’s sister Lisa who we haven’t seen since before Covid!

City Island, NY

On Thursday, July 29 we left our Coney Island anchorage at 10 a.m. and took advantage of the favorable currents as we headed to New York City. We went under the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and cruised up the East River.  We passed all of the wonderful landmarks and vistas that are NYC.

We sailed through Hell Gate at one of our fastest speeds ever passing sailing vessels that were headed against the fierce current. We can’t imagine that they made any headway at all!

By 12:45 we arrived at the Harlem Yacht Club in City Island, one of our favorite places to visit.  From the name of the club, one would think it is in Harlem but it definitely is not. The club was established in 1883 on the banks of the Harlem River and is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States. In 1894 it moved to  City Island. The clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1915 and replaced by the current structure.

There are no docks here, only mooring balls.  We took one of the two beautiful launches to the yacht club and walked into town to find a park for Archie to play in. City Island is only 1.5 miles long and a half mile wide.  It’s very much like being in a small town. No building appears to be more than three stories tall and it feels like one big neighborhood.  On the weekend it can get quite busy because it’s known for its seafood restaurants but midweek was as quiet as can be.  

We met a man and his doodle who brought us to a big empty ball field where the dogs could play off leash to their hearts’ content. We met this same man twice more during our visit. He was with the NYPD and was so warm and engaging. He took us to see his boat that he kept at another yacht club on the island.  People here are so friendly and welcoming - we always enjoy our stay.  

On Friday, after taking the launch and Archie in for his daily constitutional, we left him in his crate and took the bus to Arthur Avenue in the Belmont section of the Bronx. We had read that as little Italy in Manhattan has shrunk over the years, Little Italy in Belmont has thrived. So we had to check it out! By the time we arrived we were very hungry and we found a fabulous place for lunch at Zero Otto Nove (089 is the area code of Salerno, Italy).   There we had an amazingly delicious lunch - a peppery arugula salad, spicy short rib appetizer, and a luscious mafaldine (new to us) pasta  with broccoli rabe and almonds. We ate almost every bite before remembering to take a photo!

Afterwards we strolled up and down the streets following all the recommended shopping spots from the research we had done. At the Calabria Pork Store, where the ceiling was lined with hanging sausages, we bought sausage and salami. At Madonia Bread and Bakery we bought luscious olive bread with whole olives embedded throughout.  We also bought cheeses, olives and a package of our new favorite malfaldine pasta. And at Borgatti’s Ravioli and Egg Noodles we bought two boxes of ravioli and a package of cavatelli.  Mr. Borgatti was captivated by the fact that we had traveled so far on our boat and insisted that we meet his wife who makes all the ravioli.

Later on we stopped at an outdoor cafe to have an espresso and cannoli and we noted that the street was named Mario Borgatti Way. As luck would have it Mr. (Chris) Borgatti, who we had just meet at his ravioli store, was walking by. We called out to him and of course he remembered just having talked with us. He told us that his father had started the business in 1935 and died at 97 in 2014.  A petition was drawn up and passed to name a section of the street in his honor.  What a great way to end our visit to Bronx’s Little Italy! 

We boarded the bus back to City Island and took the launch back and forth to give Archie yet another walk. Even though we thought we were full from our day in Little Italy, Jonny prepared lamb chops on the grill and corn on the cob for us to have for dinner and we managed  to eat it all!

On Saturday morning we took Archie for one last launch ride and walk in the park as we decided whether we would stay in City Island another day,  go into Manhattan or to Northport on Long Island’s north coast. After much discussion Northport won out because we had tried to go there last year but our dinghy engine cord broke on the ride in and we never made it.  So onward we go, leaving our charming little City Island until next time!

Coney Island, NY

Before we left our anchorage at Barnegat Light on Wednesday, July 28 we took Archie on the dinghy for a walk in town. We hoped we could get into the dog park again but it didn’t open until 8 a.m. So we just walked around the area to give him a little exercise before we left to resume our cruise.  We hoisted the anchor by 8:45 and began our long day’s travel bound for an anchorage in Coney Island.  As you can see, Archie just sleeps all day which is a good thing!

The cruise was pleasant and uneventful. It was sunny and mild and the seas were not bad at all. In fact, as the day wore on, the seas became calmer.  We proceeded up the New Jersey coast until we got to Brooklyn and Coney Island.

We briefly discussed changing our destination to a mooring at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club which is supposed to be very nice.  But we decided to save it for next time.  We entered Gravesend Bay, the inner bay of the Coney Island anchorage and dropped the hook by 5:15 next to a beautiful wooden gaff-rigged sail boat.

Off to the other side of us was an array of sunken docks and a sunken sailboat all poking out of the water like a collection of dark skeletons.

We had anchored here last year and had a scary time maneuvering through a very skinny stretch into the inner bay at night (because the outer bay had been too bouncy).  This time we were able to see much better and knew to hug the right side of the entry to avoid the very shallow beach side.

After  settling in, we took the dinghy into the nearby “marina”, a very funky setup that was located behind a gas station on a main drag in a not very attractive part of Brooklyn.  Once again we asked about any nearby parks.  There weren’t any within a short walk even after checking the internet so we gave Archie a city walk through the nearby neighborhoods and headed back. We cruised around the bay on the dinghy to see if there were other places we could tie up to for a walk in the morning but nothing was apparent and certainly not inviting.  

We had the leftover shrimp scampi for dinner and settled in for the evening at our quiet, calm and rather industrial looking anchorage.

Barnegat Light, NJ

We left Cape May at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27 to take advantage of the calm seas off the coast of New Jersey. It was a long day, almost 10 hours, as we cruised 2-3 miles offshore.

Cruising past Atlantic City, we recalled the many times we had anchored there. But on this day we had a chance to double our distance, and so we did.

Archie did very well today. It might be because we got him to take his CBD earlier than the day before!

We had a wonderful surprise passing schools of light brown rays all heading south. There must have been literally thousands of them swimming past our boat! We looked them up and they are called Cownose rays. It went on for miles and it was very cool!

We saw lots of dolphins as well, but they didn’t come as close to us as the rays did.

As we entered the Barnegat Bay Inlet, we passed its imposing lighthouse.

There were two places to anchor and we chose the one that mentioned a dinghy dock in the review on Active Captain. We were very close to a large fleet of fishing boats. 

We dropped the anchor and loaded Archie into the dinghy. After a couple of attempts we finally found the place to tie up and took him for a walk.  The town of Barnegat Light is very neat and clean and has many lovely well-kept homes. 

It was very fortunate that we just happened upon a large dog park with two dogs playing inside.  We went to go in but the park required a fob as it was only open to residents.  We were able to persuade the two women inside to let us in as we were just passing through.  Needless to say, Archie was in heaven and we were very happy for him to have a chance to run free and play and wrestle with other dogs, all of which he loves to do.

Upon returning to Zendo, we did our usual wine and cheese routine watching the PBS News Hour and telephoning family.  Jonny prepared a delicious dinner on the grill - drumfish, purchased at the fish market the day before, and asparagus.

We had a relaxing evening afterwards after some intensive trip planning discussions.  Tomorrow we head to Coney Island.

Cape May, NJ

After Zendo was towed from Philadelphia back to Delaware City, Charlie, the local mechanic came onboard to troubleshoot the fuel injector pump issue.  We were relatively happy to discover that the problem was that it hadn’t been properly installed. The instruction manual stated clearly that the drive shaft  on the pump should be tightened (torqued) not once, not twice, but three times.  The guys had neglected to tighten it the third time and the pump was loosened during our travels in Philly and it failed to function properly. After several hours of work, the issue was resolved. 

During the lulls in working on the project we managed to fit in a little more local sightseeing visiting the nearby villages of Port Penn and lovely little Odessa.  We’ve learned that Delaware has a lot of these tiny historic towns.

We decided to do one more sea trial back up to Philly to make sure things were working well.  Jonny and Archie left for Philly the next day and Lynn drove Ryan’s car back. He had again graciously loaned it to us while we were in Delaware City.

Happily all went well with Zendo and Lynn enjoyed a lovely lunch with Ryan.  Lots more historical details are always seen strolling through Philly!

But because Stephanie wasn’t feeling well, we didn’t stay the weekend and instead turned around and returned to Delaware City the next day. Fortunately, Zendo performed well.  And we were also pleased that Tim, who owns the marina and of whom we are very fond, didn’t charge us for the half day of labor it took to properly reinstall the pump.

So finally on Monday, July 26, we resumed our 2021 cruise and departed Delaware City at 6 a.m. bound for Cape May, NJ.

It was an overcast day and the seas were quite calm.  Each of us was able to spend a little time napping to make up for our early wake-up call.

We belatedly remembered to give Archie some pet CBD chewies to prevent him from becoming seasick on the open seas. He did pretty well until we were halfway there when he got sick on our bed and peed on the saloon rug! Poor baby! Poor us!

It became even more overcast as we continued on our seven hour journey and we arrived in Cape May by 1:00.  By this time, it had become very hot and we set our anchor across from the Coast Guard Station which was conducting loud training exercises throughout our stay.

We tried to cool off by dangling out legs in the very chilly waters which helped just a little!  Whenever we are in Cape May we love to visit the Lobster Pot Restaurant’s seafood market, so the three of us dinghied over to it. We passed a couple of boats that had been with us at the Delaware City Marina. The couple on one of them, Rincon Fiesta, wanted suggestions on places to visit on the Hudson and Long Island Sound. They were docked at nearby Utsch’s Marina and as we passed them they invited us onboard to pick our brains. So after stocking up on goodies from the seafood market we visited with Jim and Silvia for awhile.

When we returned to Zendo we had a delicious shrimp scampi dinner with orzo and asparagus.  It was an early night because we were going to have an even longer cruise continuing up the Jersey shore the next day.