Mystic, CT to Lake Montauk, NY

We left Mystic Seaport in time to make the 1040 opening of the Mystic Highway Drawbridge. We had a very busy morning before our departure. We were up by 0630 and had a quick breakfast. Dwayne drove the car to a storage facility and walked the 4 miles back to the boat. It would have been a much shorter walk; however, the storage lot was on the opposite side of the Mystic River as Foreign Affair. As a result, Dwayne had to walk a mile on each bank to cross the river at the drawbridge. This added two miles to the total trip. It was a scenic walk back from the car and mostly shaded. So, it wasn't that much of an ordeal. It was downhill to the river and flat along the shore.

Carla spent the morning doing the last of the laundry, filling water tanks and generally preparing the boat for movement. She did a fine job of backing out of our slip and getting us headed downstream. We got through both the Mystic drawbridge and Amtrak swing bridge without delay. We refueled and pumped out at the Brewer's Marina just downstream from the swing bridge. We cleared the harbor by 1130 and were on our way across the Sound to Lake Montauk.

USS ? Submarine

The winds were light and in our face. So, we motored all the way. When we hit the deep gorge in the Sound called "The Race" we were met with turbulent waves due to the speed of the current; however, the current helped push us along at over 8 knots which made the lumpy ride worthwhile.

As short while later, we sighted our first submarine on the Sound. She was heading in to Groton and moving along at a pretty good clip. I'm sure everyone aboard was anxious to get home for some shore leave after completing what most likely was months at sea.

Lake Montauk is a shallow saltwater lake with a narrow entrance. We learned from comments in Active Captain that the channel markers are hard to locate due to the many docks and mooring fields blocking good sightlines from one aid to the next. We proceeded very slowly, feeling our way down the channel. We briefly ran aground once, despite our best efforts to match the charts to what we could see on the water. We mistook two day markers further up channel for two which were hidden by a dock where you had to make an almost 90 degree turn to stay in channel. We found ourselves in the main body of the lake with consistent depths of 8 feet once we worked our way through a series of closely spaced day marks. Rather than risk running aground again, we decided to anchor in a location which would leave about a foot under our keel at low tide and gave us fair protection from the direction the wind was blowing and supposed to blow throughout the night. The anchor grabbed right away and we felt good about our situation.

Mega-yachts at Lake Montauk

Commercial Fishing Docks - Lake Montauk

Sport Fishing Fleet - Lake Montauk

Lake Montauk is unusual in in several ways. It was a fresh water lake cut off from Long Island Sound until a channel connecting it to the Sound was dug in 1927 as part of an effort to turn the lake and the area around it into a luxury resort. That effort was not completely successful. However, the resulting channel created a salt water harbor which provided access to the Sound and Atlantic Ocean.  As a result, Lake Montauk became a major harbor for commercial fishing, sport fishing and cruising vessels. Lake Montauk is New York State's largest fishing port. Sport fishing boats from Lake Montauk claim 25 World Records for largest fish. You pass the commercial fishing docks as you first enter the harbor. Further in you pass the mega-yachts, sport fishing boats and a smaller number of sailboats at dock. You also pass one of the finest beach resorts on Long Island.

Honda EU2000i Generator

Yesterday, we bought a Honda EU2000i generator and put it to use for the first time. We discovered our batteries were not recovering as well as when we were on the Chesapeake Bay or the ICW since we weren't motoring as much. The generator is much quieter than running the boat's engine. More importantly, we won't be running up as many hours on the boat's engine trying to recharge the batteries. Carla likes the generator because it provides AC power which allows her to use the microwave oven and TV when the generator is running. She is pleased that it is small and looks like a suitcase rather than something industrial.