Sometimes You Just Got To Be Lucky

Anxious to get underway on our final day of the northern journey, we left Liberty Landing Marina around 8:00 am headed out into the always busy New York Harbor. Listening to the constant chatter on the VHF radio between the various ferries, water taxis, shuttles, commercial vessels, tugs and barges, is not only important information but rather entertaining as well. We plotted our course and timing perfectly and ducked around Battery Park and into the East River without issue. Sometimes, you just got to be lucky!

One of the often navigable challenges is timing the East River run through Hell Gate (a merging of sometimes raging water that makes a couple of sharp turns) so as to avoid going against the current and tide. Fortunately, we were on a rising tide and were running in the same direction as the current this morning which not only made the ride smooth, but much faster! Sometimes, you just got be lucky!

While the skies were mostly overcast and temps remained very cool for this time of year, the winds subsided and the air was calm. As a result, when we entered Long Island Sound, the water was not just calm, it was dead calm -- smooth as a lake, a bathtub, a tabletop, a baby's butt. And it remained that way for the entire 100 mile run to the entrance of the Connecticut River. It seemed a fitting payback after so many days of rough seas and weather along our trip. Sometimes, you just got to be lucky!

It felt strangely good to work our way up the Connecticut River and to our summer home port at Essex Island Marina. We pulled into our slip and were warmly greeted by both staff and other nearby boaters with a smile, a wave and a hug. It was good to be "home".

Sometimes, you just got to be lucky!