North Port and Port Jefferson

We left Oyster Bay on Saturday morning in the pouring rain. The sail over to North Port was rough with us bashing into the waves. It wasn’t far, thank goodness, only 12 nm so the unpleasantness didn’t last for long. We dropped anchor, in the rain and settled down to a quieter afternoon.

On Sunday we headed ashore to meet Dave who had invited us to his house for a braai. He took us on a guided tour all around North Port and Center Port before taking us to his home.

Dave and his wife, Fiona, really spoilt us. The food was delicious and we had a really lovely afternoon. They have a lovely home with a nice outside area and swimming pool. Sadly, it was still too cold to swim.

Somehow Fiona manages to avoid the camera!

We spent Monday on the boat as it was raining again. 

When we woke up on Tuesday it was very misty, so we waited until noon and then went ashore. We started walking to the shop which was only 2.5km away and should have been an easy trip. However, we ran out of pavements about 1km away from the shop. The road was very busy so we decided to call an Uber. The Uber came from the direction we needed to go and he went on a roundabout way before getting back to the place he picked us up from. Extra cash for him, I suppose. 

Laura's favourite aisle

Once the shopping was finished we called another Uber and watched as he went round the block three times before finally turning into the parking area. He spoke no English but got us back to the boat safely enough. We did wonder if he had a drivers license as he exited the parking area where it was clearly marked with a no exit sign and he also made a few errors on the road, causing much frustration and hooting from passing cars.

While Andrew was sitting in the cockpit that evening, a chap from the cat next to us came over to introduce himself. He said he saw the South African flag and wanted to say hi. He is American but he said he likes meeting people from around the world.

He had just bought the cat and was doing some work on the steering which wasn’t working properly. His name is Kyle. He is getting married on Block Island on 25 July!

We offered him a beer and he came aboard for a chat. Just before he was leaving he said we should get together for a meal at the yacht club. We agreed and after exchanging numbers he set off back to his boat.

The next day he messaged Andrew to suggest we got together on Thursday night. As it was Laura’s birthday that day she had to approve before we agreed. 

Life went on with boat work, cleaning and going ashore for walks. We ran out of gas for the stove, so Dave took Andrew to the place to refill it on Wednesday morning. 

Kyle then messaged to say the yacht club had a nice menu option on Wednesday evening, could we make it then. That suited us better, so we agreed.

On Wednesday evening we put on our best shorts and least stained and unholy shirts and went ashore to meet Kyle, his fiancee, Carly, and their friends Angus and Charlie.

We had a fantastic time, delicious food and good company. Kyle organized a slice of cake and a candle for Laura so that we could sing happy birthday to her. So kind of him!

We took Laura out for breakfast on her birthday, Thursday 19 June to the place that Dave said was a good place to buy pastries, Copenhagen. It was very busy and clearly very popular!

After a walk around the town, we went back to the boat, where Laura opened her presents. She got a few nice things, including a hard drive which she had been looking forward to getting. While Andrew was copying her files on to it for her something went wrong and it stopped working! Shame, poor Lau. She was not happy. But she is happy with her light! Thanks Dave Oppermann for the recommendation!

As you all know we watch the weather carefully. Later that afternoon we were watching the sky as it got darker and darker. Eventually the storm hit with high winds gusting 46 knots. Thank goodness we had agreed to dinner the previous night.

The storms never last long and before we knew it the sun was out again!

We had a lovely steak dinner and watched Only Murders in the Building, which is one of Laura's favourite shows.

We left North Port on Saturday morning in conditions very different to when we arrived. Fiona could even see us from her verandah and took pics and video of us.

That's us!

We had a 4 hour motor sail to Port Jefferson and dropped anchor amongst the day trippers and other sailing boats. We hadn’t planned to stay for long, so didn’t even drop the dinghy. There were so many people and boats with some boats rafted up - three or four on one ball!. The balls here are expensive clocking in at $35 a night.

Putting a foot up

We got a message from Jaqui on Mellow Puff that evening. They were leaving at midnight and doing an overnight sail to Sag Harbour. They were buddy boating with another family on Siren’s Call.

We woke early on Sunday morning and had the anchor up just after 6am. We motored for the first 4 hours before the wind really filled in. After that we had what I would call a sporty sail with winds reaching 30 knots as we were coming in to the cut in Sag Harbour. 

In the next episode we visit Sag Harbour and formally meet the crew on Mellow Puff.