Monday, November 25, 2013

Bahama Bound II - The Fast Track

OK, we enjoyed the first cruise to the Bahamas,
now we want to do it again without the anxiety of the unknown ahead of us! Here it is we are -

BAHAMA BOUND AGAIN



Day 1
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE CRUISING DOWN THE EAST RIVER.
Here's Gary fresh from California enjoying the East Coast scenery.

As a compromise - Maryanne and I decided that I would put together a crew and deliver the boat to Florida in November while she continued teaching in Manhattan and Bay Shore.  We would leave the boat there until we rejoined it in January when Maryanne will reluctantly retire.  Retirement isn't easy when you truly love your job.

I invited Gary, my cousin's husband, and John, a biking buddy, to help me get "Symphony" south as fast as we could.  I wanted to give Gary time to acclimate to NY but an all too brief weather window required a quick departure from Glen Cove less than 12 hours after he arrived.  Brewer's Glen Cove was helpful - finishing up some last minute jobs for us before we departed.  


New York Harbor - a Light Traffic Day on my ChartPlotter
AIS signals abound on a light traffic day in NY Harbor.  Each red line and arrow represent the speed and course of a boat.  The boats are represented by the triangles while the length of the red lines shows the relative speed of the vessel.
My boat is the red boat symbol near the center of the bottom of the screen.
AIS or Automatic Identification System identifies boats, their course, speed, time of closest approach, distance of closest approach, their names, sizes, and destinations.  It makes it much easier to hail a vessel on VHF.  If you want to discuss your course with another boat that has AIS you don't have to hail "the boat off my port bow."  You can call him by name.  While AIS transponders are required on commercial vessels over 65 feet it's easy to ignore big fishing boats or other smaller boats that may not have AIS.  For that reason you have to constantly be scanning the horizon ahead, around, and behind you in a place like NY Harbor.  This trip wasn't bad but you can see from the chartplotter that you better stay alert!

4 comments:

  1. Glad you're back ... what a great view Gary is enjoying! Have a great trip ... exciting times ahead!

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  2. You were probably warmer there than we are in GA. Looking forward to seeing you both,

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    Replies
    1. Can't wait to get going again -- It is consistently cold here.

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