We are back at S-Dock tonight after a wonderful trip up north to Maine, MA, and NH.    We ran the engine, and walked around the boats tonight.  

70+68+85

The OK, this blog post was not an adventure aboard Shellerina.    But since we spent a couple nights right here on the water next to my brother, Russell’s house, we figured it was deserving of mention here.    I set up for a few hours of work right here here on the porch.  

6:00am The rain just started this hour.  

We came out to Sailors Haven Friday night after work … soon after Contingency departed. We docked next to them; Captain Brian’s 3-girl crew, Lennon, Andria, and Layla are shown below.  Dinner at Maguires, Ocean Beach!

One of my first favorite books as a child, if not the favorite, arrived in the mail today.  These pics were taken aboard Shellerina on June 26, 2016 on our vacation up the Hudson River.

We tied up at Cedar Beach after work.   The Beach Hut is only open on weekends now.  But we heard some music, so we walked over under Ocean Parkway.  They were open for a fund raising event, for the hurricane victims.   So we got some supper and had a drink.   Things are certainly starting to slow down out here.  

Pictured above, behind our bow flag (a US  Union Jack), you can see a small marshland.  It probably originated from dredging, many decades ago.   It is something all of us in our part of Marine Max, Lindenhurst NY, navigate around every time we go out or come back in.  

Our first two seasons here we did not have an appreciation for this area.  This is our third season here on the South Shore of Long Island.   Last Spring, a slip opened up on the other side of S-Dock, one with a finger.  So, we decided to move, as reported in a blog post earlier this year.   From our new slip, our bow now faces this area that goes awash at high tide. 

One of my hobbies is wildlife photography.  When we moved here a couple years ago from Maine, I missed taking pictures of the Loons, Bald Eagles, deer, wild turkeys, and many other species.   My camera was not being used nearly as much as it was back in Maine.  

We spend a lot of time on the boat, we leave the slip more often than most.  But, we also spend a fair amount of time staying right at the slip.   For example, tonight will be 80th night we have slept aboard this season.   This year, with our bow facing this small marsh, we have seen a lot of wildlife activity, which means the camera is getting a lot more action!    E.g.   Some of these pics are new, some are in earlier blog posts:So, 

Why is this area so special?
Take a look at the area surrounding it:
This part of Long Island is thickly settled with lots of rooftops, lots of paved areas, and a highly developed shoreline.   Our miniature wildlife sanctuary provides these many species of seabirds a great and rare place to hang out!  

How lucky we are at Marine Max to have this wildlife airport right here in our midst!   

Species in photos above:  Mute Swan, Great Egret, Black Capped Night Heron, Canada Goose, Blue Heron.   Partial list of other species seen this year:  many different species of ducks, Black Skimmer, Herring Gull, Arctic Tern, Osprey, Kingfisher,

A large flock of juvenile Herring Gulls surround us here at Cedar Beach!   Seems late in the season, for juvies.  

We had to decide, “Are we going to stay on the boat tonight?  OR Are we going to stay at the apt to watch the Patriots game.  First NFL game of the season!

As usual, we chose the boat as our primary passion.   But Shelly just found the game on FM 101.9 MHz!   So we’ll have the best of both worlds tonight.    It is not common for us to get to see or hear Patriots games here on Long Gisland.  

Listening to the Patriots on board Shellerina!

Great sunrise this morning!

Odometer for the season so far is 1040 statute miles; moving time is 100+38. 

We pushed off around 11:00am after sharing Bagels and smoked white fish with dock mates.   Shelly and I hung out anchored at Cedar Beach for most of the day.  It was overcast and not very busy there.   But we enjoyed it.   I took a power nap.   We weighed anchor at 4:45.   We went  west to the Amittyville Cut, then headed east to our home port.   White caps were forming, so we came off plane to make for an easier ride into the wind.   The State Channel had been much milder. 

As we pulled into the Neguntatogue Creek where our marina is , we saw Precious Cargo approaching the MarineMax fuel dock. They had invited us to join them for dinner in Massapequa.  But Shelly looked at the menu online, and we decided to pass. She has been very careful of late because her cholesterol is a bit high.  

5:45 we secured at S-Dock.   Odom 1040 statute miles for the season. 138.5 hours. 

It was raining, but that did not stop us from fixing up some Grilled Salmon and Corn on the cob!   The wind was picking up, so we had to keep re-igniting the grill.  But all turned out tasty good. We knew Precious Cargo would have a bumpy ride back!   But they were all secured by 9:30 pm.   Marc kept it safe and slow for the ride back from dinner bucking a stiff Easterly breeze. 

That night was very stormy.  Lots of rain and wind.   Our hatch leaked a bit, which made it more difficult for Shelly to sleep. 

Saturday morning was kinda ugly too.  Evidently something they ate at dinner made Andria and daughter Lennon sick.   Marc and Colleen’s dog Masie, who ate some of the restaurant’s food also got sick.   Needless to say, Shelly and I were very glad we cooked for ourselves last night.  

Key bullets for Sunday:

• Waited for clearing in the afternoon
• Cleaned the brown scum on the waterline
• Did a thorough cleaning of our Magma grill
• Pumped out and did some plumbing, new Joker Valve installed.  
• Helped Andria with puky laundry and watched kids so she could bring Brian to ER, with his sciatica pain.  
• Marc and Ray visited Brian later, who spent the night at the hospital.  
• Somehow managed to have a nice dinner grilled here at the dock.  Precious Cargo is large enough to seat 5 or 6 adults at the dinner table.  

Monday – Labor Day

Thinking of pushing off early for a breakfast on the hook.    But decided to hang tight until we see if our help is needed with our dockmates.  

We coordinated coverage with Colleen.   She is on watch for the morning in case Andria wants to go to the hospital.  We will relieve her this afternoon.  

We pushed off around 9:30am, and anchored in Cedar Beach Cove.     Marc visited for 30 minutes or so by jet ski.   We stayed there until 2:00 ish.   

When we got back, S-Dock was a happening place.   Marc’s chicken was almost ready to come off the grill.  Tom and Tracy’s last weekend ( they are moving to So Carolina this week), Brian’s return from the hospital, lots of boat owners that do not often see were there!   We were glad to be a part of it all. After things settled down, I assisted Marc’s cleaning job of the S-Dock grill.   Ray tried to get a few pics of the near full moon rising as the sun set. 

Well before the sun set, Steve Ramano, skipper of SIMI and other vessels of record, shred with us his “alter ego” aboard his land skiff. 

While this Labor Day weekend did not turn out as we planned, it was a good time with friends.   Shelly and I just had dinner at the Lindenhurst Diner.   We are going to go see Nick next.  

Parts arrived today, Thursday, seawater pump, fuel pump, and hoses.  They are now installed and we are back in business. 

This our sixth season in this boat and we never knew of the reservoir in the seawater pump that needs a few ounces of gear lube to keep the cam and rocker arm lubricated. That was the root cause of failure underway last Saturday.  

  Being down for (a rare) six days was a time for us to contemplate how good this boat has been to us.  This is our sixth season, and we have kept up on the maintenance; the boat has rewarded us with reliability which we love!  But there is always something new to learn.  This time it was to make sure the oil reservoir in the seawater pump has some gear lube in it, or the rocker arm of the fuel pump will fail!

Friday

I took an unplanned day off from work.  To celebrate the engine being fixed, and having an open calendar.   The weather was perfect too.    We had a great day touring some of our usual spots on Great South Bay.   

Back at S-Dock, we heard on the VHF radio that Contingency had transmission problems, and would be coming back from the planned Labor Day weekend at Oakdale Yacht resort.   They have two engines, but Brian did not want to keep going on the one.   So Friday night was all families here at S-Dock.