July 4 and 5 -- Oyster Bay with Mendy

Underway from 11:10 to 3, almost four hours, with almost no wind, though we did fly the main and even put up the genny for about an hour. An uneventful passage. We anchored at the most inward bay, labelled West Harbor (I had never noticed that before) in about eight feet of water at low, a bit more than half a mile from the barrier beach. Lots of boats for the holiday but by no means crowded; we had at least 150 yards to our nearest neighbor. I showed Mendy how to snub the anchor though such was not needed given how light the winds were. He and I dinked in to the beach and met PC Bruce and Diane when passing m/v "North Star". They said that other Harlem boats were in the greater Oyster Bay area but we did not see them. Dave of s/v "Lady Cat" had proposed this area for Harlem boats this weekend but was deterred from joining us by a non-boating technical problem. Did I mention that it was way too hot for the past four days?
We walked past the area where the beloved and well remembered Club rendezvous used to be held. It was vacant and gone to pot; no longer a fit place for such an event. Can a well maintained beach be considered "infrastructure"? Crossing to the Sound side of the beach we left our shoes and walked west to those houses that line the beach. But it was tough going -- the beach here was rockier and tougher on the feet, or maybe my feet have gotten more tender?  Then after retrieving footwear we walked along the road, east to Center Island. I had expected, as has happened in the past, to be stopped at the entrance of this wealthy exclusive collection of mega houses but the police station was unmanned. I had recalled tree lined streets and thought that the shade would provide an escape from the heat but the shade was less dense than expected and we returned after

only a short walk, tugged the dink off the beach and went back to ILENE. Mendy took a swim and we rested up for dinner which was immense, topped off by some of yesterday's baklava. The huge municipal fireworks had been cancelled but Bayville put on quite a show. Then card playing and until bed time. Mendy slept in the cockpit. The night was pleasantly cool.

Next morning after mango/blueberry/sweet potato pancakes with maple syrup we headed back, but again no wind to speak of so it was motoring all the way into apparent wind close to our bow. For about fifteen minutes while crossing the mouth of Hempstead Bay we got maybe half a knot from a breeze out of the south. But the heat was back and Lene had the brilliant albeit subversive idea that with only a few day sails scheduled for the next few weeks, why don't we move with our kitties from ILENE back into our air conditioned apartment where she can watch TV. And that is what we did. Every Captain wants a happy Admiral.

This weekend's round trip of about 40 nautical miles was alas, all motoring.