Fourth of July, Long Island Sound

Execution Rocks lighthouse with New Rochelle in the background

The fourth of July in New York this year was overcast, hot and muggy as we drove to the Bronx early Friday afternoon, invited to spend the weekend on the Sound by our old friend Joe.

Now, other than an outboard-powered dory, an electric-motored raft, some paddleboats, one cruise ship, a sailboat, the Circle Line and, of course, the Staten Island Ferry, I don't spend a lot of time on the water. I think when we took a canoe out in Jamaica back in 2001, was the last I was aboard anything that floated.

Joe, on the other hand, is a graduate of SUNY Maritime, sailed the world with the Merchant Marine for years, and has owned at least as many boats as I've had Volvos. For the past couple of decades he's been a mechanical engineer, keeping the physical plants of some of New York's largest hospitals running smoothly.

The Snapdragon is a 58-foot Hatteras long-range cruiser that Joe got last year in Florida. It's a 1981 model, twin diesel engines, with three staterooms, three and a half baths, and its own launch. Very cool, very comfortable. A great time. We left City Island around 2:15, heading northeast through the Long Island Sound to Mamaroneck. Joe demonstrated some marvelous navigation threading his way around the smaller boats in the harbor. We docked there for the overnight (pictured above), met some other fine folks on shore for dinner, then we all retired back to the boat for fine scotch and fireworks.

All shots were hand-held, I was bracing myself by sitting with my back to the radar mast on the top deck. Canon 5D, 24-105 f4L @ f22, exposures from 2 to 14 seconds, various focal lengths, sometimes in the same exposure. ISO 50 & 320. (Not bad, for hand-held on a boat!)