[Mee-n-Mac]

As has already been said get a chart or 3. Keep one at "home" and another on the boat. Plan your first trip out and I'd advise you to get to know your local waters (and hazards) first. Head out almost due North and find the Witches. Circle them completely keeping a wary eye out for the warning buoys and other markers. Get to know the "channel" between the Witches and Timber Island. There are numbered flashing buoys there in addition to the normal red and black tipped kind. Follow the safe routes marked on the chart. Getting to know where the Witches are in relation to Timber and Governors islands and how they are marked off is the best way to avoid being on the rocks in them at some later date. Then take a trip around Gov I, perhaps a side trip down Meredith Bay, and under the bridge and back to home port. Circle the Witches in the opposite direction if you want. Keep it easy the first time out easy. The above is less than an hour.