August 24, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

Last Monday was our last morning at Crocker’s Marina.  We’re off on a leisurely ride up the Thames River.  Went as far as the Mohegan Sun Casino, which suddenly rises up along the shore, with it’s humpteen story parking garage bearing a sign that says in huge letters “Park here and win a car like this!”  That was sort of in keeping with our feeling about the Thames.  Although there are lovely stretches with trees growing down to the water, those areas are outweighed by Electric Boat, the Coast Guard Academy, the Navy Submarine base (with huge bumpers and signs suggesting VERY strongly--along with a patrol boat to enforce--that you keep your distance) We didn’t get ashore to tour the Nautilus, the first ever nucular [spelling intentional] submarine, but waved was we went by.  We just  didn’t have that pastoral, serene experience we’ve found on other rivers.  Interesting, though.

Back in the Sound, we passed (and photographed) three tall ships--including our friend the Mystic Whaler--carrying, according to Cap’n John, 70 students on an educational tour.  It was after 5 when we tied up at the 400 foot long concrete wall called the North Parade inside the Mystic Seaport.  Had an outdoor dinner at the Seaman’s Inne, and enjoyed fireworks from across the bay.  On Tuesday we were up before the sun rose and walked to the Kitchen Kettle for a highly touted breakfast. Turned out the walk was the best part! Mystic Seaport’s many colonial volunteers make the village fun, and we visited many of the exhibits--their rope making isn’t nearly as manageable as Fred’s--they use a 250 foot long shed!    To exit Mystic, one must catch the bridge that opens at 40 minutes past the hour, so we aimed for, and caught, the 12:40 opening.  Just as we got near the mouth of the Mystic River, amidst a bazillion boats doing their best to hide the marker buoys, both navigation computer screens went black.  Fortunately, we had the paper charts ready and were able to continue our course, until Fred reset the GFI outlet that had blown for some reason, known only to the gods and goddesses!   Computer navigation is awesome---when it works!

It was a hop, skip and  a jump (figuratively speaking) to the artsy, cute village of Stonington where we picked up a Mooring.  It was hot but windy, and I took the launch to town to explore, while Fred flew Ernie the eagle kite from the dinghy deck.  What animal lovers in Stonington!   Many stores advertised doggie treats inside and filled puppy water dishes were kept along the sidewalk.  We both later launched back into town and walked to Noah’s Restaurant for dinner just as the annual 5K race around the green took place.  Fun.

In the morning we headed for Block Island. What a treat! Block Island, shaped like a pork chop, has a ‘hole’ in it’s center--the Great Salt Pond. To say it was packed with boats is an understatement.   We caught the last available public mooring ball and had a ringside seat as boats of all sizes--many dinghies with teens at the tiller-- zipped in and around the Pond.   We enjoyed fresh baked goods form Aldo the baker who peddled his wares from his little boat as he yelled “Andiamo!” at 8 am.  I walked a couple of miles over the hills to the Old Harbor port side of the island and came home with a fabulous lunch from the Spring House, recommended by the Harbormaster (a year round resident) and not listed in all the ads for the Island.  Magnificent.  Our dinghy exploration took us into quiet corners of the Pond, and all in all, we hated to leave.  By the way, our mooring was already captured by it’s next inhabitant when we finally let it go!

Back across BI Sound to Newport--I called it Port Jeff on steroids, Fred insists it’s just Newport!  He went to Navy OCS there (the other day)….and we enjoyed strolling to the local Stop ‘n’ Shop--and wheeling our groceries back (downhill) to the boat amidst the many many bustling shopping laughing dancing drinking dining tourists!

Next morning (Saturday) we were off to Vinyard Sound where we tied up at the Falmouth Town Dock. Daughter Linda Lee drove to Falmouth to meet us.  We took the nostalgic auto trip around town (Linda and Alan were born in Falmouth) and enjoyed revisiting the points of interest here and at Woods’ Hole, where Fred’ spent 14 years in Management at the Oceanographic Institute..

Sunday was, again, a magnificent summer day--bright sun, light breeze and moderate temperatures.  The weather was perfect for ducking into the Great Harbor at Woods Hole, Hadley’s Cove--WAY more boats there than 30 years ago--and across Vinyard Sound to Martha’s Vinyard.  What a hoot to tie up at the town dock in Vinyard Haven and join the other tourists for lunch and ice cream (yes we did stop at Mad Martha’s), and return to find Julie the harbormaster rafting another boat to Young America!  They untied so we could leave, and by 3:30 Linda was auto bound back to NY. 

And now it is Monday, and we’ll see you next week!   (Happy b’day, Fred!)

run on paragraphs

Hi allTHREE times I re-did my most recent post, and three times my paragraph editing went away when I published............makes for difficult reading, I know, and I'm open to suggestions--would love to know how to correct this!  Thanks.  L

(almost) Monday Aug. 18

Monday, August 18, 2008 AUGUST 18???  How did that happen so quickly?  I cleanly missed last Monday’s message--we weren’t on the boat, and therefore it didn’t get done.Monday August 4 was our last day in Essex. In the morning we dropped the mooring and went to the dock for water.  While the tanks were filling (300 gallons--it takes awhile!) I walked to town to do some last minute shopping and mail the mail.  By 1:15we were underway and were delighted to find that the traffic was light at the mouth of the CT river! The Sound was a bit lumpy as we headed east, but using the autopilot’s ‘following seas’ setting smoothed it out a bit.  We waved to Niantic as we passed and I smiled at the memories of happy summer visits to Crescent Beach in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. The next river we came to is the Thames (pronounced with a th and long a in America,  unlike the “Tems” River with the same spelling that can carry one from London to Greenwich, England).  Our chosen marina is Crocker’s Boat Works--a 127 year old marina tucked into Shaw’s Cove--behind a railroad bridge.  We arrived after closing time, but we had our slip number and tied up, then took a walking tour of the grounds--large swmming pool, a lot of interesting boat restoration, and they even have Curb your Dog poop bags hanging on poles all around the yard!  Everyone talks about it, Crocker does something about it--provides the clean up bags! Tuesday morning I took advantage of the pool while Fred did paperwork.  In the afternoon we walked to town and explored the historic district. It was here that the Amistad slaves were declared free men.   Found an office for the Mystic Whaler, the boat Cap’n John has brought to Newburgh every spring to help with Clearwater educational tours on the Hudson.  On Wednesday we changed our plan which had been to move the boat to the Shinnaccossett  Yacht Club at the mouth of the River.  Instead, we decided to stay on at Crocker’s and asked them to do some maintenance work, check out the watermaker, and put a water based finish on all the teak and holly floors.  At four, we motored off in a rental car, bound for Newburgh and points west! We spent the rest of the week in Aberdeen SD at my 50 year high school reunion.  What a hoot!  Had a pizza party with most of the family when we returned, and then spent two days cleaning up odds and ends, while waiting for the floors to dry!We returned to the boat on Friday and as I write this on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, we are still here in New London.  The shower sump failed when we returned, and today we spent a couple of hours at the Defender Marine store--replacing the pump and finding many other goodies that seem very necessary to our daily life! By tomorrow (Monday), much as we hate to leave this delicious marina and all the nice people we’ve chatted with here, we expect to be off and heading for points east!   Catch up with you next week…..Hugs and love, Linda and Fred

August 4, 2008

Monday morning at Bridgeport. Brian the Lobsterman was up, as he always is, very early! We managed to be awake and watching when he brought his first catch of the day to the dock. He maneuvered his work boat with the amazing skill that comes with long practice. Back the boat up to the dock, leave the motor running, step off and tie two lobster cages to the pier, then drive away so the cages fall into the water to keep the ‘catch’ fresh. Move two cleats up the dock and repeat. Repeat until all cages are under water. Pick up empty cages from the dock and be off again! We’re told that the fishing has moved much farther out in the Sound as insectacides that killed the annoying mosquitoes several years ago also did in the local lobsters. Brian says he manages about 1000 lobster cages--lowering the empty and hauling in the full every day. Hard, heavy work in all kinds of weather. He’s put a face on the ‘lobster pot’ markers we see all over the water, and we enjoyed his great good humor. As we explored the Bridgeport harbor, we found a tug pushing a coal barge into a slot at the base of an amazing array of long, high conveyor belts. The barge had been loaded from a huge coal carrier anchored out in the Sound--too big to bring in and offload--and as we watched the coal was scooped up by a circle of buckets and poured onto the conveyers. There were choices--one set of belts went directly into the electricity generating power plant. “Our” coal was not needed immediately and went off to a huge storage pile outside. I remembered when Dansgammer on the Hudson had converted from ‘dirty’ coal to use the less expensive oil to create electricity. Economics has re-created the use of coal, but technology has changed the smoke from the Bridgeport stacks from black, polluting soot to white and clean. Saw no windmills anywhere around Bridgeport. Perhaps that will be next! Our destination in the Sound was a place called the Thimbles. These are a group of rocky eruptions that are said to recall the Maine coast. (We’ve not been there yet, so can’t speak to that…) We chose a spot to anchor in a protected area, and after THE rockiest nights we’ve spent on the boat (think seasick pills. I slept in the upper level where the dipping of the bow was less noticeable--the head of our bed was going down 40 degrees or so. Often.)On Tuesday we motored the dinghy ashore to have breakfast at Creekers and pick up some fresh fruit at the Market. The town is Stony Creek in Branford, and it is indeed a picturesque stop. One nght only for us! Tuesday and Wednesday nighs we were tied up at Cedar Island Marina, in Clinton CT. The marina (we were told) was a college graduation gift to the son of a shirt manufacturer. Dad’s 115’ yacht was tied up at a nearby dock. Customer care was the watchword here. Terri, the swimming pool attendant (where Hannah was available to do arts and crafts with kids all day) said that when the marina closed it’s grocery facility they began to provide a shuttle to town. It worked for me. Judy, a quilter and really fun lady, drove me all around the historic district (much of Clinton was built before 1850) and we admired the gorgeous gardens and (locally provided) cedar siding and shingles. Thence to get groceries at Stop and Shop--one of the stores with a ‘Peapod’ service. They will deliver your online order to your home for a $6.00 fee! Fred and I enjoyed visiting with a couple of Power Squadron members who were on their way to a Rendezvous across the Sound in Greensport. they were off and so, after fueling the boat, were we. Diesel fuel here was $4.85/gallen--a far cry from the highest we've seen, $5.66 in Port Jefferson! We’d planned on several days in the CT river, and we are still here! Entering the river at Saybrook Point, we found lots of current and lots of traffic. We spent one night in Saybrook, and on our dinghy explorations found lots and lots of places to tie up and anchor that were not listed in our books. Five miles up the river is Essex, and we’ve been here all weekend. The CT river is wide and deep, and before picking up a mooring in Essex we motored up as far as the Goodspeed Opera House. So beautiful a ride was it that we ran at only 5 mph, not our usual 'hurry up and get there' 6! We made a note of Hamburg Cove as we passed, and returned in the dinghy Saturday evening to motor in. Hamburg Cove surprisingly went on and on and on as beautiful woodlands and small marinas and quiet anchorages opened up around each bend. Well, almost all quiet--in one spot 5 boats were rafted together and having a great time dancing to their boom box. In a small motorboat around a curve from them, we passed a couple sipping wine while anchored under the trees. Delicious. On Saturday we'd had lunch with Ann,(who was my sister-in-law many years ago), her husband John, and the girls’ Cousin Kay. It was great to see them, to catch up and to reminisce about the good times we had when the children were little and Ann lived in Niantic--a block from the beach! After our dinghy ride on Saturday evening we relaxed aboard (and gave boat tours to people the launch driver brought by) and enjoyed the music from a wedding reception in a tent on the shore. Finding no UU Churches within 15 miles or so, Sunday morning I walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex. A special prayer was said there for the congregation and victims of a random shooting at a Knoxville, TN Unitarian Universalist Church, and also for the shooter. Fred and I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning--this boat has lots of great features, but it isn’t self cleaning! Fred power washed the decks while I attacked the inside. We ‘launched’ to shore just in time to watch the docking of Quinnipiac, an 80’ wooden schooner that has come to the River Museum here for a few days. Impressive. Had a nice dinner at the Black Seal followed by ice cream which we ate while sitting on a bench outside the Historic Griswold Inn. The ‘Gris’ generously provided live music for our listening pleasure. Ernie, our Eagle kite (we’ve not seen a live Eagle here, although we’re told that many are sighted here, especially in the winter) is flying in the breeze, and telling us it’s time to move on. So we’re off--and will ‘see’ you next week! Fred and Linda