(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