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September 12th, Niantic, Connecticut
We
started out the day headed for the Thimble Islands.
A few hours of beating directly into 25 knots of
wind with a double reef in the main, we decided to head
in to the Niantic. After FOUR attempts at
anchoring in a hard sandy bottom, we are securely set on
our hook in the lovely Niantic River - billionaires only
please - very swanky homes on the water. Our
humble little catamaran fits right in though, floating
serenely amongst the mansions. Hurricane Olphelia
is swirling off the Carolina coasts, and we have our eye
on it. So far, the forecasts are warning of
possible Tropical Storm conditions on Thursday night.
We'll be watching the forecasts for any impact it might
have on our plans.
We
have been hanging out in Mystic, Connecticut for the
last four days. We arrived on Thursday night, in
the dark. Heading out of Cuttyhunk, we were
beating into a headwind, making our short 50 mile trip a
much longer and more uncomfortable journey.
Luckily, the wind came around a little and after the
first two tacks, we found ourselves heading straight for
the entrance to the Mystic River cranking along at 9 to
10 knots. Our friends on Cenou were headed for
Block Island, hoping to make a beeline for Annapolis
from there. You know, whenever there are two boats
on the water sailing in the same direction, you are
racing. I am happy to report that we
were very closely matched. We sailed along
together for a while, until a shift in the wind
direction allowed us to fall off and make better time
towards our destination. Cenou stayed hard on the
wind, sailing as tight as possible. We look
forward to reuniting with them in Annapolis, where we
both plan on hanging out for a while. The good
news is that when we sail together for a few days at a
time, we will stay close to each other since our boats
are so similar.
Mystic, after the exciting arrival through the winding
narrow channel in the dark, was a real treat. The
Mystic Seaport
Museum is where we docked the boat. Although
it was a bit pricey, it was well worth it for us and the
kids. The facility is set up like Williamsburg,
Virginia. It is a mid-nineteenth century seaport.
There are several old tall ships open for touring, an
authentic period grocery store, drug store, print shop,
bank, tavern, chandlery, all with tons of information
about how they operated and what they sold in the mid
1800's.
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We
went to the Seamen's Friend Society where we interacted
with a period actor who told us about a woman's life
back in those days. The girls had a bit of a hard
time understanding that she was pretending that it was
really that time in history. Actually, Joe had a
little trouble with that as well. He was asking
about her dress, and how long it took to put on, and
whether or not she was wearing a corset. It was
quite inappropriate for a 19th century woman to be
talking about her undergarments to a man, but Joe was
nonplused.
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Since weekends don't mean that much to us anymore, we
had school on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The
girls continue to do well with it. Saturday was
also chore day. Joe took the laundry down to the
machines at the marina while Cassie and I started
school. Juliana tends to sleep a little longer
when she is able. I started her on her math lesson
when she woke up (10:30 - gotta love it!) while we
waited for Joe to get back. Then, Cassie and I
took advantage of the nearby (well, it was actually over
a mile to walk) grocery store to re-provision. We
brought our folding dolly and a couple of bins to load
boxes and bottles into. It all went very well,
although we did elicit a lot of stares and comments.
We have found that a three hour grocery trip is not a
big deal as our schedule is a lot more lenient than it
used to be.
A
Taste of Mystic was scheduled in town for the weekend.
We did find, after school, showers, and a mid-day meal,
that we did not have a whole lot of time for exploring.
We hit many of the museum exhibits, made it into town
for the culinary festival one afternoon, and hooked up
with an old Boyle family friend, Ned Macomb, for dinner
one night. It was great to see Ned, an old Cairo
crony of Gerald Boyle's from the early 1960s. He
told us of a story when the Boyles were skin diving in
the Red Sea. Gerry Boyle was spear-fishing while
the three boys, Mike, Matt and Joe, were floating around
on a raft. Gerry speared a fish, and then saw a
couple of sharks cruising around. He came up and
yelled for the boys to head into shore. Vivian
heard him and was running along the shore yelling for
the boys to come in. No drama, the boys just
paddled in and all was well. It was amazing, since
Joe remembered this very event from 1962, when he was
about Cassie's age. Ned has stayed in touch
with Joe's mom, Vivian, over the years, and has been
following our voyage with great curiosity and
encouragement. We plan to see more of him in
New York, along with Vivian, who happens to be
participating in an elder hostel in The City at the same
time.
The Taste of Mystic culinary celebration was a little
underwhelming for us, as the kids just wanted to hang
out at the playground with the many other 5 to 10 year
olds. We did take a two mile dinghy ride down to
Abbott's for dinner that night. This is a typical
New England Lobster Shack. We found ourselves
standing in a long line to order up dinner and drinks
(no alcohol). We picked out a spot, initially on
one of the 200 or so outdoor picnic tables. We
moved indoors after the first course, as it got quite
chilly. Cassie and I shared a New England Lobster
Feast, consisting of chowder, shrimp, steamed clams and
mussels, and a lobster. I was amazed watching her
chew up mussels, which she has decided she likes more
than clams. She learned to like clams in Block
Island this summer. Unfortunately, Joe is not a
huge fan of this style of cuisine, but we were all
awarded with a spectacular sunset for the ride home.
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Bridges have been something of a theme for us in the
last couple of stops. We had to request an opening
from the Mystic River Railroad Bridge in the pitch
black. It is one of those bridges that pivots on
its centerline, but we couldn't quite figure out what we
were looking at in the dark.
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Only after talking to the railroad bridge did we realize
we needed to request an opening from the highway bridge
as well. Luckily, they were very accommodating and
we made it through both, and the rest of the way to our
designated dock space, biting our nails and shining
bright spotlights all the way.
The first few miles of the Niantik River is exactly the
same as the Mystic, a narrow winding channel, but we had
the benefit of daylight this time. Again, we had
both a railroad and a highway drawbridge to navigate
through (the railroad one was a little scary, narrow,
with a knot and a half of current with us).
We cruised past some ski boats, looking for a place to
drop the hook that wouldn't interfere with their course.
After a couple of failed attempts to secure ourselves to
the bottom, we finally set the anchor without a doubt
about dragging. That is where we sit as I write
this.
The girls put on a dance show tonight. The night
is warm and bug free. We ate tacos for dinner.
Life is good.
XOXO
Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana
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Many thanks to our
friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up
the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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