Summer Sail to New England, June/July 2008

The trip lasted five weeks and covered seven states: MD, DE, NJ, RI, MA, CT, NY Click here to see a map of our cruising area | Home | Photos A boat is a "She" because ... | Full Circle

Links in this column are to my photos. Note that they are in sets for each segment. When you get to the end of each set, they repeat. Dates Description and links to external sites With Bruce & Ted Annapolis to Newport June 18 to June 25 Bruce and Ted sailed with me from Annapolis to Newport with stops in Chesapeake City, Cape May, Block Island, Stonington, Mystic, and Newport. Our open ocean leg was from Cape May, NJ to Block Island, RI, about 210 nautical miles. Karen stayed home, avoiding the thrill and adventure of open ocean sailing and long lonely nights at sea. This was a trip for guys doing manly guy things. With Marilyn & Ted Newport, Cuttyhunk Martha's Vineyard Woods Hole, Newport June 25 to July 2 Karen and Marilyn, Ted's wife, drove up to meet us in Newport. Bruce rented a car and head off to a wedding in PA. We spent one rainy day in Newport and then headed for Martha's Vineyard. On the way we stopped in Cuttyhunk at the tip of the Elizabeth Islands. On the way back we stopped at Woods Hole (WHOI, MBL), the home of the the famous oceanographic center, and the most confusing set of buoys I have ever seen. Martha's Vineyard was spectacular. "tres charmant." We got a mooring ball in Edgartown and biked to Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. For the trip home a bus carried both us and the bikes, allowing us to rest our sweaty bodies and numb hands, in addition to avoiding a giant cloud burst. While returning from to Newport via Woods Hole we encountered the kind of fog, called "pea soup." We concluded it was really thick when we learning that a Coast Ship collided with a ferry. It was a reminder that even the pros get into trouble when the weather gets in the way. Thank goodness I was able to get the radar fixed before we left Annapolis. It broke the last day of our trip home. Newport and Block Island July 2 to July 8 We returned back to Newport on the 1st and Karen had to make an emergency trip home to check on her mother (age 96) who had caught pneumonia. Marilyn and Ted drove back to Annapolis, and Karen took a cab to Providence and flew back. Karen's mother's was doing well, enabling Karen to return on July 4th, in time for fireworks on the boat. I used the time while she was away to test our folding bikes. They proved to be heavy loading and off loading in the dinghy, but once ashore, they were a true life saver. Just as I remembered from my childhood, bikes meant freedom to go most anywhere with a few quick pedals. I did laundry and bought odds and ends for the boat. Our roller-furler was jamming and I was able to get a rigger to come out to the boat and fix it. The repair required a trip up the mast, but it was a relief to have it working smoothly again. Fortunately, we were able to find a place to anchor in Newport, thus avoiding the high cost of dockage or mooring balls. Anchor room is very scarce in New England, and one is often forced to rent a mooring ball. On Sunday July 6th, we left Newport for the second time and headed for Block Island. Check out the Spring House Hotel where we stopped for lunch while biking. Though Block Island is at the tip of Long Island, NY, it is part of Rhode Island. It is the kind of destination cruisers love. First off, it is an island, so you can only get there via ferry or boat. Second, it is all about things nautical. On Block Island we got our second fireworks display from the deck of our boat. Mystic, CT July 8 to July 10 Home of the Mystic Seaport Museum, a seaport village fully recreated on the water front. It is a wonderful opportunity to step back in time and view an eighteenth century seaport in operation. They have the only historical whaling ship in existence. It is comparable to Williamsburg in Virginia. We anchored across from Noank, CT, home of the famous Abbott's Lobster in the Rough. Shelter Island, NY July 10 to July 14 Shelter Island turned out to be our favorite stop, and we spent four nights in Coecles Harbor. We were able to bring our bikes and leave them shore, making it easy to make excursions without the hassle of hauling our bikes back and forth from the dinghy. From Shelter Island we could take the north ferry to Greenport on the north fork of Long Island or take the south ferry to Sag Harbor on the south fork of Long Island. Shelter Island itself is a quiet laid back place, ideally suited to cruisers. Reddings in Shelter Island Heights near Dering Harbor was a great place for provisioning, and the Chequit Inn is another "tres Charmant" restaurant. Sag Harbor is a bit hoity-toity, but the restaurants and shops are nice. We particulary enjoyed the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. Essex, CT July 14 to July 15 We crossed back over Long Island Sound via Palm Gut passage to Essex,CT. We had to motor six miles up the Connecticut river under one fixed bridge and one railroad draw bridge to reach Essex, a very old sea port with a rich nautical history. We were able to get a mooring ball at the Essex Yacht Club known locally as EYC just like our local yacht club, the Eastport Yacht Club (EYC). Karen napped while I dinghied in to town and had a terrific haddock fish lunch at the historic Griswold Inn founded in 1776. Thimble Islands Stony Creek, CT July 15 to July 16 One of our most interesting stops was the Thimble Islands, "A little bit of Maine" in Long Island sound. See these links for more info: Outtakes by Stephen Muskie son of Ed Muskie, Capt Bob's Boat Tours, NY Times Travel Article. We anchored right in the middle of the islands and visited via boat with a nice couple from the Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club (POYCC) which maintained mooring balls in the area where we anchored. We did our own tour of the islands in our dinghy and then ventured into the village of Stony Creek. While ashore, we paid a visit to the library. Libraries became our best source of Internet access. All libraries seem to have free Internet and WI FI access. As a bonus, we regularly found discontinued library books for sale for fifty cents or a dollar. It became rapidly clear that Full Circle had no more room for books. Norwalk, CT July 16 to July 18 Norwalk, actually South Norwalk, was another favorite stop. It was very boater friendly with a fun restaurant right on the water (Sono Seaport Seafood), a large public landing dock just a short walk to many restaurants, and a fantastic Aquarium. We really crammed a lot in: we visited the Aquarium, watched an IMAX movie (Wild Ocean: Where Africa Meets the Sea), had a great Thai lunch, went to the movie theater to see "Get Smart," and went to dinner where we began our Croque Madam tasting contest. See photos for details. We highly recommend Wild Ocean. After a day doing city stuff, we headed back to our home on the water. Greenwich, CT July 18 to July 19 From Norwalk, we had a short two hour sail/motor to Greenwich, CT, a ritzy bedroom community for rich New Yorkers. It was our least favorite stop, way too citified for us boaters. The highlight, however, was the second part of our Croque Madam tasting test at Gaia. Mamaroneck, NY Larchmont, NY July 19 to July 20 We were originally headed for Larchmont but discovered that the town was not really on the water and that all moorings and anchorages were occupied due to the 110th competition of the Larchmont Yacht Club race week. We settled on Mamaroneck, a more blue collar neighboring town. It turns out that we had an absolutely fabulous lunch at Cafe Mozart in Mamaroneck. What made it special was the way they prepared the Tilapia fish. They coated in flour and pan fried it in such a way that it tasted exactly the way my mother used to cook Minnesota lake fish. It was strange; after taking one bit, it was if I was transported to a Minnesota fish fry on Mission Lake. Tastes can often be as strong as songs to evoke a memory. We brought bikes ashore and biked over to the more quaint Larchmont. Besides the Larchmont Yacht Club, Larchmont is famous for being the home and place where Joyce Kilmer wrote the poem, "Trees." Look up Kilmer in the list of street names of Larchmont. We hit pay dirt on our bike ride and discovered a Trader Joes: fresh produce, fruit, and milk. Libraries and convenient grocery stores take on special significance when cruising. Port Washington, NY July 20 to July 21 This was our last stop on Long Island Sound. It was our staging area for our trip through New York City and the long sail home. As it turns out Karen's sons' wife's sister and family live in Port Washington. We had met them on several occasions, and they proved to be wonderful hosts. Getchen, Adam, and their three sons live a short distance from the Sound. Adam is an avid sailor and a member of the Port Washington Yacht Club (PWYC). He arranged for us to rent a mooring ball from the club. They let us use their washer and drier, fed us dinner, and took us shopping. It was terrific to get all those chores done, and we thank them much. We also used this stop as the location to connect with our final sailing partner Hugh Bernard. Hugh is a neighbor and one of the guys who sailed to Bermuda with me two years ago. We wanted a third crew member to help with the overnight sail down the Jersey coast. Hugh flew into LaGuardia Airport and took a taxi to the yacht club. We picked him with the dinghy about 11 PM and were up at 6 AM the next morning for our trip through New York City. New York City, NY July 21 What a thrill to sail through NYC past Manhattan, the UN building, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Wall Street, and finally the Statue of Liberty. The Empire State Building, completed in 1931, is now the tallest building in NYC standing 102 stories and rising 1025 feet. The Statue of Liberty itself is 151 feet tall, but with its base, it is 305 feet. As we passed the famous lady, we hoisted our sails and headed for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. When it opened in 1964, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the world's longest suspension span. The ends of the bridge are at historic Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, both of which guarded New York Harbor at the Narrows for over a century. The bridge was named after Giovanni da Verrazano, who, in 1524, was the first European explorer to sail into New York Harbor. Monumental 693 foot high towers are 1 5/8 inches farther apart at their tops than at their bases because the 4,260 foot distance between them made it necessary to compensate for the earth's curvature. Each tower weighs 27,000 tons and is held together with three million rivets and one million bolts. Seasonal contractions and expansions of the steel cables cause the double-decked roadway to be 12 feet lower in the summer than in the winter. The Golden Gate Bridge, completed in 1937 is 60 feet shorter than the Verrazano. There are currently five suspension bridges longer than the Verrazano. The longest, at 6,527 feet, is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge located in Japan. Sandy Hook, NJ to Home The McNasby Oyster Co is now a museum and is located on 2nd Street two blocks from our house. They have outdoor concerts every Wednesday evening during the summer. July 21 to July 24 It was another fabulous voyage aboard Full Circle, our personal little cruise ship. As always the trip was too short, and we long to go back to see and do more. Once on the boat, the annoyances of the world seem to fad away. The focus becomes weather, food, where to anchor, and where to go next. It is the life of a gypsy that is so alluring. Some trip statistics: I only bought one hat and no T-shirts. That's good since I have too many of both already. I used no bandages. That's very good since since I came home blood and scar free. I took over a thousand photos. That's both good and bad. It's fun to relive the trip through the photos, but it makes me compulsive when I get home to get them organized and viewable. We never took the boat into a slip over night; We were either at a mooring ball or anchored. Besides being much cheaper, it's always cooler and more private anchored out. The boat naturally aligns itself with the wind so that the hatch covers catch it and funnel it through the cabin. The mooring ball cost varied betwteen $40 and $57. Shelter Island is the only place that charged by the foot for a mooring ball. That is very unusual. Most mooring balls are a fixed price. Slip prices were $2.50 to $3.00 per foot. At $3.00 a foot, a 38 foot boat would cost $114. We covered about 1200 miles and put 165 engine hours on the boat. We added diesel twice at a top cost of $5.25 per gallon. At 0.85 gallons per hour, times 165 hours, times $5 per gallon, our total fuel cost was $700, which works out to $17 a day. A lot cheaper and more fun than a hotel room. We only ate dinner ashore four or five times. We frequently ate lunch ashore, but usually returned to the boat for dinner. The biggest differences between sailing in New England versus the Caribbean are: Cold water No snorkling Fog Limited anchor space No clearing of customs Constant cell phone coverage Convenient services ashore More activities ashore Great biking Mud bottoms rather than sand