Wickford to Jamestown, ball

While the trip today was short (90 minutes) it was a little exciting. While in Wickford Russ replaced the belt system on the port engine, moving to a serpentine belt. Explanation to follow. This made the day a maiden voyage for the new drive, and such things are always exciting.

Winds were strong in the morning coming from the north. If you see the map, that's the one direction that would cause much wave action. Overall it wasn't bad, and once we made the turn southward on the other side of the island, it was on our stern, which we like. For the most part, the travel was uneventful.

About the belts: The port engine is also the engine that charges our house electrical system. We have big lithium batteries, and a big alternator that, when the engine is on, pumps them up. Within the first year of owning inQuest Russ upgraded to this beefier alternator. The consequence of that was the belt system, which had to be arranged to accommodate the new alternator. The result was, given the extra "oompf" needed to spin on the new alternator, belts started to break. We went through a bunch of belts on our first year of cruising until Russ found some he liked. However, they frequently squealed at some point until they were adequately tightened (expanding the wheels), and, given the physical space of the engine room, the engine, and the alternator, frequently couldn't be expanded too much. A serpentine system (I was told) would solve this problem, but no one made one for our engine.

Wickford has a tea house. So, we went.
Tea, scones, biscuits, and cucumber sandwiches!

Until a few months ago.

Russ bought a kit, which we carried with us since Baltimore, and worked on it this last week. He'd do something, realize he needed something more, contact the company, they'd over night the part, and he'd continue to work. Pretty much that's how it went the entire visit in Wickford -- he got at least 3 packages from that company (and from what I can ascertain, the company had never actually put one of these one -- I think we're the guinea pigs here). We didn't start the engine at all until Thursday, the day before we were going to leave.

All worked great.

On the moors amidst the rocks.

We get underway and (of course) it squeals. After the engine warmed up a bit we tried again and were able to run the engine and alternator for an hour. I was told later that this is typical for serpentine belts, and once it's broken in this will go away. 

Before taking a ball we wanted to pump out and get water (we really, really needed water). Called the marina, Clark Boatyard, and they told us their pump out wasn't working so use the town's free one. We did. It too didn't work. Moreover, the dock didn't have water, either.

Curious how they built this place.

We made our own water, thankful that we can. And we'll seek a pumpout when we leave here in a couple days.

Never a dull moment, even on the dullest of journeys.

Also (note to myself) this location is seriously wakey! https://photos.app.goo.gl/TGJRocpaYmMmgBTh7

Mystic to Wickford, ball

Ah, the joys of boating, frequently having to choose between what you want to do, and what you really have to do. And today, it's gotta be today.

The plan had been to spend the weekend in Mystic. It's a great touristy town, with lots of food, drink, and shopping. We did an escape room last night, then had massages scheduled for this morning. After we'd get some lunch, walk the town, enjoy the weekend...

But. Weather.

Keeping at eye on wind we noticed that Sunday (tomorrow) the winds would pick up. It was clear they'd be very high winds, and make any travel we planned to do Sunday miserable. And the travel ahead was a lot of exposed on the Atlantic travel. Moreover, it wasn't clear that once you got somewhere you might be there for the next 5 days.

First came the escape room victory...

... then came the rain. Soggy dinghy ride back to the boat.

Options included going to Stonington which was really close. But we were concerned about protection from the wind direction. Ultimately we were going to Narragansett Bay to spend a few weeks. We concluded we'd just make that dash now.

In and out of fog all day

It's a very open crossing to get there but today the wind was mild. More of an issue was the fog, then later thunderstorms.

inQuest needed fuel. The plan had always been to stop in Galilee since they have the cheapest diesel in the area. We headed there first and fueled up -- easy in and out as we were near slack tide -- then headed around the point and north to get into Narragansett. 

We picked a mooring field in Wickford for it's protection over the next few days. As we approached the breakwall the skies got dark and burst open on us, with gusts over 25 knots. We managed to get on a ball in the downpour.

While we didn't go too far, getting started late and stopping to fuel made for a longer day. But totally the right call. Despite the sections of fog and the storm the water was nice. 

We wanted to see if it was faster to get to town by tender. This bridge
is the only obstacle, with a vertical clearance of 3 feet. We clear it
by ducking, of course. but the trip was still about 30 minutes.

Mystic

Moonset by the lonely lighthouse

New London to Mystic ball

Our last day in New London was perhaps our most busy. Officially it was a holiday, Juneteenth, so we could take advantage of having the workday off. 

Around 9 am we got together and scooted to the Submarine Force Museum in Groton. Well, Hannah, David, and Russ scooted, I Uber-ed since my back was acting up. But that got me a great ride with a resident of New London that told me the town it on the cusp of booming. You can catch a bullet train to NYC from there, and given the sprawl, that's a big win.

On top of the Nautilus, about to 
start our tour below.

The sub museum is the home of Nautilus, one of the first nuclear powered submarines. You get to tour it, which was really cool. The museum also has an interested movie about how subs have played a part in history and (of course) the wars. To our surprise it was nearly 45 minutes long, and quite engaging.

From there was came back to the vessels and shoved off. We can stay for free on the city dock for 72 hours, and the folks there are really friendly. There are showers and laundry facilities, but Russ and I took our bulk items (big bedding, for example) to the local laundromat which was a 12 minute walk away.

It was only about an hour's ride to Mystic. In the past we've stayed at the museum. This time we took balls south of town at a local yacht club, Mason's Island Yacht Club. Once settled we piled our scooters in our dinghies and headed to Mystic. Originally we hoped to do an escape room, but the venue got sold out (silly us didn't reserved a spot). We bummed around the quaint town instead, doing a little shopping then eating dinner in the downtown area.

Russ took this while on the i-95 bridge that allows pedestrians, bikes, 

and scooters to cross the Thames. That's how they got to the sub museum.

I don't feel that I missed much...

At the moment the rest of the northeast is having a heat wave. It will be close to 100 degrees in Boston today. But here, our high is around 85. So, lucky us!

We always see or learn something new while boating. Like this
dinghy dock. You don't tie to the dock, but rather the clothesline they
provide, then you move your tender away to make space for the 
next dinghy. Very clever, but we'd never seen a dock managed that way before.

Essex to New London, city dock wall

We spent a few days anchored and around Essex. The Safe Harbor Marina new the anchor had free water and pumpouts (noted for fellow boaters), something we all took advantage of before heading to New London.

Our last day on the Connecticut River we traveled up to Haddam and anchored. We all piled into a dinghy and went to Gillette Castle. We got there around 2:30, knowing they closed at 4 pm. However, there only did tours (you couldn't walk through on your own) and those all sold out by 1 pm. Bummer! It looked like a nifty place. It wasn't until we were leaving that we read why folks go there -- it's the Connecticut home of William Gillette, a playwright and actor, most known for playing and developing the character of Sherlock Holmes. All the iconic images of Holmes (deerstalker cap, cape, pipe, and "It's elementary, my dear fellow") were due to him. Maybe we'll be back someday. I added a note to "RESERVE TICKETS!"

Gillette Castle, of which we did NOT visit.

How we got to Gillette Castle, landing a dinghy on a nearby beach.

But that all became a distant memory when, around 7:30 pm, we piled into the dinghy again and headed up river to the Goodspeed Opera House where we saw a production of South Pacific. For a small, local theater it was a great show. Excellent actors, great singer, impressive dancing, and all to live music.

The white building is the Goodspeed Opera House. Darling venue, great show.
The had a dock at the opera but it was reserved for members. A small town dock
was right next to it. It all worked perfectly.

Saturday we charged down the Connecticut River and headed just east to the Thames River. Here, in the USA they say THames, not "Temz". Our destination was, of course, London. New London, that is.

Highwind and inQuest on the CT river.

Very large, and very fast ferries come and go from New London, creating massive wakes as they do. When we came into the area we didn't like the look of the closest mooring field with all the boats there bobbing from the water. We continued beyond to another anchorage only to spy another, smaller buoy field... totally lacking in any boats. Russ called the numbers listed to reserve, we hailed on the radio, but no one responded. The buoys looked good so we grabbed one then dropped the dingy to make for the nearby dock in hopes to find someone who knew if we could stay a while.

I happened to see a couple of women go into an office nearby so I asked if they knew anything about the buoys. They didn't, but offered, "You can just dock here." They gestured to all the space around the pier restaurant. "It's free!" Magic words. So we went back to the boat, texted Highwind the plan, and sidled next to City Dock Restaurant and Oyster Bar.

Inside Fort Trumbull. Completed in 1852, it has 
a lot of aesthetics taken from Egyptian archeology.

From here we all went out to eat and then enjoyed Fort Trumbull.

Been a busy couple of days.

Saybrook to Essex, anchor

Just a couple miles up the Connecticut River was Essex. In addition to being a darling town there's a yacht club that Hannah and David have reciprocity to dine at.

Originally we were going to grab some balls at said yacht club. As we approached, however, they hailed as asked, "Are you the catamaran?" "Yes." "We don't allow catamarans on the mooring balls." Thus we anchored out, just across the way. Saved us $60 a night, too. The dinner, however, was quite good.

There's a museum we wanted to see in Essex but it's hours didn't work with the working folks on Highwind. So we're hanging out, enjoying the weather, and we'll all do the museum Saturday before getting underway to head up the river to Haddam, CT, where we'll catch a show that evening.

This promises to be a lazy summer of little boat rides. Kinda new for us!

Our anchored vessels across the river

Essex, like much of the north east coast, is big on its Revolutionary
patriotism. They build battleships here for the war, in fact. With
July 4th being just a few weeks away, everything is decorated
in red, white, and blue. Even the street divider is "in colors".

Mattituck to Old Saybrook, ball

Since we were rafted onto Highwind we needed to leave before them. It was quite calm when we woke, so we wasted no time to check engines and be on our way, right around 6 am. The winds prediction said today would be calm, so a good day to cross the sound to get to the north shore.

Calm inside the moorings. It doesn't read well
in the picture, but it's got little space to 
maneuver a vessel around in, say, getting to a ball.

Once we followed our track out of the twisty river (a little easier given a higher tide) we were met with rolling 1 footers on our quarter bow. As we crossed the sound the wind picked up, but we headed into it mostly. As a result, the closer we got to land the more calm the water became.

Highwind left after us, around 7:45. We received a text from them that once they hit the sound the water was 2-3 footers on their beam. I'm a total wimp on bad water -- so glad we left early.

This mooring field is crazy dense. They have tried to get as many balls in the area as they can. The current was really strong when we came in, nearly 2-3 knots against us. Add to that a very skinny depth (in places we had 2 feet beneath us), and that makes for an interesting mooring experience.

Port Wash -> Port Jeff -> Mattituck, anchor

Two days of travel and we mostly crossed the whole Long Island. 

June 9

We did about 4-5 hours Jun 9 to get to Port Jefferson. A bit windy but it was on our stern. We also has an outgoing tide to pull us along nicely.

The ferry is coming into Port Jefferson.
It crosses the sound, connecting Port Jeff
with Bridgeport, CT. Hourly. Seems busy
all the time, too.

We've been to Port Jefferson before, a couple times now. The town is quite cute and full of touristy eateries and shops. The Farmer's Market was still going on when we arrive, so we all checked it out first thing. Then we scooted to an escape room and played not just 1 but 2 rooms of theirs. Both were the most difficult they had. We escaped both in time, but the 2nd with only 7 seconds to spare.

Then we all grilled various proteins on Highwind's stern and enjoyed a lovely evening.

We escaped! Twice!

June 10

Up and out early today, though only for a 3 hour trip. The Highwind crew needed to start work at 11 am, so we all wanted to be anchored long before then. Not an issue for Russ and I much as we get up early.

Windy, but sunny and clear. 
Made for a good ride, all in all.

Very windy morning, but it remained from the west so the ride swishy but not uncomfortable.

Once at the inlet, we needed to snake up the river to get to the official anchorage. This was a fairly narrow, quite twisty, and at times a very skinny route -- brought back all the memories of the ICW and why we no longer enjoy doing that for a month, each way.

For some reason we believed this anchorage was larger. Comments about it said "room enough for 50 boats." Maybe they meant Jet Skis. Or kayaks. Rafted together, our two vessels take up most the room we can see here.

Sunset in Mattituck

Staten Island to Port Washington. ball

While in Staten Island we were able to visit NYC a couple of times. We saw 2 shows, Dungeons and Dragons, which included audience participation with our phones -- very clever -- as well as Back to the Future, the Musical. The music was period, so when the story was 1985, so was the style of music, and in 1955, very much 1955 sounding! Yep, it included a Delorian! Really well done.

Of course we ate out, went to a museum, and explored the city by subway. Gotta love getting around in New York.

We decided it was time to move towards Long Island Sound. Unlike past seasons we have no real agenda or goal this year. It's been things like "cruise all the rivers" or "get to Maine" or "do the Triangle Loop". This year it's "play on Long Island Sound", which is quite open ended. No real destination or time frame. So we'll wander for a bit until September, then start our way back to Baltimore.

Lots of commuting by bus between SI and NYC.

Dungeons and Dragons! Actors play roles
and the audience helps them. We vote and assist
by our phones.

We spent some time at the new Mercer Museum.
An amazing sound and light and tech experience.

We saw Back to the Future, a Musical.

Also, there was much subway travel.
Which I truly enjoy.

We rode the Staten Island Ferry and took this pic as we did.

Manhattan in the mist. Also the lady and a ferry.

The trip to Port Washington, while short (only 4 hours), always keeps us on our toes. First we needed to get under the Verrazano Bridge, which is the narrowest point getting into the New York Harbor, and stuffed with traffic big and small. We had to play "boat Frogger" crossing to the other side of the channel between a parade of container ships and freighters.

The next challenge it getting to and through Hell's Gate. If you don't time it right you can see currents up to 5 knots, and you don't want those against you. Moreover, you're dodging the constant flow of commuter ferries that cruise at 25 knots and zip across, or back and forth, or beside you.

The first of many lighthouses we'll
see on the sound.

But we timed the current, leaving Staten Island around 1 pm, and managed to keep out of everyone's way. All in all a good trip.