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