07/29/2009, Port Jefferson NY
Continuing south, fun along the way
West Neck Harbor turned out to be a great stop for us. We were anchored about 200 yards from a peninsula with beaches on both sides . We collected shells and the boys snorkeled. They found several crabs which we brought to the boat in sand buckets. We ended up keeping the crabs for a couple of days and releasing them. Nathan's crab was beating up the other 2 crabs... sounds sort of familiar. J This made for hours of entertainment.
We left West Neck Harbor bound for Port Jefferson. They were only forecasting 5-10 knots of wind. There was a glob of storms far away and moving slowly. About half way to Port Jefferson the skies darkened and we donned our foul weather gear.... The storm was coming our direction and faster than predicted. With no where to hole up to wait it out, we decided to bring in the main sail. We were already sailing at 8knots... so with storms coming, more wind was coming. As it turned out, the storm headed northest and missed us entirely. Whew.
The highlight of this passage was the numerous Bluefish we caught. We only kept 2, but it seemed like every time the boys dropped the line in, they got a fish on the line. It doesn't seem to matter how many fish are caught, they never seem to tire of it. The biggest fish we caught was 27 inches...
We were thankful for the winds and made it to port about 6pm. Shortly after we finished dinner, the thunder and lightening began. Man are we ever glad to be in safe harbor tonight.
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07/27/2009, Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island
Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island
We got off the dock at Mystic Seaport around noon on Friday. About 10 miles out, the current was against us and the wind completely died. We had planned to sail all the way to Shelter Island, however, at 2-3 knots, it would be midnight before we would arrive. We decided to drop the anchor near Fisher Island and wait for the wind the following day. We had pretty good thunderstorms during the night, there was even a strike right on shore. The storm seemed to pass pretty quickly.
Nathan, Seth, and I pulled up the anchor around 9am and we made it to Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island around 2pm. It was a pretty warm day and within 15 minutes of dropping the anchor, the boys were swimming around the boat. There was some jellyfish in the area but they were the non-stinging type. J The boys had a good time trying to net them.
This morning we went to shore and did some swimming in the marina pool. The boys enjoyed getting to use their goggles and snorkels. Aaron is starting to really pick up on the swimming. We will be heading out shortly as there is a 48 hour anchor limit in this harbor. We will head to the other side of the island to anchor in West Neck Harbor.
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07/23/2009, Mystic, Conn.
Mystic Seaport Museum
After a night of rolling inside Point Judith breakwater, we made our way to Mystic Seaport, CT. It was a beautiful day ,and we made good time. This area is gorgeous with all the islands and different lighthouses.
Mystic Seaport has been on Ben's list of places to see for some time. It's an 18th century seaport village set up with people in period costumes, doing things like running a blacksmith's shop, fixing sails, hoisting anchors on an old fishing schooner. It was really cool. We are at the dock here for 2 nights. Its pretty neat because we are literally docked inside the museum. They have all kinds of activities for kids... they made wooden boats today, furled an old sail (normally 60 ft up -- but in this case only 2 inches off the ground), and had to decipher signal flags. One of their favorite parts was playing an old game called skittles. Who needs video games?
We toured the last wooden whaler from that time, the Charles W. Morgan. We learned all about whaling. I, of course, felt a little sad for the whales. J We watched sail and anchor exercises on an old wooden schooner. We saw a Cooper making barrels, a blacksmith making ship parts the old fashioned way, and got to hammer Oakum between wood planks to seal them. We got to try out a sextant and a quadrant which were used to figure your position before there was GPS.
I have a new favorite word I learned in Mystic Seaport. Anyone ever heard of baggy wrinkle? Well, they used to use it to protect the sails from getting chafed or wearing through. It looks like a whole bunch of fluffy string that is wrapped around a wire or object where a sail may chafe.
There is more exploring to be done. I don't think we will get to see everything, even in docking for 2 nights. We would all highly recommend visiting this museum.
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07/20/2009, Jamestown, RI
We are once again anchored off Jamestown after spending 2 nights on a mooring in Newport, RI. Newport has some memories for us .... It's where Ben and Micah weathered hurricane Noel aboard Providence almost 2 years ago... it's where the boys and I got on board to begin our journey in November 07. At the time, it was getting pretty cold and we were in a big hurry to get south... this time, we really enjoyed spending some time in Newport. The highlights were sitting on the boat watching all the boats going in and out, walking up and down the main drag along the waterfront, playing at the arcade, Starbucks, and skipping rocks near the dinghy dock. We also visited this little shop called Resails. What a cool idea. They took used sails and made clothing, duffle bags, backpacks, and hats.. all made out of old sails. The boys wanted to buy this "ginormous" bean bag chair. The boys and I picked out a hat for Ben made of Kevlar sails. (His birthday was yesterday!)
We decided after paying for 2 nights mooring, we decided to come back south to Jamestown. We headed out about noon on Saturday. I am not sure if Ben planned this or not, but it just so happened that as we were leaving Newport, a sailboat race was just beginning. These massive, racing sailboats were getting ready to begin their race and were tacking back and forth. The boats must have been over 100 feet long and 20-30 crew members. We had fun pretending we were racing them. J Boy could they move through the water. It gave Ben a chance to refresh his memory on what the rules of sailing are... who has the right of way when 2 boats are heading in the same direction, especially when the other one is a lot bigger? We thought we were going fast at 7 knots, until the racing sailboats blew past us. Wow. What fun. After we turned the corner and the wind was on our beam, Nathan marked our speed at 9.3 knots. It was exhilarating.
We have been in Jamestown 2 nights now and will head out tomorrow. Ben and the boys went to the beach yesterday and they want to go again one more time. This morning we explored an island with what appears to be an old military base. We will be heading into the library shortly to see if we can find out more about it.
Tomorrow, we will be heading south . We hoping to visit Mystic Seaport sometime this week. Our plan is be back on Sassfras River by the weekend of August 15. Where has this summer gone?
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07/14/2009, Jamestown, RI
Jamestown RI
I am happy to report that soon after my last blog, the winds died right down and we all slept through the night. This morning we awoke to a calm anchorage and bright sunshine. We decided to go ahead and drop the dinghy in the water and take the boys to the beach. They had a blast body surfing in the waves and building a sandcastle.... Going to a beach with big waves was their one request for the summer. We got back to the boat for a late lunch and a check on weather. Since they were forecasting higher winder later in the afternoon and through the night we decided our stop in Block Island had come to an end. Block Island seems to be a place that you want to visit in settled weather!
We set our sails for Jamestown RI, not to far from Newport. We had good winds from behind us, which made for a smooth, quick sail. The boys caught 2 more Blue Fish. One was 27 inches (our biggest yet this trip) and the other was 20 inches. They don't seem to get tired of fishing.
We are planning to spend a few days here ... it is a beautiful spot and we have heard there is quite a bit to do. We would also like to hit Newport before we head south again... probably by the end of the week.
Tomorrow morning we will head into town and try to find wifi and a place to do laundry. Hard to believe we are already down to a month. Time is flying by. Will report in again later.
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