An Easy Day
08 September 2008
A very quiet night at Stonington. We're definitely getting into the cruising mode; I was up at 6:00 but guess what? Judy was up about 20 minutes later (after I fixed her coffee of course). We relaxed and left around 8:00, destination Rockland. A very easy 20 or so miles; Judy primarily at the wheel with Mike navigating. It was very clear and pleasant but we went through a couple of very complex passages with many, may buoys, rocks, lobster pots, fishing vessels and other stuff. Got to Rockland Harbour about 11:30 under brilliant skies. On our way in the famed Camden Schooners left taking their passengers on day and week adventures; quite a sight.
We came in to a marina, took on fuel and frigged around deciding whether to take a mooring or dock space. Moorings (a rope or chain leading from a very heavy weight on the bottom to a floating mooring ball) cost about 25 to 30 US a night; dock space is at least 2.00 a foot which for our boat is 74.00, often with power over and above. Ultimately we went to a marina and tied up behind a 120 foot Mega Yacht (hopefuly the picture will show the contrast with Sea Sharp). We were intrigued who owned it; I asked at the Marina office; they feigned ignorance. Judy outright asked one of the young paid crew and he said that it was not a movie star but he could not disclose. Anyway, we're sharing the same dock, water, air and ambiance so I guess we're millionaires too.
Just to give you a bit of perspective, this yacht is 120 feet long, probably 24 feet wide with at least three decks. I would estimate that it's probably 10 million and would cost a million a year to operate.
We did provisions this afternoon, had a great supper, in the shadow of Serendipity II, our Mega-yacht neighbour and are shutting down. Tomorrow forecasts boisterous winds and seas so we'll see what we want to do.
A bit of a post script; Chopin loves our boat but he also loves to explore other boats and on our frequent raft-ups with our friends from FYC, he loves to roam around their boats; favouring those with lots of cubbyholes and male smells. Well, we were having supper and Chopin snuck off Sea Sharp, heading towards the mega-yacht. I'm sure we'd never have found him again - he has two-foot-it is very bad.