So with somewhat foggy heads, we get up the next day in Mystic. We have chores to do and Tom and Lisa generously agreed to chauffer us to grocery and marine stores. Tom and Lisa (our ages) retired a few years ago and have taken their boat to Florida and back three times. They will not this year because of family obligations. Tom works part time at the local West Marine store. For the uninitiated, West Marine is the candy store for boaters and you can always manage to find new things that you really, really need.

So we fritter away the morning at the boat and grocery store. It was great having Tom with me; almost like my own personal store attendant. A bonus was that the store agreed to honor the gift certificate that was given to me on retirement but was purchased in Canadian dollars.

We then were given a tour of Tom and Lisa's boat. Their Lagoon 38 is a catamaran built in France in 2003. While it too is a sail boat, catamarans are very different in many respects from what we call "monohulls" or boats like ours. They have two "pontoons" connected by a bridge deck. I'll spare all the jargon, but the main differences are that they are wide, spacious, airy and don't heel over. Tom and Lisa are justifiably proud of their boat and we can certainly understand why.

We frittered away the morning and while I had originally wanted to put on a few miles, we decided to stay put for another night. So, while Judy napped, I changed the oil in Sea Sharp. Diesel engines, like the one in Sea Sharp, are bullet proof if you treat them with a few fundamental maintenance priorities. They need clean fuel and they should have the oil changed regularly. The fuel thing can become an obsession with boaters as contaminated fuel can cause no end of trouble. At the advice of sage boater friends, I don't fill up directly from fuel docks but put the fuel in cans on deck. I then decant the fuel into the tank using what's called a "Baha" filter (generously provided by my buddy George - thanks George). It has very fine mesh screens to filter out water and junk.

Anyway, I degress.... I try to change the oil about every 100 hours and today was the day. It's one messy endeavour and it usually takes an hour or two from beginning to end and uses up at least one roll of paper towels but the engine appreciates it.

We go for a wonderful late afternoon walk on a neighbouring island at the end of which was a marvellous catholic monastery. Judy and I think of our families as we stroll on these pastoral grounds and silently count our blessings.

We go into town (Mystic) for another walk with Tom and Lisa. Mystic Seaport is a very large, non profit outfit whose goals are to preserve the heritage of boat building and life of the bygone era of wood and sails. We have a wonderful walk and then pick out a place for supper - Mystic Pizza of course. We dinghy back to our respective boats, Judy to bed and I return to Tom and Lisa's for more briefing about places to visit, etc. We very much appreciate their enthusiasm and want to share their experiences.

We have a bit of a plan for the next couple of days and need to play the tides and currents up Long Island Sound in order to arrive in New York City in a couple of days.