We had a little trouble finding an affordable marina or mooring along the SE Connecticut coast. We were looking for a place to stay close to Fairfield because my sister, Lisa, was in our hometown staying with friends and we wanted to be close by. We found an excellent solution at the Milford Boat Works that was located deep in a long boat-filled harbor just a couple of towns up from Fairfield.
This proved to be a perfect place to stay. The owner is vey friendly and accommodating, the docks are in great shape, it’s a short walk into the center of town and the laundry is free!
Although we are both from Connecticut, neither of us was very familiar with Milford other than passing through on the Post Rd. (US1) or on 95, the main highway. What we discovered was a very lovely and historic town with a beautiful green running through the old town center. And our marina was just a couple of blocks away!
Lisa arrived promptly at 4:00 and what a wonderful reunion we had after not seeing each other for over a year and a half due to Covid! This was also the first time that Lisa met Archie and they were both very excited to meet each other! Archie fell in love with her right away!
A little later, Lisa’s friends Jane, Michael and Dara came by for drinks and appetizers. Lisa has known them since childhood. Jane and Michael live in Fairfield and Dara visits each year from her home in Paris.
We all walked up into town and had burgers at Archie Moore’s, a popular restaurant chain in the area. On the way back some of us indulged in some ice cream at the stand just a few hundred yards from our boat.
Lisa stayed on board with us for two nights - a first for her. She was happily ensconced in the V berth and when Archie discovered her whereabouts, he snuggled up with her every morning.
On Tuesday morning we took Archie for a long walk on the Milford Green.
Jonny kept busy with numerous boat repairs (changing out the bilge pump and pumping water from the bilge as we now have a leak in our water tank). Lisa wanted me to see Jane and Michael’s cool home in Fairfield so we took off and left Jonny with the laundry to finish as well as his regular list of chores. We then undertook a hunt for a new small shop vac for the boat without success. By the time we returned to Zendo, the boat repairs and the laundry were completed. What a great husband!
That evening, our cousin Sally, who lives in Woodbridge came on board for cocktails. We hadn’t seen her since last summer when we were in the Thimble Islands. We walked up to a little hole in the wall restaurant called Seven Seas to have lobster rolls. They were delicious albeit quite expensive ($30). Apparently this is due to limited supply, high demand and the reopening of the economy.
The next day was a lazier one. After walking Archie together and just hanging out, Lisa left in the afternoon because she had an event that evening where a number of her friends from elementary school were getting together at a local brew pub. She was very excited to see everyone. We had a great visit with her and hope to see her again next week when she returns from a road trip to Maine.
In the evening we were joined by Jonny’s cousin Michael and his wife Debbie who live in nearby Hamden. For those who have followed this blog in the past you may recall hearing about them as the people we were visiting when the tree fell on our rental car during a big storm last year. After a quick drink onboard Zendo, we walked back into town to eat at yet another good restaurant called Bistro Basque.
We sat outside in their charming patio area and practiced our Spanish with the very engaging owner who was taken by the fact that Michael’s daughter Aviva lives in Spain and his nephew by marriage is from the Basque region. We had fabulous tapas and good wine and a very fun time! We’ll see more of Michael and Debbie at our next stop in the Thimble Islands where we are headed the next day.
We will definitely return to this very comfortable marina, whose lawn is graced by this magnificent tree, on future visits to the area.
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