East Haddam, CT

We ventured out for a walk near our Old Lyme dock first thing on Tuesday, September 8. Walking up the hill we could see the graceful home of the owner of the two Excellence yachts. The setting, overlooking the river, was magnificent and the grounds were decorated with some quirky animal statues of horses and bears.

We also revisited the coastal boardwalk, another lovely feature of the area.

After a leisurely morning we took off for a quick pump out and headed up the river. It was a glorious day. The Connecticut River is really beautiful with lots of undeveloped green space, attractive homes and charming historic towns.

Turning east we explored Selden Creek, a very narrow tributary, where we dropped anchor to have lunch. It was so peaceful and serene that we stayed for a couple of hours just reading and relaxing.

From there we resumed our cruise passing Essex on the west. We’ll stop there on the way back - a beautiful, not to be missed town.

We cruised past Gillette Castle, a very unusual home that we’ve visited in the past and is well worth another visit sometime.

Heading towards the Gelston House (“the room where it happened”), we wanted to visit the site of our wedding 34 years ago. This scenic, historic building is in East Haddam and next door to the Goodspeed Opera House. Goodspeed, of the same era, is a theatre where many plays open before they make their way to Broadway. We read that they had a dock so Lynn called to see if we could tie up there. The woman she spoke with said that the dock was only for season ticket holders but it was currently not being used.  “You didn’t hear it from me” clearly indicated that we could dock there. And so we did (despite the many signs that said No Docking Due to Covid)!  The site is also just south of a swing bridge that traverses the river. It was a “no brainer” that we would have dinner at the Gelston House that night since they were serving on their large patio.

We had a very pleasant dinner reliving the details of our lovely wedding.  Their servings were so large that we had enough leftovers for another meal.  It was a beautiful trip down memory lane!

Old Lyme, CT

After two weeks at our Thimble Island mooring, we awoke to a stunning sunrise on Monday, Sept. 7 - Labor Day.

We finally had to disengage ourselves from this scenic spot. But first Jonny had to remove the pennant from the mooring ball and return it to its owner, Ted, who met him at the Stony Creek dock.  After a quick lunch, we left our beautiful spot at 1:30.

We headed out onto Long Island Sound bound for Old Lyme at the mouth of the Connecticut River. It was a gloriously sunny and clear day, cool enough to wear an extra shirt. Our plan was to arrive at the Old Lyme Dock around five. Their fuel was the best price around and we learned that if we filled our tanks (which we needed to do) we could stay the night for a small charge.  There were remarkably few boats on the Sound considering it was a holiday.

That changed as we approached the mouth of the Connecticut River. Besides the lovely lighthouses, we were “greeted” by the sight of a huge super yacht named Excellence. 

We looked it up online and discovered that it was 275 feet long and owned by a gentleman who made his billions by owning 18 car dealerships in Boston. He lived in Old Lyme and commuted by helicopter weekly to his office in Boston. And he owned several mega yachts, all of which were named Excellence. Apparently he read In Search of Excellence early in his career and figured if he named his yachts that, his boat captains would adopt that philosophy in their care of them!

As we entered the mouth of the river, boat traffic increased significantly as all the speed boats and pleasure boats returned for the day. They zipped by us as we plowed up the river. We arrived at the Old Lyme Dock early and the first thing we saw was another huge yacht docked there, also called Excellence. 

And as we watched, a helicopter was taking off from the lawn behind the dock house.  Clearly, this was the owner of these yachts returning to work for the week! 

After hovering for a bit waiting for some boats to fuel up, we approached the dock where we were guided into a very protected slip behind Excellence where we took care of our fuel and water needs.  We were one of only three boats there, a wonderful place to stay and plug in after having been on a mooring for two weeks. We learned from the dockhand that Herb Chambers, the owner of these yachts, lived up the hill and has been leasing the fuel dock to the dockhand’s dad (and fellow UConn grad) for many years.

That evening, after dinner, we took a walk and discovered a wonderful boardwalk that extended along the coast all the way to the main railroad bridge that crosses the river. People were fishing and crabbing along the bridges in this beautiful setting.

That evening, in the shadow of our illuminated neighbor, we had a blissfully calm night’s sleep absent the rocking and rolling of previous nights.

Stony Creek, CT

The longest time we’ve spent in one place this visit has been in the Thimble Islands in Stony Creek, CT.  On Tuesday, August 25 we left the Branford Yacht Club in windy weather at noon.  It was a harrowing exit as we almost hit a neighboring vessel due to wind and currents, but quick action on the part of our captain helped us to avoid a more unpleasant departure. The short one hour cruise had us arriving at the mooring ball of our friend, Ted Graves, in the middle of the gorgeous Thimble Islands, a grouping of over 100 rocky outcroppings off the coast of Stony Creek, a tiny village that is a part of Branford, CT. This would be our base of operations for the next ten days as we visited with friends and family.

We realized upon arriving in the Thimbles that with all the hustle in leaving the yacht club we had forgotten to refill our water tanks and get a pump out. So the next day we returned to the yacht club to get those essentials taken care of.  We also picked up a rental car so we would have wheels for all of our upcoming visits.  The first of those was to see Lynn’s next door neighbor from when she grew up in Fairfield.  Jody and her husband Robert live near Fairfield Beach and invited us for dinner. Lynn hadn’t seen Jody in many years and was very excited to visit.  We had a wonderful time catching up with them in their lovely back yard with a view of coastal marshes. The years evaporated as we shared stories and experiences about our lives and families.

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On Thursday, we had lunch plans to meet Lynn’s high school friend, Susan Frenkel, for lunch in New Haven. We sat outside on the deck of a local seafood restaurant and had a fine time chatting. Susan and her partner live in Sandy Hook and have a home in Marco Island , FL. They had planned to visit us in Miami over the winter but Covid interfered with that this year. 

We had noticed that our rental car had a smoky smell and decided to trade it for a cleaner one. So on the way back to Zendo we stopped to do that and they upgraded us to a very nice new Subaru.  Later that afternoon we took it to nearby Hamden to Jonny’s cousins Michael and Debbie. It was Debbie’s birthday and Michael’s brother Robbie (a frequent visitor aboard Zendo) was coming down from Maine and would meet us there.  On the way there, the weather started to deteriorate rapidly. About a mile away from their home, weather alerts started blasting over the radio and our phones including tornado warnings for the immediate vicinity. We were warned to take cover away from trees.  But we were in the very leafy town of Hamden and there was no place to go. Being so close to our destination, Jonny continued on and turned into Michael’s street. By then the rain was coming down so hard it was impossible to see. He thought he turned into Michael’s driveway but wasn’t sure. We decided to just sit in the stopped car until the rain let up a bit, but just then WHAM a huge tree limb crashed down on our car smashing the windshield in front of our eyes and enveloping the car.

We were stunned but unhurt. As the homeowner rushed out to see the damage in his yard we realized we were directly across the street from Michael’s house! If we had turned left instead of right, we would have been saved. But instead, we crawled out of the car to survey the damage. In addition to the shattered windshield there was a little damage to the hood and quarter panel.  By this time Michael and Debbie were there and we proceeded to call Enterprise to figure out what to do. As soon as the rain stopped, Michael got out his trusty chainsaw and helped his neighbor cut up the tree while we waited for the tow truck to come.

Eventually, Robbie also arrived. He was waylaid as well due to fallen trees blocking many roads in Hamden and nearby towns. It turned out that a tornado had touched down in nearby Sleeping Giant Park and made its way south all the way to Branford. Susan was calling Lynn to see if Zendo was safe because the damage from the tornado was all over the news.

We managed to rally and proceeded to celebrate Debbie’s birthday with pizza and ice cream cake. Fortunately we were prepared to stay overnight at Michael and Debbie’s. The next day the three guys went fishing and actually caught over a dozen fish, bluefish and porgies.

Meanwhile Debbie drove Lynn to Enterprise to get the third car of this trip. Driving through Branford to Stony Creek was crazy as there were so many trees down everywhere. This beautiful part of the world had taken quite a hit but fortunately we didn’t see any damaged homes and Zendo was unharmed.  Later that day, Jonny brought Robbie aboard Zendo for a nice uneventful overnight stay. Lynn made a delicious dinner of pasta with a savory sauce of tomatoes and sardines.

Saturday night found us back at Michael and Debbie’s where we relaxed in their verdant back yard with its huge vegetable and flower gardens.

But most uniquely, we were entertained by a flock of chickens and a fellow rooster who clearly ruled the roost! We were amazed to see them actually freeze in place as a hawk soared overhead.  Later we enjoyed the fruits of the guys’ fishing expedition with a great bluefish dinner.

We’d been having some problems with our dinghy and Jonny had ordered a new carburetor because neither he nor the marine mechanics at the Thimble Island outboard shop could repair it.  That night as we took the dinghy back to Zendo, it finally gave out completely and Jonny got to row us back to Zendo. Now we were dependent on either taking the available launch or rowing back and forth to shore until the new carburetor arrived.

Sunday was the start of our road trip. We headed north to Waterbury to visit Lynn’s 100 year old Aunt Lillian and her 102 year old husband Robert. They still live in their family home and we had a short but lovely visit with them. They are still sharp and though they have some health issues and an aide who stays with them, they are as engaged and loving as ever and thankfully surrounded by many family and friends.

From there we headed further north to Vermont to visit Peter and Paula in South Londonderry near Stratton Mountain, the big ski resort.  Peter and Paula have a second home there and have been urging us to visit. Lynn has known Peter since fifth grade and all four of us went to UConn together. It was so beautiful driving through the Vermont countryside.   Their home is very comfortable and perfectly situated in the woods, with wonderful hiking trails just outside their door, great kayaking and canoeing nearby, and of course access to wonderful skiing. We stayed for three nights and had the best time. It was a real treat to be in such a different environment from our usual coastal living.

On Monday night we drove into Manchester where we met another of Lynn (and Peter’s) childhood friends, Michael and his partner Melina.  Readers of this blog may remember them as friends visited during previous cruises in Burlington and Maine.  We had a fun dinner at an outdoor Mexican restaurant.

We returned to Zendo on Wednesday, stopping to replenish our refrigerator which we had to empty because we were away for three days without power.  We had a relaxing evening sleeping in our own bed.

On Thursday we checked to see if the carburetor had arrived as planned but it hadn’t. Hopefully it would arrive soon. Keeping with our full schedule, we were supposed to meet Lynn’s cousin Sally for dinner on Thursday night. Sally lives in nearby Woodbridge but works in Danbury (not so close). Unfortunately, she had car trouble and had to cancel. We consoled ourselves with a visit to the Thimble Island Brewing Company where we enjoyed some of their local IPAs. Jonny was happy!

Friday was a very quiet day doing boat chores, paddling, reading  and relaxing.   We thought we might be able to reschedule with Sally but that didn’t work out so we’ll catch her on our return visit.  

Jonny checked again on the carburetor and discovered that it was on indefinite delay due to supply issues with Covid. He checked with Thimble Outboard to see if there were any used outboards available but there were none. He then checked Craig’s List and found a couple, one of which we were able to snag and we drove to Milford it to purchase it the next day,.  Jonny was very happy with his two year old Yamaha 6 hp outboard complete with the remaining warranty. 

On Saturday we resumed our social activities welcoming another of Lynn’s hometown buddies onboard.  Billy and Lisa, who live in Fairfield, joined us for lunch. Lynn made some new recipes including a pasta salad made with marinated local heirloom tomatoes and a watermelon, tomato and feta salad.  Both were hits.  Billy and Lisa brought great homemade breads and dessert. 

We took one of the local cruise boats for a tour of the Thimble Islands which provided another look at this interesting and beautiful area. Afterwards we walked them back to their car through this beautiful village. We had a great visit with Billy and Lisa and are so glad they were able to come aboard.

That night as the wind picked up we had one of the most uncomfortable nights we ever had on Zendo. The boat rocked back and forth and sideways throughout the night due to the two foot seas. We didn’t sleep much, fitfully at best, and we’re glad we didn’t have any guests aboard. 

Sunday shone brightly and the waters were much calmer. It’s a good thing because it was to be another day with visitors.  Michael and Debbie were finally able to come onboard for a Sunday afternoon dinner.  Jonny, who loves Debbie’s gazpacho recipe, asked her to bring some.   Lynn made her mother’s delicious potato salad and a tossed salad and Jonny prepared cod with chimichurri sauce. We had a lovely time on the aft deck on a beautiful clear September day.

The next day we would leave the stunning Thimble Islands to continue our cruise up the coast of Connecticut.