Milford, CT

On Sunday, July 3 we left City Island to head up to Long Island Sound cruising along the Connecticut shore.  The weather was cool enough to wear a sweatshirt and the skies were overcast but the Sound was calm and we had an uneventful passage. 

We are in our original home territory, both of us having grown up in Connecticut. We were looking forward to our stop in Milford because it was only last year that we had discovered what a great town it is to visit by water.  There are a couple of very comfortable marinas in the long, winding harbor that leads to the center of Milford. This year we chose to stay at the Milford Town Dock known as Milford Landing which is located all the way into the harbor. These are not the typical town docks that are usually quite small and with limited resources as this one has several piers and adequate laundry and bathroom facilities.  We arrived by there 2 pm. The docks were quite full and continued to fill up with holiday revelers.  The docks are adjacent to a shady park with an ice cream shop in the middle of it. 

Later that day Jonny’s cousins Steven, Anne and Abby came by and we began our weekend celebration together with champagne and apps.

Then we walked over to a nearby tapas restaurant called Bistro Basque where we shared a large array of delicious tapas and had ourselves a gay old time. We didn’t get back to Zendo until almost midnight!

The next day we were invited to Abby’s new home for a July 4 cook-out. I was tasked with making dessert so I decided to make homemade brownies and bring a watermelon.  We had just installed a new microwave convection oven and I put the brownies in to bake and bake and bake.  They were not baking properly and I tried to look up what I might have been doing wrong in the online user’s guide to no avail.  Finally, I took them out and decided that we would have ice cream with brownie crumbles instead.  As it turned out I learned that I have to elevate the pan or dish on a rack when using the convection oven for baking.  Live and learn!

In the meantime, Jonny took Archie out on the paddle board.  They attracted a lot of attention and had a lot of fun!

Steve came by to pick us up and bring us to the grocery and liquor stores which is always very helpful. From there we went to his and Anne’s home in Stratford where she was cooking up a storm.  They have the most beautiful garden in their very deep backyard. The hydrangeas were in full bloom and every nook and cranny of the garden was filled with lovely surprises.

We headed over to Abby’s by mid-afternoon and had a great time snacking and swimming and enjoying dinner in her huge and lovely backyard.  We got to visit with her husband Rich as well but his health is not good these days and he was only able to join us for dinner.  Archie was in heaven because he had a whole big backyard to run around in.  He even went for a swim with us in the pool!

By the time we got back to Zendo it was late and we tumbled into bed after an intensive two days of partying!

City Island, NY

July 1 turned out to be a fairly exciting day for us. That is not always a good thing when one lives and travels on a boat. Here’s what happened. The day started off great as we got a 7 a.m. start leaving Sheepshead Bay bound for City Island.  We cruised up the East River passing all the iconic NY landmarks.  This route never gets old!

However, Jonny was alerted by the bilge pump going on with alarming regularity - every 30 seconds! He went below to check and saw that the bilge was filling up with water but luckily the pump was keeping up.  He kept going below to check and the bilge continued to fill with water. Jonny manually operated the pump and used the shop vac to empty the water but still the bilge continued to fill with water.  He was concerned that we had a leak in our shaft seal, but we were in the fast moving East River which was moving at full food stage at 5.5 knots and we couldn’t stop. As we went through Hell Gate our speeds reached a rousing 12.1 knots!

Fortunately, the bilge pump kept up. As we got abreast of Rikers Island, the pump stopped cycling which we also did not understand. Jonny had already called a boatyard on City Island to explain our problem and they fortunately agreed to take us in right away.

We arrived at the Consolidated Boatyard on City Island.  Alex, the young yard manager was great.  He and Jonny, working together, considered the situation and concluded the problem was that our freshwater tanks were leaking and draining and there wasn’t an issue with the shaft seal.  They then spent the next hour troubleshooting the fresh water system and found that the washdown spigot on the foredeck had failed resulting in all 150 gallons of fresh water draining from both water tanks into the bilge. Fortunately, Alex was able to find the right fitting to fix it and within a couple more hours we were ship shape again.  What a relief!  If it had been the shaft seal it would have required a haul out and extensive delays.  We dodged a bullet this time!

Alex offered us to stay overnight in his gritty boatyard which we happily took him up on since the Harlem Yacht Club had finally responded to our many calls saying that they had no room for us anyway. So we gratefully settled in and walked Archie up and down City Island’s single funky main drag.

It turned out that Alex’s family owns a local restaurant called Black Whale and he encouraged us to come by for a drink and dinner.  We took him up on his offer later that evening and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Alex was there and he introduced us to his parents and pretty girlfriend, Luna, who is a server there.  Later in the evening Alex came by and sat with us and we chatted some more. He’s a very engaging and motivated young man. He seemed to know everybody and we found him to be very responsive and interesting.

The next day we decided to just stay put in our slip at Consolidated and not bother trying to move to Harlem Yacht Club. Our major goal for the day was to go the Bronx’s little Italy on Arthur Avenue which we had visited on a previous visit.  We took Archie on his first bus ride and spent the next few hours traipsing from one incredible Italian specialty shop to another buying ravioli, sausages, cheese, salami and more.

I found a perfect birthday present for my sister ands we had lunch at the terrific Michelin starred restaurant called Zero Otto Nove (Naples’area code).  Archie was a model canine citizen in his diabetes service dog vest. We were proud of him!

We got back to Zendo by 3:00 and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading.  After feeding Archie we walked back to the Black Whale to have a drink - the Negroni is one of their specialties.  We ended up sitting outside next to Jim, the police officer we met during last year’s visit.  We chatted for quite a while with him and the friend he was with. For those who have been reading our blog you may recall that last year Jim had shown us a local park where the dogs can run free, He had also shown us his boat and marina and that was where we brought Zendo last year to avoid the hurricane that came all the way up the east coast.  Of course Alex came by the restaurant and his girlfriend Luna was there as well.  This is what we love about City Island. We’re starting to feel like we have a lot of friends here!

Heading back to Zendo, we had a good dinner of the salads we had  purchased a few days ago from the fish market in Cape May.  Tomorrow we’ll resume our journey and head up to Milford, CT for the 4th of July.

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY

We’ve been getting early starts each morning to continue taking advantage of calm morning seas. On Thursday, July 30 we continued to follow that pattern by leaving our Glimmer Glass anchorage in Manasquan at 7:30. It was a beautiful calm day with clear skies and very comfortable temperatures.  There was not a lot of boat traffic but it started to increase as we approached New York City.

We passed some large ships including one that looked like a tall ship.

We arrived at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club in Brooklyn by 12:15 and took a mooring ball among a lot of sailboats and fishing boats. The launch brought us into shore so we could walk Archie.

This is not an attractive area - it is quite urban and gritty.  But as we walked along the main drag we came to a park next to an empty beach which was a very nice surprise. Archie was able to run and frolic off leash and he was one happy guy!

We had debated the idea of taking public transportation into Brooklyn to visit the Brooklyn Museum of Art but by the time we finished walking Archie it was too late in the day.

Back at Zendo Jonny replaced two of the lights on the aft deck and discovered to his dismay that his power drill was missing.  He searched everywhere to no avail and thought that it was either stolen or taken by mistake by the workers at Spencer Yachts where we had work done on Zendo over the winter.  He was very frustrated and he called Spencer Yachts who immediately offered to replace it for him.

We had been looking for places to keep Zendo when we go to Seattle in September for an MTOA sponsored cruise to the San Juan Islands.  We contacted some of the port captains in the CT-RI-MA area to see if they had any recommendations.  Joe Apicella, who we know from MTOA offered us the use  his mooring ball outside his home in Falmouth. He and his wife Pat are also going on the Seattle cruise. Additionally he urged us to leave Zendo there for another short trip we’ll be making in July.  What a great solution to our challenge. Thanks Joe and Pat!

That evening I made a pasta dinner with scallops and broccoli  and afterwards we took Archie for another walk.  This time we headed down the main drag in the opposite direction and found ourselves walking along the Sheepshead Bay waterfront. Many people of all types of ethnic backgrounds were enjoying the lovely summer evening. We saw several Ukrainian flags flying and heard accents from around the world.

Although this is not our favorite stop in New York, it is convenient and affordable.  The next day we’ll be heading up the East River past Manhattan towards City Island which is one of our favorite NY stops. 

Manasquan, NJ

We wanted to get an early start again on Wednesday, June 29 to take advantage of calmer seas earlier in the day.  As I prepared lunch in advance and readied the boat for our cruise, Jonny took Archie into shore. We pulled up anchor by 7 a.m and headed out for a long day of cruising up the New Jersey coast.

It was a nice day with sunny skies and relatively calm seas as we made our way to one of our favorite anchorages.  We arrived at Glimmer Glass in Manasquan at 3:10.  There’s a narrow inlet with a drawbridge that we had to wait to open to enter the inlet.  This is always a very calm anchorage and we were the only vessel anchored there. There is parkland on one side and closely packed homes on the other with scores of boats docked in front of them.

We’ve anchored here many times but this was the first time with Archie,  so we took him in the dinghy to a little beach near a park and pulled the dinghy up onto the sand and tied up. We then walked a few blocks into town passing by streets of lovely homes with manicured lawns and gardens.

We were delighted to find that the center of tiny Manasquan has a lovely town center with lots of interesting shops.  We strolled up and down Main Street and stopped at an Italian specialty shop.  We were like kids in a candy store trying to decide what to buy.  We left with orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe, roasted tomatoes and a side dish of sautéed broccoli rabe with garlic.  We also stopped at the local CVS on the way back to the dinghy - our backpack was bulging!

Jonny then took us for a dinghy ride through the winding canals of Manasquan. So many houses and even more boats.  It was actually pretty cool.

Back on Zendo, Jonny grilled lamb chops and we had the delicious goodies we had purchased at the Italian market for dinner.  What a feast!  After one more quick trip on land for Archie, we settled in and watched the first half of La La Land, trying to stay awake. The next day would be another early one so we went to bed before too long.

Brigantine, NJ

We had a busy morning on Tuesday, July 28 which worked out well because we didn’t want to start traveling until the wind died down a little.  Jonny took Archie in to shore and headed to our favorite fish market next to the Lobster House.  In the meantime, I had my weekly Spanish lesson with my tutor. I’m really enjoying my lessons with Eliana and I’m definitely improving my language skills.

Jonny returned from the market with a lot of goodies - fresh hake, lobster chowder, shrimp, potato salad and cole slaw. We will feast tonight and for the next couple of days!

We pulled up anchor at 11:10 and headed out onto the Atlantic to sail up the coast of New Jersey. Our goal was to get to a favorite anchorage in Brigantine, next door to Atlantic City. We loaded Archie up with two doses of his CBD biscuits just in case.  We have to grind them up with cream cheese to get him to eat them.

On our way out of the harbor we passed a cat boat similar to the one we used to own which ironically was an Atlantic City cat boat!

It was a cool day and the seas were somewhat rolly out on the ocean, but not terrible.  We watched the dramatic testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson providing damaging testimony about Trump’s behavior on and around January 6.  What a brave young woman! Her life won’t be the same after this.

Two of the boats that had been docked next to us in Delaware City cruised by us and Jonny contacted them to say hello. They left Delaware City today and made it all the way to Atlantic City whereas it took us two day to cover the same “ground”. They obviously travel a bit faster than our 7 knots!

By 4:30 we wound our way through the narrow and shallow entrance to our anchorage passing by a lovely beach.  This year we were the only boat anchored in this pleasant spot. The Atlantic City skyline was was part of our view.

We found an empty lot where a new home was under construction and we tied up the dinghy in that makeshift spot.  Climbing onto land we found that we were in a neighborhood of waterfront houses that were also located on a very busy four lane street.  We carefully walked along the side of the road seeking any grass where Archie could relieve himself.  This is a very developed area with what looks like mostly newish single and multi-family homes.  We walked up to the Dollar Store where I bought a couple of dish towels and then headed back to Zendo.  If it wasn’t for Archie we probably wouldn’t have ventured on land here.

Back on Zendo Jonny grilled the hake which was delicious and we had it with the potato salad and cole slaw - a very satisfying dinner.  Jonny spent time trying to help his brother get their mom’s phone to work.  Tomorrow we continue our journey up the New Jersey coast.

Cape May, NJ

On Monday, June 27 we had a leisurely morning because we were waiting to see if the weather on the Delaware Bay was safe enough to travel. After walking Archie and doing some cleaning, We decided to chance it and shoved off at 11:10.  The weather was quite overcast and rain was predicted. But the wind and wave heights were expected to be favorable enough to travel safely.  The only thing that we would have to be aware of was the possibility of thunderstorms.  

We knew it would be a long day and we were prepared but poor Archie was not. He was not a happy camper even though we had given him his CBD chewy.  He wanted to be held almost the whole time - seven hours!

The rain held off until we were about an hour and a half away from Cape May and then it came down hard!  We were able to stay on the fly bridge though.  There was a very heavy line of thunderstorms that stayed to the east of us which was very fortunate!

Luckily the rain stopped as we approached the canal that leads to Cape May and we reached our anchorage there at 6:35.

 Jonny took Archie in the dinghy to a nearby landing area for which Archie was very grateful!  They checked out the nearby seafood market but it wasn’t as good as the one run by the Lobster House which we plan to go to tomorrow.

While they were gone I prepared a dinner of salmon and sautéed vegetables. By the time they returned and we sat down to eat it was almost 8:30.  It felt like a long day and tomorrow we’ll continue our journey up the coast of New Jersey to Atlantic City.