Greenport, NY

On Wednesday, July 6 we were bound for the MTOA Rendezvous in Greenport, NY.  We took a lovely walk along the boardwalk in Old Lyme and chatted with a few people who were out there crabbing. The grounds around this marina are stunning.

We left the Old Lyme Dock at 9:50 for the short cruise across Long Island Sound to the Mitchell Point Marina in Greenport. Three helpful dockhands greeted us upon our arrival and helped us tie up. Of course, Jonny frequently reties everything to his own specifications! We were already surrounded by other trawlers that were here for the conference.

We were in Greenport for three days for the MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) NE Rendezvous, our first here in the northeast.  We had never been to Greenport before so we were anxious to see it. It is on the north fork of the eastern edge of Long Island and only has 2000 residents. A ferry runs from Greenport, which is next to Orient Point, to New London, CT which just happens to be one of our next stops. The welcome sign featured our mascot, a turtle, symbolizing the rapid pace at which we travel!

Immediately upon our arrival we saw people we knew, having been members of MTOA since 2014. After a quick lunch on board we ventured out onto the grounds surrounding the marina which were quite nice. A large park was adjacent to us and behind it was an indoor carousel filled with happy children.  It was a great place to walk Archie and we did an initial exploration of the town.  Northport is really a charming and very authentic town, not as chi-chi as some of the other towns in the Hamptons. There were inviting shops and restaurants on the town’s Main Street, some that were quite old and others that were newer and more trendy. 

Afterwards I went back to Zendo to prepare my contribution to the evening’s pot luck dinner  -  a new and quite delicious broccoli salad recipe from the New York Times. 

By 5 we were enjoying docktails on a nearby dock followed by a well organized pot luck supper. We started meeting new MTOA members primarily from New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts and greeting others who we already knew.

The conference started the next morning with a number of interesting workshops and guest speakers.  It was especially helpful to meet people who were very familiar with the areas that we planned to cruise in this summer.  We received so many recommendations of places to visit and people to meet that there’s no way we can do all of it. But we will definitely act on many of the recommendations including the offers of mooring balls and free dock space as well as great anchorage suggestions!

As one of only three board members present, Jonny received some very nice recognition and on the last night we were thrilled to be awarded a gift for having come the most distance to attend the conference. It was a quilt with a map of the New England coast and since we are both New Englanders by birth (Connecticut), it was especially meaningful!

We enjoyed spending time with Pat and Joe Apicello who had kindly offered us to keep Zendo at their mooring ball at their home in Falmouth, MA when we travel to Seattle in September. We also made some tentative plans to travel with them prior to that, perhaps Cuttyhunk Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Maine.

We also met with several boaters who were interested to hear more about our trip on the Down East Loop in 2015 which we did in our first year with Zendo. It was a 2400 mile cruise on the “road” less traveled. 

The last night’s dinner was at a local barbecue restaurant - which was casual and fun.  The food was really good and because we were one of the last ones to leave, the restaurant encouraged us to take a lot of the uneaten food home with us. More on that in a future post. On our way back to the boat we passed this lovely concert in the park adjacent to our marina. Such a nice small town vibe here in Northport!

Poor Archie had to stay on Zendo everyday while we were at the workshops and dinners. We tried to take breaks throughout the day to take him for walks and he was very good the whole time.  However, on the last night as we arrived back at Zendo we ran into a couple outside of our boat who were from Niantic, CT next to the town that Jonny grew up in. They knew Jonny’s mom and we were chatting for awhile.  Unfortunately poor Archie could hear us and he was anxious to get outside. We didn’t let him out fast enough and he punished us by peeing on the rug and on our bed! That’s the first time he’s had an accident on the boat but we can’t really blame him since “when you a have to go, you have to go!”

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience and we feel we’ve made some wonderful new friends and contacts. The next day after the last breakfast event, we’ll be heading to nearby East Hampton to visit some old friends.

Old Lyme, CT

We got a late start on Tuesday, July 5 because Jonny didn’t want to disturb my 9:30 Spanish lesson. He’s very thoughtful!  That gave us time for a good morning walk with Archie through the pleasant streets surrounding Milford’s expansive town green. 

We left at 10:50 on an overcast and mild day.  The Sound was calm at first but it got pretty rolly as we made our way east along the Connecticut coastline. Poor Archie shivers a lot when we’re on the open water even though we give him CBD biscuits wrapped in cream cheese.  Jonny convinced me to email our vet to see if there was anything else to be done. We got a message back in a couple of hours suggesting massage, CBD oil/liquids, a Thundershirt and a natural supplement called Harmony. Of course they wanted to be sure that there was not a medical issue which we are quite sure there isn’t.  So we’ll have to try some of their suggestions especially since he’s not always eating the biscuits wrapped in cream cheese.  He gets over it as soon as we arrive at port and he does love to go in the dinghy so we don’t think it’s really serious.

Fortunately as we approached the Connecticut River and were closer to the coast, the waters calmed down and Archie was fine.  About this time we passed a big commotion with several police boats surrounding an open cockpit fishing boat with no one on board.  It was going round and round in high speed circles! We had no idea what was going on but it was a crazy spectacle! And we totally neglected to get a photo.

Our plan was to stay on the river that night and we were contemplating an anchorage upriver, a mooring ball a bit closer, and the Old Lyme Dock where we have stayed in the past.  We needed fuel so Jonny called the Old Lyme Dock to arrange for fuel and the owner said that we could stay there for $1.00 a foot since we were fueling up.  That was a bargain we couldn’t resist especially in this area! 

Entering the river, we passed by two lighthouses and went under a railroad bridge before arriving at the marina.

We tied up at the scenic and small Old Lyme Dock which is owned by a fellow UConn grad. It’s in a beautiful setting and while Jonny put diesel in the tanks I took Archie for a walk along the  wooden walkway that lines the shore for about a mile.

That evening we had the lobster bisque from Cape May for dinner along with a big salad of the greens from Anne’s garden.  While I did the dishes, Jonny took Archie for one last walk and they got caught in a downpour.  After drying them off, we all settled in for a cozy evening with Jonny reading and me watching the never-ending saga of Grey’s Anatomy.  Tomorrow we head across the Sound to Greenport on Long Island for an MTOA conference (Marine Trawler Owners Association).

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.