Pilots Point that is. I’ll bet if you looked back to every time we arrived in CT, you’d read the same words: Projects, busy, getting it done, unexpected, friends, family, and let’s not forget the Donuts!

The only other words I am thrilled to add to this summer’s two-month stay in Westbrook, are: unlimited constant hot water, 50amp power, cable TV and comfy wide slip!! For all of you who take the easy land life amenities for granted, you are probably hard pressed to imagine my joy, but I know some of you can relate. Life is good in our slip, R7. We even got the correct dock; R.  Right?

We got right to work because even arriving two weeks earlier than expected we know how things go; the unexpected stuff consumes the time and there’s always that one thing that takes FOREVER. Can you say “window treatment nightmare”? We can.  Even as I write this on July 10, having new curtains is still not 100% guaranteed. Space constraints, desires and cost all combined into such a mish-mash of options that at one point I threw in the proverbial towel and said, “let’s just clean the ones we have and forget new.” Not gonna happen. Took them all down, made notes because two needed sewing repairs, lugged them to the best dry cleaners around with a seamstress on site. Then they wisely did a test. Result- nada. No change. That mold and mildew didn’t budge. Took ‘em home, tried a few natural remedies, same result.  Soooooo, hang around for the next post to see how this all ends up.

We continue to see strange sights in the sky. This looked like an ultra-light helicopter.

Pilots Point utilizes these very cool, environmentally friendly mini pump-out boats.

 

A slip and a car! Does it get much better? Not much. Bonny had a bad experience last summer and she spent the winter at our nephew’s place knowing a trip to the fix-it spa was due upon our return.  Our nephew brought Bonny in to a well-known local place ahead of our arrival so we could get her quickly.

Not only did she get fixed up within a few days, she also was in fabulously cool company and had a bit part on Cardone’s website. Who doesn’t love our escape pod? Well, the night guard at the marina sure does. When we’d return after a wild night out on the town, we’d see this big smile. Turns out he’s a huge Star Trek fan and always enjoys a good escape pod experience.

Replacing the salon air conditioner unit was one of those unplanned projects. The old one was a bear to remove but Russ caught a break with the new one which was just a tiny bit smaller and only required one shoehorn to fit it in! Let’s not forget the (unplanned) hot water heater replacement and the routine oil and filter changes in both engines and the genset.

Thanks to our friends and Tower Labs we enjoyed a touch of culture at the world-famous Ivoryton Playhouse in Essex.  The show was foot stomping, hand clapping, make you sing out loud excellent. So much fun and very well done. Inspired a slew of iTunes purchases 🙂

Driving around- not aimlessly…- but with a long list of stops and things to accomplish mind you- we watched this chomping display.

After hunting down Tony’s Square Donuts (truck) we tried to make up for the “bad” food stuff by stopping by a local farm for fresh eggs and to scope out their meat offerings.

Father’s Day arrived and so did our son! Seriously heavy fog crept in Saturday morning and ruined a hoped-for meet up with…our nephew Matt, aka “new boat owner.” Dinner with dear long time friends was just the best! We did get into Essex for a tour of Main Street and then headed over to check out Matt’s new ride.

Food gifts are highly prized. Benj never fails to treat us to old favorites as well as introduce us to potential new ones. He also brought greens from the farm and a delicious loaf of rustic bread from The Laundry in Vergennes.

And there was that one small project that needed an extra set of muscles and more height than I had. First off Russ had to use a large hole saw which managed to end up in the drink. Shallow water but murky. What if we fished for it with a magnet? A magnet that once belonged to Benj! No luck, even with serious effort- thanks sweetie!

The real project was to construct a brace so we could lower our mast for the trip to Lake Champlain.

A few ups and downs, a few tweaks and adjustments and…. well done men. I helped too- holding the line; aka the backup lady.

Before and after Father’s Day we lived in a window treatment nightmare. There’s always the extreme option- one that really expands the interior visually, but not one we prefer.

Not content with giving up one thing to the murky waters, the chamois blew in -somewhere.   A few days later Russ is walking near the power/water/cable TV pedestal. Low tide and the sun is shining down brightly. What? You think you see the chamois down there? Yep. Retrieved, washed and washed and sorta good as new. Yuck

The PWC docking stations (is that what they are called?) caught the attention of this heron who carefully walked across one from the dock.. and then slipped. Wings help with keeping one’s balance.

 

One of the easier projects was to sand and repaint our two propane tanks They look mahvelous dahling now! For the crowning touch at the bottom, Russ tapped on an edging strip material.

We both had our to-do lists; Russ wins the prize for quantity and longest duration. I have retained my lofty status as supreme assistant, as well as chief cook and bottle washer, recycling separator, photographer, blogger and finder of new hobbies to keep me occupied. Remember back in grade school when art wasn’t optional or in Jr High when you had to take some art class? Not my favorite subject; if I managed a “C” I was happy. Copper enameling and paper mache, both in 5th or 6th grade, were the only art forms I recall liking.

Growing up I sewed- clothes, not household stuff like curtains. Just sayin’.  But being able to make jewelry has piqued my interest and the techniques can be applied to decorative endeavors too. Call me a late bloomer, but it’s easier to do on a boat than say, candle making.

 

Some time during the month Russ began the buffing, waxing ordeal. One small section at a time weather permitting. This process continued into July- figuring he will finish up by July 15. Lordy. But her ladyship is looking and feeling very spiffy!

You probably get the idea of our month; I could share much more, but this post was long enough!  Hope you all are enjoying summer!

When you see an opening, take it. Squeeze through it any way you can and continue on. Wed, May 31 was predicted to be very low winds, not the best direction but not an issue. So what frequents  New Jersey on windless days? Answer: FOG, and plenty of it.

And when we thought it had departed on those little cat’s paws, back in it oozed, surrounding us like a cool, moist blanket. Even the wind picking up didn’t completely dispel the persistent fogginess.  For the most part, visibility was just good enough to safely see ahead as we sped along at 13kts.  The morning fog was so dense we kept to a slower 8kt pace for a couple of hours, running radar, two sets of eyes, happy to have AIS and listening carefully to any nearby VHF convo.

Rounded Sandy Hook with no issues and no fog. You may recall years ago we dealt with fog up the NJ coast, getting too close to the channel’s edge at Sandy Hook, and then bam! surprised beach fishermen and us, as we were closer in than we thought. I think we couldn’t see the large buoys and relied on the chartplotter, but the channel and buoys had been moved further away from the growing sandy beach so we found ourselves outside of the actual channel- but only briefly!

We tucked in for the night just behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands, with plans to transit through NYC, the East River and east through Long Island Sound as far as we could get, the next day- Thursday June 1.

Surprise! Morning fog crept in to greet us, then ebbed only to return. Nerves of steel, AIS, our trusty VHF and chartplotter got us through the harbor with ferries, container ships, tugs, small fishing boats and other pleasure craft all messing about as always.

We watched the process depicted below a couple of times; the first happened when before we upped anchor in the morning, and this time was a better view. Clams?

 

As we closed in on the Verrazano, the fog lifted for the day- ahhh.

 

 

 

 

We enter into eastern Long Island Sound and decide to keep up our speed as conditions are calm and we want to get as close to Westbrook as possible tonight- ok how about Clinton 2 miles away?

I often check the AIS list to see at a glance who’s out there, but hadn’t looked in a while. Such a pleasant surprise when I looked and saw s/v Amistad headed into New Haven Harbor. The first time we ever saw her, she was being constructed at Mystic Seaport. Laid eyes on her a couple of times since then but never under way. I rushed up to tell Russ and insisted we divert for a photo. The shot below shows the path we were on and how we turned nearly 90 degrees to hunt her down.

I took a slew of photos, but the sun was wrong. This was the best one.

Friday morning we began the long 15 minute trip into what would be our summer home for two months; a blessed slip at Pilots Point Marina. Could I ask for more? I’d better not. But then again, we’d be reunited with Bonny our Mini Cooper, with friends to see, lobster to consume, appoints to keep and all the shopping we cared to do. Oh and those pesky boat projects too.