MYSTIC BOUND

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Rex Boat yard at Norwalk. The rains came but the violent storms never materialized, although they predicted them every day. Another Catalina sailboat hopped into the slip next to us avoid the storms on Thursday. They were traveling with their children. We spent the raniest day going to the aquarium and museum. We saw an Imax movie about prehistoric animals on land and sea and then got to see exhibits of animals from all over the world, including a shark, stingray, crab and lobster petting tank. They also grew their own fish food including krill, sea horses and jellyfish that they also sell to other aquariums. Unfortunately, Denise had forgotten her camera and we did not get any pictures. The town itself had a lot of nice restaurants, but, being on the ocean, I wanted to get as much seafood as I could. We found plenty. The town was also interesting in that an overhead train traveled across the main intersection of the older part of town. On Saturday, we did a few chores on the boat, including fixing the dreaded Windless. If you remember, someplace back in Wisconsin a few parts came out of the windless that were'nt supposed to. We had the replacement parts sent to our home and picked them up the last time we were there. The windless worked fine with the chain but could not pull in the rope rode without the missing pressure arm, so it was not on my priority list, especially since it would require pulling all 250 feet of rode out of the windless, dis-assembling the windless, putting it back together and then re-inserting the 250 feet of rode again. But, I had put it off too long and Denise thought I should do something other than write on the blog, so I got started. It was a long, hot job, but I got it done and it works fine. We had cocktails with our neighbors and they joined us to listen to music at the Ischoda Yacht Club next door. Leaving Norwalk

We left Sunday morning with the tide, with the intent of going as far as we could and then finding a place to anchor out for the night. ActiveCaptain.com had given us a few choices, (some with mixed reviews) and our neighbors gave us a few other ideas. The wind picked up as the morning wore on and actually got to do some sailing. This was the first time we had put all the sails up since Lake Erie! It was wonderful to travel without listening to the constant roar of the motor. The first stop we considered was The Thimbles. This is a small group of islands with deep water all around them. We approached them very carefully but found they were a playground for all the residents and others who anchor around the islands. Some views of the Thimbles

It was interesting but a little too congested for us and we still had a few hours of daylight, so we pressed on with our course set for Duck Island near the Conneticut River. We finally dropped anchor at about 7 PM along with several other sailboats. It was a beautiful night with the stars blazing above and the wind and current rushing past our boat. This was our first experience anchoring with the tides coming and going, so we were a little concerned about the anchor dragging as the boat shifted around, so both Denise and I were up several times to check the anchor during the night. We never budged and inch! In the morning, I stuck my head out at around 7 AM and almost every boat was gone! We had our coffee, pulled anchor and we were on our way too. Our Evening sunset at Duck Island

Morning Jellyfish!

Mystic was our next stop. The currents pushed us along and we were in the the Mystic River by 11 AM. It was a long and winding channel into to town and we wanted to get there for the opening of a bascule bridge that opens 40 minutes after each hour. Unfortunately, we missed the 11:40 opening by about 15 minutes, which meant we had to wait more than a half hour just floating around in the channel for it to open. There was a railroad swing bridge right before the bascule bridge, but it closed right after we went through, so we were stuck between the bridges too. Denise gets a little nervous in tight quarters, but the bridge finally opened at about 12:50. It turned out there were several boats tied up along the channel waiting too, and we had a parade going through. We had confirmed our reservations with the Mystic Seaport and they had people in red shirts assigned to each boat directing us in. Mystic Seaport is a shipyard and working museum. They restore old boats and the big project right now is the Charles W. Morgan. It is a working boat yard and museum set up as it would have been back in the early 1800's. There are sail makers, rope makers, coopers, riggers, and replica buildings of grocery stores, drug stores and period homes. There are demonstrations going on all day long and more information about sailing and boating than you can possibly digest in the few days we had. We toured as many of the exhibits and buildings we could before they started closing at 5 PM and then headed to downtown Mystic to have dinner at the famous Mystic Pizza. "A Slice of Heaven"

We made it a relatively early night and continued to tour the museum and seaport today. By 5 PM we had seen it all and were ready for a nightcap. Three other Catalinas had tied up around us that were from Northpoint, New York, so we tried to meet as many of them as we could. A beautiful scene as we entered Mystic River.

The Swing Bridge that closed us in.

An 1800 street scene in Mystic Seaport

A full rigged ship on display.

The view on the deck.

A working sail makers loft.

Figure heads of all shapes and sizes.

There are so many pictures of the interesting things we saw, that we can't post them all here. We will try to figure out a way to share them for those of you who are interested. Tomorrow, we are headed for Block Island in Rhode Island. Like Mystic Seaport, it is one of those places a sailor shouldn't miss. There are thunderstorms predicted for later in the day tomorrow and there are some strong currents in an area called the Race that we will have to contend with, but it is only about 20 miles away. Another adventure!