It’s been a while since we last published a blog entry but that is by no means due to the lack of activity. To the contrary, for two retired individuals, we have been incredibly busy. We finally feel like we are catching our breath and are ready for some relaxed cruising throughout New England this summer.
As you know, we arrived back in Connecticut on June 2. Shortly after arriving, we began the marathon of annual doctors visits. For two healthy individuals, there were many and we needed to fit them all in before June 16 when we were scheduled to fly to our first stop on our coast-to-coast family tour, Chicago. In addition to doctors visits, in that short 2 week period we hosted 1 open house (for 25), 4 dinners and 4 small cocktail gatherings so we could see friends and former colleagues, had a private celebration in honor of Zack’s birthday at a lovely local restaurant (Salt in Old Saybrook) and attended a dinner party at the home of friends (thanks Manon and Dan!). It seemed like every minute of every day was scheduled but we wouldn’t have had it any other way. With both doses of the Covid vaccine under our belts, it was so nice to see people we care about.
And then it was off for the 13 day coast-to-coast family tour. We had fabulous visits with our oldest son, his wife and our adorable granddaughter in Chicago, the Hummel side of the family in Michigan (including Zack’s parents, siblings and their spouses and kids) and the Rubin side of the family in Seattle (including Jill’s parents, our youngest son and his fiancé, Jill’s sister and her spouse and two girls). Lots of laughter, fun times and great food!
We arrived back in Connecticut on the evening of June 28. We had arranged for our boat to be hauled for bottom painting and related work while we were gone. Unfortunately, the work wasn’t quite done when we touched down on June 28 so we got a room at the local Econolodge (we live large) until Che Figata was splashed in the water. That occurred on June 29 so just one night of motel living for us. We had hoped to take off as soon as Che Figata was back in the water but not all of the work on our punch list was complete to we stayed put in the marina until July 2.
Our original plan was to sail from the marina in Westbrook, Connecticut towards the East, starting our slow journey to Maine. We could not escape, however, the strong pull West where we had many friends from our years in Manhasset, NY. So, before starting the official summer cruise, we headed West for the 4th of July holiday to spend time with very special friends. Sometimes you need to alter you plans to make time for people important to you and we are glad we did.
So, just to recap, between June 2 – July 6 we had 10 doctors visits, got together with 49 friends, 20 family members and covered ~6,500 miles! Are you tired yet?
Of course, no time on Che Figata would be complete without some repair work. We hosted friends aboard our boat for dinner on July 6. It was a humid and sticky night with rain off and on so headed below deck for dinner. Running the generator — which would allow us to run the AC — became an imperative. (I know, we are getting soft but we blame it on our guests!). After running the generator for a short period of time it just stopped and a quick inspection revealed that we tripped a main breaker for the generator power. Though we should have been able to untrip it, the darn thing would not budge. While early in our full time liveaboard life that might have thrown us into a tizzy, we have grown much more resilient (or resigned) and enjoyed the excuse for another round of drinks. (Hakuna Matata!). Besides, we were in Oyster Bay that evening, just a short distance from our marina in Westbrook so, though not on our itinerary, we simply resolved to make an unplanned stop and get a new breaker there. The added benefit of this unscheduled stop was that Elsa was approaching the Northeast (of course we were right in her path) and the marina in Westbrook is very protected, giving us a nice place to ride out the storm. So we got the breaker replaced, some additional items on our punch list taken care of and hid in Westbrook until Elsa moved on.
And that brings us to the official start of our summer cruise! We left Westbrook (for the second time) on July 10 and headed East. Our first stop was Fishers Island, NY. A lovely little sleepy island where we were able to anchor and then take a dinghy ride into shore to walk around the picturesque town while grabbing some sweets from the local ice cream parlor (orange sherbet for Zack and mango sorbet for Jill) which also happens to be one of the few gigs in town. We just love strolling down the streets of small islands that are not a tourist destination. It was our first time visiting Fishers Island and we will definitely be back. Following that, we spent a few days in Dutch Harbor to visit Jamestown, RI. Jamestown is a quintessential Rhode Island towns and one of its most historic. We enjoy taking long walks through the residential streets to take in the beautiful homes — from cute cottages to large vacation properties — perched among exquisitely curated gardens of lush greens and wild flowers. While there we also took advantage of the local mechanic to fix a loose belt on our external alternator. We knew that screaming sound coming from our engine was not right (with a loose belt being the prime suspect) and we also knew we needed to get it remediate sooner rather than later. That meant an extra day in Jamestown but, like we said earlier, resilience and flexibility is key when you live on a boat. Besides, what would we do with our time if we didn’t need at least one repair every week!
Today we find ourselves in Cuttyhunk, MA. One of our most favorite places on the planet! The best part of Cuttyhunk is that there is very little here. If you are looking for restaurants and bars this is not the place for you. The island has 13 full time residents and that swells to about 52 during summer months. There is one small Bed & Breakfast (The Fishing Club with 8 rooms) and some part-time islanders rent their homes but, for the most part, the island’s visitors are boaters who sail or motor over. The residents cater to their nautical visitors in a way that makes them feel like neighbors rather than businesses. There’s the family that runs Sopranos, serving pizzas on picnic tables in their front yard next to a frog pond, the couple that host “Lobsters on the Lawn” in their backyard on Tuesdays — this is a family style affair with everyone eating together at long picnic tables — and, of course, the raw bar that operates from a dock and ventures out via boat at around 5 PM each evening to offer the moored boaters a variety of fresh seafood. If we weren’t so keen to get to Maine we could see “settling” down off the waters of this magical island for quite some time. Our feature photo for today’s blog entry was taken on our long walk around the island today. We think it really captures the essence of this special place.
Tomorrow we are off the Marion, MA, then to Providence Town, RI and over to Boston before we continue our sail up the coast to Maine. With our summer cruise officially underway, we will be back to somewhat more frequent blog entries — not that we think any of our readers suffered from withdrawal!
