Mystic, CT to Essex, CT

It was a peaceful departure from Mystic, CT. Our goal was Essex CT a run of about 35 miles. The weather was good out on Long Island Sound and we had a mild following sea. About ¾ into the trip, we noticed a large Nordhavn going the other way. The boat got us into a discussion about the prior owners of our American Tug as they purchased a Nordhavn, south of here around the Carolinas. No sooner than we passed each other, the cell phone rang and sure enough, the Nordhavn was theirs. It goes to show, it really is a small world. They had just come from the marina in Essex we were heading to and warned us of the large amount of flotsam coming down the Connecticut River. They had tried calling us on the VHF radio, but we had our squelch set a little high due to the amount of open microphones we were hearing. We did a radio check with them and our radio was working perfectly.

The Connecticut River has a rail road bridge near the entrance that is 19 feet high. With our radar arch up, our air draft is 20 feet. So, we called for a bridge lift. We had a nice conversation with the bridge tender about the area as he was clearing the bridge of maintenance workers. Once the bridge opened, we could go through and start dodging trees and miscellaneous flotsam coming down the river from the spring thaw. Upon arrival at the marina, the wind was pushing us around while we were waiting for the dock person to show us our slip. Wind, a common theme on this trip. It was a hairy docking, with Kevin using the bow and stern thrusters to keep us off the dock before our fenders were able to do their work. Bev was able to get a mid-ship line to the dockhand and he locked it down so we could use it as a spring line to get the boat closer to the dock. Once the boat was settled into her new temporary home, we hit the waterfront bistro for a calming couple of beers.

Essex, like Mystic has a lot of interesting history. It was a ship building town in its early years. Now, there are cute little shops, some restaurants, great ice cream along the waterfront area. There were homes dated from the 1720's along the waterfront. During the war of 1812, the British attacked the town’s shipbuilding causing most of the town to develop little further away. There are no grocery stores within walking distance of the water front. (This may become a constant theme.). Below is the Connecticut River Museum.

Upon checking the weather, we are going to try to get closer to New York City tomorrow with a 40 mile run to Stamford, CT as the forecast is not favorable for Sunday and Monday.