October 24, 2015

Coordinates 41.32967N, 71.91473W   Stonington, CT

We left Onset, MA at 7:00am and arrived in Stonington at 3:25pm after 68.6 nautical miles, 8.25 hours at an average of 8.31 knots.

It was a fair day on the water with dark skies and seas higher than predicted, but not bad.  We went through Buzzards Bay without incident.

Sue, Rob and I took a dinghy ride into Stonington and since it was late Saturday there wasn’t anything happening on the quaint downtown area.  However we met our goal of finding the self-service fish market. 

Sue and Rob found out about this place from Active Captain on Garmin Blue Chart Mobile.  Blue Chart is an application worth more than the $30 they charge. Both the Trues and the Myers have this program on their iPads.  Blue Chart is an invaluable navigational aid which is identical to USCG charts and can be sent via WIFI to our boat’s Garmin chart plotters.  Also on BC is Active Captain, a user created program with information about good anchorages, local food stores and services including water, harbor master, showers, trash bins, laundry, fuel, dockage, moorings, places to eat, and all is rated rated by people.  For instance if a certain town dock is helpful people will make comments to that affect. I can’t tell you all that this program gives to people travel the seas. It is a priceless aid.

We have a new anchor that works great.  Do you know what a snubber is? I didn’t either.  A snubber is a rope with a hook on one end, that you hook to the dropped anchor chain and secure to the boats cleat.  The purpose of the snubber is to release the pressure of the anchor chain from the bowsprit.  When the snubber is on, you will see a loop in the anchor chain.

Today’s breakage included a part of the forward head. It is nice that there are two heads, because everyone knows that two heads are better than one.  I apologize for that one.  Rob can fix it as soon as he gets the part.  I have learned that first a boat needs to be stocked with two of everything and the tools to fix that list of everything. If there is room after that, you can bring clothes.  

I made double fudge brownies in my oven yesterday and they came out perfect.  I had no idea I would be able to cook onboard.  Even though the boat is a 1992, no one had used the oven.  Tonight we are having Empanadas, also cooked in the oven.  

Here is a picture of my collapsable silicone tea kettle it works great.

I guess that is it for today. More tomorrow.  We will be traveling the length of Long Island Sound, I am very excited.

Tricia

Addendum:

It has creatively been pointed out that perhaps “self service fish market” needs more explanation.

A self service fish market is on the honor system. You put your money in to a slot, like a mail slot in a door, or swipe your credit card in order to pay for the fishing rod, bait and the use of their dinghy dock to catch fish native to Stonington.

...but the real truth is pictured here.  It is a fish market open 24 hours a day where you can buy fish that has been flash frozen on the fishing boats.  You can see the prices of the seaford listed.  We bought a pound of scallops and a tuna filet.

Liz thanks for asking me.

Sue and Tricia