June 1-14, 2025 Havre de Grace,MD to Onset, MA

This is the beginning of this year's journey to New England. Posts and photos may be delayed due to lack of signal or Wi-Fi. Thanks for your understanding and for reading! Questions or comments can be emailed to bajinaji38@gmail.com.

Sunday June 1st

Off the dock by 09:20 and headed to the fuel dock. 18.25 gallons for 27.1 engine hours =0.67 gallons /hour. The start of this trip is after 183 nm from the trips to Annapolis so at trip end we will subtract that mileage for this trip total.

Off fuel dock at 9:45a great wind, 13-17 kts from the W, with the tide in our favor. Motored all the way out the Havre de Grace channel and up to and through the C&D canal.

There were osprey nests along many of the marks, and osprey on many of them.

Passed the Kalmar Nyckel as she was going the other way. We have seen her before on the Bay, at a distance.

At the other end of the canal at 1330. Continued to have a brisk W wind, so we put up the main sail. With a gust to 20kts we decided to reef 1. Jib out to stabilize and wheeeee down the Delaware Bay! Surfing, we did over 8kts, and at one point the display said 9kts!

Passed a few other commercial boats, including this one. We had dried pineapple to celebrate (no bananas aboard). With the good wind, we were able to get down the bay to the Cohansey River. It is deep! We went up and down a ways to try and find a spot to anchor as we don't have enough rode for 40’. Found one spot of 17’, but after we anchored and put out enough rode, we realized we were too close to the shore, and a swing the wrong way would put us into the shore. Found a spot closer to the river entrance. A few nervous moments because the tidal current from the river was stronger than the wind, and we overran the anchor line. In 23’ of water we put out 171’ of anchor line.

While awaiting the swing of the tide to see if we got the anchor line caught under our keel (😱), I made dinner. Chilly day with lots of wind = Chunky Sirloin Burger soup with cheese on toast. After dinner, Laz went to take a look and the anchor line has reset itself properly.

Beautiful sunset. You can hear so many birds here. I heard a bald eagle, but did not see it.

We are tucked in for the night. Tomorrow we are headed further down the Delaware Bay to Cape May.

Monday June 2nd

Up by 0600 to catch the tide down the Delaware Bay

A gorgeous morning on the Cohansey. Beautiful sunrise with birdsong and marsh around. We had swung in the night with the current in the river; I had checked at 0100 when I was up to go to the head. There was a gorgeous red crescent moon off the starboard bow. Unfortunately, we did not see any Northern lights, but did notice that we were facing downriver instead of upriver. Off the hook by 0700 with coffee, yogurt and an Oso sour cherry and chocolate scone warmed up for breakfast. Put on wool base layers as it was 55° when we got up. Sails up as soon as we cleared the green 1C and the shallow water. Wheee down the bay again with 1.5 to 2 kt push. Wind was WNW or NW at 11-15 it's so we were going 7+ kts much of the time.

Ship John Shoal Lighthouse, which from farther away, looked like a tugboat pulling a lighthouse.

Another gorgeous day sailing. We had timed it well, the current in the Bay changed to incoming around 11am. At one point we looked back and there were multiple powerboats bearing down the path to the short cut into Cape May, the one that leads to a bridge without enough clearance for us. Everyone had the same idea to catch the outgoing ride. No one likes rough seas.

The Brandywine Shoal Lighthouse. We passed more lighthouses and there were a few commercial vessels coming and going, but not bad. Laz had a brief glimpse of a dolphin at one point, but it dove and disappeared. We came in closer to shore, the same way we went leaving Cape May two years ago, to cut off a fair bit of mileage going farther out. We saw another sailboat even farther in towards shore, the Mystic Pearl. Since it was 1330, we decided to jibe out a ways before going into Cape May channel. Decided to come on in, and found we were following the Pearl right into South Jersey marina. The entrance to the Cape May channel had a couple of whale and dolphin watching boats going back and forth, but did get out of the way as we and another sailboat, the Manta Columbia, came in. We saw the Pearl docking just as we came into the channel to South Jersey Marina. Luckily this time there was no current coming in.

After docking, we walked over to the Pearl, a Halberg-Rassey 43 and had a lovely visit with Mario, the owner. The Pearl’s home port is Annapolis, and she is headed to Maine and Acadia, all on the outside. Mario is doing the trip solo, because his friend, whom he usually sails with is recovering from pancreatic cancer treatment. His tumor has shrunk, but the radiation has left him in a lot of pain. Wyatt, the dockhand, was helping Mario fill his fuel tank and his Jerry cans. We got a tour of the beautiful Mystic Pearl, including the fuel cell run by methanol. She is beautifully appointed and with lots of equipment and sails. We exchanged tips on where to anchor in the Delaware Bay. He showed us how to get in behind Reedy Island and we showed him where we anchored in the Cohansey. A cabin cruiser pulled in next to us in the next dock, he has rear thrusters so came in neatly. A Sabre, the Robert Valentine came in behind the cabin cruiser as we were at dinner, then after we got back from dinner a large CP sailboat pulled in behind us. They came from the Solomons and are headed to Shelter Island Deering Harbor. First they are dropping off some people at Liberty Landing Marina, but since they look to be 48’ or more, they will definitely pass us or go ahead of us. We then chatted with our neighbors on the same dock opposite us, Peter and Susan Frankfort who live aboard their SeaRay. Home port is north of Boston in Danvers. They've been down to the Bahamas and back, in the Abacos. So many nice people here.

Dinner! We went to Lucky Bones across the street, which we really enjoyed last time. Had the zucchini Frito again, and today's special was fried Chesapeake oysters. They were sweet and delicious!

Dan had this massive chicken bruschetta dish over polenta, delicious and 1/2 came back to baji-naji. I remember from our last visit that they have massive portions.

I had delicious ahi tuna tacos. I could only eat one since I ate all the oysters. The others will be delicious tomorrow or the next day.

We had an excellent carrot cake for dessert. I remembered to take a picture after we ate much of it. It had pineapple chunks, which was delightful.

Laz put up the code-0 tonight as winds are predicted from SW tomorrow. We were so busy chatting with everyone on the dock that I forgot to take a sunset picture! Ah well. We are off for NY/Jersey City, NJ tomorrow for the long 24 hour passage.

Tuesday June 3rd

Went to breakfast at the little diner at The Lobster House. It was one long banquette with the Hanks vibe.

I had a scrambled egg with corned beef hash, rye toast and delicious creamy grits. Laz had his scrambled egg with scrapple ( very good, I had a bite), white toast and home fries. While at breakfast, we received some nice emails from Mario of Mystic Pearl. He has left much earlier but he was headed to Block Island.

We didn't want to leave too early as that would get us to Jersey City in the early morning, so we were off the dock at 1030.

This osprey let us know it was their nest. We saw a dolphin off entrance to Cape May channel, right where the dolphin and whale watch boats had been yesterday. Apparently that's a good spot for them. There was a nice breeze from the NW so we put the code-0 out

There were so many dolphin after leaving Cape May! We saw some amazing leaps with full body in the air, as well as just swimming 🐬Laz says it's Mom & Barb sending dolphins out to play near us.

There was an abrupt wind shift to the S, SE around 12:40 when I was talking to Tim Disparte. I had to hang up abruptly and reset sails before calling back to resume my phone call. I explained that sometimes things need urgent attention when you are sailing.

The breeze freshened up to 9 kts with max 7.4kts of boat speed, and we were able to maintain 6kts or better.

A lovely view of Atlantic City with our code-0 out.

My view, lying on the bow. We furled the code-0 when the wind shifted too far east for our course, then put the jib out. We tried the code-0 again when we were able to turn to a more favorable course, but wind had softened to 5 kts with boat speed less than 3. That was not going to get us to NYC, so we furled the code-0, and put the engine on at 1845.

Laz reheated our pad Thai for dinner. It was still tasty!

Sunset selfies!

Got buzzed by a military plane off Brigantine.

Amazing sunset with the haze, perhaps from the Canadian wildfires.

Moonrise is always beautiful, with some Jersey shore lights in the distance.

2100, I took the first night watch. As per our usual agreement, we had life vests and tethers on when solo up top at night. There seem to be less spiders than when we did this trip a couple of years ago. We did set out a month earlier and the spring has been chilly. Although I don't know that spiders care about the temperature.

This photo of the moon was taken with the night vision setting. Kind of an interesting vibe. Laz came up to the cockpit at 2230 after a good 2 hour nap. I went down below to take another 1/4 tab of Bonine as I was starting to feel the effects of the rollers, or fatigue or something. I tried to sleep, but mostly just felt seasick. Laz ended up taking a long watch.

Wednesday June 4th

I got up at 0200 to try and take a shift. I made Laz a hot chocolate and brought up some Club crackers, in an attempt to settle my stomach, but not much luck. Grrr. I did feel a bit better lying down so we decided I would try and sleep this off. Laz ended up with a super long shift to 0645, when I finally got up feeling a bit better. I came up with hot coffee and some of my banana bread, and put a couple of the frozen unbaked croissants in the oven.

You know you're coming into NY Harbor when the commercial traffic increases.

Seeing the Verrazano means we are almost there.

A lovely view of NYC. A lot of haze meant no real sunrise, just a red sun that came up, according to Laz.

Lady Liberty in the distance is always welcoming.

And there is always the iconic Staten Island ferry. Got a nice view of them going in opposite directions.

Excitement as we saw the Sail GP tent and stands! The race will be this weekend, which we won't be able to stay for, but we hope to see some of the boats sailing while we are here.

Lady Liberty up closer.

The excitement of seeing our first F-50 up close, Rockwool Denmark! She was on a mooring.We got to Liberty Landing Marina at around 0800. Went right to the fuel dock. We took on 17 gallons of diesel, used over 26.1 engine hours = 0.65 gallons/hour. Pretty decent mpg. After docking we took a walk all around the marina to see what we could see. Sail GP has indeed set up at Liberty Landing. We stopped into the marine store to pick up some lubricant for the roller furler. The person at the counter was a rigger, and he recommended dry lubricant, which we got. We were also looking for a new Croakie for Laz, no luck there, and no rash guards in his size either.

Amokura up close and personal! I was fangirling hard!

GBR getting her wing on via crane

Close up of the French boat, so you can see the foils.

All the hangers where the boats are kept.

Laz tried to see if we could go in and see the hangers and boats, but alas it is sponsors and their guests only.

One of Team USA’s chase boats. We then walked around Liberty State Park.

Found a sign for a Pokemon Go Fest right at the park. Maybe I should sign up so I can play that with the kids and grandkids. Hmmm.

Saw some of the F-50s at their mooring spots. They were all coming out to check conditions and their new tall wings, which I later found out are now 27metre instead of 29.

So cool to see them foiling by the Verrazano Bridge.

We were hungry and tired so we headed to the Maddie Rose, formerly The Liberty House, and had lunch. I left my water bottle over where we were watching the F-50s so Laz kindly went back to get it. I had the Cobb salad with shrimp and Laz had the crispy chicken sandwich with house made chips. I was more tired than hungry so I took the rest as take out, including the leftover sourdough bread. Everything was delicious.

From our seats we saw the Fighting Roos head out to the race course.

A really beautiful view of Manhattan from our table. Outside the restaurant is a huge chess set, also very cool. Our server, Stephanie, told us that Maddie Rose was recently renovated and they have a lot of weddings and parties there.

After lunch, she showed us the water table, so named for the waterfall fountain at the end. It was stunning, full of succulents and looked like something from Longwood Gardens.

Walked back to baji-naji to take a very welcome nap!

Walked to dinner at the Feathered Fox, where Maritime Parc used to be. Opening night of the new restaurant happens to be tonight, and I thought it would be fun to try it. These are the delicious brioche rolls.

I had an absolutely amazing dish of perfectly cooked scallops over oyster mushrooms, spinach and spaetzle. The scallops were so big I took home 1/2 the meal for another day.

Laz had a NY Strip steak served with delicious cipollini onions. We had crispy green beans and roasted brussel sprouts for our sides.

While in the head, I met one of the crew for Team USA (I think) who's actually from Brazil, and she introduced me to her colleague John, who is the head of the medical team, I later found out. I'm sorry I never got her name. Anyway she was quite friendly and they both agreed to a selfie.

Laz ordered our dessert while I was away, and we had a delicious devil's food cake with chocolate espresso icing and rich not too sweet chocolate buttercream between cake layers. A wonderful ending for a wonderful meal.

Sunset pictures from the marina. baji-naji is the mast in the last picture. Tomorrow we head through the East River and Hellgate to Long Island Sound.

Thursday June 5th

Up around 0830. The current going out of New York harbor up the East River happens around an hour after low tide at the Battery. Today low tide at the Battery is 1130. We decided to walk down the dockside path to a new bagel place, B Bagels, around the same distance as the other place we went to, Wonder Bagels. On the way, we were able to have another look at the Sail GP compound.

We had to pause a moment while Canada was moved by crane then lowered into the water.

Got my favorite whole wheat everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, cucumber, tomato, thinly sliced red onion and nova lox. So huge I could only eat 1/2. A nicely made mocha latte completed my breakfast. Laz had fresh squeezed OJ and a sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese.

On our way back we had a nice chat with Tiana from Sydney, who is a match racer and hoping to get picked to be one of the women on the F-50s. There are at least 300 and up to 450 people on site to support Sail GP. Everything is packed into the containers and moved by ship from venue to venue. She graciously agreed to a selfie with Spain behind us. She was about to exchange contact info when she got a call she had to take. I told her she was a great ambassador for Sail GP and we exchanged hugs. I look forward to following to see if she gets on board a F-50 as crew. When we got back to the boat it was 1030. I filled the aft H20 tank while Laz used the new dry lubricant to spray on the bearings on the jib roller furler, both main sheet clutches and the traveler. Off the dock by 11:20, check out time is 11 but I cleared it with Janeer. We got out just ahead of Spain, who was being escorted out by her chase boats.

Came out to find many of the boats on their temporary moorings.

Since the tide has yet to shift in our favor, we motored a little ways up the Hudson. We turned around at noon. The F-50s were sailing and foiling and buzzing by us as we made our way into NY harbor and towards the East River! So incredibly cool! The sound they make is incredible! It’s a high pitched whine, but not unpleasant. Just sounds like something going by very very fast.

You can see how close Canada came foiling by Boji! So glad that the current shift was at a time that allowed us to watch these incredible boats and athletes doing their thing.

Into the East River with maybe 1/2 kt against, but heading down anyway. Went under the Brooklyn Bridge which is so pretty.

Then the Manhattan Bridge which has its own unique architecture.

Just past the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges was the poor Cuauhtémoc. She looked so sad with the tops of her mast down. What an awful tragedy that was. I guess the investigation into what happened is still ongoing. We continued down the East River with the current firmly in our favor. We were followed by a Jeanneau, Peace of Mind, through the whole trip.

The ever amazing Manhattan skyline from the East River.

Heading into Hellgate, with the Triboro and the Throgs Neck bridges ahead. Hellgate was fine, the wake from the two cabin cruiser overtaking us was more troublesome than the currents. We picked a nice time to go through.

Passed the charming Stepping Stones Lighthouse, which is a historical lighthouse first lit in 1877. It sits on a reef called the Devil's Stepping Stones, so named in a Native American (Siawanoy) tale where the devil was chased out of Westchester onto City Island and threw large rocks down to make his escape. A very cute lighthouse with a great story.

Wonderful wind from the SE so we were able to raise the sails and enjoy a wonderful sail to Oyster Bay. We switched from the job to the code-0 when the angle improved. There weren't a lot of other boats out sailing, but there were a few. Peace of Mind made her way into Manhasset Bay right after we got into the Sound.

Coming into Oyster Bay, we saw many beautiful sailboats coming out to the race marks. Apparently Havre de Grace isn't the only place that has Wednesday night races on Thursday!

We found a nice spot to anchor in, with beautiful homes all around and we took Boji out to explore.

We saw a pair of swans off in the distance.

There is a beach on Cove Neck which sticks out into the water near the bottom of the Harbor.

We went around it to find many moorings and boats.

Cool bird kite used to chase off other birds. Other boats had these as well, but this one was the most fun.

Whaler's Cove yacht club, then some of the research libraries.

Headed into the setting sun, back to baji-naji.

Another glamour shot, but she's so beautiful, especially in this light.

A bit hazy for too many sunset colors. A beautiful spot nonetheless.

The moon peeking out from the clouds. Amazing sight. Tomorrow we are headed to Milford, to anchor behind Charles Island.

Friday June 6th

Slept in til almost 0900 as it's not a long trip to Milford. Had a leisurely breakfast in the cockpit.

Beautiful views as we enjoyed breakfast.

Anchor up around 1030. As we motored out, we could see the smokestacks of Asharoken. Initially there were light winds 3-4 kts from the N, shifted to the East and finally to S, building to 10-15kts by end of day.

Some familiar sights as we sailed towards the CT shore. Greens Ledge Light and then Sheffield Island Lighthouse with Manresa power plant to the right. Lots of echos of Mom and Dad Laz through these waters.

Laz with Sheffield Island light behind.

The adorable Stratford Point Lighthouse

Withe the wind picking up and changing to the S we ended up with a fabulous sail to Charles Island! Here is Laz securing the anchor. Because a front was coming through we let out 180 feet of anchor line, with a scope of 1:10. Better safe than sorry.

Happily anchored.

While we were relaxing and reading on deck we saw this paddle party boat go by, with lots of chatter and music.

We also saw a couple of motorboats, clearly friends, anchor and a couple of kids jumping in the water and swimming from one boat to another. Laz and Barb jumped off many times near the same spot. It was sweet to see kids enjoying time honored activities. With a water temperature, 64.5° we were not jumping in. Youth!

I made a chicken and veggies stir fry over ramen for dinner. Tasty!

It became completely overcast after we anchored, but then the sun did peek out and we were treated to a nice sunset. Tomorrow rain and some fog are forecast, so we will wake and see if we can have a lay day in Milford (no spots when we called this evening), stay anchored behind Charles Island, or motor in the rain to Clinton.

Saturday June 7th

Woke up to pea soup fog, we could not even see Charles Island in front of us. Laz got up, thinking we would be going soon, but with the fog, he let me sleep in til almost 0900.

Had one of Nomadic Pie’s salmon dill and cream cheese crustless quiche for breakfast. Laz is usually not a fan of smoked salmon, but he liked this. We called Milford Landing Marina (aka Lisman Marina) to see if they would have room for us today since they did not yesterday, but with the weather we thought there could be cancellations. We were welcome to come in any time!

Turned on the radar and had it side by side with the chart. Partly to learn the radar and partly because the fog was so dense we could not see.

Laz taking up the anchor. No idea which way we are facing if I didn’t have the chart/radar on.

Had the engine on forward idle as I didn’t want to run into anyone, or go faster that we could see. I asked Laz to press once on the air horn just to let people know we were moving. I didn’t hear any other engines, so we were good to go. Crept towards the first red

Crazy how dense the fog is! We made our way, weaving slowly between red and green marks. I was grateful I also had the 2023 track to follow into the harbor. The fog was a little lighter when we made it to the breakwater of Milford Harbor. There were folks fishing on both sides. As we made our way down the harbor fairway, there were kids fishing who yelled that they liked our boat. Nice! We made it down to the marina and our assigned slip (9). Managed to back in without any problem, although it’s a pretty narrow slip. The folks on our starboard side came out to fend, if needed.

Both the folks on the Hylas to our starboard, Agua Dulce, and the folks to our port side, Hold Fast, are from Park City, Utah. They are cruising more or less together, going the same way as us. Laz gave them one of our boat cards, and maybe we will hear from them. Milford Landing is a lovely marina with nice clean heads and easy walk to town.

We walked into town to see what was going on. Pirates Day is tomorrow, yaargh.

Walked across the stone/street bridge to find a beautiful spillway and river that goes into the harbor. We found that there was to be a duck race, benefitting Milford United Way in less than an hour. I donated the $5 for a duck (number 8160!), as well as a $10 contribution, and in return got two miniature rubber duckies that I can give to the grandkids when we see them.

A dump truck truly dropped all the rubber duckies down from the bridge we’d walked over.

You can see all the ducks at the top of the race course, with a few making their way down.

Coming down the river!

These ducks were braving the class 1 rapids!

There is a net under the walking bridge to catch the ducks. The first 50 ducks caught win a prize. I found out the the first ducks released cost $100 each. Although many got caught on the rocks and rapids, so I’m not sure that the early ones were guaranteed a prize. We did not win, but it was sure a lot of fun to watch. After the duck race we walked to Scratch Bakery to buy some breakfast pastries for the next leg of the journey. Everything looked delicious and the scones were twice the size of OsoSweet’s back home!

We went to the Seven Seas for lunch, as recommended by the friends from Park City. Plus there was a pirate on top of the restaurant. When we walked in, we saw our boat neighbors there for lunch! I got a lobster roll which was pretty good, and sweet potato fries. Laz had a bacon cheeseburger with regular fries. I heard it was good. It’s pretty crazy that the Seven Seas has been around since Laz lived in Milford as a kid.

After lunch we walked up to the larger green, where the Congregational Church is. Kids were fishing in the pond there. Laz was amused to find that everything looked smaller than he remembered. Of course is at least a foot or more taller than when he lived here.

We walked a different path back, and came across two mama geese and their ducklings. We gave all of them wide berth, but the mamas led the goslings off into the trees anyway.

Spring has sprung in Milford! Some beautiful roses and other plantings all around.

As we walked down Shipyard Lane, Laz noticed a turtle on the rocks in the creek area below. We crossed back to the marina using the pedestrian bridge and put away the treats from Scratch Bakery and leftovers from Seven Seas. We decided to walk over to the Milford Yacht Club where the JKLs kept their houseboat, the Blue Bug.

Laz, by the pool he learned to swim in. We walked along the docks and I saw where the Bug was kept. We went into the clubhouse and talked to who we thought might be the manager, but no one there was old enough to remember the Lasleys. He told us that there are some older club members, but they usually frequent later in the day.

We walked to the waterfront, where there was still a lot of fog on the water, and you could not see Charles Island. Laz used to play in the mudflats below.

You can see the fog starting to lift over on the sun. It had started to drizzle while we were walking back. We stopped at Scoopy Doo’s for a small bowl of chocolate caramel crunch. It was really good. Scoopy Doo’s is conveniently located right by the marina. Yay!

I had texted Ben to let them know we were in Milford until the morning, although I was pretty sure that they did not want to drive one mile more, since they had just driven up from Texas. They were at the West Hartford town Festival and Jasnah fell asleep in the car on the way back to their hotel, so he offered to come down for a visit and dinner. Of course I said yes! It was pouring when they arrived, and Jasnah was still sleeping.

Tristan and Ben came out to say hi, and Tristan brought his travel chess set. He and Grandpa immediately sat to play a few games. Once Jasnah was up we all went to baji-naji. It was such a joy to show the kids around.

It was such a treat to show the family baji-naji! Silly and smiling faces all around. So much joy to spend time together! Since it was still pouring, we had some snacks. Jasnah liked the Club Crackers and Tristan, Ben and Yanessa enjoyed some of my dried pineapple. When the rain let up a little bit, we walked into town for dinner.

We went to Pizza Lyfe for dinner. We got a large caprese pizza to share, a small pineapple pizza for Tristan, and spaghetti and butter for Jasnah. The gr’ups also got chicken and broccoli slices, and a slice each of sausage and bacon and chicken bacon ranch for Laz. It was all delicious, and we had leftover pizza. I took home the caprese and Tristan took his pineapple. He even let me have a slice to try.

While the rest of the fam went on to Scoopy Doo’s, I took Tristan across the metal bridge to show him where the ducks were dumped and where the races happened. I also showed him the stone benches with chessboards inset. There was more water going quickly down the river. We enjoyed our ice cream and then it was time to say goodnight. A wonderful wonderful family visit, and such a thrill to be able to show the little ones the boat before they come aboard in a few weeks for Barb’s burial at sea. Tomorrow we will be heading off to Clinton.

Sunday June 8th (Vern’s birthday)

No fog when we got up! Off the dock by 0930 and heading out.

There was lovely wind again, from E and ESE, 8 or 9 kts to start, so we we able to sail shortly after leaving Milford Harbor.

We were wondering why we didn’t see this ship and another large tanker on AIS. Turns out they are both anchored, and Laz had set the navs not to show non moving objects. We opted to keep it that way for marinas, otherwise we would have too much of the screen occupied by boat names.

The B. Franklin Buchanan was just ahead of us from NYC to Long Island Sound. It was nice to see her again.

We tacked out into the Sound then back in towards CT across Falkner Island, with Falkner Island Light shown here. It’s not a long sail to Clinton Harbor and we had good wind, so it was nice to be able to sail the long tacks. Coming into Clinton, it is a narrow channel, barely two boat widths wide. We were going to the fuel dock for pumpout, but with two boats already there, we went down F dock to the end and turned around. Whoops! The depth as we turned was only 3’8”. Luckily we did not get stuck in the mud and were able to get back to the fuel dock for pumpout as the other boats left. We turned around again to go to F dock, which was our berth for the stay. This time when I turned around, I used the bow thruster for a tighter turning radius and had no trouble. Docked by 1530 and took the marina shuttle to Stop & Shop for a few provisions. We picked up milk, lettuce, spinach, Club crackers (Jasnah cleaned us out) and a few other provisions. Our driver is a guitar teacher and was a touring musician for years until he tired of that life. While we went into S&S, he waited in the van and listened to our music via the postings on Facebook.

After tucking away the provisions, we walked over to Aqua for dinner. I had a delicious salad topped with sweet juicy fried oysters.

Laz had the BBQ shrimp wrap.

We had a lovely warm chocolate cake for dessert. As we were waiting for dessert, we heard the table next to us discussing the wind and weather. Turns out they had sailed their 34’ Catalina from Virginia and are headed to Newport. Small world. We agreed that it made sense to wait out a day or two for weather. Cold and rain with big wind are no fun if you can spare a day to wait. I know we are staying for the next two days, not heading out til Wednesday. Back to baji-naji for the night. No sunset pictures as it is overcast.

Monday June 9th

Leisurely morning as we had nowhere we needed to be. It was quite windy all night, but we were secure to the dock. Enjoyed yogurt, coffee and we split the corn muffin with honey butter from Scratch Bakery. It’s really good, one of the best I’ve ever had. Lay day = laundry day! We did two loads, lights and darks. $2 for each wash or dry so $8 total. I happened to have that much in quarters; I finally broke into my $10 roll of quarters. Laz had some computer work to do on Mom L’s estate, and to pay bills and other things. He took down the code-0 since it was going to be rainy, and filled the water tanks.

A view of Cedar Island on a cloudy day

Drizzly fog today with a view of Cedar Island (the owner’s boat) and Glory (who we saw at South Jersey marina) with baji-naji in the middle. Hayley came for a visit after work. It is so good to see her! Did not realize her father grew up in Milford and always had a boat, making it easy for her to be comfortable on baji-naji. We had a lovely chat about her work, mutual friends and our sailing plans. I promised to take her to Melting Pot in New Haven when we come back this way. Our first outing with her was with Jacqui at the Darien Melting Pot.

Hayley could not stay for dinner (the dogs). We went back to Aqua for dinner. I had their New England Clam chowder, which was chock full of clams, but had an herb that didn’t quite work. Laz had their seafood bisque which was OK. The best part of the soups is that they are warm.

I got the fish tacos which were mostly lettuce, a tiny slice of avocado, and a small piece of fried haddock. The ranch dressing was good though. A disappointment that it sounded better on the menu than it tasted. Laz had carne asada tacos that were decent.

We went back to baji-naji for dessert, trying Kathy’s Famous Cookies. They are quite crunchy as described, and pretty tasty too. I stayed up past midnight reading as we have another lay day in Clinton tomorrow. Currently reading Eowyn Ivey’s Black Woods, Blue Sky which is really good.

Tuesday June 10th

Another leisurely morning as today is supposed to be mostly rainy. Slept in and read til nearly 1000 when I decided I needed breakfast.

Made Becky’s bacon, French toast topped with blueberries for me, the mini omelette and fresh ground coffee. Yum! After breakfast I cleaned the rub rail with the magic sponge. It seemed to have gotten dirty from rubbing on pilings or whatever. The magic sponge worked well to get all the icky bits off. Also cleaned away the dark sneaker marks on the bow and some of the cockpit marks from the bringing the code-0 in and out of the lazarette. I trimmed the bottom of the rigging tape to avoid trapping water and causing rust. Thanks Garrett for the tip! It was lovely out between squalls. I had a great conversation with the captain of the Cedar Island, Brandon. He grew up sailing in Clinton, and has sailed all over. The Cedar Island was in NYC for the Sail GP races; we talked about how amazing foiling boats are, especially the F-50s zipping right by you. He has tried sailing Moths, but not other foiling boats. We agreed that if this technology existed when we were younger we would definitely be foiling sailors! Brandon looks at least a couple of decades younger than me, so I think he could definitely pick this up.

While I was outside cleaning and chatting, Laz started to clean up the wires on the port side, then decided it was really OK to leave them how they are. He tightened out the center table in the cabin, as it was wobbling a bit. I got a notice that our Amazon package was delivered, so I ran up to the office to pick it up. While there, I went into the store and found a lovely Cedar Island Marina watch cap. I forgot my OsoSweet one, so I’m happy to get this, as New England has been chilly in June. I spend the rest of the afternoon downloading photos and updating this log. It’s so much faster to type on the laptop than to update the log on my phone. Plus I can’t put videos on from the phone. We also updated our Kindles since we had wi-fi. I returned a few to Kindle Unlimited and borrowed a few more. It’s so nice to use the Kindles; in the old days we would have brought a few grocery bags stuffed with paperbacks… and that was for just a week!

Imagine our surprise when the sun came out at nearly 1900!

baji-naji looks good in this light

A nice view of the marina in the sunshine. We walked to a different restaurant for dinner.

View from Shanks restaurant as we waited for our order. The bright sunshine had gone away with cloud cover moving in.

From the Shanks website: https://shanksclinton.com/about-us “Our glorified "Food Boat" was created from a 1974 Bruno & Stillman 42  foot Commercial Lobster Boat, completely customized to house a state of the art commercial kitchen that is capable of cooking fresh seafood, lobster, burgers, and much more.  We offer classic New England fry, healthy choices, and land-lubber options. The view and location is second to none, and all the food is made-to-order. The original boat came from The Sound School in New Haven, CT and was used as a research vessel for 20 years before decommissioning. The Sounder was transported from New Haven to Clinton in 2014 and the transformation took nearly a year to complete.  Shanks now resides at Harborside Marina but is a fully transportable lobster boat!” The Sounder looks a little worse for the wear from the 2021 picture on their website, but still a great concept. Laz ordered the fried shrimp roll and I had the shrimp tacos. These tacos were much better than the ones from last night. Big shrimp, very tasty. We shared a Mexican street corn on the cob.

A gorgeous view of Cedar Island from Shanks, and a view of one of the unusually secured boats.

Same view as before from Shanks second story, but at sunset.

Cedar Island at sunset, as seen from our section of F dock.

The rest of Cedar Island at sunset with the Cedar Island in the foreground. So beautiful. Tomorrow we are off to Stonington, as the weather promises to be better.

Wednesday June 11th

Today is our 42nd anniversary. Hard to believe as we don’t feel the passage of time, but when we look back at all the adventures, it must be true. John at Custom Canvas left a voicemail while we were getting ready to go. I called him back and he couldn't promise to deliver any cushions at this time. We agreed to talk on our way back down to HdG in Aug or Sept as that is a better time of year for him. We talked Da Bears for a short bit as he is also a fan. Headed to the fuel dock for pumpout and off fuel dock at 0950.

A beautiful day, coming up into the 70° range. Tide was against us by almost two kts leaving, but lessened as we went east.

Anniversary selfie! I'm wearing Mom L’s lighthouse sweatshirt.

Did I mention lighthouses? Here is Saybrook Breakwater Light and Lynde Point Light at the mouth of the Connecticut River

A closer view of Saybrook Breakwater Light.

This J was going pretty well.. We saw her on the moorings in Stonington Harbor just inside the breakwater off the green. I later asked the dockmaster at Dodson’s who owned those moorings, and she said that most were private. Dodson’s does have a few out there and she was willing to move us if we wanted, but she thought it would be nicer for us to be near the heads and dinghy dock. I appreciated her thoughtfulness.

John H, the New London to Greenport ferry.

The very cute North Dumpling light

Latimer Reef light, another classic New England lighthouse.

On our mooring 35G at Dodson’s in Stonington harbor. We came in with this sweet small yacht sailing in behind us. I later found out from the dockmaster that one of the gentleman on the boat is 93! She and I agreed that we both hoped to still be sailing at that age. The other couple looked to be in their 70s.

Our port side view had a Dufour 412, Kairos. We circled her when we took Boji to dinner, but did not see anyone aboard.

Kairos is definitely from our generation Dufour. She looks like baji-naji, just longer.

We went to Noah's for dinner. I had mentioned it was our anniversary when I made the reservation so they put us in the window seat.

The nice server who took our photo for us also took a photo from the inside.

We had Korean green onion pancakes for an appetizer. The pancakes were cornmeal based and crunchy and delicious. The sauce reminded me of the sauce I made for Korean short ribs. Laz had scallops over forbidden rice with wilted greens and I had ribeye over roasted fingerling potatoes with asparagus (which were unfortunately overcooked). We finished with a raspberry devils food cake trifle. I thought it was going to be raspberries and cream; I missed where it said buttercream. Sadly it was American buttercream, not Italian, and it was far too sweet for me. The cake was good though.

A beautiful flowering dogwood on our walk back to the boatyard.

We walked along Dodson’s docks to see a beautiful sunset with all the boats on the moorings.

Sunset selfie!

Boji ride back to baji-naji.

A lovely sunset with the anchorage in the foreground. Tomorrow we are headed to the Sakonnet River and the moorings off Third Beach.

Thursday June 12th

Got up to use the head and saw this beautiful sunrise. Went back to bed as it was before 0600. Up by 0820, off our mooring by 0910, with sails up just past Stonington Harbor 0920. There were strong winds 13-18kts from WSW.

 Boji says Whee! We went out the cut in front of Watch Hill to save some distance.

Sailing past Napatree beach and Watch Hill light.

Sailing by the beautiful houses in Watch Hill including Taylor Swift’s. Boji in her cameo with Tay’s mansion.

We caught up with Blue Moon and I had to work not to bump her. It was a relief when we could point up. She headed for Great Salt Pond and we headed out to the Northern point of Block Island. There were a few other sailboats heading out as well. As we headed out, we saw 3 sailboats close together that were not moving and were not anchored, just drifting with the tide. We were too far away to stop, and hope they are OK. No distress calls came over the VHF.

It started out smooth towards Block Island, but then the seas built with the wind strong to 20kts, so we went to reef 1. Wind softened to 13, so raised the main again.

Gybed to get away from Nunalik which was a motor yacht carrier of fancy motor yachts. Port tack was a little smoother in front of the waves.

Saw a Coast Guard vessel with a crane on it. Not sure what it does although it looks like it might be moving buoys. We had the code-0 out and we were moving well, but wind built again to 20. Decided to furl the code-0. Apparently it did not get furled properly as it started to come unfurled. By this point , seas were up to 4ft at least and we had to drop the code-0. I went up to the bow to try and unfurl and furl again but there was too much wind. Getting the code-0 down was a bit challenging with the wind and waves, but Laz managed to wrestle it on board. I had turned the engine on to help keep us steadier. Reefed the main to one when Laz was safely back in the cockpit and we motor sailed into the Sakonnet River.  We pulled into Third Beach around 1700 and found the mooring ball as described per the message from the harbormaster on our Dockwa app. Laz made the Cuttyhunk bridle.  Living things on the lead line from the mooring! Small and wiggly! Don't know what they are.

The view from our mooring ball with Newport in the distance. We love this cove. It’s truly a harbor of refuge. We could see the waves crashing on the rocks leading into the cove, and the wind was still blowing. Once it settled down to 10 kts or less, we raised the code-0 again to unfurl and furl it back. The built in forestay of the code-0 was twisted a bit, so it had to be straightened out. It seemed to furl back properly, but we will test it under wind tomorrow.

We were so hungry I put out chips and salsa, which were quickly demolished. Dinner was chicken tortilla soup from Panera and a just baked sourdough roll.

Another glorious sunset.

A brilliant end to a challenging yet fun sailing day. Laz and I work well together. It’s wonderful when you can rise to a challenge and work in tandem without words, especially as we couldn’t have heard words over the wind and waves. Tomorrow we are off to Onset EARLY because I have a 1530 appointment with my girl Apryl for another one of the best pedicures ever.

Friday June 13th

I woke up spontaneously at 0600. We were off the mooring by 0630.

The sun was just over the horizon and Laz was at the helm so I could take pictures. The wind was light, the seas still 2-3 feet from yesterday, so we motored. Put up the main as we headed towards Cuttyhunk for some stability, even though it was a tight angle.

Saw the Pearl Coast go on into Buzzard's Bay. Then saw the Michelle Foss, towing what looked like a very strange bird from afar. Scaffolding for a rocket ship? A space elevator? She hailed to give us her directions and we changed course a bit to get out of her way. Turns out she is towing a barge with wings for a wind turbine. So cool.

Calmer seas in Buzzard's Bay, the tide with us for now.  Tide did turn but only 0.2-0.5 against us with almost a kt into the beginning of the CCC

1310 at dock Safe Harbor Onset I had time for a shower before taking Boji over to the town dock for my appointment with Apryl at Tarra Dean. She does amazing pedicures! We got an ice cream chocolate decadence after my appointment . Back to baji-naji to change for dinner, then walked over to Glen Cove. Burrata caprese salad, so yum. Delicious swordfish over risotto with roasted broccolini. Laz had steak tips, also excellent. Dessert was strawberry shortcake (too much so brought it home) and key lime pie for Laz, which was good, but not tart enough. We wandered downstairs where a band was setting up, but with the early start, there was no way I could stay up to hear a band.

Saturday June 14th (Mom’s birthday)

Woke up to a cold and rainy day at 0815. Took Boji over to Pierview for breakfast and had their excellent Irish Benny, which is homemade corned beef hash over English muffin with the classic poached egg and hollandaise. Home fries were crispy and yummy. Laz had a broccoli, cheese and bacon omelet.

Laundry day! Did the linens and a few other things

Worked on log til 1830, time for dinner.

Dinner at Stonebridge. Yummy lettuce wraps, awesome cheddar mushroom burger. Chicken with prosciutto and mozzarella over angel hair and pesto was good not great. Laz's Schatzki acted up, even though he has not had any problems for weeks. Sigh. Love music at Stonebridge, a duo with guitarist and a vocalist. She has a great voice, was nice to listen to

Brought up a tip and harmonized while doing it.

Boji back to b-n and worked on log til MN to recover what was lost. Heading to Ptown to anchor tomorrow