Tag Archives: Fairhaven

Passing the Narragansett – On to Essex!

Posted on September 15, 2021 | Comments Off

Tuesday (9/7) – Essex, CT

As soon as it was light and we ate a quick breakfast, we left the Acushnet River Safe Boating Club (ARSBC), rounding Crow Island and leaving the New Bedford-Fairhaven harbor behind. We made it through the hurricane barrier, passed the Butler Flats Lighthouse and Fort Rodman and cruised into Buzzards Bay. Unlike 2 days ago, it was a beautiful day on the water.

Because of our stopover in Fairhaven, we no longer needed an interim stop in Stonington before reaching our desired destination of Essex, CT. This is a place we have wanted to go to for a while now, and with a beautiful day like today we should have no issues in getting there. Of course we still had to cross the Rhode Island Sound, the Narragansett Bay and Block Island Sound; all three are open bodies of water that are notorious for being unruly in certain conditions. Denise’s main goal was to get past the Narragansett without having to go up it to outrun a hurricane. In our last two adventures coming back from Maine (2017 & 2019), we ended up in Wickford, RI for extended periods of time which lengthened the journey home. Today we are hoping to break that pattern.

Given the open water and so few boats in our way, we were able to cruise at 20 knots on a course heading mostly south, making our way through Buzzards Bay. We slowly turned southwest and scooted through the channel at Dumpling Rocks spotting the beautiful Round Hill Mansion on to our right.

Afterwards we turned on a more west-southwest course, crossing the state line into Rhode Island and saying good-bye to Massachusetts. We were now in the Rhode Island Sound and started to feel the swells coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. These however, were not the predicted swells from the remnants of Hurricane Larry, expected to be felt on the eastern seaboard on Thursday. As we approached the Sakonnet River, just east of Newport, things got a little bumpy but tolerable. Still, a bit too bouncy for picture taking.

As we approached Newport and the Narragansett Bay, things got a little more bouncy and uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as Sunday on Buzzards Bay. We kept going, knowing that we only 15 miles to cross the Bay. Finally, just before 9:00 am we approached Point Judith and its beautiful lighthouse.

It was in this area that we could also see the outline of Block Island to our left. However, with our distance from it and the direction of the sun, we were not able to get a good picture. We had 17 miles to go before we would hit our next milestone, Watch Hill and the Fisher Island Sound. Remarkably, things settled down as we entered the Block Island Sound and continued to improve as we headed west. Finally, we could see Watch Hill and the landmark Ocean House Resort to our right, and Fishers Island to our left.

We entered state of Connecticut and skirted the NY state line to our left as we made our way through Fishers Island Sound. We continued west until just before New London, CT where we pulled into the Shennecossett Yacht Club (SYC) for a fuel stop. Captain Mark had shopped this and determined that if we got fuel here we should not need any more until we got to Cape May, NJ. The channel into SYC is easy to spot because the UConn Marine Sciences center sits out on Avery Point and you can see it for a few miles.

After we finished with the fuel up, we headed back out the channel and into the Fishers Island Sound until it ends by merging into the Long Island Sound. We cruised close to the Connecticut side of Long Island Sound, passing the landmarks of Seaside Sanatorium – a Connecticut State Park, and Dominion Millstone Power Station.

Seaside Sanatorium – a Connecticut State Park

After another hour of calm seas and easy cruising, we turned right into the Connecticut River. The breakwater is marked by the very visible Saybrook Breakwater Light, and followed by the Lynde Point Light. Over the years we have seen boats with a Saybrook hailing port, but did not know exactly where that was. We now could see the nice houses that surrounded the entrance here to the river.

We continued north up the River, going under the Old Lyme Draw Bridge and the I-95 Bridge, and passing several marinas along the way.

Eventually, we came to the town of Essex on the western shore, but we were headed 2 more miles up the river to a mooring in nearby Hamburg Cove for the evening. We entered the cove and picked up one of the “rental” moorings. It was a beautiful cove surrounded by lovely houses and was very well protected.

We had traveled 84 miles arriving at 12:30 pm and happy to have made such great progress. It was a beautiful day on the water and if we had not wanted to visit Essex, we would have stayed on the calm waters of Long Island Sound as far as possible. However, we had reservations for dinner at the Griswold Inn and definitely had to visit this much talked-about town.

The Griswold Inn goes back to the American Revolution and has a rich history, including its use in movies, TV shows and books, which you can read about here. But it is the connection (perhaps in name only) to it by one of our business associates (Bob Griswold), that really made us want to come. Bob’s ancestry dates back to Windsor, CT in 1638 when “Edward”, came over from England with his half-brother, Matthew. Edward was a solicitor for the colony and later moved to Killingworth, CT; named for his English hometown Kenelworth. Killingworth is now Clinton, CT. Matthew moved to Old Lyme area and one of his descendants later became governor of the colony, and later established the town of Griswold near Jewett City. However, Bob is not sure if the Inn was ever owned by a Griswold from his direct heritage, but he certainly came from the ancestry.

As the afternoon wore on it got hotter on the boat, and the well-protected cove offered no breeze for relief. It also got a little buggy, and we were contemplating turning on the generator to run the ac. We also learned the mooring ball rental was not $25 but $40. As we considered the distance from the town and how we will have to take our dinghy back from dinner in the dark, we started to wonder if we made the right call in choosing this location. After a few phone call inquiries, we located an available mooring at the Essex Yacht Club (EYC) back in town, and left Hamburg Cove to move the 2 miles back into the Connecticut River.

Once at the EYC, we were directed to mooring about 200 yards from shore, and were informed the launch service would end at 6:00 pm. We would have to use our dinghy to come and go for our town visit and post-dinner transportation back to the mooring. That was fine with us, so we launched the dinghy, went to the dockmaster’s office at EYC and checked in. Here are some pictures of this lovely yacht club.

After checking in with the dockmaster and getting the requisite information, we walked the quarter mile into the downtown area. It was later than we would have wanted and because of that we missed visiting the Connecticut River Museum which closes at 4:00 pm. However, we still discovered a lovely town with buildings from the late 1700’s and 1800’; many still lived in by local residents. We walked around for a bit and went into a few of the stores that were still remaining open (most closed at 5:00 pm), and then went to the inn for our 6:00 pm reservation.

We were a little early, but they were able to accommodate us so we got seated right away. The dining room is filled with some very old original paintings of all things nautical, and because of this it is dimly lit. However, it was so fascinating to eat around all the rich history, and to learn a little bit more about the inn. Along with the guest rooms upstairs, there is the dining room, an outdoor eating area, and a bar (called the Tap Room) with its own rich history. It is truly an interesting place to visit and we were glad we came.

After dinner we walked by a few other marinas, and the small ferry (think boat launch) that takes people the 100 yards away to Essex Island, where there is also a marina and a restaurant. Here we saw the beautiful classic yacht “Annie Laurie”.

We then went to the public dock and the museum for a nice view of the moored boats in the harbor, including ours – in the middle of all those sailboats.

Finally, we headed back to EYC and launched the dinghy to head back to the boat. And that’s when the dinghy engine stopped, as if it had run out of gas. We were 100 yards from our boat and after several attempts to restart it, began troubleshooting the problem. We had gas, but it seemed the engine was not getting it. There were no leaks in the line, but no fuel either. Finally, as the sun was getting lower in the sky, we broke out the oars and rowed the remaining way to our Island Office, then stowed the dinghy for the night. We were resigned to the fact that we will have to solve this issue when we are back in a marina and have some daylight.

All of this played out while we watched the sailing club send out launches to rescue their sailboats that got stranded when the wind died, wondering if they could also rescue us. And about the same time we watched as another classic yacht (“Black Knight”) pulled up to the dock at EYC. It was a beauty and nice sight to stare at until the sun completely set on our adventure in Essex.

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Posted in Maine 2021

Tagged Connecticut River, Essex, Fairhaven, Fisher Island, Narragansett

Favorite Friends in Fairhaven!

Posted on September 12, 2021 | Comments Off

Sunday (9/5) – Fairhaven, MA

We were up early and left Constitution Marina just before 7:30 am as we had a long day planned. Although it was overcast skies, the wind was fairly light and we were hoping it would stay that way so we could go a long distance today. Our ultimate goal was to reach Stonington, Connecticut, but that was quite aggressive and we would be happy to even get to Newport, RI if that was as far as we could make it.

We headed out of Boston Harbor, leaving this ever-growing skyline behind and made our way through the south channel to the Bay of Massachusetts. This route took us around several rock islands and not far from the Boston light. It was a little bumpy on the Bay, but very tolerable at this point. We had bailouts planned for the entire route, including at Situate, a place we have wanted to stay, but not on Labor Day weekend. It was only 1 hour out of Boston and we were comfortable enough to continue with our journey.

We ran somewhat along the shoreline, but only because we had to stop for fuel. Around 9:30 we pulled into Green Harbor near the town of Marshfield and pulled into Taylor Marine to fill up our tank with diesel. This is the cheapest fuel in all of Massachusetts and they go through about a 1000 gallons a week supporting the local fishing fleet and other cruising boats. One of the Taylor family members assisted us with the fuel up and shared the history of this multi-generation marina and fuel stop. He also told us how the area was used in many movie shoots including “The Finest Hours” – a terrific movie about a daring Coast Guard rescue off of Cape Cod during a blizzard in 1952.

Entering Green Harbor River – Marshfield

After our fuel stop we headed back out to the Bay, and soon afterwards we passed Plymouth Lighthouse and the town of Plymouth.

Just 20+ miles later we approached the Cape Cod Canal. It is easy for us to know where it is as just inside of the canal is the large power plant that is visible for miles offshore.

We entered the canal and although we had tried to time it so we would have the current in our favor all the way to the western end, it didn’t work out that way. It was neither slack nor outflowing, but more like conflicting currents that moved our boat around a bit. We had to cruise at a slow speed because of our large wake (the canal has a speed limit too), which made fighting the cross currents a bit more challenging than if we could have powered through it. But Captain Mark handled it well and we cruised along under all the bridges and past the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

And as we headed south, so did the water conditions. We went from a bit bumpy due to conflicting currents (expected) to full blown unexpected rough seas in no time. We were now on Buzzards Bay but still within the breakwater, and the conflicting currents against the west wind bounced against the breakwater and really stirred things up. Add to that the boats that passed us throwing huge wakes, and we were looking at 4 foot waves with whitecaps and chop coming at us from all sides. Mark had to slow the boat down and Denise had to sit in her helm chair to keep from falling. We decided we would not stay on Buzzards Bay, and immediately considered our bailout options, knowing wherever we ended up would be a two-night stay due to impending weather.

Of immediate consideration was Marion, where we stayed in 2017. It is not a well-protected harbor but it was only 2 miles away. Mark suggested we at least press on to the New Bedford-Fairhaven area, but it meant 8 more miles in the sloppy waters. Denise agreed and thankfully, the new course put us into a somewhat more comfortable ride so we could speed up the boat to 20 kts again. However, it was still a miserable 8 miles until we could turn into the channel and be protected by the land to our south.

In the meantime we had called Brian (“Pennywise”) the TowBoatUS operator and our friend at the ARSBC who told us when we left in July that we would always have a slip when we wanted one. He put us in touch with PJ, the dockmaster there, who confirmed they had a spot for us on their guest dock.

By the time we got to the breakwater, we had been in communication with Jean, who was at the dock to meet us, along with her husband Marsby and another of our friends (Anthony) to help us with the tie up. They gave us a great “welcome back” greeting, set us up with key fob for entry into the clubhouse, and Wi-Fi pass code.

It was just before 1:00 pm and although we had already gone 77 miles, we were disappointed we did not get further. However, this is part of the adventure, and in 2 days we would continue our journey further south, hopefully getting past the Narragansett Bay. For now, we will wait out the coming bad weather and enjoy our time with our old friends at ARSBC.

Once we settled the boat, we were now hungry for lunch, but today we felt like we deserved a bit of a celebration with our usual fare.

Brian came by to say hello once he got home from his (TowBoatUS) tow, and advised us that Penny was out of town for the long weekend; sadly we will miss her. We chatted for a while and once again he offered his generous hospitality. Mark requested information about a diver who could put the zinc on our shaft as the one in Boston was unable to do so before we left. Brian said he did, but the guy had a commitment for tomorrow and since we would be leaving the next day it wasn’t going to work out. This will have to wait until we are in a location for more than a day or two.

All afternoon it was very windy and it remained overcast, eventually the rain came but it was just drizzle and not the heavy rain that was expected. We spent the rest of the day hunkered down: Mark had some catchup emails to work on and Denise worked on a blog posting. We chose to eat dinner on the boat, in part because we had learned that nothing is open in the area on a Sunday.

Monday (9/6) – Labor Day, – Fairhaven, MA

We woke up this morning and it was still overcast, although it was forecasted to clear up. Because it was still windy and the boat was bouncing a lot, we chose to go up to the clubhouse to do some work. Yes, it was a holiday, but we had work to do and wanted to take advantage of the WIFI which was much stronger at the clubhouse then on the dock.

The clubhouse was quiet and comfortable, we had the whole place to ourselves, and we were able to get a lot of things accomplished. We left only for lunch, then returned back afterwards for a good bit of the afternoon, enabling us to even get a blog posting done. It was really weird how the ARSBC was so quiet now compared to how it was when we were here over the July 4^th holiday.

Since the weather cleared up during the afternoon and it was nice and sunny, we decided to grill out for dinner. Mark cooked us steaks on the club grill while Denise roasted some potatoes and made a salad. We then confirmed our plans for departure tomorrow and settled in for the night. Mark had his nose in a Tom Clancy novel (there was actually one he had not yet read) while Denise organized and cataloged pictures until we went to bed.

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Posted in Maine 2021

Tagged Fairhaven

Fog to Friends in Fairhaven!

Posted on July 3, 2021 | Comments Off

Fairhaven, MA – Saturday, 6/26

Timing is everything and today we were going to thread the needle between a foggy morning and a windy afternoon on Buzzards Bay. If we left too early we would have fog most of the way, and if we left too late we would have a rough time on Buzzards Bay. We chose fog and left our anchorage at Block Island just before 9:00, on a journey that would normally take 2.5 hours.

We watched several sail boats leave and heard their Sécurité calls over the VHF as they departed the breakwater, and then they disappeared into the white abyss. So we had no illusions about what we were going to face, and we were grateful for our experience of navigating in Maine fog; at least here there were not lobster pots all over the place to also dodge.

We spun up the radar, and left the breakwater relying on our AIS (automatic identification system) for others to see us, and our chart plotter to see others that have it. And of course we put our good senses to the test, always looking around and listening for other boats. Radar picks up all objects, but it is hard to discern if it is a boat, buoy or bird sometimes. Many more recreational boats are using AIS today, and all commercial boats use it. But the small boater and some fisherman do not use it and that makes them hard to spot until we are right on top of them. We did see two sailboats along the way, both of whom showed up on AIS and for that we were grateful as we didn’t physically see them until we came close to them as we passed.

We started out slowly, barely cruising at 10 kts. There was little wind so the water was more of a rolling swell that was coming from the east as we headed north. But the slow rolling of the boat made it a bit uncomfortable and after the first hour Captain Mark suggested we speed up a bit, which we did. Denise was happy as it made for a smoother ride, even though we had to be all the more alert.

By the time we left Block Island Sound and entered the Rhode Island Sound we were doing 18 kts and had brief periods where the fog would give greater visibility, but not enough to relax. Finally, we entered Buzzards Bay with the Elizabeth Islands to our right, and followed the western-most channel around Smith Neck to our port. Soon we passed Ft. Rodman at Clark’s point and the fog was getting lighter; we could finally see enough to shut off radar. We entered the Fort Phoenix Reach and followed the buoys marking the channel through the Hurricane Barrier.

Fairhaven homes overlooking New Bedford Harbor

This is the 3^rd time we have visited this area: first in 2017 only to get fuel at Sea Fuels, and in 2019 on our way home for an overnight stay at Popes Island Marina after being in Boston. This time we had reservations at the Acushnet River Safe Boating Club (ARSBC); our destination for the next week. However, we first needed to get fuel and pulled into Sea Fuels to fill up our tanks.

After fueling, we crossed the New Bedford Harbor passing the Popes Island Marina and turned onto the Acushnet River and immediately in front of us was the ARSBC. Previous to our arrival we received communication assigning us to a side-tie on D dock, but there were no markings to identify which dock was D dock, and there is no one who monitors the VHF of this private club. We pulled alongside what we thought was D dock, but later learned that we had tied to C dock. There was another boat on what we discovered was D dock, and they were supposed to have been gone. But we were told we were ok to stay where we were for now, but will have to move the boat sometime before the Fourth of July festivities began next weekend.

We settled the boat and were so happy to finally be out of the fog and back on “mainland” territory. It took us 3.5 hours in tedious conditions, but we were now safe and happy to be tied to a dock. We were greeted by one of the boat club members and given a tour of the facilities, a key to the clubhouse, internet password and other information. We were very tired and chose to relax the rest of the day. Mark did put some water on the boat and did a light hosing off of the salt. But we were spent and didn’t want to do too much.

As forecasted the winds from the south picked up in the afternoon and created a chop in the harbor. The waves slapping against the hull were quite loud, and the boat rolled a bit. We were very happy we had left BI early and didn’t have to deal with the horrible conditions we knew were now out in the Sounds.

In the afternoon we met a few locals and based on input from them, we chose Minerva’s for a take-out dinner. It is a pizzeria located about ¼ of a mile away, but are also known for their fish n chips which we decided to give a try. It was good, but a little too much breading for our tastes. However, their portions were enormous and once the breading was removed, there was fresh white flakey fish that was delicious and we were happy.

There were many things we were grateful for today, of most importance was safe passage. Another was that we never encountered any big ships that normally make their way through Block Island and Road Island Sounds. Another was that the wind kept the seas at a comfortable 1’ with some 2’ swells that were tolerable. Lastly, that the trip to Fairhaven was only 50 miles not 150!

Fairhaven, MA – Sunday, 6/27 through Friday, 7/2

This was an uneventful week from a cruising standpoint as we have not moved the boat out of Fairhaven, and will not until 7/5 or 7/6. So here is a summary recap of our week:

On Sunday (6/27) we walked to mass and visited a new church; St. Joseph’s in Fairhaven.

We spent most of the day working on things around the boat, and getting to know some of the locals who spend all their weekends on their boats in the summer. The wind continued to blow quite a bit and created havoc for boaters who were returning from their weekend adventures. The trawler in the slip across the dock from us had difficulty with the wind as they were trying to back into their slip. They were returning from a trip and, got twisted sideways, and the back of their flybridge caught the bow and anchor of our boat. Mark was not on the boat at the time and Denise was, but was below and didn’t know they were coming in until they hit us. She immediately got out and helped them to get turned around and dock successfully. Fortunately, there was not even a scratch on our Island Office, but their boat now has a bend in the support pole on their flybridge. Afterwards they were relieved that our boat was not damaged and told us about their awful trip across Buzzards Bay as they were returning from Martha’s Vineyard. We knew we had made the right call yesterday.

One thing we have learned over the years of cruising is that out of the generosity of other boaters comes new friendships. On our first day we got to know Penny and Brian (“Penny Wise”) who were the most generous of all.

On Monday, (6/27) Brian was very helpful in taking Mark in his pickup truck to the service location (Rick’s Outboard) for the dinghy engine. He knows the people there and we felt confident they would do good work. Brian is one of the TowBoatUS drivers and we respect his opinion. Rick’s Outboard expected to have it back to us on Friday, as requested.

We were also offered the use of Penny’s car. The only stipulation was that we had to take her to work each morning for 7:00 am and pick her up at 4:00 each afternoon. So on Tuesday and Wednesday we did just that and used the car for several errands.

Our first errand was that we had to drive 20 miles north to Onset and Point Independence Yacht Club (where we are going after Fairhaven) to retrieve the motor for the shower sump pump; the package was waiting for us and we had a chance to see where we will be docking when we arrive.

Over the two days we were able to run several other errands including going to three different Walmart locations (no Chlorine tablets or oil), a grocery store, a laundromat to do some laundry, and tending to a few personal needs: Mark got a haircut and Denise a pedicure. We even found a Panera to grab lunch one day, and went to nearby Kyler’s Seafood for some fresh fish which we had on Wednesday night for dinner. Kyler’s is a local seafood processor and retailer in New Bedford and they get fresh fish, scallops, shrimp, mussels, etc. from the local fishing boats in the New Bedford-Fairhaven area. This harbor has the largest fishing fleet in the USA and they line the shores of both of these towns.

On Thursday (7/1) morning we knew we had to move the boat to “D” dock and made plans to do so early before the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms and wind kicked in. Meanwhile, we had learned that since this club is home to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and is home port for the TowBoatUS boat, disabled boats are towed in here until they can be later moved for service, or get fixed. So, when we went to move the boat we discovered a new sailboat had been pulled in overnight. However, they were smaller than the previous boat and we could still fit on the front part of D dock.

During the move we also wanted to turn the boat so now the bow would face towards the marina and land, and the stern out towards the harbor. The main reason for doing this was that when the afternoon wind blew, the waves it kicked up would hit the stern of the boat and allow for quieter quarters and better sleep. The other reason was to prepare for the Independence Day festivities to take place; fireworks are scheduled for Saturday 7/3 in the harbor and sitting in our cockpit we will have ring-side seats.

Finally, the rain came today to break the 90° heat that has plagued the area. It has been so hot we have had the AC running as if we were in FL. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop throughout the day, night, and into Friday.

Approaching storm – never came on Wednesday, but did on Thursday

On Friday (7/2), the rain continued all day, but didn’t hamper our efforts to get a few things done. Mark was able to get our new D-dock friend Anthony (“Wilco”) to take him to retrieve the dinghy engine, now repaired. When they returned Brian and another boater (Pat) were on the dock and able to help Mark lift the engine and put it on the dinghy with ease. Denise was grateful that she didn’t have to help with this particular task.

Throughout the week we worked on all kinds of other things; replacing the shower sump pump motor, work for clients, e-mails, travel plans for 2 fall trips and our itinerary for Maine. We have also been intrigued by the activities in and around the harbor. Here are a few:

There are several ferry boats taking passengers from New Bedford to Cape Cod destinations and they move at a good clip. However, they are nowhere near as speedy as the ferries in NYC.

The ARSBC is right next door to the Fairhaven public boat ramp. This means we have had front row seats to watch the locals launch their boats to go fish, or just enjoy a day on the water. It has been amusing to say the least, but not nearly as those we watch on YouTube’s “79^th Street Ramp”. In fact, we have yet to see any real disasters occur.

We also watched the big fishing boats coming in and out of the harbor, specifically the fleet of boats that are part of “Blue Harvest Fisheries”; a large fishing, processor and distributor located right near the marina. They sell to the consumer (via grocery product) and wholesale to the restaurant and hospitality industries. They also have a fleet of boats in Newport News, VA. You can read more about the company here.

But the thing that has given us the most amusement is the flock of Canada geese that flutters between the boat ramp, the marina next door, and Crow Island – the private island in the middle of the harbor. The total number is close to 25, and sometimes they all travel together and sometimes they travel in 2 or 3 groups. We try to figure out why they move from one place to the next on what seems to be a whim. Then for no reason at all, they turn around and go back to where they came back from. It really is a hoot to watch.

In addition to Kyler’s and Minerva’s we enjoyed dining one night at Elizabeth’s, a restaurant that has terrific food, and is reasonably priced, especially for the freshness and quality. We even splurged that night and shared a piece of Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake that was delicious.

During the week Denise was able to get in a few runs and walks. For most of the week it was quite hot, reminding her of what it is like to run back in Winter Park. Along the way she shot some pictures of the area around Fairhaven, including many of the buildings that have such beautiful architectural features. One day she ran out towards the hurricane breakwater and Fort Phoenix and the dike that provides a flood barrier from Buzzards Bay. Another day she went out towards the western end of town near the High School and the Josh Slocum and John Cooke memorials. Here’s some pictures taken along the way.

LittleFree Library kills the wicked witch

John Cooke
Oldest survivor of Mayflower – Burial marker

The weather does not look too great for the Independence Day activities as it is forecasted to rain all weekend. Our next post will cover what ends up happening and what we end up doing. One thing is for sure…we will be staying put in Fairhaven for a few more days.

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Posted in Maine 2021

Tagged Block Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, Fairhaven