Well it’s been a week since we left Wareham and we’re still alive and floating! So far we have sunk our dinghy in Point Judith, run over a tree in the Connecticut River, and anchored way too close to a reef in the Norwalk Islands.
I covered the dinghy sinking in my last post, no sense in going over that again. So here are more adventures.
On a lovely Sunday afternoon, we had just entered the Connecticut River heading for the free mooring field in North Cove. There were like a hundred boats all coming and going. They were passing us right and left, cutting across our bow, coming too close to our stern, and generally being rude and uncaring. Everyone was completely ignoring the SLOW NO WAKE signs that were everywhere. It was a real freak show! A 50 foot snoot bucket towing a 21 foot dinghy on a 50 foot tow line, and leaving a 4 foot wake, got tired of being behind a boat (us) that was obeying the rules of the road and gunned it to pass. We were dealing with the dudes massive wave when suddenly with we felt and heard a gawd awful noise that traveled the length of our hull and crunched past the running gear.
“My God! What was that?” the XO exclaimed.
I turned around just in time to see what looked like a tree bounce off the dinghy. then slowly sink under the briny.
“Crap,” I exclaimed as I waited for engine alarms, bilge lights, prop vibrations, smoke, fire, brimstone, or anything else. But no, miraculously we were fine and we continued on our way to North Cove in Old Saybrook, CT.
Sea wall in Fenwick, CT.
Old Saybrook Town Beach
“Why isn’t this place packed? It’s incredible,” I asked aloud.
“Because there are no dock boys,” the XO answered.
What can I say? There are a certain amount of boaters who need dock boys.
North Cove morning.
The next morning we headed off to the Norwalk Islands in Connecticut. There is an anchorage right off Cockenoe Island we were excited to try.
Leaving the Connecticut River, we saw this tug pushing a mountain.
Anchored off Cockenoe Island.
Well, we anchored all right, but when the tide receded, we were really close to the rock strewn Cockenoe Reef. When we swung around with the breeze, suddenly we were in 3 feet of water. The dangerous reef was less than 10 feet away! Yikes! Panic mode! We immediately fired up the engines and moved to deeper water.
This unmanned Hobie Cat sailed by us and hit the reef.
Cockenoe Island is gorgeous, deserted, and, except for the fringe areas, really difficult to walk on. Birds have almost completely taken it over.
On Cockenoe Island.
We found this makeshift shrine.
We never saw another soul the whole time we were there. Awesome! We showered buck naked on the swim platform! SOCOBO 7/21/17