Yellow Boat: 07/13/08 Long Island Sound to Stonington, CT

THERE'S A NEW CAPTAIN ABOARD!!

YES, HAKUNA MATATA IS AT HER MOORING IN STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

IT WAS GREAT TO BE BACK IN HOME WATERS BUT THERE'S A SADNESS TO ENDING SUCH A JOURNEY. TO ALL OUR FRIENDS WE MADE ALONG THE WAY:
"WE LOVE & WILL MISS YOU TILL NEXT TIME!"

TO OUR FRIENDS AT HOME...."HELLO - WE'RE BACK!"

To those boating friends South of us. Take a look at Connecticut and sometime soon come take a closer look. You are always welcome along side Hakuna Matata.
................................................................................................................................................................
July 13, 2008

It's great to be in the home waters of Long Island Sound but there's that little nagging voice as we see New York fading in the distance that's saying "It's almost over"
no more: Pelicans, Porpoises or Rays..."Oh My"

We pick up a mooring in Manhasset Bay after an exciting trip through New York.

Bob is busy plotting and calculating our sail home.

As we sail out of Port Washington we can still see New York beckoning us to return
but
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL SAILING DAY IN LONG ISLAND SOUND

SO WE RAISE OUR SAILS

The cat seems to be wondering what the heck that white thing UP THERE IS?
Whatever* The cats have become great sailors.

No motor noise after all these months...it's so peaceful.
Even Ovida gets to SAIL!

Yes that's me under the hat.
This may be New England, but that sun's pretty hot.

Whenever two boats are sailing in the same direction....it's always a race.

Lighthouse into New Haven Harbor

The schooner, Quinnipiack, heads out for an evening sail as we settle in for the night.
The next morning is very ominous and wet!
So you know us, we stay another day.

The day clears and we spend it watching the very busy harbor.

The sun comes up the next morning and it's still busy!!

Boats are always coming and going in New Haven Harbor.

This boat's home port was Honolulu. They were headed to New York and South.
You know we shared with them and were just a little envious.

tugs still working hard

We look to shore and a sign reminds us where we are headed

So... we drop our last mooring line of our adventure and
HEAD FOR HOME

As we head up the Sound there's no sailing as there is no wind...look at the calm water, not even a slight breeze. But there is hot sun, so Bob creates a unique awning from a beach towel. Hey it works.

After sailing the coasts of so many states, we are seeing the beautiful Connecticut shore with fresh eyes. We've decided to take one of our side trips and tour the Thimble Islands. As we approach them you can easily see where they got their name from and we recall taking a tour boat ride through them years ago and enjoy our little tour.

Luckily for us there is a marked channel through the islands and without local knowledge we'll follow it. If we should stray it won't be shallow water, sand and/or mud that we'll be dealing with; we'll very likely be on the rocks. Rocks demand your respect!

You have to marvel at how those big rocks got there?

or all these ?

We leave the islands and join the boats now Sailing the Sound.

Always ferries

Race Rock Lighthouse

With all our sailing in Fishers Island Sound
North Dumpling never looked so good!

University of Connecticut has a new research buoy.

The Monastary says we're almost home.

We get our first glimpse of Stonington as we peek under our sail.
We also recognize a familiar sailboat headed our way.

Our dear friends, Linda and Roger have sailed out to meet us aboard Delirious.
We said goodbye to them last October and they faithfully followed our journey.
Roger was a great soundingboard for Bob to share any issues or triumphs. Linda relished in the pictures of our adventure with lots of questions; always encouraging...Do More! They also happen to be great fans of the cats and their adventures.

Another friend - Latimer Light welcomes us in the distance

as we pass White Rock

The fact that we name rocks should tell you something about
the waters in Fishers Island Sound.
There are so many of them they need names to keep track:
Intrepid Rock, Pulpit Rock, Swimming Rock, Youngs Rock, Academy Rock, Wicopesset Rock.
At times there are so many they give them a group name such as:
West Clump, Middle Clump, East Clump, Catumb Rocks, Seal Rocks
some rocks are actually identified as ledges:
Vixen Ledge, New London Ledge
or there are so many strung out they become reefs:
Seaflower Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Ellis Reef, Watch Hill Reef
That just leaves the really big ones that we just call islands!