Westbrook Connecticut June 10th
– July 29th 2007
Just dropped anchor, finally we have
made it through the dark to the anchorage off Westbrook CT
and boy are we happy to make it safe and sound, straight to
bed we go, on calm waters to have sweet and dry dreams.
Westbrook, Connecticut USA, a quaint
shoreline community nestled on the banks of Long Island
Sound between New Haven and New London, rich in maritime
history (once shipbuilding was the primary industry here
until the age of the Steam Ship) David Bushnell was born
here and in his last year at Yale he invented the submarine
and brought it back to Old Saybrook (just up the road) to
test it.
Tranquility is anchored right beside
this great little island called Duck Island, not that we saw
any ducks, more seagulls and so many lobster pots. The kids
thought of it as their private island and love it when we
would all take the dingy over so they could explore and walk
along the breakwater to the point, catching crabs and
finding shells.
With our tummy’s rumbling at knowing
that we were in lobster heaven off we went making our way to
the closest local fish shop. Oh and what a wonderful New
England dinner we had of fresh lobster, clams and colourful
produce.
Since the Candore was in Westbrook for
engine repair work through one of the largest Brewer Yacht
Yards, Brewer Pilots Point goes to great lengths to make the
marina feel small and personable in every way. This is one
of the best marinas that we have had the pleasure of
utilizing. These thin blooded South Floridians aren’t
acclimatized to the tempered waters of the North Atlantic so
the pool (even though not heated) was a lovely addition to
our daily activities with the kids sunbathing, swimming,
picnicking, riding their scooters to the beach up the road.
Which we were lucky all the vicinities were close enough to
either walk to like the library, laundry and liquor store,
but if one needed to do a provision shop the marina staff
were more than willing to take you in the courtesy car. This
marina is very kid friendly and holds many activities for
kids and families. We had wonderful time rocking out to the
local UHF reggae band under the pavilion on 4th
of July, with the band playing a lot of oldies and a couple
of reggae songs with their bass player being the only ethnic
Jamaican there. Hey it was all cool mon! Afterwards we went
back to our little island so the kids could let of some
small fireworks, and then we all headed back to the boat to
watch the grander of Old Saybrook’s fire show.
There is a genuine, small, homey
atmosphere wherever you go in the area and surrounding
towns. We had a wonderful time when our friends came up from
Florida and visited for a week, we took a trip to Lymans
Orchards with the three kids and went raspberry picking, it
was truly fabulous and the berries were oh so sweet we have
made muffins and pies from what we didn’t eat and actually
took home. Buying locally grown fruit closes the distance
in food miles from the farm to your table. Fresh fruit just
doesn't get any better than this!
It’s nice to be in a community where
there is only a two lane road running through the towns
linking them together and where the spirit of the seashore
and community displays itself on the verandas of the
colonial styled houses littering the shoreline.
We did do some work on this trip
through Trans – Marine, with some new clients on their
Outbound 44’, having rafted up beside us we installed a Sea
Recovery Water Maker, a Next-Gen 5.5kw Gen-Set, and the
factory has us take care of some warranty work for them.
Click on following link for a full history of work done on
their Outbound 44’. They were certainly happy to have this
service of personalized care as it saved them the fees of a
marina berth and yard bill, also if I do say so myself there
is nothing like have a professional work on your boat with
the self knowledge of what actually works and doesn’t since
we have first hand experience. This life of working and
living aboard a sailing vessel has allowed us to meet so
many wonderful and interesting people that started out as
strangers and clients that end up being friends and
comrades.
