Lake Tashmoo, a Peaceful Harbor

Posted on July 21, 2019 by watsons

We left Cuttyhunk bright and early at 7 am on July 13^th to head to Lake Tashmoo on Martha’s Vineyard, a 15-nautical mile journey. The safest and easiest passage between the Buzzards Bay side of the Elizabeth Islands and Vineyard Sound is Quicks Hole Passage is between Pasque and Nashawena Islands, two more Elizabeth Islands.

A sailing Moody 46 passed both of us as we traveled up Vineyard Sound. As we conversed over the VHF, her captain admitted that he was motor sailing, but still………. Well, none of us expected to trade our sails for speed when we bought these trawlers. We prefer the slower pace so that we can pause and smell the sea air.

Lake Tashmoo became a favorite stop on our cruises many years ago, but is now a must-do so that we can visit with our friend, Colin who lives on his boat, Tortuga, her in Lake Tashmoo during the summer months. We met Colin in 2016 here in Lake Tashmoo. That story is part of my OPB blog post. 😉

Lake Tashmoo is so protected and peaceful that we were able to raft both boats together in the designated anchorage, which is on the smaller side.

I noticed this sailboat anchoring nearby. Love the name, *Nautilus*, and the graphic , which combines my love of sea shells and my former mathematical side.

We invited Colin and the *Magnolia* crew over for dinner on Saturday evening. A very enjoyable meal with good friends!

The three guys spent a good part of the visit discussing various boat projects, especially future ones for Tortuga.

What more can I say? Kenneth Grahame must have known our guys.

Annette and I have our own projects to keep us busy. While the men mess about in their boats, we got together to weave and crochet. Sorry, no crocheting pictures.

No, he is not passed out or away, just napping. Messing about in boats can be quite exhausting. (I don’t think Al will appreciate this photo.)

Colin is always a generous host to those of us passing through on the Vineyard, giving us a ride and showing us things we might not otherwise have an opportunity to see. He loaned us his car for a grocery run into Vineyard Haven. Cruisers always appreciate an easy grocery run!

Walking up the road from the Tashmoo dock.

Another ice cream moment. Al is not alone on this excursion – Anthony took the photo. I think this is Bernie’s in Vineyard Haven.

Annette and I gave Colin a mini-FaceBook tutorial.

The next morning was another early morning departure, Nantucket bound. Did I already mention this might be a whirlwind cruise?

Leaving Tashmoo, Al is washing down the anchor chain. *Magnolia* ahead.

Tashmoo channel – Many boaters are wary of this narrow and shallow channel, with good reason. You need to be cautious and know your draft.

This year the osprey family was home in their nest by the side of the channel.

Tashmoo Beach on the eastern side of the channel.

Rounding West Chop, we had the current with us – 11 knots of speed!! We are on our way to Nantucket.

Along the way, the seas were calm enough and the sun was on the right side of the boat (meaning giving it the right light, not meaning “starboard,” although it was in fact both the starboard and the right light) to take a few photos of Magnolia underway. Anthony requested some new photos for a new boat card. I was their previous boat card photographer for S/V Magnolia while in the Bahamas. You know, Captains, if you didn’t change boats you wouldn’t need new cards (and that might be an inside joke for you know who.)

Block & Cutty

Posted on July 20, 2019 by watsons

On July 10th, after a 3-day return home for a commitment, we made our second departure from Shennecossett to head out again and meet up with Magnolia at Block Island. We only spent one night at Block before heading eastward, so there isn’t much to write about, especially since I have blogged about BI several times in the past. Our goal for this summer to show Anthony and Annette some of New England’s treasures that they may have missed on previous journeys north. It’s going to be a whirlwind!

A very calm departure through Fishers Island Sound.

BI New Harbor – not July 4 but still pretty busy.

Block was just a quick stopover to meet Magnolia, and we both managed to find an anchor spot on the east side.

Evening ice cream run to Champlins. Photo by Anthony who is also on the same ice cream run. Of course!

Coast Guard training boats, 2 boats per mooring. Arctic Tern and Stormy Petrol with crew aboard.

Block’s northern point in the early morning light.

It took us 5 hours to travel the 36 nautical miles from Block to Cuttyhunk at an average of 7.2 knots. I remember the days when it would take 8 hours in the sailboat.

The biggest event of the trip was passing Morning Cherry, an anchored EUKOR cargo ship.

Krogens on the left, Krogens on the right…… Now that we know a Kadey Krogen (that would be Magnolia) we see them everywhere. Just like when you get a new car they seem to be all over the roads. Magnolia on the right and a rare sailing Kadey Krogen on the lower left.

We always anchor in the outer harbor at Cuttyhunk, rather than take a $45 inside mooring, as long as the conditions are safe for that decision. With our 77 pound Rocna anchor, it isn’t a hard decision today. Al chose his old anchor spot near Pease Ledge……

*Kindred Spirit* anchored just off the rocks of Pease Ledge, visible as the tide goes down.

It makes me just a bit nervous anchored that close to the rock ledge, so we monitor our position with the GPS. The purple is the shallows near the ledge and the green squiggly blob is *Kindred Spirit’*s movement on anchor over 24 hours. OK, looks safe enough. 😉

Morning sailing classes in the outer harbor. As you can see, it was an overcast gray day here.

Dan and Marcia on Cutting Class were working their way westward towards home. Perfect timing for a get-together as our paths crossed.

Dinner on *Magnolia*. The gang’s together!

I’ve already done a blog post on Cuttyhunk from last year’s summer trip, so I’ll try not to repeat too much.

The next morning, another foggy gray beginning, we shared our tradition of breakfast at the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club with Anthony and Annette.

Cuttyhunk Fishing Club’s street entrance and garden bottle decor.

Glad to see the lawn planters are still there. 🙂

Al and Anthony at our breakfast table on the porch.

It is actually an inn – The Cuttyhunk Fishing Club Family Bed and Breakfast.

Sitting on the log overlooking the water.

After breakfast, we need to work off the calories so we head up to the highest point.

Anthony and Annette on a “street” in Cuttyhunk.

Cuttyhunk Elementary School – with deliveries on the wall.

The views from the lookout are quite foggy.

The grayness lifted enough to see our boats in the harbor. We are 2nd from left and Magnolia is on the right.

The guys are strolling back down the road from the top.

We had to show Anthony and Annette the pizza place, “Sopranos”, although we have never eaten there.

The day brightened to a nice warm glow. Al generously took Annette and I to the beach for a walk, and hopefully some sea glass finds.

Now that I have to wear compression all the time I needed a way to get from the dinghy to the beach without soaking these expensive fashion statements. Solution – My little yellow boots, courtesy of Crocs!

There was only a few bits of sea glass to be found; not like the old days….. so we walked over to the other side. Nothing there either.

The only interesting things on the beach…….

Later in the day, there is Kindred Spirit, with rain showers in the distance. Thanks for the nice photos, Anthony!

Moving on to Lake Tashmoo tomorrow.

FISHERS ISLAND, New York (but shouldn’t it belong to Connecticut?????)

Posted on July 9, 2019 by watsons

It’s been a very long time since I wrote a blog post, over a year. I made a conscious decision to only blog when there was something new or different to describe. That certainly doesn’t mean that there has been nothing new or different in our lives, it only means that I couldn’t necessarily relate it to boating or travel (and life often gets in the way of writing blogs.)

We had a long stretch of rainy and chilly weather here in New England which made it feel as though our boating season would never begin. But by late June we were ready to begin our summer cruising with Magnolia who arrived here to join us. Magnolia sat on our mooring ball out at Avery Point while her crew took a road trip to a family event in Michigan.

Magnolia sitting peacefully on our mooring ball and awaiting her crew’s return (under our watchful eye.)

Upon their return and after both a cookout with friends at Shennecossett and a get-together on Magnolia (and why did we all forget to take photos of that???), our boats were ready to get underway. We had to make it a short and interrupted beginning to the longer cruise due to a commitment back at home, so we chose West Harbor on Fishers Island as a first stop.

Fishers Island is sooo close to us — less than 5 miles from our dock to West Harbor. An easy and quick overnight or day trip when you don’t have much time. And yet when you return, you really do feel like you have been away.

We decided that West Harbor would actually be a good destination given the July 4^th holiday craziness on the water as well as our time/distance constraints. And Magnolia had never been there.

The Dumplings are two tiny islands just outside of West Harbor, Fishers Island. North Dumpling is owned by Dean Kamen, an inventor whose projects include the insulin pump, an all-terrain wheelchair, portable water purification systems and robotic prosthetic limbs……and the Segway, a self-balancing electric scooter. Kamen and North Dumpling’s quirky story has been featured in an article, “Welcome to the Secret Island of an Eccentric Genius.”

South Dumpling is uninhabited, but has a little history of its own, as described by Robert Anderson, Jr. whose family owned the island from 1964 -1980. South Dumpling is now held in a land trust, the Avalonia Land Conservancy, Inc.

For the 15 years that we have made the 5 mile trip, the one thing I always look for is the sea wall painted with the words, “Where the Wild Things Are.” I ponder about what prompted the idea and imagine the laughter and enjoyment that the family must have had as they engaged in the project.

The view of “Where the Wild Things Are” from the boat as we enter the harbor. Love the book!

A closer look at the wall. Top photo is 2015; bottom photo is 2019. I wonder if there are plans to repaint any time soon?

Magnolia anchored with a sailing race in the background.

After settling in, the warm July 4th weather called for a dinghy ride around the harbor to check out the sights and see what’s new. For a small harbor there is a lot to see.

Double POPEYEs or POPEYE squared? Combo ferry/charter boats that run from Noank, CT to Fishers Island, NY.

The harbor is lined with lovely old family homes, docks, and boats.

BD Remodeling & Restoration. The boat in front is named “Baby Doll”. Could that be the “BD”?

Back at the boat, the 68 degree water actually felt ok in the July heat.

The crews of Kindred Spirit and Magnolia enjoy dinner together at the end of our first day.

We slept well and awoke to……………… uh oh… The next day didn’t “dawn” at all until very late in the morning. This thick fog overlaid West Harbor and well across the southern New England islands.

That is all I could see of the harbor edge.

Magnolia is shrouded in a wet foggy blanket.

The fog departed very slowly, and by early afternoon we were rewarded with a sunny warm day – the four of us jumped into the dink for a visit to the island.

The fireworks barge arrived for the evening’s display. We were stopped just as we left the boat by the local patrol boat to inform us that Kindred Spirit “might” be a little too close to those festivities for comfort. OK, then! Back onboard for a quick repositioning farther out in the harbor.

Fishers Island provides a dinghy dock right at the yacht club for people to use and come ashore (take the hint, SYC?)

Fishers Island dinghy dock (in May, not July.)

Fishers Island Yacht Club decked out for the 4th of July. Awesomely decorated corn hole games on the lawn, too.

A few geographic facts about Fishers Island:

about 9 miles long and 1 mile wide, located at the eastern end of Long Island Sound
2 miles off the southeastern coast of Connecticut across Fishers Island Sound.
11 miles from the tip of Orient Point, Long Island
2 miles from Napatree Point, Rhode Island

And yet the island is part of the town of Southold in Suffolk County in the state of New York.

About 250 people live year-round on the island but the population swells to about 2,000 during peak summer weekends. In 1930 the population reached a peak of 1500, split between year-round residents and Fort Wright personnel. The closure of the last hotel in 1941 and of Fort Wright in the late 1940’s resulted in a dramatic decrease in year-round residents.

Fishers is a quiet place. The wealthy families that have spent generations summering here and the year-round residents want to keep it that way. There are no hotels, only one restaurant and one small cafe, one liquor store, two gift shops, an ice cream store and a grocery store. There are two private clubs, Hay Harbor and Fishers Island Club, that provide a social life for members and offer world class golf. I read an article that Fishers Island is known as the “anti-Hamptons” and is proud of it.

This small stretch is literally the “center”.

Our primary goal for the afternoon was to enjoy ice cream. Al and Anthony need regular infusions. “Toppers” is the little ice cream shop with a dog theme. Yes, a dog theme. It’s a cute idea, but the flavors all have clever names that make it a little hard to know what you are getting without a closer look.

Eager ice cream buyers! Annette made a thoughtful observation that having your ice cream in a cone is better for the environment, better than single-use plastic cups.
Flavors such as “Dobermint”, “Killer Canine”, “Mound Hound”, “Milkbone”, “Pedigree Paws”, “Muddy Dawg”, “Puppucino”

Toppers 2015 on the left and Toppers 2019 on the right, with a fresh paint job.

The Beach Plum is a charming gift shop in the old firehouse building. Lots of lovely (and expensive) items and many with a Fishers Island motif.

It’s nice of the Beach Plum to provide comfortable chairs for the guys while Annette and I checked out the merchandise.

We walked up the road to The Henry L. Ferguson Museum. After wandering around the displays of photos and artifacts from Fishers Island history, we found ourselves conversing with the director, Pierce Reynolds. This man knows his island history and is very adept at sharing the facts and fables of Fishers.

The Henry L. Ferguson Museum and Director Pierce Reynolds.

Here was my chance! Why, why is Fishers Island part of New York and not Connecticut?????? The question has bothered me for years. What’s the story, Pierce?
Here is the short version —

The Pequot Indians called Fishers Island “Munnawtawkit.” In 1614, the Dutch explorer, Adrian Block, discovered the island and named it Visher’s Island.

In 1640, John Winthrop, Jr. son of the famous Governor Winthrop, the founder of Boston, obtained grants for Fishers Island from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Connecticut General Court in 1641. Winthrop hoped to secure his rights to the island by applying to both colonies because the boundaries of these new colonies were somewhat fluid and had not been fixed yet.

In 1657, when Winthrop became governor of Connecticut, he had included Fishers Island, where he owned the land. But, in 1664 a land patent granted to the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II, included all islands in Long Island Sound — apparently giving Fishers Island to the Province of New York.

Fishers Island remained in the Winthrop family of Connecticut until 1863, in spite of the change from Connecticut to New York, when ownership passed to Robert R. Fox, and then to Edmund and Walton Ferguson, also of Connecticut.

In 1879, a joint commission from Connecticut and New York officially settled the CT-NY dispute by affirming that New York would have legal title to Fishers Island. In return, Connecticut then received full title to the Fairfield County panhandle, which intrudes into New York’s Westchester County.

And yet, and yet…..Fishers Island’s zip code is 06390, corresponding to Connecticut zip codes that begin with “06”, while other residential zip codes in New York State begin with “1”. Hmmmm. Pierce says that is for expediency since the mail is contracted to come from the Connecticut coast because there is no public transportation from anywhere else.

So there you have it.

Behind the museum is a path that leads to a Wildlife Sanctuary.

The museum hosts many activities and learning opportunities. A children’s session created “fairy houses” which we noticed as we walked down to the wild life sanctuary. Cute, but the fairies must have been hiding or napping.

Tunnel-like passages created from overhanging branches

A quiet pond, still and blanketed by a covering of algae.

Beside the algae pond is a statue of a mama heron and two babies. The only statue in the sanctuary.

We walked around a small section of the western end of the island, the only really public part of Fishers. Some of the sights —

First home on the road up from the docks.

The double Adirondack chair always looks inviting (except for that splat of bird doo on the top edge…..)

Over all the years of walking up this road past the ball field, there has never been a game in progress.

I’ve always loved the way this white house sits and overlooks the field.

Typical Fisher Island homes with lots of old charm.

The Red Barn Art Gallery. It has never been open when we walk past.

The Pequot Inn, the only restaurant on the island. We really wanted to have pizza and a cold beer, but it was 4 pm and the Inn doesn’t open until 5 pm. We will keep this on our future to-do list!

St. John’s Episcopal Church, one of the four island churches.

Honeysuckle, day lilies, a sculpted duck, and a severed tree limb that left a heart in its place.

This is an image you see EVERYWHERE on Fishers – on clothing, dishware, placemats, jewelry, and yes, on cars. Fisherites clearly identify with their island and are proud to say so.

The Fishers Island decal is on 90% of the cars on the island. If you just glance at it, it can appear to be a spot of peeling paint.

This pink stretch limo was an unusual sight as it pulled up in front of The News Cafe.
How did it fit on a ferry???

The Fishers Island fireworks were Friday evening’s entertainment. A boat is the best place to watch a fireworks’ display. Especially after you re-anchor farther away.

As the sky darkened we could see the barge just over the sailboat.
They might be a bit too close……

The only two respectable photos I took of the show. If you are a fan of fireworks and can’t get enough, here is a link to a short video of that evening. https://youtu.be/i47x4dOeTms Video seems to be a better way to capture the movement, the explosions, and the sounds of a fireworks display.

Sailing races are frequently held in West Harbor as part of the Fishers Island Yacht Club activities. We had great spectator seats from our boat as racers passed by, sometimes quite closely. We may have gone to the “dark side” but we still appreciate sails filled with wind, silently propelling a boat across the water.

Sometimes the moments before sunset are just as lovely as the sunset.

3 Weeks, 4 Islands, 6 Harbors – Montauk and Home

Posted on November 15, 2017 by watsons

We hadn’t been to Montauk yet this summer so when it became clear that Montauk was the only place where Eleanor Q and Kindred Spirit could/would cross paths, it became our last stop of the 3 weeks. We were eager to reconnect with our dear friends from Maryland, Mary Marie and Frank.

Passing by on our way to drop the anchor.

Eleanor Q, a Gozzard 41, at anchor in Lake Montauk – such a handsome vessel!

Arriving in the “lake” before 1 pm gave us plenty of time to say hello, hug and play. Montauk is a perfect lace for water play. It is very large, about 7-8 feet deep through the entire body of water, and is never crowded with boats. Let’s get out the toys!!

Al drops his little Snark, Petunia, into the water and takes off. There’s that leg again, casually hanging over the side.

Ships passing in the night? Does the afternoon of the solar eclipse count as night?

Mary Marie and I cruise around in our kayaks. Check out the Snark in the background – that’s Frank giving it a go.

A closer look at Frank in the Snark.

August 21st was the day of the big solar eclipse. You might have heard about it? 😉 We weren’t really prepared for the big event – no special glasses or set up for viewing it. I tried a backwards over my shoulder photo, but as you can see below, it’s not impressive at all. Oh well. We were all out playing in the little boats during the prime eclipse time.

Solar Eclipse??? My over the shoulder backwards photo didn’t capture a thing. If there was anything to capture.

After our playtime, rest time, and clean up time, we had socializing time!

Frank and Al relax in Eleanor Q’s cockpit.

Ems prepared a lovely shrimp dinner for us in her galley.

It was awesome to meet up with Frank and Mary Marie here in Montauk!!

A Montauk sunset

The next day wasn’t as sunny but was certainly warm enough for a dinghy ride to get ice cream. Frank has an ice cream problem just like Al does.

Dinghies away!

Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Yum! Where were YOU, Anthony?? We were missing the 3rd member of the Three Musketeers of Ice Cream.

These two catamaran style boats cruised around the lake giving tours. Notice the colorful bean bags for seating?

That evening we all had dinner on Kindred Spirit.

My first ride in Petunia, with Al. Two people actually fit in that little hull, but you do get a wet bottom.

Frank takes Ems for a ride.

The Quigleys are really moving along!

OK! Enough is enough. It was time for me to try sailing this little boat. Lake Montauk is the perfect place for a first time.

My first solo sail.

I just might get the hang of this little boat sailing.

We decided to go to The Inlet for our last evening in Montauk (when don’t we go to The Inlet when we are in Montauk?? Maybe never?)

The Inlet sits right on the channel into Montauk.

A delicious dinner, a great view, and wonderful company!

Group selfie

Eleanor Q left early the next morning for home, taking the offshore route. We were able to follow their progress on AIS (otherwise known as friendly stalking among cruisers.)