Before we left I took Frank for a walk and trekked about a mile or so to a donut shop and picked up some treats at Deviant Donuts. We returned and surprised Lauren with our bounty. Now we’re back in the Long Island Sound, making our way back toward the Hudson River, but staying on the Connecticut side. Our trip today was about twenty eight miles which took about four hours. We had timed the currents perfectly and averaged seven knots. We went up the Connecticut River and came to the area the anchorage was listed. We could see the mooring field on the port side, and lots of room on the starboard side to anchor. We worked our way starboard, and as close as we felt comfortable to an island which already had a bunch of boats anchored off of it. We knew most, if not all, would be gone by nightfall. We dropped anchor and hung out for a bit, swimming and enjoying the day. We were chilling out chatting on the deck when we both looked over to see a guy floating by, holding a flotation device (think floating cushion). The current is pretty strong in the Connecticut River so the boats all point into the currents. Lauren and I both noticed him at the same time and looked at each other. I jumped up and called out to him: “do you need help?” I asked, as I was moving toward the dinghy. He responded with a “yes” and I was cruising toward him in no time. I caught up to him and got him in the dinghy. I was returning him to his boat as he explained to me his children thought it would be funny to let him drift, but he was pretty pissed. I dropped him off to his boat and was departing quickly, declining the offered beer, when I heard him start to talk to his kids. Lauren and I watched him pull anchor and depart pretty quickly. I’ll bet that wasn’t a fun ride home for the children. We spent the rest of the day swimmers and chilling, with a couple of trips to the island for Frank.
Day 2- We wanted to check out the town so we took the bikes in to shore. A little bit about Essex: “The largest ship ever constructed in the Connecticut River Valley, Oliver Cromwell, established Essex Village as the place to build wooden sailing ships, and between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars over 600 vessels of many types were produced in Essex. For this reason, and others, British forces burned 27 vessels in Essex in 1814 and took or destroyed stored rigging materials and a lot of rum. Sailor’s priorities haven’t changed much over the years.” Mmmm….Rum… back to the story: We biked around and checked out the town, which wasn’t a whole lot. There were a few places open but most were still closed, Including the Rubber Duck store. Bummer, but we did get some coffee and hang out for a bit. We returned to the boat and decided to take a boat ride farther up the river. to check out a castle: Gillette Castle- “The castle was originally a private residence commissioned and designed by William Gillette, an American actorwho is most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage. Gillette lived at this estate from 1919–1937”. Check this link out for some crazy facts about the castle. We meandered up the river then turned around and came back down to the anchorage. The rest of the night was spent swimming, having dinner and planning our next destination. We decided we were going to head back to Old Saybrook where we see there is free mooring and should be a nice stop…
