Oct. 19 Well, we are finally on the road. The Welch’s kindly drove us up to BCHM and cast off our lines. We weren’t sure we would be making the trip south this year because we had put the boat on the market last spring- but she didn’t sell. So,we are going to use her till she does. Our seal problem is finally fixed and we had a good time taking a road trip to Maine for a month. It was fun being on other people’s boats and in some of their homes too. We felt like such slugs being guests aboard with nothing to do but eat, drink, and be merry! Down the bay we motored, around the corner by Point Judith and on to our usual anchorage in East Bay on Fisher’s Island for the night.

Oct. 20 It was a nice day for a motor down Long Island Sound and into Oyster Bay. We anchored at the southern end of the bay for the night

Oct. 21 We launched the tender and went to the docks to meet my family lawyer, Al, and his wife. He had wanted to see the boat for a long time and was thrilled to finally do so. That evening, we went to the MacDougall’s house for dinner. They are old friends of John’s from his SCYC sailing days.

Oct. 22 The short hop over to Greenwich, CT and the IHYC dock went smoothly but the docking didn’t. We had forgotten to check the tide and found ourselves aground about 10 feet off the dock! Luckily, we could just throw our lines to the dock attendant and he cleated us to the dock. As the tide rose, John was able to pull us closer and closer till we finally were really in tight. I went with mom’s caretaker, Louis, to get the extra family car for us to use for the week.

Oct. 23-26 We did errands, worked at mom’s house, went to John’s mom’s house and ate at the yacht club. My newly married son, chris, and his new bride, Corey, and her mom came over too for lunch. We were able to hear all about their honeymoon in northern Italy.

Oct. 27-29 There was a nasty hurricane/tropical storm headed up the coast so it was time to hide from it somewhere. We decided to go back across Long Island Sound to hide in Cold Spring harbor. This harbor is long and narrow and has steep hills on both sides. We tucked right near shore and most of the easterly winds went right over us. The seas never got much more than 1-2 ft. Only one quick gust actually heeled us over a bit. As we heard about all of the damage in the areas around us, we felt lucky to be self contained on our boat. Unlike our land friends and family, we had heat, electricity, a stove that worked, flushing toilets, movies and even TV! Thank God for cell phones.

Oct. 30 By the afternoon, I was getting antsy to move somewhere, anywhere so we went back across the Sound to Greenwich and checked out the damage at the IHYC. They had quite extensive waterfront damage and the club had no power but it was fine.

We then anchored out near a small island that would give us some protection from the SE winds for the night. Gradually, we started hearing from our land and sailing friends inquiring as to our state and telling us about their states.

Oct. 31 Halloween and cold. We launched the tender early in the morning and went into a marina across from the IHYC where we could leave the tender for the day. What a day! First, a taxi to the doctors office for John’s checkup, then we walked to a nearby bank to get some papers notorized, then, Louis picked us up and took us to mom’s house (her road looked like a war zone but was passable by car) to get the family car, then off to try to find Monaise, John’s mom, who was missing in action for 2 days. We drove almost to her house and had to walk the rest of the way stepping over wires and trees. She was luckily there in the dark with no power. Her cell wouldn’t work by the house. We got her generator working, etc. and went back to the tender and back to the boat for the night.

Nov. 1 It was sunny for a while and we lazed around till after lunch when we moved the boat in closer to the yacht club. Another quiet evening aboard.