August 1 – 31, 2005

Monday, August 22, 2005 – Destination: Fishers Island

2:00AM sounded like a good idea at the time, but reality quickly set in and we figured what the heck, so we’ll fight the tides a bit… we got up around 6:15, made a pot of coffee, had a quick breakfast (cereal), pulled up anchor and headed out…

We set a course for the buoy outside Loyds Neck, then for G”11B”, then for R”2″, then for RG”TE” then for R”4″… finally for West Harbor, Fishers Island.

You weren’t expecting an entry full of mishaps and “adventures” like the last bunch were you?

Yep, it was truly uneventful and yet everything we had hoped for… my guess, is that most cruising days resemble today… just the quite simple passage of time out at sea. We finally broke the “Northport and no further” curse that had been dogging us ever since our ill-fated “Block Island” trip. We turned into the entrance to West Harbor somtime around 19:10, we knew we were home.

Fishers Island Anchorage

It was absolutely gorgeous… tranquil waters surrounded by a wooded landscape, punctuated here and there with large, but oh so tasteful New England style homes… (no McMansions here) and just as beautiful, over a dozen fellow cruisers lay at anchor, clearly stating “yes, you are now one of us” we slowly worked our way towards what seemed like a suitable anchoring site… close to the others, but not so close as to intrude, or be intruded upon… dropped anchor and settled in.

The event called for a celebration, so we popped open one of our bottles of inexpensive champagne (the good stuff is reserved for our final destination) cut into our favorite wedge of manchego and sat in the cockpit taking it all in. The universe must have known it was a special evening, because it treated us to yet another spectacular sunset!

Fishers Island Swans

We awoke to the sound of visitors outside our boat boisterously asking for food!  We enjoyed a simple breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, toast and of course, fresh brewed, pipping hot, black coffee –  I swear, we did not feed the swans!

After breakfast, we decided to spend the day exploring Fishers Island; Cuttyhunk would have to wait.  I jury rigged a harness to lower the outboard onto the tender using our main halyard (wow, all these nautical terms… I must really know what I’m doing… yep!)

We loaded up, motored over to the fuel dock and tied off.  Our morning commute complete, we climbed up out of our tender and started looking around for the “restaurant at the Mobil dock with the excellent lobster rolls”. Well, it seems the cruising guide was a bit out of date, because, as we soon found out from one of the locals, said restaurant had closed down some 5 years earlier!

Fishers Island Cemetery

Oh well, off we went for a walk to town to our second choice… the Pequot.  We had a lovely stroll on Fishers Island and a gentle reminder to sieze the day!  As luck would have it, when we finally reached The Pequot, it was closed… (apparently, lunch was only served Fri-Sun) We needed a plan “C”, so I asked one of the “locals” and was directed to the “News Café”, where we had some great sandwiches while sitting on little metal café tables out on the sidewalk beside the store… kewl!

After lunch, we walked back to the dock, hopped back into our tender, released the dock lines and pushed away from the dock as I gave a confident yank on the starter cord. “sputter, sputter, sputter” wait a minute, this puppy started up on the first pull when we left Rocinante, what the heck is this? “Yank, Yank, YANK!” nothing, ok, now we are drifting out and this darn thing wont start… ok, adjust the choke, “Yank, Yank, YANK!” nothing! ok, grab the oars and row back to the dock… I finally got the darn thing started (still don’t know why it didn’t start and hasn’t happened again… hate those situations… just waiting to ambush me when I least expect it)

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, while I was finding out about the café, we ran into a couple who also tried going to the Pequot for lunch. Interestingly enough, I recognized their dog (I had spotted it walking around the large blue yacht anchored next to us) we exchanged hellos, we mentioned our intentions to head for Cuttyhunk and were quickly dissuaded! It seems that Cuttyhunk is overrun with tourist and is not quite as “quaint” as it used to be… next stop Newport Rhode Island!

Linguine with Clam Sauce coming right up!

That night, I redeemed myself in the cooking department… my linguine with clam sauce was exceptional… I really embraced the “cruiser thing”, no onions, no problem… I grabbed the cocktail onions and chopped them up (who cruises without cocktail onions for martinis?) added a few anchovies and a spoonful of capers for added flavor and rounded it off with some freshly ground sea salt, freshly grond pepper and of course some crushed red pepper flakes!

Time for another sunset… not quite as spectacular, but hey I’ve yet to see one that has not made me stop and look. Tomorrow is another day, as we set off for yet another new port of call.

Till next time,

Carlos & Maria
SV Rocinante…_/)