October 26-28                       Mystic, Connecticut

As predicted, the weather on Wednesday was cloudy but there was little wind.  Once again, we were captivated by the beauty of the area surrounding the river with its lovely homes and marinas surrounded by autumnal foliage.  The journey to Mystic was smooth and uneventful.  Returning to our familiar dock at Seaport Marine was a bittersweet experience as it marked the ending of our 2011 journey on The Bottom Line.

 On the following day, I rented a car in Mystic (they rent one-way only so we have to go to Groton to rent cars to the Boston airport) and drove  approximately sixty miles to New Haven for a visit to the Yale University art museums.  The drive was entirely on I95 and traffic was slight.  Misting rain enhanced the autumn foliage of the countryside giving the red and gold leaves a richer hue and making the huge granite outcroppings shine brilliantly. 

The Paul Mellon Center for British Art is the largest collection of its kind outside the United Kingdom.  It is rich in exquisite paintings by noted British artists, Reynolds, Gainsborough Romney, Turner, and many, many more.  In addition, there are works by artists such as Canaletto and Rubens which depict British scenes.  I was delighted to see several magnificent paintings by Richard Parke Bonington, whose luminescent work at the Kimbell is one of my favorites.  Henry Raeburn’s full-length portrait of a young lad is exceptionally beautiful and J.M.W. Turner’s seascapes are representative of his flamboyant use of color and loose brushwork. 

The collection is housed in a building designed by Louis Kahn and there are similarities to the Kimbell in the use of concrete, expanses of travertine, and allowances for flexibility to facilitate installation needs.  Kahn’s distinctive touches are evident in the beautiful interior with its open spaces. The exterior is nondescript, box-like, sheathed in aluminum, and housing retail outlets at street level. It appears to be overshadowed by the magnificent Gothic chapel across the street.  

The Yale Art Museum is readily accessible in the next block and it, too, is housed in a Louis Kahn designed building.  This one was built many years before and is much more traditional than its near neighbor.  The characteristic use of concrete with rows of holes where form supports had been placed is evident here as it is in the Mellon and the Kimbell buildings. 

Yale’s art collection has benefited greatly from the generosity of benevolent alumni and their collection is comprehensive and exceptional in quality.  Displayed over four floors, there are representations of Pre-Columbian, African, Asian, American, and European art and artifacts,  ranging from medieval to modern.   There are magnificent works by Van Gogh, Bonnard, Pollock, Warhol, and many others.

I spent almost five hours touring the museums before I returned to the car and headed back to Mystic.  The rain had accelerated and the traffic had increased.  My drive home was without incident but it was tense. 

Our final night on the boat was spent in front of the television watching one of the best baseball games ever.  Finally, at almost one o’clock in the morning, we turned in after our beloved Texas Rangers had fought back time and again before eventually losing Game Six of the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. 

On Friday, we met Dan and finalized plans to leave the boat at Mystic until our return at the end of April.  We carried our heavy bags to the car, bade farewell to Andrew and Maribel, and began our trip to Boston with many, many happy memories of our summer on The Bottom Line.

October 24-25                        Essex, Connecticut

As promised, the mechanic came on Monday morning.  He inspected the steering mechanism, tightened a few nuts, and added some hydraulic fluid.  He did not find the feared leak.  The problem may have resulted from a line that had not been bled properly when fluid was added at Fairhaven before our departure from Boston.  The Clinton mechanic was very knowledgeable and David maintained that he had another “expensive learning experience.”

We were ready to leave Clinton for the historic little town of Essex, located a short distance off the Sound northward up the Connecticut River.  The mouth of the river is marked by a white stone lighthouse that has been in this place for almost two hundred years.  Although the river is wide, it is quite shallow and we were careful to follow the channel markers.  The shores were lined with large, beautiful homes in the grand manner of New England architecture.  Set into expansive lawns dotted with huge trees, these pristine shingled and/or clapboard houses shared magnificent views of the river.

The Brewer Dauntless Marina is a small facility adjacent to the Essex Corinthian Yacht Club and the Essex Yacht Club, both modest structures that reportedly have excellent restaurants.  After some careful maneuvering due to the strong current, David expertly brought the boat into the dock.  The afternoon was sunny and cool.  We were eager to see Essex, one of the most picturesque villages in New England. 

A short two block walk brought us to Main Street and the center of the downtown area.  Bright yellow leaves covered the green lawns and almost every home and business was adorned with autumnal displays of chrysanthemums, pumpkins, and colored gourds.  Replicas of antique street lamps were decprated with an amusing display of scarecrows.  A local contest had produced more than fifty very clever structures that hung from lamp posts, sat on benches, or were positioned near front doors. 

Many homes and buildings bore plaques with names of first residents and dates of construction.  Most of these were built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries.  The Griswold Inn , with its locally popular bar and restaurant, first opened in 1776.  Across the street, nestled in a charming little square filled with chrysanthemums, we found The Christmas Barn.  This lovely little shop was filled with an assortment of Christmas ornaments and decorations—many locally made.  A search for a crèche for my collection was not successful.

We returned to the boat for a delightful evening watching the Texas Rangers win the fourth game of the World Series.  This was a special event as we had missed seeing the two previous contests because of satellite television failure.  The game was exciting and we were captivated by the action on the field.

Our planned departure for Mystic was delayed because of winds that produced 7 to 14 feet waves in the Sound.  Another leisurely day on the boat was followed by a late afternoon walk back to Main Street.  We visited The Griswold Inn for a glass of wine and a small plate of pate and toast.  The bar at The Gris is in a very rustic room with an ancient stove in the center.  The wide-planked wooden floor is worn from years of use and the walls are covered with old prints of sailing ships.  The adjacent restaurant retains the same historical charm of the bar but with a more formal ambiance.  We vowed to return here next summer to experience their menu. Essex is a lovely gem and definitely warrants another visit.

October 21-24                 Clinton, Connecticut

As we prepared to leave the dock for our journey southward to visit sites on the Connecticut coast, we were pleased to have a visit from Joyce and Jim Hancock, our dock neighbors.  They own a gorgeous Hatteras 58’motoryacht with a cockpit that appears to be in excellent condition.  They are residents of Old Lyme, Connecticut, only a short drive from Mystic, and will be winterizing their boat at Seaport.  As they have owned boats for many years in this area, they were valuable resources for information on proper procedures for winterizing the interior and exterior of our boat.  We were fortunate to meet them and look forward to exchanging information with them in the future.

The journey to Clinton was brief and pleasant.  They sky was blue and the winds were light.  Long Island Sound was a perfect place for boating.  The Connecticut shore was filled with beautiful homes and we regretted our view was limited by distance.   The many shoals that mark this area of the Sound keep boaters into deeper waters.  As we reached the channel entering the shallow waters into Clinton, we noticed our steering again had failed.  This was an unexpected and disappointing event as we had spent considerable time and money at Fairhaven having repairs to the steering mechanism.  With the same ingenuity he often applied to our motorhome/s mechanical problems, David took our small bicycle pump and managed to pump up the fluid in the steering mechanism to acquire sufficient control enabling us to cruise successfully into the marina.  This was a short-term solution for we apparently were faced with another leak in the system.  We decided to have a mechanic look at the situation on Monday before we left Clinton.

The marina was busy with fishermen coming and going in small boats.  Several were filleting their catches at the workstations in the communal area.  We walked a short distance to the local lobster and crab shop, bought lobster rolls for dinner, and returned to the boat to enjoy this local treat.  The rolls were fresh, toasted with melted butter, and topped with tasty chunks of lobster meat seasoned with lemon juice.  They were outstanding! 

Sunday was a day for leisurely enjoying the ambiance of this beautiful area.  We were on a face dock which allowed us an unobstructed view of the channel out to the Sound.  By noon, the sun had come forth and the day was lovely and cool.  Many boats were exiting with fishing gear prominently displayed.  Our planned bike ride together was aborted when David discovered a ruined rear tire.  I took a solitary ride but found little of significance to warrant further exploration.  The attractions of Clinton, including an upscale discount mall, were far from the marina.  We were not in the mood for shopping and decided to forego the offered shuttle to remain on the boat and complete plans to return home a week earlier than originally scheduled.  I needed to attend a meeting in Austin and David had an appointment with a prospective client.  Our decision to leave the boat at Mystic meant we did not need the extra time we had allotted to take it back to the lower Chesapeake.

On our visit to the grocery store in Mystic, we were introduced to a special brand of crab meat.  I decided to try it in Crab Supreme, a recipe we discovered last year at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Cambridge, Maryland.  With a little minced onion, celery, bread crumbs, butter, and Old Bay Seasoning, I made a dish that was fabulous!  The Crab Supreme was light and delicious.  We have “nailed” this recipe!

October 16-21                   Mystic, Connecticut

We were delighted to be greeted by Andrew and Maribel Coulson when we returned to our boat in Seaport Marina at Mystic, Connecticut.  We had misplaced their information and had not been able to inform them of our impending arrival.  We quickly made plans to have drinks together on the following evening.  Our boat looked exactly as it did when we left more than a month ago.  We were pleased to be onboard and spent our first evening enjoying the scene from our aft deck.  Boats were still cruising the river but the large replicas of early ships were stored for the winter.  Autumn foliage was evident on the hills rising above Mystic River.

As we had several errands to complete and a desire to see more of the area near Mystic, we arranged to keep the car for another day.  This gave us an opportunity to buy winterizing supplies from West Marine and drive to the scenic town of Noank.  This small community, with its lovely Colonial homes, greets boaters entering the Mystic River.  A magnificent white clapboard church topped with a commanding steeple, is an architectural triumph from the nineteenth century.  We had to return the car to the agency in Groton and decided to take a leisurely trip through the countryside.  We wanted to enjoy the autumn foliage highlighted by colors of rust, gold, yellow, and red.  Many homes were decorated with pots and plantings of blooming chrysanthemums.  Hydrangea blossoms, once bright pink, blue, or white, had now turned brown but remained in abundant display and gave an extra touch of autumn to the setting.

Andrew and Maribel joined us on the aft deck for a brief happy hour.  Andrew is an avid Republican and was eager to watch the Republican debates on television.  He is supporting Herman Cain and was touting his credentials as we enjoyed our cocktails.  The next day was predicted to be rainy and for once that forecast proved to be more than accurate.  Rain was consistent throughout the day and rose to a torrential climax that evening.   The Coulsons reciprocated our invitation and we joined them for cocktails on their boat.  We were saddened to learn they had decided to winter their vessel at Mystic and return to their New Jersey home rather than making the journey back to the Bahamas as had been their habit for many years.  Health issues were now a consideration.  The following morning, we bade them farewell and promised to stay in touch. The weather on the next day was sunny but extremely windy and we wisely decided to remain in the marina.  We noticed the piers adjacent to our boat were rocking to and fro in the strong wind and were startled to see that two of them had blown into the aft deck of the Coulson’s boat.  The marina staff quickly removed them and noted that little damage had resulted from the impact.

We met with Abby and Dan to obtain more information about the winterizing process and made our decision final to remain at Seaport for the winter season.  We were still apprehensive about the extreme cold of the winters in this area.  We tried to anticipate and prepare for the worst.