PORT JEFFERSON to MONTAUK

On Wednesday we traveled from PORT JEFFERSON to MONTAUK. The weather was partly cloudy skys and about 70 degrees on our 7 hour journey. 

The homes and beaches along the Long Island sound were beautiful!

The most exciting part about this travel day was going through the Race.... It was pretty crazy currents And choppy water by the Orient Point Lighthouse.

Entering the MONTAUK harbor put a smile on both of our faces :) lots of fishing commercial and private fishing boats ( it reminded us a little of the Cabo fleet). 

The MONTAUK Yacht club is very nice with a free shuttle to town, good wifi and lots of ice. The Dock Restaurant in the harbor had $1 beers and wonderful mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce...Yum.

PORT JEFFERSON to Orient Piont Lighthouse.

The Race.

Orient Point Lighthouse to MONTAUK.

MONTAUK  Yacht  Club.

Guess we can eat lots of Lobster!!!!!  

NORWALK to PORT JEFFERSON

Yesteday we traveled from NORWALK to PORT JEFFERSON.  It was about a  "three hour tour" (one of my best Laguna friends said to never say that but I am with Greg NOT Gilligan) 15.4 Nautical miles in calm seas across the sound with sunshine for our first outing of the season....Yeah!

PORT JEFFERSON is on Long Island NY, it has a beautiful Marina with docking or moorings. We are staying on a mooring buoy at the Setauket Yacht Club for two nights.

Today we tried our inflatable SUP paddle boards and custom Criag Eck paddles for the first time, they were both fantastic. We paddled for about and hour to an isolated beach and then had a private yoga class on our SUP's  (Hosted Yogi Greg ;).....Namaste.

Lobster lunch today was wonderful!

Yeah.... :)

The chart from NORWALK to PORT JEFFERSON.

Lobster Lunch ($9.95) at the Tara Inn PORT JEFFERSON .. Yum!

PORT JEFFERSON.

NORWALK in the background ( K love my hat Thanks :)

Beautiful sunset, good night XO

ALL ABOARD

Now that we are finally back in the water and almost finished with the post winter recomission, I thought you would ALL like to get a tour of living ABOARD Thistle.

We have a salon living area with a couch and dining table, the galley is also open to the salon. Then walking towards the bow a head on the starboard side and a guest room cabin with two bunks on the port side (Please, make your reservation now - we are hoping for company :) and towards the bow is the master cabin.

There are two closets on board. Greg was a gentleman and let me select first.....a small closet with 4 drawers or the larger closet with two drawers? I chose the smaller one with four drawers and am very happy! (Yes, Girlfriends 20 hangars for the entire trip :)

On the aft deck there is a table and chairs where we have enjoyed spending lots of time.

Below deck there is a stern lazarette storage area and the engine room is under the main cabin.

On the fly bridge there is a bimini for shade and our dinghy (Bee).

Almost......Please - don't drop her!

Yeah....back in the water ALL ABOARD :)

Lunch on the aft deck.

Main salon.

Main cabin.

We passed the safety check!

New home port on Thistle.

NORWALK

We have enjoyed spending the last couple of weeks based in NORWALK CT while getting Thistle and the two of us ready for departure from Norwalk Cove Marina.  NORWALK is considered to be part of the New York Metropolitan area, it was incorporated in 1651 and today has a population of about 85,000.  Oyster farming has always been an important industry here, the town was once nicknamed "Oyster Town".

At the beginning of our stay here we had a rental car for a few days and made a couple of trips up the coast about an hour and a half to spent time with our good friends Frank and Marie in Niantic CT.  They were kind enough to let us ship our many boxes of gear to their home. One of our highlights was to to have dinner with them at the historic Bee & Thistle Inn in Old Lyme CT. (Yes, thats our boats name too and that night we decided to name our dingy Bee :)

With our rental car returned we have been riding our bikes every day! SONO (South NORWALK) is about a mile away where there is a West Marine (almost a daily trip there?).  The downtown area also has many great restaurants and sports bars.  Since we are in the middle of NBA playoffs, The Stanley Cup and World Cup Soccer we have enjoyed watching many games. There is also a Whole Foods close by for provisioning and Greg signed up for a week of yoga classes.

Our favorite restaurant find is Partner's Cafe close to the Marina here in East NORWALK. Very friendly people and great food. We voted their pizza best ever: Thin crust, extra crispy with broccolirabe.

The NORWALK spring weather changes all the time....sun, rain, wind, thunder & lightening, cold, warm...? You never know.

 Old town NORWALK.

Biking around NORWALK.

 Spring flowers.

 Our Boat Cards arrived :)

THISTLE

We departed from Laguna Beach CA over a week ago to start the 6,000 mile Great American Loop Adventure aboard THISTLE. This summer we plan to cruise up the Hudson River through the locks and canals, then to Montreal for the FINA Master World Championships and store her for the winter in the Great Lakes area.

After two years of dreaming and searching in October 2013 we became the proud owners of THISTLE, a Mariner 40 Sedan Trawler. We were thrilled to take a quick one week end of summer shakedown trip to Port Jefferson NY and then we took her to Norwalk CT for winter storage.
The week before we left Laguna Beach was a little overwhelming (but super exciting) to realize we had to get our house ready to rent for the summer, packing and enjoying special visits with family and friends.

THISTLE is a 40 foot Maine Sedan Trawler new in 2006 with an overall Length of 42'6", Beam of 13'1", Draft of 4' and a Displacement of 23,500 lbs. She is powered by a single 370 - HP Yanmar Diesel Engine. At wide open throttle she can reach 13 knots, but since we are in no hurry we plan to travel at a fuel efficient 8 knots.

Sunset our first night aboard THISTLE October 2013, Stamford Yacht Club.

 Map of the Great American Loop:   Red - Summer   Blue - Fall/ Winter   Green - Spring

 Greg & Reenie Boyer departing Laguna Beach CA.