What a great time!

Finally moving Act Three from Portland to Norwich turned out to be one of the best cruises we've had. On Tuesday, the weather had subsided and we were ready to go and so were our friends and dock mates. We arrived at the boat on a cold Tuesday morning, a little early and stowed the inevitable stuff.

 Promptly at 8:00 AM, John T, Rob and Carol Anne (Annie to those who know her well) arrived. The engines were warm so the crew untied our lines and we were off, down the Connecticut River.

Bill knows the river well and since there were no navigation markers, he took us down to Essex. We were running at "trawler speed" which was about 11 knots. At Deep River, we hit a submerged log and pretty much shredded it with the starboard prop. That didn't cause a problem. How could it on a day as nice as this one?

Meanwhile, down below in the salon, Annie and Frances were preparing to serve Annie's wonderful soup and freshly baked bread to the crew. It doesn't get much better than this!

Rob took the helm in Essex and squeezed us under the railroad bridge in Old Saybrook. Here are shots that Annie took as we left the Old Saybrook inlet:

Once we were a few miles into the Sound, We wandered across Long Island Sound, not quite hitting our waypoints but once we straighten out the electronics, that won't happen again. John then took the helm and brought us all the way to New London and up to Norwich.

Annie recorded some video for us:



We hesitate to comment, but we will. In a time when "friends" are defined by Facebook, the folks who took time from work to accompany us on this trip are really friends. We're sure there are many others, but John, Annie and Rob helped us get though the long winter and come spring, showed up to see what we had accomplished.

At this point, we're "home" for the next six months. Thanks to you three for helping us get there.