Long Island Sound
Suzie Too - Western Caribbean
David & Suzanne Chappell
Sun 5 Jun 2011 03:53
I can’t tell you how beautiful it is here, their trees are just amazing,
really impressive. I thought England was the “Land of Trees”, but I have to say
when we rode back in the cab (oops sorry taxi) to City Island, the trees were
really impressive (OK I was tired after a 7 hour flight) so no longer rational,
but not emotional, remember it’s me after all. The light is not as good and
bright as the Caribbean or Bermuda, often a bit of a Gosport Gloom to it
sometimes
Anyway we motored out from the marina in a bitch of a northerly pushing
30+kts over the deck and found an anchorage, which was so pretty. We watched the
Thursday night sail team race around the cans - just like the Solent, well the
exception is the yachts are all just 30 odd footers and most vessels are motor
boats which just go flat out every where – only one speed.
The Collision Regulations here are different, basically the guy with the
loudest air horns means “I’m coming thru” – none of that “Stand on” and “Give
way” shit we do in Europe – the biggest, loudest and fastest is coming through.
Sea Tow is in big demand by the boats here and are called up regularly to rescue
someone on a sand bank that can’t understand tides, currents and cannot read or
do not have charts – like I say, just like the Solent really. (but we have
signed up with Sea Tow for the season, to cover just in case, even if it is for
the lobster pots up in Maine)
The only difficulty is getting ashore as everywhere is fenced in locked
marinas, or it is directly into someone's back yard and if you ask for
directions no one knows where you can leave a dinghy and they often don’t speak
much English
Walking out of the marina the other day, we thought “What the hell is that”
swimming in the water. But I soon had it worked out as Horseshoe Crabs, those
things with blue blood that we bleed in captivity for some reason, looks a bit
like a cross between a WWII German Helmet and something off Robot Wars, cos if
you flip it over you can see all its workings. They come into the shallow water
to do it on the beach, but anyway at 16 degrees I’m not going in so they can
please themselves
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