TEXAS RANGER: New London & Groton, CT, Stratford, CT, and Port Washington, NY Sept. 3--6

After a fun stay in Wickford and the chance to see old friends and meet many new ones, we turned in the rental car, and headed west for New London and Groton, CT (they are on opposite sides of the Thames River). It was a fairly short trip, and so we arrived in time to rent a car and make a quick trip to Defender Marine, which is in Waterford, just west of New London. Defender is perhaps one of the largest mail-order marine supply houses in the country. The surprise is that it is also a massive "storefront"; though there are warehouses, the quantity and variety of items in the store shows that many mail-ordered items are "picked" off the store shelves. Since we arrived only 20 minutes before closing, we had to return again the next morning. Kay befriended one of the managers, and got a tour of the entire facility, including the upstairs office from which she took the photo shown below. Our New London marina was inside a cove; a boat yard operated by the same family since 1881. To enter, the railroad swing bridge had to open. We were stunned--trains came and went all night! We drove around New London, which is obviously having hard times, and the next morning we went to Groton to tour the Naval Submarine Museum (can't go on the adjacent base). It was an impressive stop, and the tour of the first nuclear sub, Nautilus, was most interesting. Subs throughout history have come in all sizes and shapes, and many smaller, older ones were on display.
After returning the rental car, we traveled to Stratford, CT, and docked in brisk current at a marina a short way up the Housatonic River. The next morning we worked on the holding tank, replaced the vent filter, and pumped out before crossing Long Island Sound to Port Washington in Manhasset Bay, our staging stop for the trip into and through New York City. We passed New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, and New Rochelle, cities well-known to sailing activities. Massive weekend homes surround the Manhasset Bay area, and one of the other boats visiting the marina was a 100-foot catamaran. Its beam was 48 feet! We stayed two nights, awaiting the passage of a storm front, and then set off towards the Chesapeake.