Tuesday October 6th 2015.
Calan turns 10 and we set sail to embark on our 10 month adventure on the sea.
Getting the house packed up and rented, the boat safely setup for the long journey, making provisioning decisions - and the waiting for Dave to come home from France....it finally arrived. DEPARTURE.
No more aquaintances asking why we have not left yet, this is the day!!!
Just before 10am on Tuesday October 6th we threw off the dock lines and made our way under the Newport Pell Bridge headed South.
Our first stop Mystic/Noank, CT. Our old stomping grounds when we were first married. Although we both admitted to not remembering much about the simple beauty it contained, it brought us back in touch with our wonderful neighbors Bill and Jill (from our first house we owned in CT). They came down for dinner to see us, the boys and my parents. What a great catch up it was. Then they even came down the next morning to see our beautiful Nemetona over coffee and tea.
It was the same morning when I came across a realization...the sheer beauty of waking up in a new place each morning. A sense of adventure, calm and excitement filled me up and the reality that we have REALLY BEGUN our trip set in.
That day we looked for Kitchen Little, a fun breakfast place we use to haunt. Little did we know 3 years ago it moved locations. But we found it!!
Our boys were still jazzed by the Aquarium visit they did the day before with my parents, so we decided to return and fill ourselves with their combined enthusiasm. Lucky for us our friend Debbie O'Brien is a penguin volunteer and she met us there. She gave us a huge amount of insider knowledge of the place and all its lovely sea creatures! So blessed.
Then back to the boat for a clean up prior to having dinner with our friends Meg and Peb at their house. What fun it was to visit them all these years later and feel like not a day has passed. Our kids and theirs mingled as we sat talking over a wonderful meal in their warm home!
Next day, Thursday October 9th we left at 5am to our next destination, Port Jefferson, NY. This was simply a respite between CT and NYC, but one that brought back memories for me. Ya see I went to Stony Brook (apart of the State University of New York system). Also two of our close sailing friends hail from this port, Will and Erica. So it wasn't necessarily a new port, but familiar one.
Today we also opened up our first gifts from friends. Before leaving I asked some friends if they would not mind making us a little care package of their favorite food. And it did what I had hoped, as we shared in their gift - we also felt their presence during our journey! True gratitude is felt and a great diversion from my normal provisions delighted Nemetona crew!! So, in the morning we were joined by the Museler's with their delicious Zucchini Bread and for dinner the Darminio's joined us with Homemade mac and cheese. Boy are we blessed!!
We have more pictures posted to our Facebook page about our daily US coastline excursions. Check us out.
Click on the link to see our Armitage Sailors Facebook page.
https://m.facebook.com/Armitagesailors
