Mystic, Webkins, bad weather and kids fighting: Does it get better than this?

Our plan was to leave Block Island on Sunday morning about 9:00 am due to the weather forecast which was calling for "chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon." Our destination is Mystic Seaport and that's only about an hour run so the *plan* was to avoid the rain, wind, and lightning. Because of the special marine statement issued at 7:00 am about the thunderstorms now directly in our path, I went and checked the WxWorx/XM radar and it appeared that the last of the weather might be out of our way by about 10 am... However... I could see a small cell building directly over the middle of Long Island Sound.

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At 9:30 am I checked the NOAA weather site on the Internet and it said something to the effect of "After this rain passes, the rest of the morning should be rain free" which was great news. All the boats in the basin were firing up their engines and getting ready to leave. Oh yeah.. and someone left us a present by the boat this morning:

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We pulled out about 10:00 am and there was a long line to get out of the inlet:If you look at the picture closely, you can see a Tow Boat US boat sitting in the channel. A sail boat had run aground in the channel on Saturday so he was hovering over the shoal that was protruding by one of the red markers. This was slowing things way down as there was a very narrow opening in the channel to get out. There were about 5 or so boats behind me.

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Then along comes Mr. Sailboat Man and has his motor running and his sail up and just trying to push his way up to the front regardless of everyone waiting to get out. He has his sail up so everyone will "think" he has the right a way and just go through the channel regardless of the line (?). I let him get in front of me and here's his wife shaking her finger at me as we got further out the inlet:When this guy got up by the Tow Boat US boat, he was heading right for him expecting the boat to move. The Tow Boat guy gets on the radio and says he's marking a shoal and he better mover over to the green can or he's going to run aground. You could tell he was all frustrated by that... Having to move for a POWER BOAT... OH GOSH! I will say as we exited the inlet, this sailboat guy received big wakes from about 2 dozen 50+ foot sport fish boats blowing by him. I bet that made his day.

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So after we get out of the inlet, I look at the weather and, sure enough, we've gone from "rain free for the rest of the morning" to a "special marine warning" being issued... 20 minutes... these guys can't forecast 20 freekin' minutes ahead... It appears that I'll get into the mouth of the Mystic River about the time a storm will hit now. As the day progressed, here's NOAA's idea of what the radar looks like for "chance of showers and thunderstorms."

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Here's a shot over the bow as we approached Fishers Island:Only had about 8 NM from Fishers Island to get to the Noank Shipyard at the mouth for fuel. Noank has the cheapest fuel (I think) in the area so when we get there, the place is a zoo with everyone wanting diesel and to tie up from the storm. I just zipped in and parked at the far end of the dock and said to come get me when I could fuel up... The rain and lightning started and we ate lunch.

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About 20 minutes later, the dockhand comes down and asks me to move to the other end of the fuel dock. Here I am in the rain all happy about getting 350 gallons of diesel:We head further up river to Mystic and I call the Mystic Seaport and they don't have any room due to some antique car and boat show going on (in the rain mind you). We ended up getting a slip by town and Seaport Marine which is more of a workyard but it was fine for the night. Here's arriving in Mystic and going through the railroad bridge:We then passed these guys:I think that's the Mystic welcoming committee... or City Hall.... or both. We then docked in the pouring rain.

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It was a short walk to town. We passed the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

and we ate dinner at a restaurant right by the river and the street bridge. While they were getting our table ready, we went over to a toy store across the street because Timmy wants to see if they have any Webkins... Webkins... What's with this whole Webkins thing... more on that later.Table still wasn't ready so we waited a little longer:The food at this place was really good... and the kids were writing notes of appreciation on the table cloth with crayons:We walked back to the boat in the drizzle:And don't think the boys are all "getting along." So here's the deal for the night... John (the oldest) and Philippe (the second oldest) are up on the bridge after we get back. John is on the bridge computer doing some FaceBook thing. Chris (the third oldest - 13) had just bought his mother a necklass and went up to the bridge to get a pen and write her a card before he gave it to her. John thinks he is writing down some "secret note stuff" from his FaceBook account and so he grabs him, Philippe shuts the bridge door and they proceed to beat him up and rip away the box and card he was going to give his mother... How's that for brotherly love? Let's just say it was not a pleasent evening around the boat after that and my solution to the problem involved two plane tickets for two older kids going to Grandma's place in Alabama for the rest of the summer.

More later... We do have reservations for Mystic Seaport for Monday night so we will move the boat.