It’s always immensely satisfying to get into a salt pond you weren’t sure was accessible.  We sailed from Old Lyme, CT to Bluff Point outside Groton with wind and tide in our favor on the way there, and both against us for the trip back the next day.  We entered Bluff Point Lake via the long shallow channel from the north, and left in the morning via the more direct opening to the Poquonock River at the pond’s west end.  Also satisfying was beating the unfavorable tidal current on the return trip by exploiting inshore eddies.

Lots of crab claws on the beach, swallows and monarchs in the air (along with some small planes on their final approach to Groton-New London Airport), a roving carpet of snails in the pond, and barely enough water to float in on—indeed on two occassions we got out to ease the boat over shallow rocks, though it was just past low tide, so waiting would have worked, too.  To summer!

Over dinner, after his old man said how happy he was to have everyone there, the four year old followed up with, “And I would like to say…um, Papa: why are we here?”  Haha!