Tick Infestation and a Few More Days at Sandy Hook

Tuesday, September 8

The night was fairly eventful. The only boat, a sailboat, that had spent the night at anchor had already left by the time we woke up.

At 10:30, I could still hear the characteristic breaths of dolphins. Several pods passed close to us and, a little further away, we saw them surface again several times. They seemed to stop to feed, not far from Éolo. We are so excited to see them swim with Éolo!

Bad news: we saw two ticks on Miela, on her eyebrows… But after a closer inspection, it was a true infestation! There were dozens, hundreds… She shakes and they fall off. They are tiny, they look like grains of ground pepper, but when taking photos and zooming in, you can clearly see their little legs.

We called several veterinarians and eventually got on hold at an emergency clinic. We spent several hours removing what we could, an incredible amount.

We moved to a marina mooring and then walked into town. We took an Uber and arrived too early at the vet. Inside, Miela left ticks wherever she lay down. We were therefore asked to wait outside.

One pill later and a few hundred US dollars lighter, Miela was rid of her ticks. We could finally breathe a little!

We took the opportunity to do grocery shopping. There was a very good selection and it felt good. We especially needed water!

Wednesday, September 9

We worked at the mooring all morning.

Then we headed out in the dinghy and tied it up at the dinghy dock near the launch ramp.

We're really lucky, it's still very warm! We decided to have a beer at The Bar, a convenience store with a bar and a terrace. It does the trick!

Then we went to Carton Brewing, a local brewery where Miela was allowed inside. The bar is really beautiful and they even organize games on site. The beer is very good, we did a tasting and left with a few beers to take back to Éolo.

Because we also needed to eat, and we love pizza, we let ourselves be convinced by the restaurant Strada. A favorite! They have a very nice storefront with four tables on the sidewalk and their pizza is among the best we've eaten.

Back on the sailboat, we had wind all night. But we were securely tied to our mooring ball, so we were safe.