port out, starboard home

Technically the Devil Dog was free, a gift from Rich, an employee on the Bridgeport to Port Jefferson ferry. However, the boat ride to get the free Devil Dog cost $61 for our car and passengers to ride across Long Island Sound tonight. It would have been cheaper to drive from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson but it was worth it to be able to skip 47 miles of road and to avoid driving through New York City. Since we were in the area, it was no surprise that one of the other cars on the ferry belonged to an avid Mets fan.



Rich spotted me taking pictures of the Linden's Cookies and Drake's Cakes available for sale at his snack bar. Both brands reminded me of childhood. I've mentioned my weakness for Devil Dogs before. When I was in seventh and eight grades, lunch at the school cafeteria always came with a package of three Linden's Chocolate Chip cookies. Rich asked why I was photographing his snacks. I'm not sure he believed me when I said the photos were for the Internet.



A poster aboard the ferry promised complimentary WiFi access from some outfit called Optimum Online. Naturally, I got the laptop out of the car and fired it up. My browser opened to the Optimum page and wanted a password. I asked Jen the purser for the complimentary WiFi password. She was very kind but regretted to inform me that the "free" WiFi is only available to paying customers of this Optimum company, a local ISP. Tourists like me need not apply. Jen then returned to reading chapter 32 of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Earlier in the week I had much better luck with the WiFi offered by the New York State Thruway. The service is available in the rest areas but I guess it's not really free either since the Thruway is a toll road. Another ferry employee was watching all this transpire. Not wanting to have him feel left out, I snapped one last photo of the man with the name tag that read "Able Seaman."