Tidings of Joy: Long Island Sound

After basking in our success for a few day in New York we decided we wanted to keep cruising. No longer would be on the loop but venturing out on our own. Before starting the loop we talked about cruising Long Island Sound and possibly making it as far as Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket time permitting. Fortunately John from Great Kills Yacht Club gave us an itinerary to follow that would get us all the way out to Nantucket and then back into Staten Island. We were so grateful since this was all new for us and not being on the loop there wasn’t anyone else that we knew that would be doing this cruise. So Thursday July 13th we set out at 7:30 for our first non-loop cruise into Long Island Sound. We had a somewhat long day cruising for 7 hours hours to Huntington Harbor, New York. John’s plan entailed cruising out on the New York side then cruising back on the Connecticut side. Sounded like a great plan to us. It was a hot and humid day but we were so excited cruising out the East River and all through Manhattan. We passed so much commercial traffic - ferries, barges, tows and tugs. We felt kinda funny being on our first non-loop cruise. When we got to Huntington Yacht club we were so happy the they had a pool. That was our entire afternoon- floating in the pool and having rum punches. So far cruising on our own was pretty good.

Mizu- We Anchored By This Boat in Bahamas

North Hampstead Lighthouse

Pretty Sailboat

Huntington Lighthouse

Huntington Yacht Club

Huntington Bay

Heading Out to East River

Manhattan

United Nations Building

After cooling off and having a quiet night on the boat in Huntington we headed out early at 6a.m. for the next days destination - Shelter Island, New York. This would be another long day almost 10 hours but we really wanted to push hard to hopefully make Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. I had made arrangements to get a mooring ball at Shelter Island Yacht Club. I had read they are very strict about the reciprocal yacht clubs they work with so I confirmed online that they acknowledged the Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) we belonged to and they did. As we pulled in and the harbormaster came out to meet us in his skiff and take us to our mooring ball we noticed we were placed right behind another gold looper boat. So funny. They were just as enthused to see us as we them. It was a cool rainy, misty day and we felt like we were really close to New England. The scenery was gorgeous - green hills lined with pristine summer cottages/homes and tons of sailboats and large yachts. The first night we just enjoyed the rain from the aft deck and settled in for the night. The next day we called the yacht club launch and checked in. It was an old time club dating back to the 1800’s. Everyone there seemed very stiff and a little off putting. The staff was friendly and nice but we decided we were happier on the boat in the mooring field then hanging out at the club. We took a nice walk all around town and saw the gorgeous homes and the quaint little street of a few shops, a market, coffee shop and liquor store. After we walked back to the boat for lunch. We decided since we saw Shelter Island we would take the ferry across the bay to Greenport, New York. We loaded into the ferry with cars, trucks, people and bicycles. It was fun to cruise across the bay. Greenport was much more of a town then Shelter Island. There were several streets of shops and restaurants and the town was pretty crowded with what appeared to be New Yorkers venturing out of the city. After about an hour we had had enough and got back on the ferry across. It was a fun adventure but as always we are happy to return to our own boat. We would head out in the morning.

Shelter Island Yacht Club Anchorage

Lawn Art- Shelter Island

Shelter Island

Shelter Island - Town

Town

Shelter Island Anchorage

Southport

The next days cruise would be short - 3.5hours to Montauk, New York. I had always heard of Montauk and was looking forward to cruising there. We dropped the hook around 11:15 and launched the dingy to explore the town. We found a place to tie up at one of the marinas and the dock master told us there was a free bus into town. The bus was nice - air-conditioned and the the driver answered all of our questions about where to go and what to see. Basically “town” was a two block radius of a few shops and restaurants. Nothing either of us wanted to go into. The crowd was younger and we later found out a lot of people take the train from Manhattan out to Montauk for a weekend getaway. Not really our scene or a town we wanted to spend much time in so we hoped back on the free bus and headed back out to the boat. Lake Montauk where we anchored was quiet and peaceful and the boats were nicely spread apart giving everyone ample privacy. I really wanted to swim but noticed tons of small jelly fish surrounding our boat so opted to skip it.

Coast Guard Station Montauk

Beach - Montauk

Montauk Bay

Lake Montauk Anchorage

Sunset Montauk

The next day we were really excited to be leaving Long Island Sound and heading to our first stop in Rhode Island - Block Island. Neither of us have been to Rhode Island and to be visiting the smallest town in the smallest state which also happened to be an island was really exciting. Sea conditions were good - 2 feet swells every 8-9 seconds and we just rolled along for the short three hour cruise. At Block Island we planned on taking a mooring ball but when we arrived all the balls for our size boat were full. Fortunately there was a large anchorage right beside the mooring field so we found a spot there. It was cool in the low 70’s but very humid around 95%. So it was cool and damp all day. We took the dinghy to shore and had lunch at one of the marina restaurants. I had read that the best way to see the island is to rent bikes. So after lunch and a couple of cocktails we rented bikes. What we didn’t know was that although it’s an island it is not a flat island. There are a ton of hills both steep and rolling. I don’t know if it was the heat, the steepness or the cocktails but at one point we both had to walk our bikes uphill. We saw town which was very small - a shop or two, a couple restaurants and a gas station. After climbing several hills we finally made it to the islands lighthouse. Fortunately there was a little stand there where we got waters and when we walked into the lighthouse the lady working there said we looked really hot. We briefly saw the lighthouse and the great view from the grounds then headed back out. The ride besides all of the torturous hills was really nice. The houses on the island are so charming and sweet I could imagine myself living there. They were all cape cod style homes either facing the sea or surrounded by meadows and ponds. It seemed very fairytale like. Needless to say we were very happy to return our bikes and head back to the boat. We raised the dinghy in prep for the next mornings departure. Around 5pm we heard this kinda sing-songy voice coming from outside the boat. When we looked we saw a tiny little skiff passing by with a big flag that said “bakery.” We were immediately intrigued and Jeff called them over. It turns out every afternoon the bakery boat cruises through the anchorage selling pastries, fresh seafood and some Italian food. We couldn’t believe it and thought it was so cool. Jeff got some shrimp cocktail, a pastry and calzone for us to split. What a great service. We settled in for the rest of the evening and enjoyed our night on the hook. In the morning we would head out for Martha’s Vineyard.