The End

It's been a long time since our last blog I don't even know where to begin. The last time I blogged we were in Nantucket, Massachusettes. Close to one month later we are not back in San Diego living in our house. Let me fill you in on what happened in between. After we left Nantucket we had to start making our way back to New York though the Long Island Sound. Our first stop was Newport, Rhode Island. We both have heard so much about Newport and were really looking forward to being there and seeing what it was all about. When arrived late afternoon after the 75 mile cruise. The wind had picked up and while we planned to anchor we decided a mooring ball might be a better option. The following day gale force winds of 30-40mph were supposed to happen. When we arrived we called the harbor master who assigned us ball number 11. He gave us very specific directions where it was located using island names and local points of reference which we had no idea what he was talking about. I got the binoculars out and started searching. Had it been like a typical mooring field where all of the numbers are chronological it would have been no problem but this one had all kinds of random numbering due to the city owning some of the ball and some being private and others were attached to yacht clubs. So we were seeing ball number 523 next to number 25. We cruised around for over 20 minutes searching aimlessly. We finally called the harbormaster who said he was on his way out to show us were to go. Once secured we decided a drink was in order to relax from the heightened morning ball drama.

Newport Lighthouse

Entering Newport Harbor

View From Mooring Field

Relaxing 

After a quiet evening on the boat we woke up the next day to pour rain and high winds. Since we only planned on staying two night in Newport Jeff was ready to take the umbrellas to brave the storm. Me, not so much. I told him lets just wait and see if the rain and the wind let up. I wasn't into getting into the dinghy and braving the pouring rain and 30-40mph winds just to say we made it into town. Not a single other boat was out that day and as the hours went be we decided to just relax on the boat and extent one more night in order to see Newport when it wasn't storming.  I was quiet happy to spend the day reading and watching the rain. Jeff eventually got into it too.

Stormy Day in Newport 

Rollers Coming into Mooring Field

Wind and White Caps

Sailboat Braving the Weather

The next day we work up to sunny skies and cool temperatures. It was around 50 degrees. Burrrrrrr. We had a full day planned. First we wanted to take a tour of one of the mansions on the island called The Breakers. It was owned by the Vanderbilt family and was just one of the many mansion scattered along the island. While impressive The Breakers we both decided it was too gaudy and over the top for either of our tastes but it was fun to see. After the mansion we walked around downtown and saw the shops and restaurants and went to a place called The Mooring for lunch that was recommended to us by an uber driver. It was a cute place situated right on the water and the food didn't disappoint. After lunch we decided to walk some more and see the rest of the town. Jeff had a prescription waiting at Wal-Mart and I wanted to do a little marketing so that's how we ended our day. Back at the boat we were very entertained by a local sailing group who was practicing right next to the boat. They would make turns so close to the boat we thought they would hit us. But fortunately they did not.

Outside The Breakers Mansion

The Breakers

The Breakers

Dinning Room

Library

Back of The Breakers

Sailing Club Practice

Sailing Club

Sailing Club

The next morning we were ready to move along to our next stop Mystic, Connecticut. Throughout the loop we have been seeing boat with Mystic on their transom and I was very curious where they place was. Jeff too has been hear about it for years. We stayed at a marina called Port Rachal which was right next to a train bridge. Fortunately it was open when we cruised in and the trains not too loud. We arrived before noon and lowered the bikes and headed to The Mystic Seaport which is a collection of old boat buildings (rigging shop, wood shop, prop shop....) and several old boats. I wasn't too excited when I first heard about this but was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. The old buildings were completely in tack and all arranged like a neighborhood around the seaport. The old sailboats were very interesting and we were amazed how the old sailors lived on ships. We spent several hours walking around until we couldn't anymore.

Fort Rachael Marina

Boat Building Mystic Seaport

Wood boats Mystic Seaport

Shipyard Mystic Seaport

Old Boat Mystic Seaport

Rigging Shop Mystic Seaport

Old Wood Boats Mystic Seaport

Old Sailboat

Old Boat

After the seaport we rode our bikes back into town and did a quick loop of the shops and restaurants. There wasn't any that we wanted to go into so we hopped back on the bikes and went to a restaurant that was recommended to us for happy hour and oysters. It was cute place full of locals and Jeff enjoyed the oysters. We rode back to the boat, and had a quiet evening. 

Ducks Swimming By

Train Bridge Mystic

The next day we would continue our way west through the sound to Essex, Connecticut. Neither of us knew anything about Essex but it was a good distance from Mystic. We arrived and called the dock master for a mooring ball assignment and got secured on our ball. We called the launch service and were taken to shore where we walked into town. Essex had a lot of charming old homes and a few shops and restaurants. It felt very sleepy and quiet. We only saw a couple of people walking and it had the feel like everyone was hiding. We walked into a chocolate shot shop where we tried several flavors of ganache the owner had made earlier that day. After several tastes we both two shot glasses full of different flavored ganache. The owner told us to make sure to stop by their other store in town the rubber ducky store. Two very specific stores. We did as we were told and found the shop as named full of rubber ducks. We were polite and looked around while silently wondering who the hell is buying this? A few more stores and we walked back to the launch and were taken to the boat. While not much going on in town it was still very charming and worth the stop.

Essex Moorning Field

Geese Essex

House in Essex

Downtown Essex

Little did we know that Essex would be the last charming town we would see for a few days. Another gale force wind warming was slated for the next several days so we decided to go into a marina in Stratford, Connecticut. The dockmaster was very nice and helped us get tied up and also gave us some recommendations for the next couple of days. It was super hot when we arrived so we were glad they had a pool and spent the entire afternoon there. The next day per the dock masters recommendation we took the train one stop to Millford, Connecticut. We were told there was nothing to do in Stratford but Millford would have more to see and do. Not so much the case. We did one quick loop around "town" and then found a restaurant for lunch. I was a bit disappointed but hey they can't all be winners. After lunch we took the train back to the boat and prepared for the following days departure.

Downtown Millford

Downtown Millford

Downtown Millford

More then ready to move along after two days our final stop in Connecticut would be Norwalk. We had reserved a spot at the Norwalk Visitors Dock and were greeted by one of the city employees when we arrived. He helped with lines sorta then asked us to check in at the office. After retying all the lines and getting all set up we walked up to the office. The man who helped us tie up was very nice and gave us a few recommendations where to eat and things to do. His first recommendation was a mexican restaurant across the street which we were both skeptical about. Mexican food outside of San Diego has been nothing but misses for us. After checking the menu and seeing nothing but mexicans inside we decided to give it a try. We were both impressed. Jeff got a big bowl of fish stew and I had a veggie burrito. Both very good. Afterwards we walked into town and walked though an old train switch museum where a volunteer told us about all the hand operated switches uses to control the train tracks around town back in the day. It was somewhat interesting. The town was cute with a lot of restaurants but not so many shops. We ventured into one of the restaurants with a nice patio where there was live jazz being played. We had a couple drinks and listen for awhile. The band was quite good and we were pleasantly surprised. 

Train Switch Museum

Jeff's Fish Stew

View of Norwalk

Downtown Norwalk

Downtown Norwalk

Switch Museum

Jazz Band

After the jazz band we walked back to the boat, made dinner and called it an early night. We would head to our final stop in Long Island Sound in the morning - Manhasset, New York. The harbor host at Great Kills Yacht club recommended this anchorage/mooring field to us and said it is a popular spot for New York boaters. When we arrived we called the harbor master for a mooring ball assignment. We were quickly secured and lowered the dinghy to head in and check out town. It was a very hot New York summer day - mid 90's and high humidity. Not fun. We walked about two blocks in town and decided it was way too hot so we returned to the boat. Swimming was defiantly in order. I pumped up the two person raft and we we launched ourselves off the boat. We saw several kids swimming that were part of a sailing camp so we assumed it was fine. After a coupe of hours of swimming and laying on the raft we saw this sudsy brown foam appear all around the raft and the boat. That was enough for us and we quickly got out. So much for swimming. At least we got to cool down and get out of the heat for awhile. The next morning we took the mile hike up the hill into downtown and perused the shops and restaurants and got an authentic New York bagel which we both were craving since we left last year. So good and so like any other bagels around the country. We took one final dinghy ride for the evening and then raised it onto the boat for the next days journey back to Great Kills. 

Fish Boat

Sunset Manhasset Bay

Tidings of Joy Mooring Ball

Pretty House on the Bay

So this was it, our final cruise of our great loop journey. Instead of taking the straight path through the east river right to Great Kills we thought it would be more fun to circumnavigate Manhattan and then head into Great Kills. We took the Brooklyn River around to the Hudson River to the East River then into Great Kills. It was really fun and a journey not many pleasure boats take. There was a lot of commercial traffic and bridges that we just barely cleared at 25feet fixed height. It was a little nerve wracking but well worth it to see the underbelly (as Jeff calls it) of New York. 

First Bridge Brooklyn River

Morning Traffic Manhattan

The Bronx

Another Low Bridge

Harlem

Barge

Bridges 

Sailing Club

Bridge

Final Train Bridge Opened

Hudson River

 

Manhatten

Statue of Liberty

The final cruise while happy and fun towards the end felt sad. As we approached Great Kills it started to rain and that was it. No more East Coast cruising for the Tidings of Joy. We picked a different marina to stay at because the Yacht club we had been the two times previous wouldn't let us leave the boat there unattended and we would be heading home in a couple of days. Even though we were sad it still felt like we were still part of the great loop because we were still on the boat and we were in New York one of our favorite places. We spent the afternoon watching the rain and relaxing. The next day we would head into the city. 

We were pretty excited for the next day because we got stand-by tickets for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah who we are huge fans of. Being old pros in New York we took an uber to the train station then boarded the Staten Island Ferry then hopped on the subway to get a final slice of New York pizza. It was kind of funny because we both had different ideas of our New York day. I wanted to get pizza at Joe's (the best pizza in the city in our opinion) and Jeff wanted to go to an old New York Jewish style Deli. Hey why compromise. So we did both. First pizza at Joe's for me. Then back on the subway to go to Barney Greengrass for Jeff. Everybody wins. We decided after lunch even though it was early we should make our way to where The Daily Show is to scope it out and make sure we know where we are going. The tickets said not to get in line before 4pm so we thought around 3:30 we would get in line. When we arrived at 2:30 there were already two people waiting in the standby line. Now what? Jeff said I guess we are staying. So from 2:30-5:30pm we stood in the ever growing, 90 degree 90% humidity line. Fortunately it was all worth it and we and several others got into the show. It was super cool. Way beyond what we could have imagined. The audience was small and intimate and we felt so giddy and excited. Trevor did not disappoint and even though we have been avoiding the news for the past year it was nice hear some Trump jokes and digs. These are our people. 

Staten Island Ferry

Jeff's Fish Plate

Outside The Daily Show

Stand-by Line

We Got In!!

The Daily Show Studio

The Daily Show finished recording around 7:30pm and we had a two hour commute back to Great Kills so we started making our way on the subway, ferry and train. We were pooped! Our final day in New York did not disappoint.

The next several days we spent cleaning and readying the boat for Captain Bill who would be taking the boat from New York to Florida where she will be put on a ship and sent to us in Ensenada, Mexico. It was a somber couple of days and on August 6th, 2017 with our suitcases in hand we said goodbye to our Tidings of Joy and boarded a plane for San Diego.  The End!!!!