Have very much enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of Cuttyhunk Island and its wee village of Gosnold.
Sooooooooo Cape Cod/New England/nautical it makes it look almost too arranged but it's the real deal brought about by the need for structures to survive the sun, fog, wind, sand, salt.
At least on this island folks are looking for nature, family fun, a good day on the water and tasty ice cream. What's not to love!

To our surprise, as we were headed ashore in the dinghy amongst a very tightly-packed & rafted-up mooring field, we came upon a navy-hulled, scoop-transomed, pilothouse Jeauneau sloop named........IOLITE. It was like we transcended into a parallel universe. The owners have a little white dog, they got the boat the same year we got ours and below the waterline the hull was the same red antifouling we used to have. It became more eerie through the conversation. Just as we were motoring away, she softly said, "......and I have the same white hat...."

weeeee-ooooo

Great to be back in the fresh sea air again.
Easy daysail from Mystic.
We anchored off the island for the first night and came into the mooring field/inner hbr at 7:00 am next morning, as the mooring field is usually full again by 10:00 am.

We are off to Marthas Vinyard tomorrow......a lovely 2-3 hour sail.

I made it home to Halifax (by train/plane) & back to Mystic (in our new-to-us car) in fairly short order.

Sorry that I wasn't able to get in touch with you. I wasn't ready to be home yet so pretended I was just somewhere/anywhere buying a car and driving to Mystic. Having said that, I couldn't have done that without my sisters, Sue & Jan, and my mom, all of which, fed me, drove me around & housed me during my stay. It was great to see them again even though we were on the run the whole time.

Just as I arrived back in Mystic a heat wave hit. We had to work like crazy on the boat to clean it up after living on board for a year and to start the prep for our departure. The boat splashed down the morning of my arrival following a bottom & bow thruster cleaning as well as a redo of the anitfouling/zincs - Alex was busy!

The national-newsworthy heat has been unreal and leaves you exhausted but as of today will subside and be much cooler tomorrow.

Mystic & neighboring Noank are true New England coastal communities. Everything looks to be out of a magazine - like Martha Stewart waved her design wand over the countryside. Unreal! Even the rural-type rock walls have your mouth gaping all the time. The architecture has my head spinning constantly which makes going for a walk or a drive a challenging endeavour. Bob has learned to just sit and wait while I gawk.

And I have to put in a plug for the Mystic Seaport Museum - an active/interactive spot for all things nautical.

Also, as a total aside, my second plug must go to the Long Island town called Port Washington. We found it on our way south and returnd to it on our way north. I thnk we've mentioned it before but it has earned a special spot because everyone there tries so hard to keep their town alive by going out of their way for boaters. Smart I say as it works so well that everyone is staying longer than expected and finding wonderful perks that the town offers. First of all you get two nights free mooring on Long Island when others charge $40 & up a night. Then you get free water taxi service and good places to come ashore for all the things you need withing walking - groceries, restaurants, laundromats, book stores, West Marine, shopping, thrift stores, train that goes to New York's Penn Station with no connections, post office, pet store, library - all wrapped in a safe environment. As an example of business attracting boaters, one restaurant - harbourQ - will give you a free pitcher of beer for a picture of your boat.....a pitcher for a picture!

To resume the chat re the final chapter of our year, we hope to head out later this week to Gardiner's Bay at the end of Long Island and to Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket Islands.

I guess we're still a bit in denial that this will end.......ya' think!?!

We haul first thing in the morning, but started today early to get Faune to the rail station- She is headed home, (flying out of Boston tonight) to buy a car and then drive back down to pick me up. I hope to have her back within a week and in the mean time I'll work on the boat to get her cleaned up, with some of the little things that are hard to get to when every day is spent travelling and meeting people and having fun- here is a picture of Bob on top of Faune's travel Bags.

The first fog in almost a year...cooler waters....lobster for sale on the docks...
We are preparing to haul for a quick clean up, check anodes and the like. This place is really our speed...

After a great stay in Port Washington, we sailed up the sound to Port Jefferson. Anchored overnight and then a long daysail to Mystic and Noank Connecticut. It is lovely here and friends of ours on IOLAR arranged for a free mooring for the next month. We rented a car and drove to Newport to confirm we can leave Iolite here for the winter. picture is Bob downtown on one of the local sculptures.

One of our favorite harbours-free moorings, watertaxi, generous people, easy dock access for beer and food-what more is there?

After a great, but long, trip from Atlantic City, we anchored in behind Sandy Hook for an overnight stay. The anchorage in Sandy Hook was very accessible and amazingly isolated. There is constant boat wake (until 10.00 pm), but still, this is a interesting stop.

Bob was ready for a run on the beach so in we went. There is a really old Battery there covered in vines and the beach is covered in debris from one of the world's biggest cities but it still seemed like such a great find. It is amazing to be anchored so close to millions of people and yet feel you are in the country. Bob, after our trip ashore, had over a dozen ticks on him and we had forgotten how bothersome northern mosquitoes can be (we really haven't seen them since last September).

We left the next morning for the most amazingly awesome sunny motor past the Statue of Liberty then through the East River along Manhattan into Long Island Sound. It was early on a Saturday morning so was relatively traffic-free. At Hell Gate we were doing 11 knots going with the flood tide! Always a thrill in NYC!