Return to Rhode Island ….. October 2013

01 – 15 Oct:  Newport, Rhode Island to Havre de Grace, Maryland – 39 32N 76 04W

Hanging Around in Newport

It is always such a good feeling to return to somewhere we have been before.  We already know where to anchor, where the dinghy dock, laundry, supermarket etc are; familiarity is such a wonderful feeling, but one we seldom get to experience living the nomadic life we do.

We had returned to Newport on Rhode Island to collect our new headsail that we had ordered from Quantum Sails before we went north to Maine.  It was ready for us and they delivered and fitted it promptly, we had increased the size slightly but it was perfect, a job well done.  Every time there was a lull in the wind at anchor skipper seemed to roll it out, just to admire it – he was itching to try it out!

From Newport we were planning to head south around the outside of Long Island and do a two night passage down to the entrance of Delaware Bay then up the Delaware River, through the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal and finally into Chesapeake Bay.   The weather however, had other plans, we weren’t going anywhere.

So - Back Onto the Bikes 

 

We found a safe spot to lock our bikes so kept them ashore for the duration of our stay.   One warm sunny afternoon we cycled around to Fort Adams, built around 1824 it is the largest coastal fort in the USA and sits defending the entrance into Newport.  The road to the fort was bordered by small farms, it was just like being on an English country lane: stone walls separated the paddocks, cows grazed, pigs rolled around in their pens, autumn leaves tumbled – just beautiful, all very rural and just minutes from Newport town.

We carried on from the Fort, through the surrounding State Park then followed the road around the coast out to Brenton Point State Park at the bottom left tip of Rhode Island. 

From there we just kept going along Ocean Avenue which fringes Rhode Island Sound, we passed modest homes, seaside cottages and magnificent mansions all sharing the same wonderful views over the Sound.  

It was an excellent afternoons bike ride, followed by Quahog Fritters (just had to order them as we had no idea what they were!!) and a relaxing drink at The Lobster Shed, a great spot we found in Newport’s converted warehouse waterfront area.  And to enlighten those of you, who – like us have never heard of a quahog, it is a shellfish found around these parts and was very tasty!

Mansions, Mansions …. and even more Mansions

In the late 1890’s Newport became THE place for the incredibly rich to build “summer cottages”.  Yes, the photos are not actually of mansions, these are all just cottages. 

Known as the “Gilded Age” the absolute wealthiest of America’s society built these incredibly opulent mansions, mainly along the cliff edge on Bellevue Avenue.   Each owner went to great lengths to have the latest inventions installed (electricity for the newer ones!!) and it really goes without saying that they simply wanted to outdo the neighbours.

 

We purchased the Preservation Society 5 Property Pass for $31.50pp and took a few days exploring these decedent properties.  4 had audio tours which were entertaining and informative, they told the stories of the owners and staff and enabled us to gain a real insight into this age of extreme wealth for a select few.  They also told stories of which properties had, over the years, been used as movie sets – remember Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby, the ballroom scenes were filmed at the Elms.  

 

Still Waiting for the Weather

Although we were getting rather settled and sunny weather in Newport, offshore a tropical depression was loitering, sending gale force winds and huge seas onto the Delaware Coast south of us. 

In the end we decided to head back through Long Island Sound and New York, day sailing to cover some miles, whilst giving the weather and seas time to settle before we headed out into the North Atlantic for what would then be only one night at sea to the Delaware Bay.

Our good intentions of leaving at first light got scuppered when our anchor chain had not only a lobster pot wrapped round it but an old rusty anchor hooked through it as well.  We eventually managed to untangle ourselves and dropped them back into the deep for the next poor cruiser to hook onto! 

We headed out into lively seas and had a fast and furious ride for the first few hours, conditions improved slightly the further we got into Long Island Sound.  We had a mammoth day, logging over 70 miles to Joshua Cove and anchoring just on dusk.   Next day the seas were slightly more agreeable and we made it to Port Washington on dusk, anchored in a deserted bay and watched the lights of New York twinkle in the distance as darkness fell.

In A New York Minute

The tides were right for another early departure: with up to 4 knots of current through the East River, you sure want to get the tides right.  We flew through at speeds of over 10 knots, passed Manhattan in a flash and next thing we knew the Statue of Liberty had come back into view after our 3 1/2 month excursion north.

But we were soon past it and carried the current all the way out through the channel and into the Atlantic. 

Finally Into the Chesapeake

We were met with an extremely messy sea state and winds too fickle to hold the sails so we motored south until late in the evening when we finally filled the sails.  With a full moon to light our way and temperatures not quite down to freezing it wasn’t a bad overnight sail.  We carried on into Delaware Bay and motored up the Delaware River in  calm conditions and warmer climes, finally pulling over to the rivers edge and anchoring at sunset, just 10 miles short of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. 

Working the tides meant yet another early start as we headed through the D&C Canal, by late morning we had, at last, reached Chesapeake Bay.  We headed across the shallows to Havre de Grace, a small riverside town where we had arranged to haul out and antifoul. 

Time To Turn Balvenie into a Two Storey Condo

Cooling Down North of Cape Cod ….. August 2013

01 – 06 Aug:  Newport, Rhode Is to Portsmouth, New Hampshire – 43 04N 70 42W



Heading for the Cape Cod Canal

Another fair breeze filled in about an hour after we left Newport, Rhode Island and we had a very pleasant sail along the southern Connecticut coast.  We were passing some famous spots offshore along the way, Cuttyhunk Island, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket – all places on “the list”, but now on the list for the way back down.
 
We stopped the night in a small secluded harbour tucked between islands just before the channel to the canal.   After the busyness of Newport we appreciated the peace and tranquillity of our anchorage at Bassetts Island.



Through the Canal to Provincetown

This is our 3rd canal transit, the first was the Suez Canal – an expensive and time consuming business dealing with the Egyptians.  It takes two days to motor through and the alternative is to sail around Africa so its an experience you take in your stride to get to Europe.  Our 2nd canal was the Corinth in Greece – also expensive but it saves a few days sailing, the Greeks are organised and in an hour you’ve paid and transited - popped from the Aegean to the Ionian, perfect.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find this canal is free, used mainly by pleasure craft it cuts about 150 miles off the journey of going around the outside of Cape Cod. We took note of the tides and currents (we are getting good at these by now) so had a leisurely start to the day then flew through the canal in no time with the current aiding us.

At the End of the Line

The forecast light southwest wind was coming in from the northeast, right on the nose, so we had a very slow sail tacking across Massachusetts Bay, finally making it in to Provincetown just in time for happy hour.

Provincetown sits at the very end of Cape Cod Peninsula which is a slither of land that curls some 40miles out from the mainland.  From the boat the vista ashore looked reminiscent of a Cornish fishing village, somewhere Marks family often spent their summer holidays.  The long wooden pier juts out over the harbour, fishing boats ply the waters and the houses looked a similar shape. But on closer inspection all the houses here are  built of wood or shingles - where of course in the UK they are stone or brick.
 
Steeped in History

There is a reason this all looks so English, and why so many of the places we will be visiting in New England and Maine have English names. Actually there are several reasons – some of the first European settlers, the pilgrims from the Mayflower first settled here in 1620, then moved onto to other more promising areas further up the coast; the harbour is large, deep and easy to access from the North Atlantic so became a popular refuge for ships crossing the trans Atlantic waters; this is also one of the closest harbours in the USA to England and Europe … just a huge hop, significant skip and gigantic jump!!

So the population came from all over Europe and this has resulted in a very interesting mix of architecture and a melting pot blend of todays local Cape Coders.
  

The town was just picture postcard perfect, very arty with boutique galleries housed in converted colonial homes, and small shops selling every imaginable tourist knick knack tucked between the galleries, then of course there are the food shops – icecream  parlours, fudge makers, candy stores, Portuguese bakeries, food courts and lobster restaurants, we even managed to find a decent latte – and we now accept we have to ask for hot lattes so we don’t end up with iced …. only in America!!!  
Checking Out the Wildlife

We had two nights anchored off the town then moved across the big bay for a night to afford better coverage from some southerly winds due.  The cove across the bay was wonderful, access is only by water, the long sandy beach was deserted, the gigantic gulls flew low above us, the inquisitive seals came sniffing around,  and if we didn’t look back towards the town we could imagine being a million miles from civilisation.  Skipper joined the seals for a working dip, sure in the fact that the water will only get colder he took this last opportunity to give the bottom of Balvenie a good clean, I contributed by turning on the generator so he would have plenty of hot water for a shower to warm up!!

The stronger winds passed through, we had a good forecast to head north so made the decision to add Boston to “the on the way back list” and set sail north.  We had one of our best ever day sails covering 74 miles in flat water with steady winds on the beam coming off the land.  We passed two whales, these magnificent sea monsters first blowing to show their presence then gracefully rising up, checking us out before majestically sliding back below with a flick of their tails to wave farewell – a truly awesome experience but one we are happy to see at a distance!
  

Scenes from the Cove anchorage at Cape Cod
 

Farewell Massachusetts, Hello New Hampshire 

Our plan was to stop the night at the Isles of Shoals, a rocky outcrop a few miles off the New Hampshire coast, but as is often the case it is necessary to revert to Plan B when Plan A is no longer suitable in the current wind conditions.  So on we went to the mainland and entered the Piscataqua River which is the boarder between New Hampshire and Maine.

It was here we sampled our first taste of lobster pots (but not the offending lobsters), everywhere we looked there were pot floats bobbing about on the surface – there seemed no way through them.  So we headed for the main shipping channel, naively thinking that they surely wouldn’t place pots in the shipping channel, well silly us – the lobster fisherman seem to have free range and put them wherever they want, even right through the anchorage!  With the sun low in the sky it was almost impossible to spot them all, but somehow we managed to drop sails, weave through them and successfully anchor without sneering any – but this was only day one of lobster pots!!!
 

Portsmouth – Overwhelmingly English
 

cobbled streets and red brick buildings of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
 

We had anchored close to the rivers entrance which was quite some distance from Portsmouth town so decided to dinghy in to explore – but this time we didn’t check the tides and currents (well it was a dinghy ride)!  It was a very slow 45 minute trip in against the raging outgoing current complete with overfalls and whirlpools, the homeward trip a mere 20 minutes at slack tide.
 
On stepping ashore we felt we had maybe made an Atlantic crossing without realising and could so easily have been walking around Portsmouth in England.  Most of the buildings were constructed of red brick, there were cobbled pavements and brick lanes, it reminded us so much of an English market town on a busy Saturday morning.   And it even rained for half an hour to complete the English summer picture!   We combined the 3 recommended walking tours and hit the streets, found an excellent stop for lattes and later returned to the small cafe by the anchorage for some fresh seafood and for Mark to start in earnest his tastings of New England beers, tonights offering – “Gritty McDuffs”

Next Morning it was Back Through the Lobster Pots ….. and Onto Maine

More Mansions & Millionaires ….. July 2013

20 – 30 July:  Shelter Harbour,  Long Island to Newport, Rhode Island  - 41 28N 71 19W

Hanging round in “ The Hamptons”

We carried on along the top of Long Island and turned down into the protected waters of Shelter Harbour.  Some windy weather was forecast so appropriately named Shelter Harbour looked like a good place to stop.

We had heard of The Hamptons, where movie and music stars and other seriously wealthy people  keep “summer homes”, and singer/songwriter Billy Joel is a local lad. But honestly we had no idea where it was – we can now report it is an area near the far eastern end of Long Island.  The reason it is called The Hamptons is because is it made up of several hamlets with Hampton in their name.   There’s Southampton, Bridgehampton, Hampton Bays and East Hampton, then there are a couple of outsiders just as lovely as their Hampton cousins – Greenport and Sag Harbour. 

We spent a day catching the local buses, exploring the hamlets and sneaking a peak up gated driveways but didn’t spot any celebrities, or their homes for that matter, they are all tucked away behind well established trees in acres of manicured grounds.

You can certainly see the attraction here, there are long sandy beaches on the south shore of Long Island,  the quaint fishing harbours of Sag and Greenport are delightful, every designer store you could possibly require is represented in East Hampton for your shopping needs, acres and acres of pristine vineyards offer boutique wineries for long lazy lunches and tastings, then there is the beautiful heavily wooded countryside with a few quiet lanes off the busy roads to take the Maserati or Rolls for a quick spin – ah the life of the wealthy!

Rollicking Good Sail to Rhode Island

July was ticking away, our plan was to get to Maine for August so we needed to keep on moving.  We left Sag Harbour at dawn in the drizzle, but with a steady southerly to push us north it was a great opportunity to cover the 62 miles to Rhode Island in one chunk.  We will be coming back this way so a stop at highly recommended Block Island will wait for our return.  The weather perked up during the day, we caught a huge fish, the wind stayed with us and we pulled into Newport, Rhode Island before happy hour.  An excellent day on the water. 

Home of Americas Cup History

Just arriving into the harbour at Newport we could immediately  feel we had entered one of the worlds top sailing ports.  It was a Tuesday evening  and the harbour was buzzing, it was a sea of sails, there were yachts absolutely everywhere – skipper had immense fun weaving Balvenie through the lot of them, our Silver Fern flag flying high and our seriously oversized New Zealand flag proudly displayed off our stern.  

The harbour was packed full of mooring buoys, we have never seen so many very expensive yachts tied to moorings instead of in a marina dock, but there are just so many yachts here there obviously isn't enough marinas to go around.  We squeezed into the few inches of designated anchoring zone still available, almost able to pass drinks to our neighbours, but we were all just happy to be in this iconic port.

Move Over Millionaires – now its Billionaires!

In the late 1800’s Newport became THE place for rich New Yorkers to have a “summer cottage”.   A building frenzy ensued with the wealthy all trying to outdo each other, but these days it is accepted that Breakers, the modest 70 room cottage in the photo was probably the pick of the bunch.  It was commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II,  at that time the Vanderbilt's were Americas richest family. 

We did the excellent Cliff Walk along the foreshore in front of many of these beauties but we will save visiting inside the mansions for our return to Newport. 

Newport is just beautiful, couple of blocks back from the harbour found us (almost lost) in heavily wooded country lanes – you can escape the busy harbour and town within minutes.  They are very proud of their heritage and history here and have gone to huge efforts to preserve it; and although it is very touristy, especially at this time of the year, it had a lived in and looked after feel to it.

We enjoyed our stay, there was a small Jazz festival on, then a weekend Folk Festival that we listened to from the boat, it is just such a lively happening place and we will look forward to spending some more time here on our journey south.  We said farewell to Brenda and David on Bandit, yet again, unless our paths cross in the Chesapeake in autumn we are unlikely to see them again on the water. Bandit and Balvenie have shared many anchorages in the past 2 years we will miss sailing (racing!!)  with them.

 Time to Head for the Cape Cod Canal and Cooler Waters