Shelter Island, NY

After having left Zendo for a whole week at the Niantic anchorage, we pulled anchor and headed out on Wednesday, July 4.  Our destination was Shelter Island on the eastern end of New York’s Long Island.  Our MTOA friends, Tom and Kathy Kallman had invited us to join them at the mooring field there for the 4th of July. It was a foggy day but we had a smooth, almost four hour cruise across Long Island Sound. Archie was his usual chill self.

We rendezvoused with Tom and Kathy at the mouth of the Shelter Island harbor and followed each other in.  They are aboard a beautiful Nordic Tug 44.

The entrance to the harbor in Shelter Island has an attractive lighthouse and is lined with magnificent homes.

Jonny hoisted a gift from our friend Richard Chew.  It is a traditional Union Jack flag to be hung only on Sundays and holidays and while the vessel is at rest. We thought that Independence Day was an especially appropriate day to fly it.

After we settled in to our moorings, Tom and Kathy came by in their dinghy and we invited them aboard to see Zendo.  We watched a youth sailing class in an adorable fleet of Optis racing against each other as they maneuvered their prescribed track. 

Then we all decided to go into town to provision for our onboard dinner. We went to Tom’s favorite Marie Eiffel market and stocked up for the evening’s meal.  While Tom and Kathy headed back to Liberty, we took Archie for a walk through the Shelter Island Heights neighborhood. 

Shelter Island is a beautiful village with lovely homes and many wide swaths of lawn for Archie to frolic in.  

We let him off the leash at one point and he started to chase what at first we thought was a peacock.  All his barking caused the homeowner to come out thinking that Archie was his dog! We had a nice chat with him and his wife who were very tolerant of Archie running all over their expansive yard that looked out over the harbor.  It turned out that the big bird was a wild turkey, not a peacock!

Upon returning to Zendo, I made a rhubarb crisp from the rhubarb from David and Mary Ann’s garden. Tom and Kathy had invited us aboard Liberty for dinner and we headed over there at 6.  Kathy made a delicious shrimp scampi and a lovely salad with burrata cheese and we had the rhubarb crisp for dessert.  We spent a very enjoyable evening sharing stories and just generally enjoying each other’s company.  Tom is the vice president of MTOA and since Jonny is president, they find endless things to talk about.   

We took our leave later that evening knowing that we’ll see them again in the next week or so. Tom and Kathy are chairing the upcoming MTOA Rendezvous in Essex, CT and we will be there.  The next morning we planned to head back across the Sound early because the weather over the next couple of days didn’t look great. Otherwise, we might have stayed longer to contact our friends Ernie and Sophie who live close by.  All in all, our quick trip to Shelter Island was a great time!