Mystic, CT

We had a very short one hour cruise from Noank to Mystic on Saturday morning, September 19. The weather was sunny, but blustery and very cool with highs in the 60’s.  Cruising up the Mystic River was very interesting as we passed through the village of Mystic and especially Mystic Seaport with all of its historic ships. 

We dropped anchor right across from Mystic Seaport in a calm but shallow area with only one other boat nearby.  As soon as we settled in, we hopped aboard our dinghy and went in to explore the town of Mystic. We hadn’t been here in a few years and never by boat so we were happy to be here. 

 

Mystic was a historically significant seaport where over 600 ships were built starting in 1784.  Its main industry now is tourism but the village has maintained a lovely character.

One of the first things we did was to stop at Mallove Jewelers, the business started by Jonny’s grandfather over a hundred years ago!  It is now owned and very competently run by his cousin Jimmy whose home in Waterford we had visited while we were in New London.  It’s impossible to visit Mallove’s without buying something.  This time our little family has two birthdays coming up, Lynn’s this week and Stephanie’s on Halloween.  Needless to say, it was a productive visit!

Afterwards we strolled around this historical and nautical town which is bisected by the Mystic River.  We were looking for a place to have lunch and there were plenty of choices (including the pizza place made famous by the movie Mystic River).  We selected a non-seafood choice, Grass and Bone, where we shared a delicious rotisserie chicken and yummy side dishes.

As we walked back towards the bridge we saw the strategically located ice cream shop which we couldn’t resist for dessert.  Once again we will be skipping dinner! Here are two views of the same Mystic River Bridge.

Mystic is filled with lovely historic homes, boats and buildings.  Everyone wore masks and all the Covid protocols were being followed.  It was fun walking and browsing and just being in such an an interesting place.

After heading back to Zendo, Jonny went for a paddle board ride. We caught up with Andy and Janice by phone who were enjoying Rosh Hashanah dinner which we were sorry to miss this year. That night we relaxed and watched a couple of episodes of Madame Secretary. We wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year, L’Shana Tovah!

Noank, CT

The weather was predicted to be blustery and the seas quite choppy over the next few days. It appeared that if we left early on Friday, September 18 we would have a pretty good chance of making it out of the worst wave heights and into the more protected confines of Long  Island Sound. We would be able to hug the coast on the north side of the Sound and be protected from the prevalent north wind.  That was the plan.

However, when we woke up at six that morning, we were exceedingly close to the catamaran in front of us. Apparently we had not let out as much line on our anchor as he did and he drifted so close to us that we were quite worried.  Unfortunately it didn’t seem like anyone was awake on the cat and we couldn’t see its  name to hail it on the radio. After we fretted about it for 30 minutes trying to come up with alternatives, the owner appeared on deck. We had hoped that he might pull himself up but he didn’t offer to do so. He only agreed to keep an eye out as we tried to pull up closer to our anchor and let out more scope or just pull up the anchor and move.  We chose to do option two. So with Lynn at the helm, Jonny at the anchor line and the other boat owner ready to lower his fenders to protect his boat, we managed to pull up frightfully close to the cat, pull up our anchor, and quickly pivot away without hitting him.  It was a close call.  Needless to say we neglected to get any photos of it in frenzy of the moment.

That maneuver sealed the deal for us and since we were now wide awake we decided to head out and brave the elements.  We bundled up for the cold with our heavy duty rain jackets and two additional layers beneath them. Heading out of Naragansett Bay we encountered very rolly seas with 3 to 4 foot swells and a following sea. We hobby horsed uncomfortably for a couple of hours until we reached Point Judith once again passing the summer “cottages of the rich and famous along our way.

At that point we were able to turn westward and were now in the lee of the north wind. From then on we had a much more comfortable, but still chilly passage.

We had been contemplating going to Stonington, Mystic or Noank and we chose Noank because Lynn hadn’t been there, plus it looked to have a protected cove where we could anchor.  At 12:40 we dropped the hook in a cove next to promontory that looked like it might have a church and cemetery on it. Most noteworthy was the amazing stone seawall. 

We took the dinghy for about a mile into the tiny village of Noank which is actually a part of Groton. We put our name on the waiting list at Ford’s, a popular local spot for lobster right on the waterfront.

While we waited for our table, we strolled through the hilly village filled with historic homes many of which had fabulous water views. We even saw some with huge Biden signs which was a nice surprise. We often see boats in marinas with large Trump flags!

We had a delicious lunch sitting on their outside terrace which was more like a dock. Great Rhode Island clam chowder and yet another delicious lobster roll for Lynn and lobster bisque and a cod sandwich for Jonny.

Afterwards we walked some more throughout the town.  When we have these big lunches we always get away with skipping dinner and partially justify our indulgence by taking plenty of long walks!  Noank provided a great opportunity to do both!

As we were walking Jonny was searching for the home of his childhood neighbor who had moved from New London to Noank. The father was the publisher of the Norwich Bulletin, a local newspaper. Jonny was delighted to find the house, a most extraordinary one to say the least!

That night while watching the news, we learned of Ruth Badger Ginsburg’s passing, a big loss for the country and her family and the unfortunate start of yet another nasty political fight.

Newport, RI

We left our favorite Cuttyhunk Island on a sunny blustery September 17.  We are now officially starting to head home from this season’s cruise. The wind was coming out of the north and autumn was definitely in the air.

We passed a beautifully restored 1920’s cruising boat, a Mathis-Trumpy yacht (not “that” Trump) as we left the harbor.  It was originally built for a daughter of Woolworth.

We decided to head for Westport, MA which had been recommended to us by Andy as a charming New England town.  It was only a two hour cruise so we thought we would check it out and decide if we wanted to stay there or go further.

We had read that the town had mooring balls in the harbor so we found one and tied up. We were amazed by the strength of the current and Jonny was a bit nervous about the mooring ball because it was secured by a line and not by chain. However, we boarded the dinghy and headed for what looked like a dinghy dock so we could explore the town.  We couldn’t find a proper town dock but we did see a number of empty docks that didn’t look like they were private. We tied up to one that was next to what looked like a restaurant that wasn’t open. As soon as we tied up, a woman came out yelling that we couldn’t dock there, it was private.  We asked her if she could tell us where we could dock and she said she didn’t know. When we pushed her about a nearby spot she said we couldn’t tie up there either. The only place she could tell us about was a marina that was much further away and in a place that we didn’t want to be. So we took off and cruised around to find another place. But although there were a lot of nearby docks they all seemed to be taken in that pickup trucks were parked next to the open spots.  Apparently the owners were out on their fishing boats.  We finally found a little place to tie up. Jonny went to talk to the harbormaster while Lynn went to throw away a bag of garbage. As Lynn tossed the bag into a trash can on the dock, the same woman ran out of her house again and started yelling to not use the garbage can. I answered that there was garbage in it and she said, that’s my husband’s - don’t use it! So out came the garbage bag. In the meantime, Jonny learned from the harbormaster that the mooring ball we were tied up to was only for residents and we should have called for permission.  (Most places we go allow you to take a mooring ball and then a boat comes to collect payment or the boater finds the harbormaster to pay him). Jonny asked if we could keep our dinghy there for an hour while we walked through town and then we would leave.  He replied, “Well, since you’re already here I guess it’s all right.”  We’ve never encountered such rude people in the many towns we’ve traveled to over the years!  

So we took a quick walk through the small village. It was very pretty with lots of historic markers on the homes and lovely gardens.  For the record, we did encounter one friendly woman who greeted us kindly.

We saw only one commercial establishment, this historic inn.

We headed back to Zendo and climbed aboard to continue our journey and find another place to stay for the night.  As we resumed our cruise, the wind continued to increase and we decided that the best place for us to go was Newport harbor. It’s a very safe and secure harbor and if the weather is too poor to travel the next day, we would be in an interesting place to explore.

We passed the famous “cottages” of the rich and famous lining the waterfront and entered that busy harbor. 

As always, it was filled with lots of beautiful boats, especially sailboats.

We found what we thought was a good open spot to drop our anchor and by 3:45 we were settled in.  Since it was getting colder and more unsettled we chose not to dinghy into town and just hunkered down for a cozy night.  The lights of the super yachts surrounding us were pretty spectacular!

Cuttyhunk Island,MA

We were excited about our upcoming port of call, Cuttyhunk Island!  We left our Port Judith anchorage on Tuesday, September 15 at 11 a.m. It was a beautiful sunny day but the temperature was starting to show signs of cooling with temperatures in the high 60’s. It was a pleasant cruise going through Narragansett Bay and getting into the western end of Buzzards Bay.

It took about 4 hours to get to Cuttyhunk and then another 45 minutes to go around the island to enter its very protected harbor.  There were not too many boats there, but it had an extensive mooring field.  We tied up to one of the mooring balls, the eyelet variety, which is a bit trickier, but all went well.

Cuttyhunk is part of the Elizabeth group of islands that are located just north of Martha’s Vineyard. Most of them are privately owned by the Forbes family. Cuttyhunk was the first English settlement in New England but only lasted 22 days!  The Cuttyhunk Fishing Club bought most of the island in 1863 and its members included Jay Gould and others like him. Their guests included Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland and William Taft.  Now the island is sparsely populated with only 52 full time residents.  It attracts boaters and fisherman to its lovely harbor. There are very few tourist accommodations - a couple of inns on the island, and a few homes available to rent scattered over an area  2.5 by 1.5 miles.

That night Jonny went for a paddle while Lynn prepared meatloaf for dinner. All of a sudden a boat pulled up with two young women selling raw oysters, clams and shrimp cocktail! So that took care of the appetizer course of our dinner - delicious shrimp cocktail.

On Wednesday, we packed a picnic lunch and took the dinghy in and tied up at the town dock.  The townspeople we met were very warm and friendly and very careful about Covid (as is almost everywhere we’ve been in New England).  No wonder they are doing so well in their recovery!

Our plan was to spend the day hiking around the island.  There are lots of trails that line  the waterfront and roam through the woods.  We took one trail up to the highest point of the island and had an incredible panoramic view.

Some of the trails took us up cliffs where we could see across to Gay Head, the sandy cliffs of Martha’s Vineyard.  Most of the “roads” were really just dirt paths and the only paved roads were in the tiny village area near the harbor.  The only vehicles we saw were a few golf carts and one pickup truck.

Scattered throughout the island are bunkers that were used during World War II by the U.S. Army. Two hundred fifty soldiers were stationed on Cuttyhunk to watch for German submarines!

The village center included lovely natural shingled homes and an inn with amazing stonework. 

A small market was only open to on-line orders while we were there.  The restaurant (in the owner’s yard), a small museum, the town hall and the school were all closed.  But at the town dock one can get a take-out breakfast and order lobster dinners to go, which of course we did!  That evening, the raw seafood boat came by again but we were clearly satiated with our lobster.  We are definitely taking advantage of our favorite New England seafood on this trip!