Having left Maine at the end of August, we then had some miles to make to get to our next major destination, New York City.  We took the opportunity to make some fun stops along the way but the theme of this period was optimizing for weather so as to enable us to sail (and not use our engine) as much as possible. 

After our 165 nm overnight passage from Maine we wound up spending two nights and a full day in Provincetown (at the tip of Cape Cod) enjoying the lively town and biking around the nearby Cape Cod National Seashore.  Next up was Cuttyhunk, a convenient stopping point 52 nm further south, which took us across Cape Cod Bay, through the Cape Cod Canal and across Buzzard's Bay.  From Cuttyhunk it was another 35nm to Block Island, 

Block was refreshing for us as we were there post-Labor Day and it was uncrowded and peaceful, quite the change from our last visit in late June of 2020.  After a few days of alternating schoolwork with beach and island exploration, we left Block Island to sail the 18 nm over to Stonnington, Connecticut, which we used as our base to explore Mystic and the Mystic Seaport Museum.  We enjoyed two full days at the Museum exploring the historic vessels and the various crafts and trades on display in open workshop settings. 

While we had been looking forward to revisiting Sag Harbor and Shelter Island, a forecasted change in the weather combined with some appointments in New York City put us under some pressure to skip over that area so from Stonington we sailed the 60 nm passage to Port Jefferson on the North Shore of New York's Long Island.  Port Jefferson is the first safe harbor heading west along the Long Island shore.  It has lots of space for anchoring with good holding in a sandy bottom but the town itself has no public dinghy landing and thus is quite unwelcoming to cruisers.  

From Port Jefferson we sailed to North Port, a much more welcoming small town roughly 18nm further West.   North Port is a nice town with a public dinghy dock and importantly, a great bakery! 

Our final destination of the sprint down Long Island Sound was Larchmont, NY in Westchester County.  We were hosted by the Larchmont Yacht Club who graciously provided us with a mooring and launch service for our visit. We selected Larchmont because of its convenient access to New York City.  The Larchmont train station is a 20 minute walk from the yacht club and there is twice-houly train service to New York's Grand Central Station just 40 minutes away.

Dead Eye Dicks on Block Island gave us a surprisingly good dinner! 

One of our best meals in a long time, made all the better by the unbelievable (and huge!) brownie sunday that we shared for dessert!

Block Island beach time!

Mystic Seaport gave us the opportunity to explore historic vessels in various stages of reconstruction.  The museum has been around since the 1930's and I have memories of my parents taking my brother and I there when we were kids growing up in New Jersey.  

The Deepsea Challenger on display.  James Cameron used this vessel to explore the bottom of the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench 6.5 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.   Very cool to see it up close! 

And on the other end of the technological spectrum, there were roomfuls of model boats on display.  Seth has been fascinated with boat building and model boats!

Various historical ship figureheads on display.

The Museum is highly interactive.  Here Seth and Guillemette try out stilts and some historic games!

The Mystic River drawbridge in action.  

Exploring the sand dunes at Pirate's Cove, Port Jefferson.   Interesting fact:  The sand and gravel from the part of the bay in the photo was harvested in the early 20th century to make the cement used to construct many of the skyscrapers in New York City.  

Saltair at anchor in North Port, NY.   The town was much more welcoming than the smokestacks from the power plant would otherwise suggest!

We took the opportunity to catch up with long-time (but not "old") friends while in the NY area!  Here we are at Larchmont Yacht Club with my San Francisco neighbor (now NY transplant) Kim and her daughter Eloise! 

And here we are after a fun dinner with my cousins Michael and Janet.