Block Island to Shelter Island/Greenport

The weather gods were not in our favor while on BI. Our intention was to stay for one night and cruise to Shelter Island/Greenport, NY early in the morning (7/14) but the winds, bouts of pouring rain and thunder and lightening storms prevailed for much of the day. We kept looking for an opening where we might be able to head out but made the wise decision to stay another night. Looking at the weather report we noted Saturday was going to be a better travel day with winds SSW at 4 to 5kn so the decision to stay put made sense. During the night another tremendous thunder storm hit the island, making for an interesting night. 


On Saturday we left BI, getting UW at 6:30 a.m. 

For the first 10 to 15 miles or so on BI Sound the sea was pretty humped up. Luckily we do have stabilizers which reduced the side to side motion quite a bit. With Montauk on our port side the seas began to flatten out and the sun broke through the clouds, making the rest of the almost 5 hour trip enjoyable! Cerbuerus Shoal was busy with fishing boats and there were lots of lobster pots to dodge as well. John is still learning about the new Garmin system and we haven't figured out how to resume navigation after using the compass reading rather than the charted course. It's a pain to have to reinsert the course and we are sure there is a simple way we haven't figured out yet. We did pretty well with speed, sometimes pushing over 9kn; it's always helpful when the tide is with us

Passing Montauk, Gardiner's Bay and of course the bell in Gardiner's Bay always makes us think of Billy Joel's song The Downeaster Alexa for obvious reasons. Of course we cued it up on our iphone!

               Well I'm on my downeaster Alexa                  
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to the vineyard, 
But tonight I am Nantucket bound.

We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday, 
Left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay
Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home, 
Too proud to leave I work my fingers to the bone...


Another point of interest north of Gardiner's Island is "The Ruins". This pile of rubble and concrete walls was once Fort Tyler (home to intermittent bombing practice by the U.S. military.  In years past it was a landmark for boaters and a favorite fishing spot. It is eroding, being consumed by the sea after standing for 120 years. I imagine it will one day completely disappear and require a buoy for navigation purposes. 

We also passed the Bug Light lighthouse (also known as the Long Beach Bar Lighthouse) as we entered Greenport, NY. Built in 1870 it was resurrected by the East End Seaport Museum after some kids burned it down on July 4, 1963. It stands as a warning to mariners of the hazardous sandbar located between Orient Point Harbor and Gardiner's Bay. Looking at the chart we see the Bug welcomes travelers to the protected waters of the Peconic Bay.



We arrived in Greenport, NY in about 4 hours 45 minutes, clocking 38 nautical miles. We passed beautiful condos as we cruised into Stirling Marina to explore dockage and fuel prices. Seeing $5.80/gallon for diesel, we were glad we had fueled up before leaving home at $3.24/gallon. Frugal yankees that we are, we also decided $300/night for a slip was not in our budget so we opted for anchorage instead. 


We anchored in Dering Harbor which is a village in the town of Shelter Island. That little red arrow is us!



We then took the dinghy across Stirling Basin to Greenport to meet up with friends Joe and Ellen  who live there. We've known Joe for over 20 years, having met him in Puerto Rico when we first started vacationing there. We went to lunch at Ellen’s son Peter's restaurant called Porto Bello. It's connected to the Safe Harbor Marina, a beautiful spot that is home to huge luxury boats. 
It's always fun to see how "the other half lives".


Perhaps the highlight of the day was meeting Bailey. She belongs to Peter so has become the restaurant mascot in a way! What a sweetie. 





Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 16, 2023 at 11:11 AM

    Your getting a really good kiss! Joanne

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 21, 2023 at 6:57 PM

    So totally cool!!!! Joanne xo

    ReplyDelete

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