We arrived Port Washington on Day 93, looked at the heat forecast, and decided we would take the LIRR train into Manhattan the following day for sightseeing and air conditioning. Then a dear friend reached out and offered us lodging in her Manhattan apartment. Yes! Two days in NYC! We exited Grand Central Station, saw the Chrysler Building, and knew we would have a grand visit.

We dropped our bags and took the subway to Brooklyn to visit a museum on Dudley’s list. Gotta love this entry to the NY Transit Museum, which is actually located in a decommissioned subway station that still works! They still move trains in/out.

The first part of the museum describes the history of how the subway was built in the early 1900s, supported by lots of great photos taken by brothers Granville and Pierre Pullis. We descended another level underground to tour 20+ subway cars, each from a different time period, with different upholsteries (or no upholstery), flooring materials, colors, handholds, etc.

This poster in one of the cars was especially relevant in today’s extreme heat.

Dudley climbed into a bus and gave it a spin (well at least he spun the wheel).

Dudley asked this guide a question and it led to several great conversations. Rob is an engineer and very knowledgeable about transit systems. Dudley is a former transportation planner, so they had a bunch to talk about!

Dudley geeked out for awhile in this signal tower, which contains equipment that monitors and controls train movement of small sections of track. The trains appear as lights on the board, and represent actual subway trains in use, including the one we used to get to this museum.

There was so much to look at in this museum. From the posters in the subway cars, to the tile patterns at the stations and their signage, there was always a feast for the eyes.

Our next feast for the eyes was back in Manhattan where visited the JP Morgan Library for our first time. The original library building was built in the 1906 by J Pierpont Morgan for his personal use. Charles McKim was the architect. Recently, architect Renzo Piano integrated the library’s three landmark buildings with steel and glass pavilions.

Pierpont Morgan hired Belle de Costa Greene to be his personal librarian, to grow his collection of illuminated texts and other treasures. She became the library’s first director and oversaw its collection for 43 years. Cheryl wanted to come here after reading The Personal Librarian by M Benedict and VC Murray. This bust by Jo Davidson was recently discovered and then acquired in 2018.

The main library in the original building is quite ornate, and features one of three Gutenberg Bibles that the Morgan Library acquired. The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed from movable type, in the mid 1400s! That’s 600 years ago!

This room is now part of the library but was used by Belle de Costa Greene for her office. It sat between the library at one end of the building and Mr. Morgan’s office at the other end.

After a blissful air-conditioned slumber, we began our second day in NYC at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Gertrude Whitney (unfortunately no relation) is the founder of this museum, and her portrait is at the far left in this gallery. We toured her summer bedroom at the Breakers in Newport RI on Day 86.

The Whitney Museum had several exhibits, including a provocative one entitled “Inheritance.” This artist did a weaving with threads representing ethnic roots, where the proportion of threads equates to the percentages found in the artist’s DNA.

We enjoyed both the permanent and featured exhibitions at the Whitney before walking the High Line (the first for Dudley) from its beginning at the Whitney to its end at Hudson Yards. We paused to look back to the Whitney (far right).

We encountered all kinds of sights on our walk of the High Line, including a woman sunning herself on one of the narrow benches.

The Edge was visible from many twists and turns of the High Line.

Cheryl couldn’t resist snapping this selfie of us along the High Line.

Who knew transit knowledge could be expanded on The High Line?!? Dudley was enamored with the old track being repurposed and educated Cheryl about the switch, aka turnout controls, that we saw along the way.

We walked past The Shed and The Vessel, and gawked like other tourists.

Before returning to Belle Bateau, we stopped at Cheryl’s favorite building in NYC, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1984.

On Day 80 we had timed our passage through Woods Hole, notorious for its current. As we approached the passage, Dudley observed a black and red-orange boat quickly approaching on our starboard quarter. Surprise! It’s the US Coast Guard. Two officers boarded our boat for a safety inspection while two officers remained in the USCG boat and circled BB as we drifted in neutral.

Officers Epps and Russell were extremely courteous as they asked to see our boat documentation, life jackets, fire extinguishers, throwable cushion, pollution and garbage placards, visual distress signals, and closed Y-valve for waste overboard. The entire visit took just 18 minutes, and we made our passge through Woods Hole without further delays.

We asked both officers if they’d be willing to sign our guest book and they both agreed. We thought they would just sign their names but they each left a paragraph note. Wow!

We took a mooring ball in Edgartown’s busy inner harbor. We were assigned mooring #90, way way way down at the far end of the harbor. There are a lot of boats here, private as well as transient moorings!

As we entered the harbor, we noted a ferry boat at the terminal on our starboard side, and we kept a watchful eye on it. But what we didn’t notice was its twin across the river on the port side. As we proceeded to pass behind the starboard ferry, we then noticed the other coming towards us. These two ferries swap positions across this narrow 527’ passage every four minutes or so. This photo was taken from an observation deck later. Note the firetruck on an emergency run.

Everywhere we looked, we saw large homes, with private docks, lining the harbor and overlooking the mooring field. There were hundreds of boats in this harbor and beyond, on private moorings and also transient moorings for people like us. We later biked and walked the town, and saw these homes from the street side.

The magnificent homes in Edgartown also had immaculate landscaping to match, and sitting areas on lawns that suggested families coming together for summer fun.

The day after we arrived, it poured rain most of the day. So we decided to see Oppenheimer at the local cinema. We chose to use the launch service to get to shore rather than our dinghy. At most locations in New England and Long Island Sound, the launch service has been included in the mooring fee, but not here. It was a certainly a drier ride than our dinghy would have been.

On Day 82, we took our bikes to shore and rode to Oak Bluffs, passing by “Jaws” Beach. The movie Jaws was filmed here in the early 1970s, when Cheryl was working concessions at a movie theater (her first job). She has seen the end of Jaws 38 times, due to helping usher people out of the theater. For kicks, we rented Jaws and watched it prior to arriving Edgartown. It was Dudley’s first viewing.

Apparently it’s a cult event to jump off of Jaws Bridge. We watched families and people of all ages jump off this bridge, between the ocean and the pond. In the movie, this is where the chief’s son is sailing with friends on the pond side as the shark attacks a nearby boater, leaving the chief’s son in shock.

On Day 83 we took the Chappy Ferry to Chappaquiddick Island, with our bikes. We rode our bikes 3 miles to the Mytoi Japanese Garden, and then to the Cape Pogue National Seashore across Dike Bridge. It was good to be on the ferry instead of dodging the ferry.

The Mytoi was a very peaceful garden, with turtle sightings and exquisite landscaping at every turn. The garden is located down a sandy unpaved lane that was a bit challenging for our bikes, but it was worth the trip. We biked another 1/2 mile on unpaved roads to see the Cape Pogue seashore and the Dike Bridge.

When Cheryl was 12 years old, her family took a two-week camping vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. It was the Summer of 1969, just after Ted Kennedy drove off this bridge and Mary Jo Kopechne drowned. Cheryl’s family came to see the bridge, and she has vivid memories of it. The bridge has been rebulit, and has higher guardrails than the very low ones that existed back then.

We missed this Methodist camp on our bike ride to Oak Bluffs on Day 82. So after bicycling on Chappaquiddick, we took a bus to walk this amazing village to see some of the 300 victorian homes that were built here as part of a Methodist camp. So glad our friend nudged us to return to Oak Bluffs.

We enjoyed our time in Edgartown, as well as our biking and/or bussing to Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, and Chappaquiddick. What we didn’t enjoy was the impossibly crowded dinghy dock in Edgartown. We left the requested 15’ of line so others could squeeze in but we were amazed how other boaters weren’t as considerate.

We met a sailing couple in Port Clyde who graciously offered us their mooring ball at the PYC since they wouldn’t be using their mooring for at least a week. We did not have Portsmouth on our list of “must see towns” but are so very glad we stopped here. This may be our favorite town of the entire journey.

The guidebooks had mentioned that there was current in the Piscataqua River, that separates Maine from New Hampshire. No kidding! It took us two attempts to grab the mooring pendant. C was at the helm as usual, and fighting the current, while D was at the bow, also fighting the current. The first boat hook became stuck before we could wrestle it away in the wicked current. But we persevered, snagged the mooring with a second boat hook, and got our other boat hook back. Glad we carry spare boat hooks! Phew, we were on but the boat sounded like it was sailing for the entire stay.

The PYC is actually located in New Castle, just a couple of miles from Portsmouth. The PYC launch service took us to shore with our bikes, and then we rode 15 minutes to town on bike-friendly streets with beautiful views.

We heard music playing and walked to investigate. A band was doing a sound check and practice session prior to their evening concert. It was quite enjoyable to listen to their music while watching the venue set up tables and chairs, in waterfront Prescott Park. We were tempted to stay but the PYC launch service stopped at 8 pm so we couldn’t get back in time.

As we walked downtown, we noted that they have regular concerts “under the arch.” We love live music and were amazed how often we stumbled into it in Portsmouth. We later ate an early dinner at The Press Room and learned about their 7-day-a-week music scene. Wow!

We strolled to the other side of town and found where they dock the Moran Tugboats, similar tugs to what we see in Baltimore and on the Chesapeake Bay. And wow, more live music, playing in view of the tugs!

There were beautiful homes, everywhere.

This mixed use building is contructed with mass timber, and had a food court on the lower level.

What! Can it really be a fabric store in downtown? Yep, it sure was! Of course Cheryl had to buy a few fabrics to take back to Maryland. to create something reminiscent of our sailing journey.

We had tried to rendezvous in Old Lyme CT with cousin Whitney (yes, on Dudley’s side) on our way north but weather and fog spoiled those plans. But this worked out well. Whitney was driving through Portsmouth in his classic 1972 BMW on his way to Maine for the weekend, so we grabbed lunch together.

If you are ever up this way, go to the Strawbery Banke Museum. We almost didn’t go, because frankly we are a bit museumed-out. But this one is so unique. Staff and volunteers serve as interpreters, and the costumed ones role-play their time period with no knowledge of anything that might have transpired since. So much fun to talk to them.

This 10-acre museum contains more than 30 buildings, most of which are original to the site. Each has been transformed to represent a certain time period. This general store was so interesting, with products and prices from 1943 during WWII rationing.

This is the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, a lift bridge that recently replaced the original bridge carrying US Route 1 bypass traffic. This new structure opened to traffic in September 2017. We never saw it in operation, but it makes an impression. Interestingly, our boat would not be able to pass underneath without the bridge lifting.

These cranes were technically on the Maine side of the Piscataqua River, but Portsmouth gets the view of their colorful mark on the skyline. Even the cranes are beautiful in Portsmouth! (a friend has commented that Cheryl could work for their tourism council. Haha).

We had a lovely stay in Portsmouth, as I detailed on a dozen postcards mailed to family and friends. On our last day, we happened to bump into our hosts downtown. They had recently returned home, without their boat, and were delighted that we were enjoying their town. Such a coincidence!

It was a bit dicey to arrive by our own boat to Monhegan, so we caught the ferry from Port Clyde. We were able to spend four hours exploring the island, which has been on Cheryl’s bucket list. Any places where the Wyeths have live and painted are perpetually on her bucket list!

Cheryl had done her homework and knew where Jamie still has a home, formerly owned by artist Rockwell Kent. Jamie often painted the house. We hiked a trail near his house and had a picnic lunch in view of it. She thought she had a Jamie sighting, but alas. Still, it was meaningful to sit on rocks and experience the landscape that he and his father Andrew painted.

Jamie painted lots of seagulls, and this fellow perched near us, eyeing our sandwiches. He was quite the persistent neighbor. It made us research Jamie’s paintings later, and this one captures the essence of what we feared might happen: Gulls and burger (1998).

The tug D.T. Sheridan, weighing 380 tons, was wrecked upon rocks in Lobster Cove off of Monhegan Island in 1948. Bits and pieces are scatterd on the rocks, and our hiking trail passed closely by.

Many artists have painted and photographed this rusted hull. Both Jamie Wyeth and Rockwell Kent painted it, but 60 years apart. Both paintings were on exhibit at both the Farnsworth and Brandywine Museums in 2012-2013.

We continued to hike past the wreck, where the trail got much steeper and rockier. There were warning signs about poison ivy everywhere

But wow, the views were worth it. The skies had begun to clear and the sun started to peek out. And the color of the water was breathtaking.

As we continued our hike, Cheryl couldn’t help but feel like she was walking through several Wyeth paintings, that she’s studied for years.

Wanting to explore the island more inland, we shortened our hike and took a stroll back to “town.” This house was notable for its new as well as older cedar shakes. The color differences are common throughout New England, as people renovate their houses, and the newer shakes need more time to weather to the familiar grey.

We chuckled when we paused at the island church and read: Musician wanted: hymns and “what have you.”

Dudley took this stunning photo from high on Monhegan, near the lighthouse. The far island is Manana Island, separate from Monhegan.

There were several teens and families enjoying the beach overlooking Manana.

We had planned to stop at the island’s library, and were amused when an older gentleman stopped every passerby to invite them into the quaint building. We didn’t resist. And we vote it the cutest library of our journey!

Such a cozy and inviting library. It had several small rooms. It remains open year-round to provide library services to the island’s school. Cheryl wrote postcards at this table, while Dudley hiked up to the lighthouse.

And it also had a real card catalog! This is the second card catalog of our trip (the first was in the Farnsworth Museum on Day 52).

Cheryl was pleased to see that Christina Baker Kline’s book, A Piece of the World, was on the library’s shelves. This is a novel that weaves fact and fiction about Christina Olson’s life, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s painting, Christina’s World. It’s one of Cheryl’s favorite books.

After four hours, it was time to return to Port Clyde. We queued up and watched our ferry come in.

The ferry boat captain offered to sail us on the southern side side of the island so we could see more of the sights. Cheryl was delighted when we passed Jamie’s house, viewing it from the sea. Bucket list completed!

Our passage to Northeast Harbor, on Mount Desert Island, was riddled with lobster pots. This photo tries to capture the density. Picture worse than this, and having to weave your boat through the maze without hitting rocks or other boats while also staying on course.

We could see our destination in the distance, for quite awhile. But determining our path with the naked eye was tough. We’d look down at the chart, and then try to rectify what our eyes were seeing with what the chart was showing. Not always easy.

There’s one section of the passage to Mount Desert that requires transitting a dredged channel. These two safe water markers had to be aligned. We have similar markers in the Chesapeake for large ships, but they require aligning lights.

We were able to secure a mooring ball in the harbor on our second and third nights. It was quite picturesque and calm, especially compared with the first night’s mooring at the harbor’s entrance.

It always amazes us that harbors can entertain for hours on end. We looked up in time to see this UHaul truck on a barge being pushed out of Northeast Harbor as a small sailboat sailed by.

And of course nature provides her own entertainment with thunder, lightning, rains, and rainbows. These skies were especially dramatic with classic boats in the foreground.

Several friends suggested that we dine at the Asticou Inn, and to be sure to have their popovers. And to also visit their two gardens.

We had planned to visit the gardens before our dinner reservations but the forecasted rains arrived early. So we enjoyed happy hour on their covered porch and watched the torrential rains, all safe and dry. Watch it here.

Their limited cocktail menu included popovers. And yes, they were as delicious as we were told! Yum!

After dinner, we went across the street to walk through the azalea gardens. While not in bloom, it was still quite beautiful, especially after the rains.

These gardens included a serene Japanese garden, with raked sand and islands of rocks that made us think about the many rocks and islands we’ve sailed past on this journey.

The following day, we were able to hike up to Thuya gardens, also owned by Asticou.

This beautiful gate welcomed us.

Many flowers were in bloom in Thuya Gardens. The sizes of some of the blooms were astounding.

Northeast Harbor also had a charming library, where Cheryl wrote postcards and Dudley read in their Adirondack chairs in the shade on the front lawn.

Back in town, we visited the small maritime museum and waited for Captain Jack Sparrow to jump out from behind this shell sculpture.

F. T. Browns is a quaint hardware store that has an actual working phone booth!

We took the free LL Bean bus from town to Acadia National Park. We hiked 3.5 miles around Jordan Pond, and enjoyed lunch afterwards on the grab n go deck overlooking the lake in the distance.

The trail around Jordan Pond is ranked easy, but there is one small portion that is quite rocky and difficult. We met parents carrying a double-wide stroller and wondered how they would be able to climb over these rocks. Many families had small kids too.

This part of the trail was very easy to hike, though only wide enough for one person at a time. There were “pullover” stops every 100 feet or so allowing people to pass.

When tides are low here, they are very low. They can be 10-11 feet of difference between hide and low tides, depending on cycles of the moon. Our knees had to get accustomed to steep climbs and descents. So it wasn’t just Jordan Pond that gave us a workout!

On our second day in Gloucester, we decided to go whale watching with 7 Seas. It was a foggy morning but we hoped it would clear up. The fog probably discouraged others from joining this excursion, because the boat was only half full.

As we left Gloucester, the fog rolled in even more thicker than it was in the harbor. At this point, we were quite discouraged and questioned our decision making process to choose this particular day to take a 4-hour trip to hopefully see whales.

But the Captain of this 7 Seas boat decided to venture further than usual, to the southeast end of Stellwagen Bank where the fog had lifted and there were reports of whales.

And finally, there were whales! Lots of them. Our guide identified about four pods totaling 20 or so humpbacks. They delighted us for an hour of non-stop activity before the captain had to return to Gloucester. This pod got quite close to our boat!

There were two other large whale watching boats in this area, and a couple of small fishing boats. We were so appreciative of our boat with only 75 passengers. Everyone on our boat had no problem getting to the rail to see, on either side of the boat— unlike the crowded boat seen here.

The whales got very close to all the boats in the area, including small fishing boats.

We transited the Cape Cod Canal easily after an overnight stay in Phinney’s Harbor. We timed our transit to take advantage of favorable current, and hit 9.6 knots of speed at one point! Waters were glassy in Cape Cod Bay so we motored the entire way to Ptown. We took a mooring with Flyers, just outside the breakwall.

The evening before we arrived Ptown, Cheryl learned that her dear friend Elaine was in Cape Cod for a weekend wedding. Such serendipity! Elaine drove an hour to meet us in Ptown just after we arrived. Following snacks in BB’s cockpit, we went into town for dinner at the Canteen, where her friend Geoff joined us following his 40-mile bike ride.

There is never a dull moment in Ptown during Bear Week, or any other time so we hear. We enjoyed great food, shopping, people watching, boat watching, architecture gazing, landscaping envy, and beautiful weather.

Most of our time in Ptown was sunny, but we did have a day of rain, which also coincided with no visitations from friends. Perfect day to find a laundromat and do some grocery shopping! And yes, BB does have a washer/dryer, but it’s sometimes more time efficient to launder on land.

We had been planning on meeting Boston friend Jay in Ptown, and our arrival just so happened to overlap with his visit to Ptown to support a local rugby team. He and rugby player Chip visited BB prior to the game, and we all had lunch together at Bayside Betsy’s.

During lunch, Chip explained the rules of rugby to us, which turned out to be very helpful while we tried to follow the no-tackle game that his team played later that afternoon. Chip (in light blue, far right foreground) really enjoys playing rugby, even on a hot day. We enjoyed watching from a shaded bench.

We enjoyed strolling the busy streets of Ptown, dodging bicycles and tolerating the cars that inch down Commercial Street.

Jay also brought us mail and several packages we had forwarded to him. He offered to give us a ride back to the dinghy dock after the rugby game to ease the transport of our packages. It had been a few weeks since we were in a car. Such a great way to see more of Ptown.

We all fell in love with this used book store in Ptown. Cheryl found two “how to” books for knitting, which she recently took up again (last time was high school) when friend Barb M. gave her needles and yarn for this trip, since weaving looms are too big to take onboard.

We found another adorable library! This one has a half-scale replica of the Rose Dorothea schooner, a full 66.5’ long and 12..5’ wide. We love how they incorporated it into the library, including piercing the ceiling and doorways.

Cheryl is glad she didn’t find these seats until it was time for her to leave. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have finished writing 18+ postcards.

We really enjoyed our time in Ptown, and this sunset was a great adieu.

We had a fog-free passage from Mystic to Block Island on Day 24. We anchored near where our friends have had success, approximately 41º 11.5’N, 71º 34.6’W. Earlier in our stay, boats were well spaced.

We enjoyed fresh croissants when Aldo’s appeared, offering baked goods to individual boats.

Some nights were exceptionally beautiful, with the moon rising over anchored boats whose lights provided a constellation of stars.

We had good seats for the fireworks. If the wind had shifted a bit more, they would have been front row seats.

There’s always a boat to watch while sitting at anchor. Never a dull moment.

We overlapped one night with friends Carol and Dave, who had just competed in two races between Newport and Bermuda. We had a delightful dinner at Dead Eye Dicks.

We made good use of the floating dinghy dock near Dead Eye Dicks. We unloaded our bikes here, and kept them locked on ropes nearby for easy use. We unloaded trash here too. Very welcoming to boaters!

We bicycled all over the island on our folding bikes. There were a number of challenging hills that these Dahon 7-speed bikes and our legs struggled with, but all-in-all, these two-wheelers do a great job.

We stopped at Mohegan Bluffs for jaw dropping views, with theSouth Lighthouse in distance. We could barely see five offshore wind turbines through the low hanging fog. The wind turbines generate more than enough power for the island, which has helped residents and local businesses.

This lighthouse had to be relocated from its original location due to erosion.

These enterprising kids were a welcomed sight. The lemonade was refreshing after some of those hills. We’ve stopped at several lemonade stands during our biking exploration of Block Island.

On our third day here, we biked to Settler’s Rock and then hiked across a rocky beach to the North Lighthouse. Seagulls are nesting around the boarded up lighthouse.

There were seven seals swimming in the waters near the North Light. Sadly, there was a dead seal on the beach that had been memorialized with shells by passersby. We wondered if these seals were mourning.

The Old Harbor part of town is the terminus of several ferry lines to the mainland and of course has lots of shops as well as a library. We especially likes the bookstore up the hill, next the the post office where Capt C mailed over a dozen postcards.

All the beaches on Block Island were quite popular. No one seems to mind the chilly water temperatures in the low 60s.

There are a couple of pump out boats on Block Island to service 1500+ boats that are here every summer weekend on mooring balls or at anchor. That’s a lot of pee and poop to take away to keep the waters clean! We waited more than 3 hours after our initial call, and had to remind them twice, but we were quite appreciative when they arrived. That’s a tough job, deserving of a good tip.

No visit to Block Island is complete without having drinks or a meal at The Oar. We opted for cocktails and had front row Adirondack chair seats to dinghy dock entertainment. Sometimes you watch the show, and sometimes you are the show. We could have stayed there for hours, but it was time to pack up the bikes onto the dinghy and prepare to leave the next day, fog and weather willing (which is was not, hence I had time to post these photos).

These people are clearly ready to celebrate the Fourth of July. They were part of our entertainment from The Oar adirondack chairs.

We look back to the railroad lift bridge we just passed under. It’s usually in highest position for tall masts and cargo ships (but always check!)

A few dolphins entertained us as we sailed down the Delaware Bay, a welcomed sight from the most boring section of water on the East Coast.

We saw Sly, a racing sailboat owned by a friend, returning from A2N race (Annapolis to Newport). We passed within a half mile of each other on the Delaware Bay.

The black biting flies were horrendous while anchored in Lewes. To add insult to injury, our dinghy outboard sputtered and died when we tried to get ashore to meet with two sets of friends. Thus, the tools we need:ed most on Day 6 were fly swatters and D’s toolbag.

We hoisted the outboard engine to mount on rail for Dudley to attempt a repair. Unfortunately, it needs a pro mechanic, and less rolly conditions for proper repairs.

Here we are attempting to blow the flies out of the cockpit and away from companionway door so we could grill dinner without allowing flies below. Electrical plug on fan was defective so Cheryl sacrificed hair curling iron for Dudley to cut off that plug to replace defective fan plug.

On Day 7, we pulled out our king sized mosquito net to hang in half cockpit and over the companionway so we could move up and down without fighting off too many flies.

Rain came on Day 7, so we waited until Day 8 to leave for offshore passage.

We finally found some clearing skies late on Day 7. During the night though, the winds shifted to the northwest and we suffered through a rolly anchorage the evening before our coastal passage.