and it made tasty eating with plenty for another meal too...Skipper didn’t find it as flavourful as First Mate though.
Newport, Rhode Island (RI) claims to be the sailing capital of the world. It is indeed home to some of the most beautiful classic yachts we have ever seen. We were last here just over a year ago to witness the start of Leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race (see blog post ‘Racing Boats of the Giant Variety’ published 23 May, 2018) but IMHO, those modern boats are built only for speed, not beauty and elegance. But as I was saying, whilst ashore exploring Newport, we came across another claim for Newport being an even more (?) sacred place, i.e. where the US Open Tennis tournament all began a long time ago, before it became so big and had to move to Forest Hills. As tennis is second only to sailing in my list of active sports, this blogger just had to have a photo...of the famous court too. Reminiscent of Wimbledon Centre Court about 60 years ago?
There was also time for us to complete a large portion of the famous Cliff Walk, along the SE corner of RI. From here glimpses can be caught of the many large mansions which were built by wealthy Americans during the boom years of the early-mid 1800s. One could be forgiven for thinking oneself in the Loire valley in France when viewing some of them. Over the succeeding couple of centuries many fell into disrepair, were renovated or remodelled and sold on several times, some into public ownership and a few to form the Salve Regina University. Some of course are still in private ownership, though the mind boggles at the cost of upkeep - modern mogul millionaires required!
Well, having popped out from Newport yesterday morning in full sunshine and light winds, we motor-sailed north-east into Buzzards Bay on the way to the Cape Cod Canal. The weather forecast for the next two days (today Thursday and Friday) was not encouraging so we opted to stop in this wonderful sheltered little harbour on the east side of the bay in the Elizabeth Islands. The entrance is a little tricky but once inside there are several free moorings, so no worries about anchor dragging in the forecast high winds. The Bosun also had a time-consuming job to perform on the rig and First Mate wanted a swim - the first of the season - so this was the ideal place. And now we are hunkered down, waiting for the gale to pass. Hoping to go through the Canal tomorrow, Friday, weather permitting. The only downside to this place is that the mobile signal is very weak and the Community WiFi (kindly provided by local home owners) is also too weak for me to publish this post at the moment. So will just have to wait until we find a stronger WiFi somewhere else.
2 days later: Now in Casco Bay, Maine. Managed to download photos required for this post but failed to upload to internet...
3 days later: Photos and this note added whilst on passage from Wood Island Harbour to Five Island Harbour, a little way up the Sheepscot River. Now arrived at Five Islands...for a couple of days rest!
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