Newport - A sailing mecca

I am in the same mooring field as the Maltese Falcon! This 289 foot sailing vessel is amazing to behold. It is in Newport, Rhode Island with us tonight and moored only a few hundred feet away. Very cool! I took this shot of its distinctive three free standing masts from our cockpit. Tonmorrow I will try for a closer photo and  maybe zip by in Ducky, the dinghy.

Today's sail from New London was rather uneventful. We slipped off the mooring around 9:30 this morning and made a stop at the Thamesport Marina for fuel, water and a pumpout before heading out into Fishers Sound.  As we left Long Island Sound and entered Block Island Sound, Jay had to play some Billy Joel:

Well I'm on the downeaster Alexa
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound

The wind was chilly, so we bundled up for the first time since starting our voyage north, but the sun was shining and the wind was perfect for sailing.  It was wonderful actually being able to sail for most of the day instead of motoring. We sped along the coast and by 6:00pm we were entering the Newport Harbour, passing gorgeous homes on the cliffs, dodging sailboats everywhere and entering a harbour that is filled with boats of all sizes and shapes.







We hailed the Harbourmaster on the VHF who escorted us to a mooring ball and for $40 a night we are settled in for a visit to Newport.  I am looking forward to it.

Newport offers restaurants, galleries, historic mansions, walking tours, shopping and more. There is a fabulous cliff walk that takes you by beautiful mansions and amazing waterviews. There is so much to see and do I know our stay will not be long enough. We spent an aftenoon here on our way back to Canada from viewing the new boat last month and we loved it. We promised each other we would come back and explore more when we were moving the boat north and here we are!