Mystic, CT was a great place to visit. I had pizza at Mystic Pizza twice. It is the same place the movie of the same name staring Julia Roberts is based on. The pizza was very good. The weekend I was there they had an art fair going on, so while I walked around town I got to see a lot of local artist works. I also visited Olde Mystic, which is a collection of 80-120 independent stores. If you like to shop this is a neat place to do it.
The highlight of the stay was the Mystic Seaport. It is a park started in the 1920s to preserve the life of a New England water community. They have several ships built in the 1800s and have saved different building from the same time period which were built throughout New England. They now have almost an entire town from a school, church, figure head carvers, blacksmith, drug store, ect. It was very fun and educational.
I had very light winds when I left, so I motored all day to the Norwalk Islands. They look to have a rugged, undeveloped, beauty to them. Unfortunately I got there at 7:30pm and left the next morning. If I come back this way I would like to explore them more.
When I was 30 miles away I was able to see New York City. I anchored next to Riker’s Island so I had access to LaGuardia Airport since Jenny, a friend from Houston, was flying in on Saturday. I took time to get all my laundry done and clean up the boat. I also took my bike on the subway and explored the Upper West Side and Central Park (I was amazed at the park and will be going back). I then decided to bike back by way of the Queensboro Bridge.
Today we got up and motored through Hells Gate, along Manhattan, up to Ellis Island and Liberty Island, and onto Coney Island. The views were unbelievable and a very different way to see these sights. Once we got to Coney Island I found the bottom to be soft and not great for anchoring. We finally got it to stick after the rain came. We will be here exploring New York City until Friday morning when we start the trek to Annapolis.