Sakonnet stopover, and arrival in Newport

Rory and his family headed out early the next morning to catch a favorable tide heading up the canal, so we waved goodbye after snapping a great group selfie (see our last post!) and casting off his lines. We look forward to seeing them again!

We got on with the business of raising our anchor and then we turned north out of the cove, and west toward Rhode Island.

As we left Woods Hole and crossed Buzzards Bay, a big old ship was headed our way. We were definitely crossing his bow with room to spare, but boy did he look big, and fast, and pointed right at us. 🙂

We decided not to have a longer day and push all the way to Newport (especially on Saturday of Labor Day weekend!), so we tucked in one harbor east of Newport, at the mouth of the Sakonnet River.

We didn’t even go ashore at Sakonnet – just grabbed one of their two guest moorings and then quickly switched from the first mooring to the second one when we swung way too close to a powerboat behind us. (Yikes!) It was a windy and bouncy night; the breakwater wasn’t quite long enough to protect our mooring spot well from the prevailing breeze. But we managed! And the dusk was all pretty and pastel.

The next morning was a bit calmer, thankfully.

We continued our journey west to Newport, and it was so fun to see a familiar and favorite harbor rising in the distance!

The harbor was swimming with boats given it was Sunday of Labor Day weekend, so we decided we’d move to the anchorage in a couple of days after some other boats cleared out. After snagging a mooring, we chatted with the harbormaster for a bit. Then we raised the NYYC burgee and called the yacht club launch for a trip to shore for nice long showers, and then drinks on the hill! (New York Yacht Club maintains a clubhouse in Newport called Harbour Court. The facilities are lovely, and it’s a great spot to call home when we are in the harbor!)

Cecelia was glad to be back on the big hill at Harbour Court.

Sunset with friends felt pretty good, too!