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September 29, 2013  Day 130  

Mystic Seaport Museum
Mystic, Connecticut

We left our mooring ball in the Newport Harbor and wound our way through the other boats who were staying longer.  We saw that a large Princess cruise ship had arrived and was at anchor in the harbor.  We made our way back into the ocean and found three foot waves on our beam. This did not make for a perfect ride, but it was tolerable. 

Leaving the Newport Harbor

Another lighthouse we passed today

The busy Mystic River

There were several sailboats out today enjoying their last Sunday in September. It was a warm and very pretty day and being outside was the place to be.  We spotted The Pride of Baltimore on AIS and could see it in the distance.  We saw her last spring in the Chesapeake Bay when we first started our trip.

We followed the Rhode Island coast, and passed Block Island on our port side shortly before we turned into the Mystic River.  The Mystic River was literally filled with boats, mostly on mooring balls, and others, like us who were trying to weave our way through the narrow channel.  We tried to time the entrance to the river to make a bascule bridge opening at 40 minutes after the hour.  But first, we had to wait ten or fifteen minutes on a RR swing bridge to open.  We made both openings and arrived at the Mystic Seaport Museum at 1:45. We passed the Charles Morgan (1841), the Joseph Conrad, (1882), and the L.A. Dunton (1921) on our way to our dock on the north side.  The steamboat Sabino, (1908), passed us as it was taking passengers back to its dock.  We had an excellent dock hand waiting for us and helped us tie up on the fixed dock.  He also provided us with fender boards. 

The RR swing bridge is now open!

Mystic Seaport Museum

The Sabino

We walked over to the dock master’s office and came back with a membership in the museum!  It cost just slightly more to join than to pay for the docking so we did just that.  We do hope to come back some year!  We also came back with lots of brochures and maps to study.  We stopped in a couple of shops but are saving the seafaring village and ships to tour tomorrow.



We liked the price on this sign on Schaefer's Spouter Tavern

A beautiful bride!

We are docked next to the plush lawn of the Latitude 41 degrees restaurant and had the opportunity to watch a wedding on the lawn (from our flybridge). What a fun thing to do!

We grilled chicken for dinner and relaxed for the evening.  We have three more days here and will enjoy staying put for a while and seeing some of the nearby area by car as well.