Nantucket, Martha's Vinyard, Newport & Essex....Oh Yeh!!

After going south from Boston via Plymouth then thru the Cape Cod Canal, stopping at Woods Hole on the lower Cape, HD screamed onto Nantucket. Sailing with the tidal currents HD reached 10Kts under sail making the 30NM trip to quaint and marvelous Nantucket as nice the the Island itself.
The first mate took advantage of the stop over and had two days of retail therapy, picked out a nice restaurant for dinner and then took the crew to a  play.
Having not been to Nantucket before and hearing of it for ever, to be able to stand up to its' reputation was quite a feat. It did. HD will be back next summer for a bigger dose.
Edgar town on Martha's Vineyard was quite nice as well and had the added advantage of providing a roomy and comfortable anchorage for two days to wait out a little front which came through.
Thinking HD had seen the best of NE we headed for Newport, a trip of 60NM. Being after the season HD was able to find room in the complimentary anchorage with convenient dingy dock.
Newport provided the quaintness of the islands with shore side conveniences like provisioning. The crew made a lot of new  friends not the least of which is the eccentric artist, Peter Tyler pictured here.
Newport has the distinction of the crews favorite stop so far. Sailing is in its' blood. Ships from the world over make this a stop and many could be seen moored in the picturesque harbor.
The Seamans' Church Institute located right on the wharf with the dingy dock provides meeting rooms, showers, laundry facilities and an extensive library of nautical books of all kinds. The Chapel dedicated to those of the sea is spectacular.
The crew took the advantage of the shops catering to the sailor and replaced worn deck shoes and picked up a pair of comfy  "Newport"cabin pants for, you guess.
After three days of what the crew would like to  be 30 next year, HD headed south to Essex, Ct. Another trip of 50+ NM puts the crew in position to pick up Cin's mom, Mary, at the White Plains Airport.
 Taking advantage of having four wheels with a motor the crewed secured the new anchoring system from West Marine in Norwalk, raided both Costco and Sam's, loaded on bagels from Bagel Maven in Westport, picked up mail and packages from our East Coast mailing address, Jonathan's home, and finally found room for a New york pizza for the freezer.
The crew successfully picked up Mary and headed back to Essex for the night and the girls surprise trip the next day. We'll save that for the next submittable.
Be well and God bless.