Newport Rhode Island

41.28.794N 071.19.782W Saturday morning was very foggy and I thought we might have to postpone departure but it gradually eased and we left at 0900 as planned. Our new “D-Dock” friends came to see us off- or maybe just to check we were really leaving! We had an invitation to join them for 4th July celebrations but we will be further north by then. An easy day sail into Narragansett Bay took us to Newport Harbour and we eventually found an anchorage spot on the edge of the mooring ‘field’ overlooked by the enormous clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club.
We were hailed by a British Halberg 53 who invited us across for a welcome and a cup of tea! The entrance to the harbour was full of yachts including a fleet of “classic” 12 metres and day charter schooners.
As well as several mega- yachts such as “Maltese Falcon” we saw “Ticonderoga”, “White Hawk”, “Meteor” and many other well known yachts, some of which we had seen in the Caribbean.
There was always something to watch although constant wakes sometimes made the anchorage a bit bumpy. Sunday we went ashore and topped up provisions at the supermarket just along from the Tennis Hall of Fame. Walking back we saw a sign outside a local church telling that JFK and Jackie Bouvier had been married there. Back ashore in the afternoon to join the weekend tourists along the front.
Monday morning we walked the “Coast Walk” on the east side of the peninsula which runs past some of the massive mansions the area is famous for. While walking I was asked by a man if I could take a photo of him and his girlfriend and after he had passed me his camera he promptly got down on one knee and proposed to her! (She did accept!)
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