Neither Steven nor Sally had been past the airports and Brooklyn on Long Island. Wintry conditions kept the crowds away so we could explore without the rumored summertime nightmare traffic. We started in Glen Cove with our personal tour guide and pal, retired builder Bob. He showed us some of the legendary great homes on the North Sound which has the third highest per capita income in the US. Check out the Train Station/Post Office.

We enjoyed walks by the Peconic River, as we camped by it near Riverhead, at the fork of the North and South split. The Hamptons and Fire Island were close by so we stopped at a cafe to observe the very high end shopping area. A nice town for dogs, but I don’t think you get to live there unless you own a French Bull. We much preferred the small and sailing oriented Sag Harbor. It came closest to our choice of a quiet place with a nice community to visit and go bicycling, if we lived in Manhattan, not the la-di-da beach scene.

We eventually got to the far eastern reach, on the South Shore, the Montauk LIghthouse, our featured image. Block Island is visible further to the East off shore, and had there been seasonal ferry service available, we would have gone. The Nature Conservancy is stewarding 40% of the Island, and puts it on their top 12 locations for visits.

Another very inviting part of the Island is the “Wine Trail” and agricultural region at the far end of the northern arm. From here, at Orient Point, we boarded a ferry to New London, Connecticut. It is always a pleasure being on the water and this one and a half hour ride, on a freezing and windy day along the Connecticut Coast was no exception. It made the brief journey up the Thames River feel positively balmy! Cruising past this remarkable New London Harbor Buoy, we became excited about entering the sailing center of the East Coast.