West Neck Harbor, Shelter Island, Long Island Sound

The wind picked up to 20-25 knots yesterday afternoon, so we stayed in Greenport for another night. The rain let up for about an hour late in the evening, and Peter and I seized the opportunity to get off the boat and go for a walk about town about 10 p.m.  Except for a couple of bars, everything was closed down for the night and the streets were empty.

This morning, Peter went to the local chandlery, Preston's, to get some new line for the running back stay, and was happy to be greeted by two friendly dogs.  I made another run to the convenient IGA so we are fully provisioned.

Two ferries and the brick train station from Mantra on the dock in Greenport

Shortly after noon, with the wind blowing at 20 knots and gusting to 26, we cast off the dock at Mitchell Park Marina and motored over to West Neck Harbor on Shelter Island.  We gave way to the ferries, which pass each other between Greenport and Shelter Island Heights in the middle of the passage.  A ferries departs from each side of the channel every 15 minutes, and there are always vehicles on board, and another ferry service connects the south side of Shelter Island with the Hamptons.

The amount of ferry traffic is puzzling, because it's not tourist season, and the regular population of the island consists of less than 2500 full-time and part-time residents.  There is a grocery store, a drug store, a book store and two hardware stores, and the island has its own school.  Along the shore sit large, lovely homes with vast expanses of lawns, many of which are only used in the summers.

Well-manicured lawns in front of homes on Shelter Island

It looks like a wonderful place for a vacation or a lifestyle far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  (It's a 3 1/2 hour train ride to NYC from Greenport, which is the last stop on the Ronkonkoma Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, and the train station is right next to the ferry terminal.)  But why are all these people going back and forth so much?

Here is West Neck Harbor, there are a couple of other boats anchored.  The wind is howling through the rigging at about 20 knots, but the sunlight is sparkling on the choppy bay.  It is a bit chilly, about 60 degrees F, and it is supposed to get down to 48 in the night.  Brrrrr!  We have no heat, so we just layer our clothes and at night we pile beach towels on top of the lightweight duvet because we have no warm blankets.  Thankfully, Amazon will be delivering some to us when we are at a marina in Boston a week from now.