Sag Harbor is only twelve miles away but we have to go around Shelter a Island which is in the middle of Gardiners Bay. Since we weren’t going far we had a leisurely morning and enjoyed our coffee before heading out. Once the anchor was pulled and we were leaving I could hear the Coast Guard calling out a Pan Pan ( PAN–PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone’s life or to the vessel itself- one step below a ‘Mayday’) about a call they had received earlier, but couldn’t locate said vessel. The area isn’t that big so maybe someone called it as a sick joke, but they have to respond accordingly and not stop until it is resolved. Since we were traversing the area I kept a sharp lookout for anything unusual but nothing was out of the ordinary. Because we were taking our time the trip took about two hours. No sense burning through fuel when we don’t have far to go. We found the Sag Harbor harbor entrance and the anchorage that was listed. The anchorage was outside the harbor break wall but there are a ton of moorings there so it was a bit difficult to find a spot. We circled around and finally came back to close to the entrance of the harbor. There were a couple of sailboats anchored there already so we squeezed in between them and the shallow area near the wall. Again we were fairly exposed to wakes and wind, but the wind was forecast to be light and variable. We sat and waited making sure the anchor was securely set before heading to shore. “Much of Sag Harbor is a National Historic Site. Its history centers heavily on its days as a whaling port, although it was inhabited well before Europeans settled here. In the mid-1800s, almost half the total population of Sag Harbor served on whaling ships.” We landed the dinghy and walked around the town. One of our first stops was Grindstone Coffee & Dounts which apparently has a Cleveland connection through Michael Symon. The donuts were amazing. We visited the Whaling Museum but it was still closed due to COVID. We saw the oldest Custom House and old houses and churches in the neighborhoods. We worked our way back to town and stopped in a specialty shop Schiavoni’s Market for some more dinner treats and also got Frank a new collar at a shop next door. Finally we made our way back to the boat and picked up Frank for a walk. We took him to shore and we walked a couple of miles to find a beach, it when we found it it was only open to local residents. Damn. That was a long walk for nothing but at least Frank got to stretch his legs and enjoy time on firm land. Dinner was made and we decided we will go to Shelter Island tomorrow since we are here…
