Friday 14 September: Sag Harbor, cycling tour to the Hamptons.
Slightly brighter sky than yesterday, we are good to go on a biking tour! Our early enthusiasm gets a bit of a break when soon after we leave Glen’s bike seems to play up. Not engaging the power button, getting stuck into an easy mode, etc. Some programming later, we are good to start..again.
And we are treated to beautiful streets, lined with green lawns and gardens, all impeccably maintained. Probably every-other house had a gardening company’s pick up parked in front of it.
Soon we get to East Hampton, where we decide to walk rather than cycle. We park the bikes and gaze on the Main Street. Which is basically a collection of very fancy brands stores, boutiques and real estate offices. So many houses for sale, almost makes us wonder why is there such an inflation of properties on the market. The shops might be all expensive brands and perfectly arranged inside, but we couldn’t help notice that the exterior of buildings is quite tatty here compared to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. Even with all the money flying around here, the up keeping seems to lack attention.
We search high and low for a nice coffee shop and we come across the only one other than Starbucks. Where we have a decent latte and a snack.
The cycling tour continues on more beautiful roads, shady and green. In some places the fresh smell of pine trees is so nice that we even slow down to enjoy it for longer.
Two Mile Hollow is the first beach we stop at on the Atlantic side of Long Island. There is big surf crushing into the beach, and so much spray in the air that the horizon towards both ends of the beach is all in a haze. And our sunglasses instantly get salty spray on the lenses. The beach was completely empty when we arrived, and when we returned from our walk along the beach we saw an elderly couple arranging an umbrella and a beach mat. We smile at them, thinking aren’t they determined to enjoy the sun today, even if it means getting blasted by this wind and the salt spray.
Short cycle from there, and we come across the Indian Wells beach. The same big surf, but the sky is almost entirely cleared by now. The vivid blue color of the sky and bright sunshine makes this beach look very appealing. Few people here, with their beach chairs right next to the footpaths leading to the properties which are hidden behind the sand dunes. Just like you see in the movies.
The road we cycle from there takes us into a completely different scenery: from large road with tall shady trees, green lawns, big residences, to narrow street, with smaller vegetation growing from sand dunes, and significantly reduced in size houses. This street leads us to the next stop, Beach Hampton. Where a group of youngsters were enjoying a Friday afternoon on the beach, playing games and few courageous ones swimming in the surf.
From there we cycle to the furthest point of today’s journey: Lazy Point in Napeague State Park, back on the north side of Long Island. The sea is very calm here, in Long Island Sound, hardly even ripple on the water, and we observe a small fishing boat coming in with their landings.
We then went around the edge of Napeague Bay to Devon Yacht Club, where we didn’t even attempt to go in. The sea here is again very calm.
After a short detour through Albert’s Landing, due to taking a couple of wrong turns, we cycle all the way across to Springs, where we find a marina with boat yard and chandlery. We stop briefly in the chandlery, but no item from our shopping list was to be found there.
From Cedar Point in Northwest Harbor we head straight for Sag Harbor. At this stage we already feel quite tired, and engage the electric power button even on the smallest of hills. And looking forward to see the road sign for Sag Harbor! 68km we have cycled today. No wonder we have shaky legs when we arrive back at the dinghy jetty!
Back on Cloudy Bay we relax for few moments on the swim platform, dangling our feet in the water while having a quick snack to feed our hunger. The light is very nice right before sunset, so we jump from our relaxation moment, to fly the drone quickly, before the light is gone.
Glen washes the bikes while Oana cooks dinner and we are ready to eat in the cockpit right as the sun sets. We immediately feel the temperature change, it gets quite chilly as soon as the sun is gone these days.
So we seal ourselves in the cozy saloon, and spend the rest of the evening with the usual chores, recharging the bikes, setting up the next video and arranging photos in the blog. Knowing that we will crash in bed early tonight after our exercise today.
