Juno 423: June 14-16 Coecles Harbor and Beautiful Shelter Island

After enjoying an early morning hot shower ashore at the Mt. Sinai Yacht Club, on Tuesday June 14th we motored, sailed, and then motored again through the extremely narrow entrance into Coecles Harbor in Shelter Island, NY where we anchored around 5:30 pm in the company of three other boats. One of our new neighbors was a Beneteau 423 “Prana”.

Wednesday was a picture perfect day - sunny with NE winds 10-13 - and after reading the many happy birthday greetings (thanks all), we set off to explore Shelter Island on bikes. But first we stopped by Prana as we thought they were dragging on their anchor. Local sailors Craig and Mary Beth Miller assured us they were fine, gave us some local tips, and in exchange, we invited them to join us for cocktails at the end of the day. On shore we rented bikes and set off to discover the yacht club, the old pharmacy with a popular sandwich counter, an adjacent old hotel that just got refurbished, a seafood shop for lunch, and finally we explored the beautiful grounds of Sylvester Manor. The island was the perfect size for exploring by bike as we covered much of it in half a day but would love to return to explore it further. The sweet smell of honeysuckle that floated through the air and backroads added a special bonus to our travels. In dinghying back to Juno, we were fortunate to meet up with The Friends of Taylor's Island heading to island for their annual picnic on the small island in Coecles Harbor. They opened up the small log cabin cottage and gave us a personal tour of the cabin built by F.M. Smith, the inventor of Borax. Later it was purchased by Gregory Taylor who stipulated in his will that the Island be preserved for the public.

Finally, our perfect day wrapped up with the crew of Prana, which included their lovely dog Lola, joining us aboard Juno for cocktails. The three live in Miami in the winter and then are live-aboards on Prana in the summer, based out of Three Mile Harbor, not far from Coecles.

Thursday morning rain forecasts slowed us down but they didn’t deter us from hiking the wooded trails of the Mashomack Preserve. Sweet smells of honeysuckle filled our lungs and the sounds of many birds filled our ears. We walked for 2.5 hours making it as far as Smith Bay seeing perhaps one other hiker before returning to Juno for a late lunch and a 3 hour sail to Lake Montauk which we chose to put us closer to Block Island, our destination for tomorrow.