On the way to Singapore

So finally we are on our way - again.
Once we relocated the boat to the anchorage we did some last minute shopping, handed the car back and then had spent some time with Robbo and his family.  Woke up to a really dreary day on Sunday morning but the wind was from the right direction so decided to leave Newport anyway.  Just before we left Skip came over with some smoked salmon for us.  He had spent the last couple of days fishing in upstate New York and so had some spare fish.  We said our farewells to Skip, made our final preparations for going to sea and then pulled up the anchor for the last time in Newport.
I guess this is really the start of the trip.  From now on every day brings us closer to the ultimate destination of Singapore.  It's quite a daunting prospect even though we have already done a couple of months on the boat.  It seems like the Maine trip was a training exercise but that was also daunting two months ago.  At least now we know the boat better and have done everything possible to get all the systems serviced and in the best possible working condition.  Prior to starting, any experienced sailors always said that we would be constantly working on the boat and we are beginning to appreciate what that means.  With the Maine trip under our belts we have a lot of faith in Dulcinea who has proved to be a very capable vessel.
We left Newport in the rain and motored to the mouth of Narragansett Bay.  At Point Judith we turned to head west and put up the sails.  We sailed and motored equally throughout the day depending upon the wind and made a decision to push on into Long Island Sound as far as possible.  Around mid afternoon the sailing conditions were terrific - sunshine, very slight seas and a 10kt breeze in which we were making 7kts.  Once we made the decision to push further the wind started to head us.  The last two hours of the day the wind rose to 20kts on the nose and we had a squall gusting 35kts at one point.  Everyone was relieved to finally anchor at a place called Duck Island Roads near Westbrook Harbour in Connecticut.  We had no sooner dropped the anchor when the wind started howling again and remained steady around 25kts all night.
Today is a clear day but the wind is still howling so we decided to hunker down here until tomorrow and try and catch up on school work.  (Anyone who has been on a camping holiday in Scotland will know the routine).  The anchor seems well set and the bay is well protected and affords us great cover from the sea but we still cop it from the wind.  There is a small harbour and marina here but as with quite a few places Dulcinea's draft of 2.5m makes it tricky or impossible to go inside.  We were going to go ashore for a look around but cannot raise much enthusiasm what with the wind gusting outside.
Tomorrow we will probably head across the sound and try and find a nice town to spend a couple of days relaxing before the sail into New York.