Day 13 - New London, CT

New London, Connecticut isn't my idea of a stopping place for cruise ships and our visit here didn't change my opinion. How important is gambling on a cruise ship you might ask? Well it is about 50 miles from Newport to New London. The ship left Newport for New London at 3 PM and the ship's log shows they sailed 127 nautical miles so they beat a fast tack out to sea and opened the casino while they sailed around in circles waiting for the morning to come.
Now on to New London - home of the Coast Guard Academy which was closed today as it was homecomming for the football team - talk about timing. Not much to do here - we have been here before on a genealogy trip
We did take a tour (more to get off the ship than anything) to the Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Village. This is Barbara with a statue to the South African penguins housed here.

These are cute little critters. They have quite a few of them and they were out and about so we were able to see them on land and swimming around in the water. They had an interpreter there who was able to fill us in on anything we wanted to know about these cute guys.

New London, as mentioned before is the home of the Coast Guard Academy and also the major nuclear submarine building location in our nation. Below is an enclosed hanger where a sub can be built in secret (0r repaired in secret) and next to it a sub that is being repaired.

This is just one of those pictures you have to take. I could call this the smallest lighthouse I have ever seen but it is actually a bouy out in the harbor at New London. It is a classic.

Block Island - home of my ancestors. This is about as close to it as we were to get on the voyage. It is a great vacation destination for those with money in the East.