Schooner Brilliant

Experience the adventure and challenge of sailing a 61-foot schooner with a group of your family and friends. Visit quiet anchorages and popular tourist destinations along the New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts coasts and islands while learning to sail a classic vessel.

Summer Teen Program: Up to eight teenagers, plus a group leader, can charter Brilliant for a five- or ten-day educational voyage during the summer. Learn how to sail a classic vessel while developing team-building skills. Participants haul on the lines, steer the vessel, learn navigation, help in the galley and stand watch. Learn more and book a charter.

Fall Adult Charters: Brilliant sails are available for any of our scheduled fall dates, provided that space is available. If you charter Brilliant, please bear in mind that we must have at least six able hands, fit and agile, to run the boat safely. Charters are limited to eight adults. Learn more and book a charter.

Water Shuttle Necessity

See Mystic Seaport from a different vantage point–the water! Necessity, the Museum’s own water shuttle, takes you from one end of Mystic Seaport to the other. Visitors are invited to board Necessity from the floating docks near Sabino.
Operating Schedule:

• May 25 – June 16: Free shuttle rides offered on weekends and Memorial Day, May 27
• June 22 – Sept. 2: Free shuttle rides offered daily
• September 7 – Oct. 14: Free shuttle rides offered on weekends and Columbus Day, October 14
• May 28, June 4, June 11, and June 18: 25-minute cruises are offered every half hour between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., excluding 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the Sabino ticket booth.*

Maximum capacity is 20 passengers. For additional information, call 860.572.5351 or visit the Sabino ticket booth.*Cash payments only please.

Steamboat Sabino

Cruise the Mystic River aboard the Sabino, one of the oldest wooden, coal-fired steamboats still in operation.

Operating Schedule: Wednesday through Monday, May 22 – October 14. Cruises leave from the Sabino dock near the main entrance, weather permitting.

• 30-Minute Daytime Cruises - 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm
  Adult $5.50 / Youth (ages 6-17) $4.50 / Children 5 and under: free
• 90-Minute Downriver Evening Cruise - 5:30-7 pm
  Adult $13 / Youth (ages 6-17) $11 / Children 5 and under: freeDownriver cruises are also available for private charters. Please call 860.572.0711 the day of your visit to ensure that Sabino will be operating a public cruise that evening.

Museum admission is required for the half-hour cruise. Admission is not required for the 90-minute cruise; however, you may not enter the Museum grounds until 20 minutes before departure. Senior, AAA, active duty military, college student, and member discounts are not available for Sabino cruises.>

Boathouse Rentals: Rowboats and Sailboats

Rent a historic wooden rowboat or small sailboat and take your own personal tour of the historic Mystic River. Twenty traditional small craft from the Museum’s collection are available for rent to qualified boaters.

Operating Schedule:
Open weekends only: Beginning May 18
Open daily: June 22 – September 2
Open weekends only: September 7 – October 14

Rowboats (up to 5 people and a dog per boat)
30 minutes: member $7 / non-member $10
60 minutes: member $10 / non-member $15

Sailboats (number of passengers depends on boat)
60 minutes: member $15 / non-member $20

Boathouse Rides: Breck Marshall and Resolute

Operating Schedule:
Breck Marshall: Sails run mid-May to mid-October between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Resolute: Sails offered Monday-Friday in July and August between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

The Breck Marshall, a 20-foot Crosby catboat reproduction, provides many a unique adventure beneath her billowing sails. During a smooth and quiet ride, passengers relax in her roomy cockpit while the skipper identifies points of interest on the Mystic River shoreline. The Breck Marshall offers 30-minute rides, weather permitting. Tickets are $5 and are sold at the Boathouse. Museum admission is required. Limit 6 passengers per voyage.

Resolute - Enjoy a half-hour sail with a licensed captain aboard the 26-foot 1917 Herreshoff launch, Resolute. Tickets are $4 and are sold at the Boathouse. Museum admission is required. Limit 6 passengers per voyage.

Boathouse Charters: Araminta, Brilliant, Resolute, and Sabino

Enjoy a day sail charter in Fishers Island Sound aboard the Herreshoff auxiliary ketch Araminta. Experience the adventure and challenge of sailing the 61-foot schooner Brilliant with a group of your family and friends. Take a 90-minute downriver cruise aboard the Herreshoff launch Resolute. Host your special event aboard the wooden, coal-fired steamboat Sabino. More charter information.

Trim Again and Encore Cruises

Enjoy a day out on the water with Mystic Seaport member and local resident Captain Jack Spratt as your guide. Private charters are available April through November for you and your guests aboard Captain Jack’s wooden catboat Trim Again and his classic 30′ wooden motor yacht Encore. Tours depart from Mystic Seaport or Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and all proceeds benefit the Museum. More cruise information.