Summering in the Sounds – Part 2 – Hyannis and Nantucket
Our next stop was Hyannis, Massachussetts. Yup, THAT Hyannis. Home turf of the Kennedy family. The Kennedy compound. THAT Hyannis. It hadn’t even occurred to us to go there until some friends in this area said, “Oh, you should stop at Hyannis. It’s lovely!”
Well, why not?
So to Hyannis we went. It was a nice day trip from Cuttyhunk. I had lots of nice details about the trip when I started this post – except somehow the draft of this post evaporated into the blogosphere and I don’t think I can recreate it . . . so let’s just get to Hyannis itself, shall we?
We got a non-resident membership to the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis that has paid us back in so many ways in reciprocal privileges at other yacht clubs along the way, and Hyannis was one of those. We reserved a mooring ball at the Hyannis Yacht Club. I must confess, I was a little intimidated walking into the club to check in . . . it’s Hyannis for crying out loud. What we found was a very pleasant, welcoming place. A nice young man checked us in and then gave us a tour of the club. We enjoyed the facilities while we were there very much. Here’s what we discovered about Hyannis: there are the very high priced neighborhoods, yes, but when you walk into town, it looks like any fun, shore town you would find up and down the coast. It has tour boat companies hawking their trips. It has ice cream and tee-shirt shops. It was a classic shore town in the summer. We enjoyed walking around and quickly immersed ourselves in the Kennedy history so prevalent in the area. We visited the Kennedy memorial and the Kennedy Museum. Frank is currently on his second book about the Kennedy family dynasty and their rise to power. The museum was relatively small but had a great collection of family photos.
The harbor and Hyannis Yacht Club.
The JFK Memorial on the harbor. The Kennedys have done a lot of sailing in these waters.
The harbor front in Hyannis. Frank’s favorite things: looking at fishing boats and eating ice cream!
Frank captured this sight that you don’t see every day! And this was only half of the pack. The guy said he has six more at home! They were VERY mannerly.
That night we celebrated my birthday at the Hyannis Yacht Club restaurant. We had a table overlooking the harbor. What a cool place have to have a special dinner.
Going out for birthday dinner.
The next day Frank was determined to see the Kennedy Compound. We had a rough idea of where it was, but weren’t sure exactly how far it was. Well, we started walking and more than two miles later, we found it! There isn’t one house that makes it impressive; don’t get me wrong – the “main” house is pretty big and sits right on the water. What is impressive is that, over time, they bought houses for the children and grandchildren, so there is now a COLLECTION of houses on many acres of land sitting right on a point in Hyannis, thus the term “compound.” Once we achieved our goal of personally eyeballing the compound, we started the long hike back on the warm, sunny day. If you’re out cruising, we recommend Hyannis. Cool spot.
In search of the Kennedy Compound . . .
Sights along the way . . .
At last! The compound is found!
Our next stop was a place on my personal “Bucket List.” For a very long time, I have wanted to go to Nantucket. It was on my list last year and we didn’t quite make it. Matter of fact, Frank heard about the fact that we skipped Nantucket for the whole rest of the year. I had two places on my “must see’ list and Nantucket was one of them. And we missed it. He had a mild interest in going to Nantucket last year, but this year he had a MAJOR interest in going just to shut me up!! Guess what? It ended up being on of his favorite stops yet. (Is it rude to say I told you so?)
We had a BEAUTIFUL sail to Nantucket – no motor, just wind. Ahhh . . .
We saw this beauty along the way.
Coming into Nantucket Harbor.
We found ourselves there over Labor Day weekend. Although it was busy, it still was nowhere near the crowded feeling that you get in Ocean City, NJ during Labor Day weekend! What an amazingly beautiful place with an interesting history. High end? Upper crust? Expensive? Well . . . yes, it is those things. But beyond that, it is gorgeous and charming and interesting. Plus, it’s an island. Anywhere that you have to take a boat or a plane to get to is of great interest to me.
Here are a couple of tidbits about Nantucket and its history:
– It is slightly less than 50 square miles and it’s nickname is “Little Gray Lady of the Sea,” describing how the island appears from the ocean when shrouded in fog.
– The year yound population is about 10,000 which grows to 50,000 during the summer months.
– Native Americans first inhabited the island, and other native Americans would come visit the island seasonally. They had the idea of summering in Nantucket first.
– Europeans started showing up in the mid 1600s.
– Whaling became the major industry from the late 1600s to the mid 1800s and the island flourished.
– In 1846, when whaling was already in decline, Nantucket had “The Great Fire of 1846.” This left many residents homeless and really brought the first golden era of Nantucket to an end. Many people moved away from the island and it was a struggling settlement for the next 100 years.
– In the 1950s, several mainland developers started thinking, “Hey – there are a bunch of pre-Civil war structures sitting on this island pretty well untouched. Let’s buy up the property on the island, restore the old buidlings, build some new places that look old, make it seem exclusive and entice people from the mainland with means to build summer homes here.” Lo and behold, it worked and now Nantucket is a getaway for many people including a number of celebrities.
There is an endless stream of fast ferries that bring tourists to the island from surrounding areas. The downtown area close to the harbor is really quite large with many blocks of cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks with beautiful shops and galleries and restaurants and inns one after another. We enjoyed walking and walking through the town. We also went to a highly recommended place: the Cisco Brewery. Yes, Nantucket brews it’s own beer. At the brewery, they have an open air facility where you can enjoy their products, munch on samplings from a variety of food trucks and listen to some great live music. We enjoyed the brewery scene one afternoon and heard some good bluegrass.
Although we had planned to rent bikes to explore the island on the many bike trails it offers, we decided to use my Hertz points to rent a car to explore instead. We were thrilled to be offered a free upgrade to a convertible! For a whopping $8 plus gas, we toured the whole island in a Mustang convertible. Excellent! It was nice to see some of the outlying neighborhoods and to view the many beaches. What an amazingly beautiful place. It really does feel like you’ve landed in Ireland or Scotland. Here are some of the sights and scenes we captured . . .
If I’d known we were getting a convertible, I probably would have pulled my hair back. Feeling a bit like a golden retriever. . . but in a good way!
You might have guessed, Frank couldn’t resist jumping in the car without opening the door before the day was over. It had to be done.
Checking out the beaches.
Gardens are abundant – flowers are everywhere.
The Whaling Museum came highly recommended. Guide books say to allow at least 2 hours to tour it. We did it in one . . . because, well, you know, Frank likes a museum as long as you can do it fast! It really is well done.
The view from atop the Whaling Museum.
Cottages with gardens in the village of ‘Sconset.
Sankaty Head Light House – one of my favorite spots!
We had planned to leave on Monday of the holiday weekend, but when we woke up that morning, the weather was quite dismal and wet. We COULD have left, but neither one of us was inspired to face that weather out in the sound, so we chose not to. Now, you’ve probably all heard the refernce to the limerick, “There once was a man in Nantucket . . . ” right? It is a ribald rhyme to say the least, or at least one version of it is. We report in to a Ham radio net most mornings to report our location or float plan. The net controller that day is a man who we have become friendly with who helped with the installation of the single side band radio on the boat. When Frank reported our postion that morning, he responded by saying, “There once was a man from Nantucket . . . ” which made me laugh a lot since he is usually pretty business-like on the radio. I couldn’t help myself but to send him an email later, with my own spin on the rhyme, to inform him that we had chosen not to leave. It went:
“There once was a man in Nantucket
Checked the current and thought he would buck it.
When it came time to go
There was rain and some blow,
So he and his mate said, “Ah f*&% it!”
Moral of the story, we stayed in Nantucket an extra day. By mid-afternoon, it had cleared and was gorgeous for another day of exploring the town.
Tuesday arrived and we really couldn’t postpone leaving any more. You can go bankrupt staying in Nantucket for any extended period of time, but gosh it’s pretty!
So we said a relucatant goodbye to one of our new favorite places and moved on up the sound in search of our next stop, Newport, RI.
Summering in the Sounds – A Sound Decision (Part 1)
Last summer we spent a good deal of our time in Maine. We loved Maine. We’re thrilled we went to Maine. We have good friends that went to Maine this summer and are having a ball. But last summer in Maine was like eternal spring or early fall. We were in long pants more than shorts. The weather was sketchy a good 40% of the time. Even the Mainers were saying it wasn’t the best of years from a weather perspective. Our strategy for this summer: focus more on New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
And so far it’s been a great strategy! Pure summer. Delightful warmth. Eternal sunshine. 78 every day, 62 every night (plus or minus or a few degrees). Seriously – I can’t remember experiencing a stretch of weather this consistently nice. If you live in California, you’re used to this. Those of us on the east coast – not so much.
We’ve hit some great locations in the last couple of weeks: Shelter Island, NY (a favorite), Block Island, RI (we gave it another chance), Cuttyhunk, MA, Hyannis, MA and Nantucket. We’ve traveled on the Long Island Sound, Block Island Sound, Rhode Island Sound, Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound. It’s been a “sound” decision to be sure. We’ll cover the first three in this post.
If you’ve been following this blog, you might remember that we cultivated a very nice friendship with another Gozzard in Shelter Island. (Well, the owners, not the boat itself.) We have stayed in touch with them and visited several times throughout the year. They welcomed us back to Shelter Island again, and we had a ball being together. Here’s some of the fun we had while we were there:
Welcome to the island!
Frank helping out with some work up the mast. He’s like a monkey!
And yes, Frank taking pictures while he’s hanging out in the mast.
Acoustic jam session!
The four of us kayaked in one of the creeks . . . even harvested a mussel or two.
They were so kind as to loan us a set of wheels to tour around the island. Frank declared this the best vanilla milkshake EVER at a burger joint we found in town. Who needs the glass???
The historic Union Chapel.
For those of you out there who might watch the Food Network from time to time, there is a show called, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” I catch it on occasion. Last year I saw an episode, and Ina Garten – aka the Barefoot Contessa – shared that the best bolognese sauce she ever ate was from the Vine Street Cafe in Shelter Island. I read that they had a market where you could buy said sauce. So while we had the wheels, we went to the middle of the island to hunt. Sure enough – there was the Cafe – which was closed. BUT – there was a sign pointing around the back of the building to the Market. It was closed. BUT! There was, what appeared to be, one of the chefs walking by in his whites. He assured me that he could rustle someone up to open the market for us if we would pay by credit card and not cash. No problem!! And so, I got my hands on two containers of fresh bolognese sauce. I thought it was very tasty, indeed. I kind of forgot (or chose to for the moment) that Frank really doesn’t care for bolognese sauce no matter how good it is. So please don’t tell the chef at the cafe that I may be thinning out the second container of meat sauce with some extra tomatoes for Frank. Shhh. It’s just between us, okay?
Vine St. Cafe – In search of bolognese sauce!
Our last trip to Shelter Island included Frank joining our friend as crew in a Herreshoff doughdish race at the Yacht Club. The two of them won that race last season! Could they repeat??
Winners again! Frank sipping a little Jamesons out of his new wine glass trophy! They were first in a field of 25.
After a year under our belt, I knew there were a few experiences that I missed out on last year that I didn’t want to let slip by this time around. One of those was on Shelter Island: I wanted to attend a concert at the performance tent at the Perlman Music Program. My fellow music geek friends from college will particularly appreciate this part as well as the other music geek friends I’ve made along the way. In 1993, Itzhak Perlman (world renowned violinist) and his wife, Toby, founded a program called “The Perlman Music Program.” It was initially a two-week summer camp in East Hampton, NY. Since then the program has expanded in time and reach, but its permanent home is a 28-acre property on Shelter Island. The goal is to offer unparalleled musical training to young string players of rare and special talent. It is led by a world-class faculty starting with Mr. Perlman himself. Their mission is to develop the future leaders of classical music within a nurturing and supportive community. Last year I missed the chance to see one of the concerts at the
The Perlman Music Program on Shelter Island. Pictures borrowed from their website because I was too dumbstruck to take photos that night!
camp. Not this year! I gave Frank the chance to do something on his own that evening, but he was interested in checking it out with me. And so we gathered in the “Performance Tent” that seats about 300 people. It is much more of a permanent tent-like structure that is somewhat open air, but permanent enough to support pieces that are necessary to have great acoustics. The camp had ended the week before – this concert was a thank you to the community of Shelter Island and was free to the public. And so, on a beautiful summer evening, we enjoyed 90 minutes of chamber music presented by a combination of students, faculty and alumni of the program. Mr. Perlman himself performed on two of the pieces. Special guest performers that evening were the accompanying cicadas and tree frogs. It was a very special evening. If you’re interested in learning more about the Perlman Music Program, go to http://www.perlmanmusicprogram.org.
After four great days, we reluctantly moved on to Block Island. Yeah, I kind of dissed Block Island last year. We were there close to 4th of July and it was crowded and noisy . . . and the weather wasn’t great . . . and we liked some things about it but didn’t feel the need to race back. But as the winds would have it, it really was the perfect location for our next stop along the way. So . . . we stopped again. This time we were smart and anchored instead of taking a mooring ball in the crowded field. The anchoring there is good and plentiful and it was quite delightful being on the edge of the mooring field. We only stayed one night, but enjoyed our afternoon taking a nice, long walk. The further away you get from the main harbor’s mayhem, the prettier the island gets. Block Island . . . you’re not so bad after all.
Entering Block Island . . . again.
Pretty scenery in Block Island.
Ferry Landing at Block Island.
Happy to see that The Minnow still is found.
Happy to be in the anchorage.
Sunset in the anchorage.
As we plotted our next stop, the winds and the currents had a big influence. We had thought we’d go straight to Martha’s Vineyard from Block Island, but alas, the timing of the currents was not in our favor. The current in Vineyard Sound can run around 2.5 knots against you . . . there is no point to do that to yourself. That’s going nowhere fast and it’s not much fun. So we adjusted our plan to head to Cuttyhunk – a stop we had made last year. It was a “middle of the pack” stop for us . . . . a beautiful place that is worth seeing once, but not a whole lot to come back to time after time. But the location was perfect. Here’s what made it perfect – we figured out that we could intersect with our buddies on Magnolia there!!! Excellent! They had set off for Maine this summer and were now on their return trip – and here was an opportunity for our paths to cross. We all arrived in the early afternoon and spent the day catching up, walking, eating, sipping and laughing. Good to be back together again!
There’s Magnolia!
The guys engaged in heavy conversation during our walk, or so it appears.
Pretty landscape at Cuttyhunk. Photo by Anthony.
Hanging with some of the water family!
Annette in the sunset in the cockpit of Eleanor Q
We left Cuttyhunk the next morning to head to Hyannis. And once again, the day was warm and the night was chilly. And you know what the chilly nights in these parts means? It means that we’re sleeping “soundly.”
Break’s Over; Back on the Water!
It has been more than two months since our last blog post . . . we have not sailed off the edge of the earth!!
We actually hit the pause button on our sailing adventure to some extent. There are a few reasons for this:
1) Our bodies needed the break;
2) Frank’s mind needed the break;
3) Eleanor Q needed a break and some maintenance work.
4) We wanted to spend some quality time with family.
We secured our old slip in Annapolis to use as a home base for the summer and have been splitting our time between there and our house in New Jersey. We pulled back in that good ol’ slip 364 days after taking the lines with us in 2013, and we’ve taken this time off to reflect on our year. This post will touch on some of those reflections and also do a quick review of what we’ve been up to this summer.
Reviewing the year: it’s been an amazing year and we wouldn’t trade it for anything! It had some things that we expected; it had some things that we didn’t expect. We learned a lot about ourselves and each other. We saw some spectacular places and we met some wonderful people. (We ran into very few “knuckleheads”, as a matter of fact!) We accomplished our goal of sailing from Annapolis to Maine (Acadia State Park – Northeast Harbor), then south to Georgetown, Bahamas and back to Annapolis. That’s somewhere around 4,000 miles and we feel very proud of that! I felt good about advancing my nautical skills with the help of my captain and coach (that being one and the same person). People ask us about our favorite places and there were so many highlights it’s really hard to narrow down. There were special places all up and down the U.S. coast and in the blue Bahamian waters. Ones that jump out: Shelter Island, NY, almost everywhere we saw in Maine (in spite of the fog and lobster pots), cruising through New York City, The Dismal Swamp in VA/NC, The Wacamaw River in Georgia, Warderick Wells, Black Point and Hope Town in the Bahamas, Ocracoke in the Outer Banks of NC, Southport, NC . . . the list goes on. Spectacular places, all.
What we found a little surprising: we knew it would be hard work, but I think it was harder work than we anticipated. We worked well together on charting and piloting and figuring out the tides and the currents so as to plan our route for each part of the trip. But Frank bears the brunt of all mechanical responsibilities, and there were more of those than we expected. Every boat has issues; we were not so naive as to expect that we’d have no issues. The number of issues we had along the way was somewhat of a surprise. We were very fortunate that none of these issues ever put us in danger or happened underway so as to create maneuvering issues (much). We are fortunate that Frank is as mechanically inclined as he is . . . he was able to get us out of a number of jams. But that was probably the most challenging aspect of the trip. We travel with lots of spare parts, but there are times that you don’t have the ONE thing you need for a repair. You either do a lot of “McGuyvering” or you get on the radio and call around to see if someone else has what you need. We always managed our way through those situations. Sometimes they ended up being very expensive solutions, though (i.e. having a part flown to the Bahamas from Ft. Lauderdale. Yuck). Those moments can be very mentally taxing and the repair work itself can be extremely physically taxing for Frank . . . everything is in such a small space you practically need to be Gumby to access some of the engine.
We set out saying we would do this for two years. We approached it that way so we wouldn’t second guess our decision after a year and would just keep going, knowing the second year would be easier. Well, we’re not second-guessing our decision to have gone in the first place – this year was priceless. But now there is some discussion as to what year two will look like. (Let me note, whatever you’re reading here is a mutually agreed upon message.) These discussions haven’t always been easy ones. Why? Well, here’s an interesting thing that developed over the course of the year that neither one of us saw coming: I (Ems) took to this cruising thing like a duck to water. Not having grown up around water and never having sailed before five years ago, this has been a journey for me to get to a point where I felt that living on a boat and traveling thousands of miles was something I could be happy doing. Well, not only have I adapted well, I have thrived in the environment; however, it has fallen a little short of Frank’s expectations. You know when there’s a good movie out that EVERYBODY raves about and tells you “You HAVE to go see this move!” And then you go with these huge expectations, watch the film, and then walk out saying, “That was okay, but it wasn’t THAT great.” I have fallen madly in love with cruising – and I had no expectations when we left. I really didn’t know WHAT to expect. Frank thinks it’s pretty good, but not as idyllic as he had pictured in his mind a thousand times. And when he has time on his hands out there on the water, he’s thinking about the fact that he’s pretty far away from family if anything should go awry. And he’s missing the competition of work and making the numbers. And he’s wondering what’s going to break next on the boat . . . and, and, and . . . you get the picture? Bottom line is Frank is the one who is trying to determine how he feels about this cruising thing while I am feeling pretty restless being on land for this long. When we met people along the way, they would ask, “Oh, are you retired?” I would jokingly say, “I’m on sabbatical,” and Frank would enthusiastically say, “I’m retired!” Somewhere along the way, he adopted my sabbatical line, too. I should have seen that as the first sign. Figuring out what we’re going to do this fall has made for some interesting conversations this summer during our sabbatical from our sabbatical.
Well, at last, we set sail this week with the plan to visit to Nantucket and Long Island Sound for the remainder of the summer. We’ll come back through the area again later in September and plot our next moves. Will we go south again or will we find something else to keep us stimulated, put cruising on hold and return to it again at a later date? We’ll let you know. If you’re betting people, start putting the pools together now and stay tuned for later results! Meanwhile, we’re taking the next couple of months to go back to cruising!
Here are a few highlights from our summer . . .
We enjoyed time with family . . .
We watched a lot of Food Network Star! (Frank’s daugher, Nicole, with Chef Alex)
Frank ate ice cream . . .
I hung out with friends . . .
We watched the Blue Angels . . .
We cruised the bay – Mandela is following us through Knapps Narrows Bridge here . . .
Finally got Dean and Patty (our slip “landlords”) on the boat for a few hours. . .
Had fun in Annapolis . . .
We hung out at the Eastport Yacht Club . . .
And Frank ate some MORE ice cream . . .
We enjoyed some quiet evenings in our slip In Back Creek . . .
And then we left the Bay Bridge behind us and headed north . . .
. . . and once again sailed off into the sunset.
Returning to the Bay . . . in a Jam, So to Speak!
Quick update first: we are currently back in the Annapolis area for a little while to visit home, see family and get some work done on the boat. We have completed an entire year of cruising and will take a little rest and reflect on our adventures. More on that in another post.
But right now the story of our re-entry into the Chesapeake Bay. Well, we were so excited to get back in the bay. We had transited the Dismal Swamp and passed through the Norfolk/Portsmouth, Virginia area (wonderful boat watching territory passing by the navy boats in port).
Passing the Naval Fleet
The planets and the universe aligned and, almost totally coincidentally, we were about to reunite with our water family on Magnolia and Mandala. We had no idea that Mandala was at the end of a 5 day passage straight from the Abacos into the Chesapeake and were about to land 10 miles north of us until we happened to hear them on the radio. We had been in contact with Magnolia and they were planning to hold up in Solomons, Maryland so we could catch up to them and have one more night together to celebrate our year of cruising before we all went back to our separate ports. But as it ended up, we all decided (mostly independently) that we would head to Deltaville, Virginia that Saturday . . . and we were all going to end up there together! Happy day!
Magnolia was already at anchor in Deltaville. Mandala and Eleanor Q were headed there. All was going well. We had fair current and were blazing by Norfolk at about 9.5 knots – very fast for us! We converged paths with Mandala and had about two hours to go to Deltaville when we were hit by severe thunderstorms – our worst weather of the entire year. But we had plenty happen before the storms . . .
The winds had been perfect at about 15 – 18 knots. The conditions were great. I went below to fix peanut better and jelly sandwiches for lunch. (Hey – they’re fast and easy. Don’t mock.) The sandwiches were done but laying open on the counter. The jam was still sitting on the counter. Suddenly, a freak rogue wind came out of nowhere. We had all three sails completely out. Frank was at the helm when, in about thirty seconds time, the wind went to 20 . . . 23 . . . 26 . . . and then hit a sideways gust at 30 knots! We do not want to be under full sail when that happens! The boat heeled over hard and was nearly sitting sideways. (We were not in danger – they are built to do that if they have to and our boat can take it . . . but it isn’t ideal.) I was still below when it hit and I heard and saw stuff starting to fly about. I had secured things pretty well, but there are a few extra books or magazines or other non-breakable stuff that will fall off of some shelves if I haven’t taken extra care. No big deal. It’s “just” the bay, right? We weren’t in the ocean or the gulf stream. How bad is it going to be? Mistake. I had dishes stored in the microwave. Pitching sideways with such a violent force, the latch on the microwave door didn’t hold and the plates became projectiles across the galley – they flew the complete width of the boat. We have very little that is breakable on the boat – no actual glass glasses for example; but we do have some heavy ceramic plates for our bigger dinners. You just don’t always feel like eating off of plastic, you know? Anyway, I thought the microwave was a secure enough stowage unit for them. On a normal day, it is. But this was freakish. The ceramic broke with such intensity that I was picking shards out of the wood. Broken pieces of plates were everyhwere. It looked like a tornado had come through. But to add insult to injury, the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches flew with the dishes. Worse than that, the plastic jam container had still been sitting on the counter and was sliced wide open by the flying shards. Strawberry jam was everywhere. I am still finding jam on the ceiling today. I was in such shock as I saw the damage . . . beautiful wood on our boat with big gouges in it. Broken plates all over. I couldn’t even figure out what had just happened. But first matters first – Frank was calling to me and I ran up top to quickly help him get some sails in. He had already headed up into the wind to get the power out of the sails which cured the heeling immediately. (That sentence sounds like an oxymoron or a joke or something . . . “cured the heeling.”) Anyway . . . once things up top were in control, I went back down below to start the clean up. Hey, it’s just stuff and some bumps and scratches, right? No people were damaged so no big deal, right? I have an odd aversion to things like glass breaking. I told Frank this a long time ago; he understands this about me. It is irrational and I don’t know where it comes from. So I will confess openly right now . . . I cried the whole time I cleaned up. Hard. I wish I could explain why, but I can’t. It was just the surprise of it, I think. I briefly thought about taking pictures of the mess, but there are just some things you don’t want to look at again.
So then, just as oddly, ten minutes later the wind died. Nothing. Caput. We were practically becalmed. I am not making this up. Guess what that meant? The black flies showed up. Droves of them. All we could do was keep swatting them away from our ankles which became the fly buffet for the day. It was miserable. We are fortunate that we have screens on the boat, but each time we had to go down below, a portion of the swarm would try to sneak in, I must admit, killing flies down below became therapy for releasing my angst over the earlier episode.
An hour later we got hit with the severe thunderstorms. It was a day of total extremes. We got ready by donning our foul weather gear and pulling in all of the sails. The storms hit hard. The VHF radio was blaring warnings to mariners. We had nowhere to hide – we just had to gut it out.
Getting hit from two sides!
Frank looking at the storm’s progress.
Some ugly looking clouds!
Again, our boat can handle it and I have a very competent captain who knows how to handle the boat in these conditions. He’s been telling me for three years that I need to experience a Chesapeake thunderstorm – well, he finally got his wish. We had sustained winds of 40 knots with gusts to 48 for more than thirty minutes. It was not much fun. And in the midst of that, we were going through a minefield of crab pots. My job was to watch for and point out the pots. I was tucked under our dodger and somewhat protected. Frank was getting soaked. For the bay, we had some pretty good seas. He slowed the boat down and put her nose right into the wind and just rode it out. That’s about the best you can do. Mandala was close by, so we knew we had company! Meanwhile, Magnolia was in the anchorage, but their anchor was dragging n the storm, so they had issues of their own! Oddly enough, as uncomfortable as it was, we laughed later at the fact that I was far more upset at the broken dishes and jam episode than I was over the thunderstorms and high winds. I don’t know what that says about me.
Getting soaked.
Don’t often see real waves in the bay.
Whew. Through the worst of it! We were both safely tethered to the boat.
Bottom line: our three boats met for dinner aboard Magnolia and had great stories to tell about the day over good food and wine and great company. Mandala has spent just a little time on the bay (they are from Maine) and we assured them that they got the worst of what the bay has to offer all in one day – there is nowhere to go but up! We were rewarded the following day with the most beautiful weather conditions and the beauty of the bay as we generally think of it.
All’s well that ends well . . . but that was a little bigger splash back into our home waters than we were bargaining for! Ending the day next to our water family reinforced an abiding concept: “If you’re ever in a jam, here I am!”
(Bonus points if you get the musical reference.)
Moving North Fast: The Carolinas
We are moving north fast . . . well . . . for a sailboat, anyway. So I will try to hit the highlights of our favorite places through South and North Carolina. We stopped at some of the same spots we experienced on the way south in the fall, and we hit some new places, so I’ll focus on the newbies here.
Many other cruisers talk about the fact that they would NOT like to do the constant grind of the ICW. Now traveling it for the second time, there are definitely sections that are a grind. But there are also some of the most beautiful sights, too!!
We stopped at Beaufort, SC again (byoo-furt) and enjoyed a lovely afternoon wandering town and having a nice date night at a restaurant on their beautiful waterfront. Okay, with my new found interest in history, let me tell you a quick story about Robert Smalls. In as few words as possible – he was an African American born in the shed behind a large water front house in Beaufort (which is beautiful) where his mother was a slave – which meant he was a slave as well. His master sent him to Charleston to work various jobs to earn more money. After working the docks and learning all he could, he eventually became a boat pilot. He was put into service on a Confederate ship, the USS Planter, as one of the “drivers” (blacks would not actually be referred to as pilots or captains). It was carrying important munitions and tactical information as well as it’s own guns. When the three white crewman decided to go ashore for the evening, Smalls dressed as the captain, put on a straw hat like the captain’s, and proceeded to pilot the boat right out of the harbor. He headed north (after stopping to pick up his and his fellow crew members’ families) hoisted a white sheet and turned the boat over to the Union Navy. He received prize money for the capture of the boat and later met President Lincoln. He later served as the first black ship’s captain in the U.S military. After the Civil Rights Act was signed, he returned to Beaufort, BOUGHT the house where he and his mother were slaves, became a state senator and then served in the U.S. House of Representatives for South Carolina. AND, when his former master’s wife was very elderly, he let her come back to live in the house that she had known for so many years. How many things are amazing about that story? We learned this wandering through just the front of a small museum on the main drag in town. The weather was perfect for our stroll around town and we loved it as much this time as the last time.
Beaufort, SC and dinner on the waterfront
And, we found ice cream after dinner!
Then we headed up past Savannah (anchoring south of town for a brief rest) and charged by Charleston to maintain our target of getting to the Chesapeake in mid-May. We kept on going and anchored at Butler Island, an easy “in and out” off the ICW. It is wide open but quiet and comfortable (on a settled day) and is at the beginning of one of our favorite sections of the ICW . . . the Wacamaw River.
Sunset at one of our scenic anchorages.
The Wacamaw is tranquil, peaceful, largely uninhabited – delightful!
Then we headed to Myrtle Beach area and stayed at the very cruiser friendly Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. We passed the golf courses of the Myrtle Beach area and marveled at the mass of humanity in the area. We’re talking full days (7 – 9 hours of transit covering 45 – 70 miles.)
A bridge opening at sunrise. We’ve had very early starts lately!
We saw the cable cars this time! These take golfers from the parking lot to the clubhouse.
A foggy departure from Myrtle Beach Yacht Club – stayed this way for only an hour.
Passing a riverboat.
We crossed the state line and went in to North Carolina, destination Southport. How did we miss Southport on the way down? What a great place! This is the mouth of the Cape Fear River – you’ve heard of Cape Fear? We stayed here for three nights on threat of bad weather and it was a great stop, so a little more about Southport. It is very “nautical” and has the feeling of an old fishing village. The movie ” Safe Haven ” was filmed there a few years ago (featuring Julianne Hough of “Dancing With the Stars” and Josh Duhamel.) The town is not overly commercial but offers a number of great dining options and nice shops to poke around in. The neighborhoods are beautiful. The history is interesting. We really enjoyed Southport and would make that a “must stop again” place. The marina that we stayed at offered a daily weather and navigation briefing by Hank of Carolina Yacht Care, a retired Navy meteorologist, a sailor, and he and his wife are former cruisers. His daily briefing was top notch and we used his shuttle services to do some provisioning. And we took Hank a dark and stormy for the last days’ briefing (sort of like taking an apple to the teacher.) What a great guy, a great service, and a great business he offers. Big fans, Hank. Finally the weather broke and it was time for us to go.
Cape Fear
A cool, classic truck with an old logo as we walk into Southport.
There must have been a classic car show close by!
Exploring the Maritime Museum
Pilot boats are sent out to usher large vessels into the inlet.
Eleanor Q parked at Southport Marina.
We enjoyed dinner with some new friends at a local eatery. Nice sunset!
The next night we had a more eventful night than we would have liked at the anchorage in Camp Lejeune. No, it had nothing to do with marines boarding the boat . . . it had to do with the strange noise I heard come from the engine earlier in the day. It was a metallic “ping” sound which meant something hit a fan blade. No other bad noise followed and we continued on. No problem. What we found when we anchored is that the bolt holding the alternator on had sheared in half. We were lucky the alternator didn’t fall off during the trip! We thought we were going to have a big problem and made a reservation in a close by marina for the next day – just in case. Of all the spare parts we have on board, that particular bolt wasn’t one of them. Amazingly, after a little chatting on the VHF, fellow cruisers came through once again! Frank had located the right bolt on a neighboring boat and had the repair done by 9:30pm!! (I won’t mention that in the midst of that repair, the engine decided it wouldn’t start, so then we were looking at the possibility of being towed out of the anchorage.) Happily, the persnickety starter cooperated, the new bolt held with some minor modifications and we were off as scheduled the next morning (following a very stressful evening and largely sleepless night!) We made SERIOUS tracks past Oriental (yes, we passed Oriental. All boaters are gasping now . . .) with a very specific mission in mind: reach Ocracoke Island the next day!
OCRACOKE! What a beautiful, wonderful detour off of the ICW it is! This is not a “typical cruiser destination” because it isn’t on “the route.” It is actually in the Outer Banks – the next island south from Cape Hatteras, but is part of the Hatteras National Shoreline. It can ONLY be reached by boat (or plane) which are my personal favorite kind of places to go. Plus, Frank has a boyhood friend (high school and fishing years) who lives in Buxton on Hatteras. Joe and Josie hopped a ferry and came over to see us for the afternoon! What a great and happy reunion. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, last fall I told the story of our time in Cape May when Frank was reunited with one of his life long friends and fishing crew mates who was on the ill-fated Marjorie Snow, the fishing boat that Frank ran hard aground on his first day as a captain. Well, Joe was the third of the three man crew on the boat. Wow, do Frank and Joe have the stories and the history. We were so happy that the four of us could spend some quality time sitting in the cockpit of Eleanor Q after a delicious lunch on land. We looked out over the very scenic town and Silver Lake.
Frank and I spent the next day walking and biking all around the island. Again, old fishing village feeling that has some terrific restaurants and shops, but is not overly commercial (at least not before Memorial Day.) I could have stayed there happily for a week, but you know us . . . we’re getting itchy to get home making it hard for us to stay in one place for more than a couple of days. We will make Ocracoke a must do place as well – and we’ll stay longer!! There is an airstrip there that Navy pilots training for larger jets use for practice and a lunch stop. I’m not kidding. Here came these three really beautiful airshow quality-looking planes (almost like biplanes) doing aerobatics. Then they landed in the distance. We got the local scoop that they stop on Ocracoke, take a golf cart to the nearby restaurant and then fly back out. We pulled our bikes into the parking lot just as the flyboys departed in their golf cart and I only caught a glimpse of them. DARN IT. Uhm, er, I mean they aren’t NEARLY as cute as Frank is, of course!
We knew the entrance was a little tricky. Problem solved – follow the ferry in!
Friends reunited.
Looking across Silver Lake
Sun setting over the ferry docks.
We walked briefly on the gorgeous beach on the Atlantic side. A chilly wind made the walk a short one.
I think I just discovered that I was about to ride before putting my sandals back on. Duh.
Ocracoke lighthouse. It isn’t open to go inside, but the grounds are pretty. Frank meets a new canine friend who escorts him.
As we continued our ride, we happened on to a roving band of musical pirates singing old sea songs. I think they were doing a promo for an upcoming show. Ocracoke seems to have a decent arts scene: galleries, music a theater . . .
This sign on a local store cracked me up. I guess their marketing strategy didn’t work since the place is for sale.
Beautiful sky over the docks.
We left Ocracoke and made a stop at the Aligator River Marina, place with a little bit of legend to it. It is a known cruising stop. We got fuel and took a slip for the night just so we could eat the fried chicken that we had heard so much about. The place is funky, quirky, country and worth the stop (plus no one was in the laundry). It is a gas station off of state route 17 as well as a marina. The station has a convenience store with a little dining room in the back where we dined on our much desired fried chicken. Two plates of chicken with sides, a large beer, a glass of wine and ice cream all for the whopping total of about $30. Life is good! All served by Ms. Wanda’s daughter-in-law. Ms. Wanda runs the place with an iron fist and she is legendary. We understand you either love her or hate her. I’ll bet we would love here, but we never got quite to meet her . . . just waved as she was driving by. Maybe another time, Ms. Wanda. She lives on the grounds. Talk about being married to your work!
Alligator River Marina (and Shell Gas Station).
Looking from the gas station and convenience across to Eleanor Q in her slip close to Ms. Wanda’s house.
We ate the famous fried chicken dinner – which had to be completed with ice cream!
And on the way back from dinner, Frank spotted a critter. What guy can resist picking up a turtle?
And now we are in Elizabeth City getting ready to transit the Dismal Swamp again tomorrow and make our way in to Virginia.
The roses are blooming in Elizabeth City.
We are having record high temperatures and are sitting under fans as we speak hoping for the nice breeze to continue through tonight. Tomorrow may be a sticky one going through the swamp, but doesn’t that sound appropriate? Stay tuned.
Georgia On My Mind: Florida to Georgia
After leaving Daytona, we trucked on up through the state with only a brief stop in St. Augustine. And then we thought we’d just “keep on truckin’.” (Okay, how many of you over the age of 50 had a poster or a sticker on your notebook that said that when you were young? Or was that a West Virginia thing?) Anyway, the weather had some different ideas for us.
First, St. Augustine. We took a mooring ball in somewhat unsettled waters/wind which made for a long and somewhat wet dinghy ride in to land. We did get off the boat a bit and met up with our friends Brian and Jane from Mar-a-lago (from the B to B Fleet. We keep crossing paths!) We had to stay in St. Augustine an extra day due to some bad weather moving through. As Frank likes to say, “You’ll have that.”
Sites and scenes in St. Augustine
Leaving St. Augustine
Next we wanted to go to Fernandina Beach. We missed it on the way down . . . and guess what? We missed it on the way back up, too. (You’ll have that.) Between the stretch of unfavorable weather and the fact that there was a trawler (boat) gathering in Fernandina, it just wasn’t in the cards. There was more bad weather coming and we wanted to make SOME progress north, so we made it to a marina on the southern side of Jacksonville and sat there for three days waiting for storms to move on through. We managed to get out for a couple of good, long walks up the highway to visit the Publix grocery store and the Waffle House. There were also two fun restaurants on the premises, so we made the best of our days there.
Front and back of sign at the ABC store. I think somebody be celebrating already! The one on the right was on the gas station side of the sign. I think I know where the extra “s” came from!
Beach Marine in Jacksonville, FL – our stay during some weather.
Next stop, Cumberland Island, Georgia! This is a place we had heard so many good things about and wanted to visit. It is a National Seashore and only reachable by boat. One of the things it is known for is the wild horse population. I most definitely wanted to see the wild horses! We were off and in search of them. There are three distinct areas to explore on the island: 1) The trails and camp sites in the marsh lands, 2) the beach on the Atlantic side, and 3) the ruins of an old mansion that had been owned by the Carnegies at one point. The horses roam the entire island – or so we hear.
We anchored by the island and took the dinghy to the dock where the daily ferries arrive from St. Mary’s, GA and where the ranger station is located, and began exploring.
Captain happy to be anchored at Cumberland Island.
This is the ferry that brings visitors over from St. Mary’s – the main means for people to visit the island. We were able to park our dinghy here.
It was a chilly, overcast day which actually made for comfortable hiking. First, we followed the paths through the live oaks and spanish moss. Gorgeous!
Following the marked paths on Cumberland Island.
Spanish moss on live oaks – beautiful and spooky looking.
Kept looking for wild horses . . .none to be found.
Then we cut across to the beach. It was practically deserted with just a few other people wandering the island. We looked up and down. No wild horses . . . we kept walking.
The beaches were wide open and stunning.
Eventually we got to the Dungeness Ruins. (Dungeness is the name of the mansion and grounds – kind of like “Tara” from Gone With the Wind.) What a history of this site. I will give you the headlines. It’s pretty interesting, and remember, this place can only be reached by boat.
– Original mansion was designed by Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene. He got the land in exchange for a bad debt. His widow built the original, four story tabby mansion on the site in 1803.
– Dungeness is occupied by the British during the War of 1812 and used as a headquarters. (I’m wondering if Mrs. Greene was tearing the draperies off of the windows to make a dress . . . )
– In 1818, Robert E. Lee’s father, Henry, moved into the house and stayed until his death and was buried there for a time.
– Mansion is abandoned during the Civil War and burns down in 1866.
– In the 1880s, one of the Carnegies buys the place (Thomas, Andrew’s brother) and begins to build a 59 room Queen Anne Style mansion on the original foundation. Although he does not survive to see it finished, his widow continues to live there and builds three other mansions on other parts of the island for her children. (Do you notice a theme here? The guys start the place, die, and the widows end up living in there. Hmmm…)
– The Carnegies move out in 1925 and leave the mansion sitting empty.
– The mansion burns in 1956 – arson is suspected. The remains of Dungeness are now preserved.
The grounds of Dungeness.
Dungeness then and now
It is a beautiful piece of land with amazing views of the woods, marshes and shoreline. Any sensible horse would LOVE to hang out here! Still nothing. Let me point something out: Here are pictures from the blogs of some of our water buddies:
From Magnolia’s blog and a visit about two weeks ahead of us: these horses were too lazy to even move out of the trail for them.
This horse stood and posed for Anthony!
And here Brian from Mar-a-lago is just showing off with the horses on the beach. This was a few days after our visit there.
And here’s what we’ve found so far: It ain’t right.
Hoof prints and other “evidence” of horses. Hey – poop happens.
At last, far far in the distance, way far away, I spot . . . could it be . . . if I had binoculars I’d know for sure . . . yes, it appears there are two or three wild horses!
I think there are horses out there.
That was as close as we ever got. Sigh. I’m changing the words to the Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses” to ” wild horses … couldn’t drag themselves out….” It was a delightful visit to Cumberland Island IN SPITE of the fickle horses. What a beautiful and interesting place.
Frank in the marshes.
After that stop, we buzzed right on through the rest of Georgia, pausing only to anchor overnight by Raccoon Island south of Savannah.
After that we headed into the Carolinas. Next post (coming soon), we’ll catch you up on our Carolina travels. Right this second we are sitting in North Carolina, so yes, I’m a little behind again, but we’ve been hauling gas! (minus the “g” and plus the “s”) We have stayed put for the last couple of days to let the bad weather pass through . . . we did well seeming to be just north or south of the worst storms (or as we sometimes call the, free boat baths.)
And so, the trek towards home continues!
Yes, We Are Still Cruising! Back in the U.S.
I know, I know. It has been WEEKS since our last post. It was a winter interruptus, but now we are back on the boat and cruising along nicely. Let me try to efficiently get you caught up.
Last post I had shared that we’d lost my brother-in-law, Frank. The residents of Eleanor Q packed up and flew back to NJ for the services and to be with family. It was Ems’ second trip off the boat flying from Marsh Harbor airport in the Abacos. Frank took some time while we were in the area to hang out with his son, Frank, for a while – always a good thing! We returned to the boat and the following week was a blur. We were still recovering from an emotional trip and then had to start planning for our passage back to the U.S. Months ago I had booked a little bit of work back in Pennsylvania/NJ area for early April. For that and a number of other reasons, it was time for us to get back to the states. Eleanor Q enjoyed her month long parking spot in Hope Town, and we enjoyed the area and the people there very much. We hope to get back to the Abacos in the future and see some of the other cays that we missed this time around. You can’t do it all!
So on March 20th, we were underway again! We left Hope Town for Spanish Cay for the night and then went straight from Spanish Cay across the Gulf Stream, into Ft. Pierce inlet in Florida and straight up to Vero Beach. It required an overnight passage. The trip took about 30 hours. It was sporting but exhilarating and we were so happy to be back underway. I think we needed to blow some of the cob webs out of our heads at that point and get focused back on cruising. With each overnight, we both get more confident with my ability to be in the cockpit for 3 hour shifts at night alone. And I wasn’t very alone . . . we were crossing with Magnolia and two other boats that we met in the previous days. We established the hourly check in system on the radio and called each other if someone spotted a tanker on their radar or AIS system first. For the first time, Frank and I both truly slept on our 3 hour breaks which made us both a lot better off upon arrival!
We found a busy Vero Beach and ended up rafted three deep on a mooring ball, but one of our neighbors were our new friends from Cutting Class. We had met them in Hope Town and spent some time with them there. Magnolia, Cutting Class and Eleanor Q had a fun four days in Vero, and then we once again hopped on a plane and headed to New Jersey. Frank came with me for the first part of the trip since he was STILL dealing with ongoing dental issues that really needed some attention for real. Plus any chance for him to hang out with Frank and Nicole is excellent! It was very strange, at first, to be back in “work mode” and facilitate training classes, but there was a part of it that felt very good, too. I put on my adult clothes and make-up, broke out the blow dryer and curling iron and acted like a professional for a few days. I did have to laugh . . . the one client I worked for is Frank’s former employer, and they have been a client of mine for close to eight years. There are people at the company that follow the blog who didn’t have any reason to know that I’d be around teaching. I ran into two of those people in the hallways. They both blinked, looked confused and said, “Wait. Why aren’t you on the boat? And why haven’t I gotten a blog in a while?” It made me smile. Thanks for reading, John and Tom!! As much as I enjoyed the work, I was extremely homesick for the boat and for Frank who had flown back several days ahead of me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy to get back on the boat than I did that Wednesday when I returned to Vero via the West Palm Beach airport.
Now we’re back on the boat heading north. We’ve stopped in Titusville, Daytona Beach and are currently in St. Augustine, FL for a brief visit. We project a landing in Annapolis area around the third week of May and look forward to seeing a lot of cool stuff along the way. So stay tuned . . . the blogging has resumed. Here are the pictorial headlines of what we’ve been up to . . .
March 17th, taking off from a very snowy Philadelphia airport.
Enjoying our last few days in Hope Town including BBQ at Papa Nasty’s! Most excellent.
One of our favorite hangouts, “Wine Down Sip Sip” – with a great wine selection and excellent flatbread pizza!
Coming back from a long walk with Magnolia and Cutting Class . . . had to work off the BBQ!
Okay, really rough laundry duty. We had access to the marina since that’s who leases the mooring ball we were living on. Here’s how it goes: throw laundry in washer – sit by the pool – throw laundry in dryer – sit by the pool. Very stressful. Best laundry ever! I had a few things drying on the lounge chairs.
And it’s time to say goodbye to Hope Town . . . we’ll see that iconic lighthouse again some day.
We were lucky to dodge a few squalls in the area as we made our way across the Sea of Abaco and away from Spanish Cay.
Underway to the US and watching the sunset over choppy waters.
And dodging more squalls as we look behind us at sunrise as we approach the coast of Florida. I don’t think we ever saw more than a sprinkle. Guardian angels . . .
And then dodging a tug boat pulling a barge as we race him to the Ft. Pierce inlet. We were determined not to get stuck behind him at the inlet and he was very accommodating.
Re-entering civilization(?) – high rises and lots of bridges. We hadn’t seen those for a while!
Rafted up in Vero with Cutting Class
We enjoyed a cookout on the marina grounds at Vero with Anthony at the grill and the lovely Ms. Annette assisting.
How do you know you’re back in the U.S.? They actually expect you to wear SHOES in restaurants!! It is a weird transition back into the land of rules and noise and over-stimulation.
Marcia and Dan from Cutting Class – yes, retired teachers. Great boat name!!
And here we are flying . . . again.
Frank is showing off some of his dental work, two root canals later. This is the place we moved to last year after leaving Harrisburg. It feels like a vacation condo since we’ve spent so little time there. I still can’t find anything in the kitchen!
Ems VERY happy to be getting shuttled back to Eleanor Q after her “work” trip. Notice the lack of tan here.
An early morning departure from Vero Beach, FL.
Ems taking her turn at the helm.
A nice day of motor sailing on the ICW!
We had an audience watching us go under a bridge. I think the one in the middle looks a little judgmental. My sister Christine saw this picture and commented that that must be the “poop deck” they’re sitting on. You can always count on Christine for those witty observations!
We had a pre-dawn departure from Titusville in an attempt to make it to Daytona Beach around lunchtime.
And we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise!
And we are back to the land of draw bridges, too!
For all the highrise areas you see in Florida, you see at least as much of the ICW that looks like a wildlife preserve! It is beautiful. Can you spot the heron in this picture?
We got to see our friends Anne and Bob in Daytona again. Here we are checking out what we think was a loon! It certainly sounded like it. By the way, Anne does an amazing duck call just blowing through her fingers. No lie, ducks actually came!! I gotta learn how to do that.
And we have another feathered observer supervising our departure from the Halifax River Yacht Club in Daytona Beach – a really wonderful facility with the best staff.
Life Doesn’t Stop Just Because You Go Cruising: Hope Town and New Jersey
We arrived in Hope Town in the Abacos section of the Bahamas in mid-February and received a warm welcome from our friends Al and Michele on Kindred Spirit. They decided to make Hope Town their home for the winter and were based out of the lovely harbor since before Christmas. We called them on the radio as we were coming in and they came out and met us in their dinghy to be our pilot boat. They had reserved us a prime mooring ball next to their boat, then gave us an orientation to the town and fed us dinner. What better welcome could we get? They even took us racing with them on our 2nd full day . . . a light air “race” where, at times, we were doing as little as 2 knots. When you can sit and eat your sandwich and never flinch, it is a very slow, light air race!
Michele and Al from Kindred Spirit welcoming us to the harbor
Our Pilot boat leading us into Hope Town – the iconic light house.
Eleanor Q rolling in to Hope Town!
Our escorts showed us to a spot near their boat in the harbor.
Racing on Kindred Spirit
We had a nice evening at Firefly Restaurant and attended the beginning of the song writers festival.
Listening to music with Al and Michele, the ultimate hosts!
But I’m having a hard time talking about any of that very enthusiastically at this moment because we are preparing for a second trip (second for Ems, first for Frank) back to New Jersey. My brother-in-law, Frank, lost his battle with cancer this past Thursday and my sister, Christine, lost her husband. He was a wonderful man who loved our family immensely – and we loved him. He and my sister have housed and cared for a couple of us siblings through various stages of life – for jobs we had in the area, but more meaningful to me, they helped care for one of my sisters during her (successful) battle with breast cancer a number of years ago. Knowing that his end was nearing, I flew back to New Jersey for twelve days to be with family while “My” Frank stayed with the boat in Hope Town. (When you have multiple Franks in the family, you have to have these designations!)
Aerial view taking off from Marsh Harbour.
Aerial view of the frozen New Jersey coast.
In our family, we have often done “sister shifts” after surgeries or treatments or hospital stays – the advantage of having a large family. My sister, Caroline, has practically moved in with Christine and Frank during this period . . . I was able to come home and give her a little break, and other sisters have jumped in to help as well. Frank remained at home under hospice care until the end where he died peacefully with family at his side. He was a retired police chief in a suburb of Princeton, NJ and was beloved in the community. He had a certain brand of humor that was classic. When I was staying at their house several nights every month for work (back in the 90s), he would get home from work first, me second and Christine third. I would find him sitting on their bed watching the local news – their room kind of doubled as a living room, without that sounding weird. I would go plop down next to him on Christine’s side and watch the news with him . . . but his favorite line that never got old was when we’d hear Christine come in the door and he’d shout down to her, “Hi honey! I’m in bed with your sister again!” Christine and I would have been SO disappointed if he didn’t do that each time. Although he was born and raised in the Princeton area, he spent a LOT of time in Cape May during the summers. The two Franks have shared many stories about Layers Dutch Kitchen or people that they both know from Cape May.
Christine and Frank about 20 years ago.
Being a police officer and then chief was the great joy of his life (after my sister, of course!) He was the kind of police chief you wish they could clone. He was about integrity and his officers being role models in the community, and he totally demonstrated that. Good police work was critical, but on top of that, God forbid he caught his officers double parked somewhere in a non-emergency, or pulled up in a handicap spot, or not using their turn signals during a normal cruise through town! The whole department was expected to conduct themselves respectfully and professionally. The new police building in West Windsor Township is named for him in honor of his work in building the department over many, many years. When it was time for me to leave their home last week, I said, “Okay, Frank. I’m getting ready to go home now,” (trying my best to sound non-plussed about it and not break down.) He quietly answered, “Honey, your home is upstairs!” And that’s how he made us feel, always. I really didn’t set out to turn this into a blog about my brother-in-law, and yet I find I can’t help but write about him today.
Frank (MY Frank) stayed in Hope Town and took care of Eleanor Q, a difficult but necessary decision. There is an AMAZING community of people here and we love it here. So let me turn the subject now to more about our time here. Hope Town and the Abacos strike us as being a little more developed and civilized than the Exumas. There are more restaurants and resorts and nice homes here than the other areas we’ve been to, but it doesn’t feel overdeveloped or “too fancy” or obnoxiously commercial. It is lovely and fun and has been a great respite. It is higher on that “Outward Bound-Jimmy Buffet Scale” I’ve referred to before. It is also the perfect place to be able to leave the boat on a mooring ball and know it will be looked after.
Hope Town is very picturesque.
A sign we spotted along our walk.
Frank and I at the door step of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse, about to climb up.
My twin sister and I pose for a shot atop the lighthouse. What a view! (I LOVE this trick!) Eleanor Q is parked down there.
There is a true community of cruisers who stay here for a good part of the winter. They are kind and welcoming and help watch out for each other. Frank had a chance to meet and get to know many of them while he was holding down the fort here. We will fly home knowing that the boat will be fine sitting here for a week – there are so many watchful sets of eyes. Also, our water family on Magnolia arrived in Hope Town a couple of days ago and will keep an eye on Eleanor Q while we’re gone. It has been great to be reunited with them. We have also been reunited with the “B to B Fleet” or what is left of it. That is the group that we got to know in Bimini and did the overnight passage with to Nassau. What a lovely group and we’ve enjoyed being part of the fleet again for the past several days. Sadly, they will be moving on today.
Magnolia Coming in to Hope Town. We did the pilot boat service for them like Kindred Spirit did for us.
Walking on the beach with Annette and Anthony.
Last happy hour with the B to B Fleet: Mar-a-lago, Amaroni II, Magnolia . . Luna had already moved on.
So, we will board the plane on Monday and return to New Jersey to attend the service and to be with family again. I am so impressed and proud of my sister, Christine, for the grace and strength that she has shown through this period. She acknowledged that one of a handful of people who could really understand what she’s been going through is “my” Frank. It is not a good club to belong to, but he was able to talk with her on the phone and share what words of wisdom he could muster. We will return to Hope Town soon and continue our travels, heading back to the U.S. before the month is out. When we knew Frank (Cox) was not doing well in December, we hesitated to leave the country where travel back and forth would be much more challenging. When discussing that with my family, I can’t remember exactly how the conversation went down, but the message was something to the effect of “Frank will kick your asses if you don’t go!” He was very excited for us and our adventures. One day recently, I almost sent him a picture of our “skivvies” hanging outside to dry on the boat because I knew it would make him laugh . . . and because I like the term “skivvies” which I adopted from him! The world does not stop turning because you decide to jump on a boat and run away from life for a while. Life still happens. Family tragedies still happen. But the good news is that family ties don’t get any weaker with distance.
Leaving the Exumas: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
If you remember last post, we had enjoyed a two week “vacation” in George Town – our southernmost point in the Exumas. We started heading back north up the chain, retracing some of our steps. We ended up back with some of our buddies from the “B to B Fleet” – the group we had ended up with in Bimini and who we traveled with when we did our overnight crossing from Bimini to Nassau. It was good to reunite and we traveled up the coast from George Town with three of the fleet: Amaroni II, Mar-a-Lago and Luna. It was fun chatting with them on the radio and traveling in a pack again. They stopped in Little Farmer’s Cay while we went on to Black Point Settlement. We had sped through Black Point the first time, so we looked forward to exploring a little more this time. We spent four days there and got more acquainted with some of the local businesses and people. We found Black Point to be extremely cruiser friendly, helpful, service-oriented and welcoming. That was the good part of our visit. Ida at the laundromat is the best. It is the cleanest place you’ll find to do laundry anywhere, and it is large for these parts. She runs a great business and now trims hair (which both of us took advantage of).
Frank getting a trim from Ida. The best view from any barber chair!
We bought beautiful bread off of Lorraine’s mother of Lorraine’s Cafe fame. We had fun chatting with some movers and shakers of Black Point while sitting in Scorpio Bar and Restaurant. Another evening we enjoyed a great Happy Hour there with part of the B to B fleet (hey Brian, Jane, Bruce and Claude!). But not everything about our visit was good. We stayed there for four days. We were only going to stay for one or two. But not so fast . . .
Storm clouds were brewing in Black Point . . . figuratively speaking.
Let’s me see if I can take you through the good, the bad and the ugly:
– Bad: our dinghy engine started giving us fits again right before leaving George Town.
– Good: Met up with our friends Bert and Prue on Exuberant and had a lovely evening with them on their boat. Discovered that they have the same dinghy engine and have had similar issued. The two men pow-wowed. Also met up with a couple on Sans Cles who we’d been wanting to get more acquainted with since we have mutual friends and had met briefly at the gam in Annapolis. We had a great chat with them, and they have the same dinghy engine. The two men pow-wowed.
On our way to Exuberant for sundowners. I didn’t MEAN to cover up Frank’s face! I think it was best at that moment, he was saying bad things about the outboard engine.
– Ugly: after many hours of maintenance, dinghy engine still not cooperating. After the engine stalled just as we got to the dinghy dock, upon finishing our errands, we started paddling back to the boat (which wasn’t too far), but . . .
This outboard is dead to us!
Good: A couple came by in their dinghy to see if we needed a tow. I loved how they asked. They said, “Are you rowing because you WANT to or would you rather not be rowing?” That cracked me up. We said it was not by choice, and they took our line and towed us the rest of the way. Come to find out it was a couple that we’d been keeping an eye out for, and they for us, because we have a mutual friend! THAT was a small world moment when we discovered the connection as we approached the boat!
Ugly: While Frank was doing some preventative engine maintenance, he discovered that our raw water pump was about to go. What that meant is that the engine couldn’t be run until we had a new one installed . . . and we’re sitting at an out island in the Exumas with not much around us . . . no marine stores . . . nor marinas . . . no mechanics. Yikes. STUCK!
Really good: He discovered it while we were sitting still. If that thing goes while you’re underway, your engine overheats and comes to a dead stop which could happen at a most inopportune moment, and that could be really, really, really ugly.
Bad: Of all the spare parts we have on board, a raw water pump isn’t one.
We started weighing all of our options including the possibility of heading to Nassau strictly under sail, only turning the engine on at the end to dock . . . which we ended up not needing to do, but we considered it.
Good: One of the B to B Fleet knew that others had had boat parts flown in to Staniel Cay Yacht Club (7 miles away) from Ft. Lauderdale. YES! Thank you for that key information, Brian and Jane!!!!! So,
EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD: We found a marine store in Ft. Lauderdale who had the pump we needed. Then, (after charging us an arm and a leg) drove the part to the hangar where Watermakers Air flies from. It was on the next flight in the morning straight to Staniel Cay Yacht Club . . . and the Yacht Club has a boat that goes to Black Point every evening, and our part was on that boat. We discovered the problem at 10am on Friday morning and had a part in our hands at the dock at 5:30 on Saturday afternoon in the middle of the Exumas. I can’t tell you how amazing and unbelievable that is. The flying/shipping part of the whole deal was only $65 which we thought was incredibly reasonable under the circumstances!
Frank had to improvise something to use as a vise.
Really good: Frank successfully installed the water pump on Sunday after many hours of grunting, bleeding, bruising and frustrations. We fired up the engine and were filled with glee when we saw the water pumping out of the engine!!!!
REALLY, REALY UGLY: Not sixty seconds later did we discover that the alternator was no longer working . . . a very unhappy moment on Eleanor Q. The alternator was removed to put the water pump on and should have just slid back on, plugged back in and functioned . . . but it did not function. It was a crushing blow.
Good: The engine can still run without the alternator, but –
Bad: Because you lose some important functions like charging your batteries while you’re underway (important, as they run your navigation station tools like GPS, radar, depth finder, etc.) We have backups . . . solar panels help charge, and we have a generator permanently installed. There are ways to work around it for a while, but an alternator is an important piece of equipment that you don’t want to lose. Basically, we ran the generator while we were underway. The generator is located in a cabinet in the middle of the cockpit, so running both the main engine and generator at the same time basically renders you deaf by the end of two hours.
Good: Lots of people tried to help. Frank set about trouble shooting the problem. Jim from Kismet came over to help trouble shoot (after already having to tow us in the dinghy!). Frank got on the radio with other cruisers on the morning nets and THEY helped to trouble shoot. Mike Gozzard, the boat builder, tried to trouble shoot the problems via email.
Bad: Nothing worked. We needed professional help. So, we set off for an unexpected trip back to Nassau. In addition, Frank had been fighting a tooth ache. We decided it was time to go to the “big city” to get some of our issues resolved once and for all.
Good: We stopped back at the Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells for the night on the way and met up with our friends Anna and Corky on Kabria. They made us a delightful dinner and gave us respite for the night . . . and a ride back and forth between our boats! They were heading south, we were heading north, and this was our point of intersection. We had met them this summer in Newport and have stayed in touch ever since.
Corky and Anna on Kabria waving goodbye as we leave Warderick Wells before sunrise.
Leaving Warderick at dawn – park office in the light.
Good: We left at dawn the next morning and had a beautiful motor sail for nine hours, ending up in a slip in Nassau Harbor Club Marina. We quickly set to work lining up a mechanic and a dentist.
Good: The dentist took Frank the next day. A filling had fallen out and they were able to replace it on the spot.
Really good: We decided to stop fighting with the dinghy engine since the parts we needed to fix it were not readily available . . . we packed the engine away and will refurb it back in the states and SELL IT!!! Meanwhile, we purchased a new dinghy engine in Nassau . . . six more horse power and eight less pounds, to boot! We couldn’t let the dinghy be the root of ruining the rest of our winter. You have to have a reliable dinghy.
Passing by Paradise Island . . . again.
Great: Frank figured out the problem with the alternator BEFORE a mechanic came! It was a large fuse right on the battery bank. He had checked other little fuses, but not this one since he thought that if a large fuse had blown it would have sparked, popped, arced or something. No sign. It was Mike Gozzard that thought of it. And, THAT was a spare part we had on board. Popped that puppy right in, fired up the engine and we had a working alternator again! Great day in the morning!
Particularly good: Coming to Nassau meant I got to see my friends, the Rolle family, again! We had a really lovely lunch with them at the Poop Deck . . . Mr. and Mrs. Rolle and daughter Sharrie came down. That made me happy.
Lunch With the Rolles
So the little boat, the big boat and the captain are all fully functional again and we’ve set off for the Abacos. We left Nassau Harbor yesterday morning and arrived in the little harbor at Royal Island on the tip of Eleuthra about seven hours later. The morning started out with an exciting ride through the cut from the shallower harbor water to the ocean . . . let’s just say I had never seen the bow IN the waves before, but that part only lasted for about ten minutes and then things got progressively calmer as the wind died out throughout the day.We will make our way into the Abacos and arrive in Hope Town in the next few days where we hope to resume some more vacation mode and move the score up the Outward Bound-Jimmy Buffet Scale closer back to an 8 or 9 and away from the 2 – 4 range that has been for the last nine days. It’s just part of cruising. Every boat we talk to shares similar stories. It is part of what comes with it. Your home floats and is exposed to the elements and takes a beating and requires ongoing maintenance. All part of our first year learnings!
Onward and upward to The Abacos!
Our hope for Hope Town: More Good, Less Bad, No Ugly.
P.S. Since the previous portion was written, we have arrived in Hope Town and are loving it. We have gotten the Red Carpet welcome from some cruising friends who have been here since December. More on that in the next post.
Our Southernmost Point – George Town, Exumas
Our geographical goal was to sail from Northeast Harbor in Maine to George Town in the southern Exuma Islands in the Bahamas. Check. Done. Completed. Another mile stone! We got to the southernmost point in our trip and have turned around to head back north again. That almost makes me sad to write it. We knew this year would go fast, and no kidding on that! But was George Town really going to BE our southernmost point????
We actually got there a couple of weeks earlier than we thought we might! We were amazed! A day after we arrived, I started making noises . . . hey – we’ve got more time than we expected. Let’s go a little further south!! Let’s move out of the Exumas and go to Long Island (seriously, there’s a Long Island). And then we started talking with our traveling buddies and someone suggested , “Hey, then let’s go further east to Conception; it’s not that far!” All of the sudden, it seemed like we shouldn’t limit ourselves to George Town.
But other forces were at play…
1) We were ready for a vacation from cruising. Now, many people think that cruising IS a vacation! And there are moments that are idyllic and vacation-like. But I recently came up with the OB-JB Scale . . . the “Outward Bound – Jimmy Buffet Scale.” If you’re not familiar, Outward Bound is an organization that provides learning experiences in challenging outdoor environments that push you out of your comfort zone in order to build character and develop leadership skills. So I now rate days using this scale. One side isn’t better or worse, they are just different. So let’s call the extreme Outward Bound side a “1” and the extreme Jimmy Buffet side a “10”. (Those can also equate with more stress and less stress days). In these nine months of cruising, I think we’d probably say that 75% of the days are a 6 or below. It is mentally, physically and emotionally challenging and we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and each other. That is a wonderful outcome from this experience! And I’ve likely written more about the 25% than the 75% on this blog. That said, you need some 8s, 9s and 10s on the OB-JB Scale from time to time. Getting to George Town provided an opportunity to stop and enjoy life for a while and to take a real vacation, not just a long weekend.
Welcome to George Town!
Let me describe George Town. It is a fascinating place. While some cruisers consider it to be “the” destination, many other cruisers consider it anything BUT. Feelings are very split about the place. At the peak of the season, around 300 boats can be anchored at various points around Elizabeth Harbor, either on the “town” side or across the harbor off of Stocking Island. Some people will anchor there for the whole winter. An entire city of cruisers is created. Some people go there year after there, and so an informal hierarchy has even developed within the cruising community. Stocking Island is the main hub for congregating and activity for the cruisers. There are a few private homes and one resort on the island, but otherwise, it’s like hundreds of American, Canadian, French, British and Australian boaters got picked up and dropped around a private island. Every morning you can tune in to the “Net” on the VHF radio and hear a series of announcements about activities, classes, speakers, sports, basket weaving, etc. They’ve even formed their own Beach Church. There are committees (shudder). There are also lots and lots of helpful boaters, so if someone has a need, they announce it on the “net” and plenty of boaters respond with help at the ready. There are a core of cruisers who are committed to giving back to the George Town community and will hold fund raising events for the local schools, clean the beaches, clear the trails, so it isn’t a parasitic community, and it certainly helps the local economy. It’s a great place to have fun, but you’re going to have a limited Bahamian cultural experience since there are almost no Bahamians on Stocking island other than the ones who work there.
Here is the hub of activity . . . The Chat ‘n’Chill on Volleyball Beach. This is their iconic sign.
Oh, there are trips into town while you’re there to provision and to take advantage of the many services, so you can get a little taste of the culture while you’re on “that” side of the harbor, but few boats really stay on that side for any length of time.
St. Andrew’s Anglican-Episcopal Church in George Town. Beautiful!
A lovely view seen while walking through town.
Each boat has to decide if they like the environment or not. Some use the term “adult day care” to describe it. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be interested in being there more than three or four days. Frank was looking to stay put for longer than that. Similar discussions were taking place on Magnolia and Mandala, our traveling companions. What would happen? How long would we stay? Would we head south? Would we go back north? And suddenly, it was two weeks later. Yup, two weeks. Nearly every day we were there, the OB-JB scale showed an 8 or 9. Suddenly, we were playing volleyball on the beach, going to dances (okay, only one dance), hiking, snorkeling, meeting other cruisers, having dinner on friend’s boats every night and making music . . . we were on a two week VACATION! Frank mused that he has never taken a full two week vacation. We weren’t worried about the weather forecast . . . we weren’t poring over charts every night figuring out our next route . . . we weren’t losing sleep over the skinny cut we were going to have to go through the next day and when slack tide is. We were enjoying a little R&R. Frank, who bears the brunt of the mechanical and captaining responsibilities, was especially happy for the break. And suddenly we realized, we didn’t have all that extra time on our hands any more. Two weeks was – poof! – passed.
2) There were also the forces (heart strings) tugging at us to get closer to better internet and airport accessibility. Being so far away from family and with with limited connectivity isn’t easy and we’re ready to get closer to home. We’d gone far enough. We did what we set out to do. It was time to turn around.
This decision came with a price, too. Our compadres on M & M (Magnolia and Mandala . . . we had taken to calling to each other on the radio hailing the “M’s-Q Fleet”) had divergent plans (always had) once we got to George Town. Magnolia was staying in the area through at least the 23rd because friends were coming to visit. Mandala is hoping to keep heading south for a while longer. And so, the difficult day came when we said goodbye to our “water family” and started heading home. Can’t figure out why I’m having a hard time seeing the keyboard right now.
Bon voyage dinner on Magnolia with the Ms-Q Fleet.
Ron and Nancy – our last night together . . . for now.
Me taking a picture of Nancy taking a picture of Eleanor Q pulling out of George Town. Not an easy moment . . .
And so, we enjoyed two weeks of 8s, 9s and 10s on the OB-JB scale with our dear friends. Here are some of the highlights.
Annette at the front of the dinghy, Nancy driving for ladies day in town!
As we approached Eleanor Q, I was trying to figure out what I was looking at! Yup, Frank head down and feet in the air working on something in the dinghy…
Walking on the beach . . .
You’re never too old for a swing.
Do not adjust your set . . . you see correctly. That is Frank dancing with me!
Ladies on dance night!
The ladies’ hiked to the St. Francis Resort for lunch . . .
. . . where the guys met us by dinghy . .. and here they are drag racing in. Boys will be boys.
And then there was the Super Bowl Party on Eleanor Q. The Seahawks side of the room was attempting to do the wave.
Not a bad place to sit a spell.
Voyages of the Eleanor Q 