General Posts About Travels | Voyages of the Eleanor Q

Oct

Back Home on the Chesapeake Bay

“Back home” is such an interesting term for us at this point. Where is home? When people ask us “Where are you from,” we stumble and stutter . . . it’s not a simple answer. Is home where we grew up? Frank called New Jersey home for the first 47 years of his life. There is a part of him that will always call that home. I grew up in WV but have moved around a good bit since then. I spent 15 years living in NJ, but that was a different time and life. Although we have moved our stuff into a little place in New Jersey and have lots of family there, that doesn’t exactly feel like our home . . . we’ve barely slept there 20 nights total. Harrisburg, PA was most recently our home, but we don’t live or work there any more. So right now, home is on the boat. And the place where Eleanor Q called home for the last four years is the Chesapeake Bay . . . and her hailing port is Annapolis, so that feels as much like home to us as anywhere right now. I guess that explains why we feel a little like we’re coming home this week.

Home is where the boat is . . .

And, home is where the heart is. Frank happy to be with his three children: Frank, Andrea and Nicole.

After a wonderful visit in NJ with family (who we miss very much) and friends, and two weeks of a big, comfy bed and long hot showers, it was time to hit the road again (so to speak). We set out on a beautiful day with the goal of getting to the bay as quickly as possible. We didn’t leave Longport, NJ until September 24th and wanted to make it to the Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam south of Annapolis by Thursday the 26th so we really needed to make tracks! We had a very nice sail down the NJ coast and anchored up in Cape May overnight. Unlike our big tour of Cape May in June, we never even touched land in Cape May this time – just anchored overnight and left early the next morning to catch the perfect combination of the tide going up the Delaware Bay and then the current in the C&D Canal. It timed out just perfectly! It was quite a long day, but we got 80 miles under our belts and settled in Still Pond in Maryland for the night. Both of us had the same reaction to being there: our shoulders felt a little bit lighter and everything suddenly seemed more relaxed and peaceful. The bay generally has that effect on us.

Goodbye Longport and Seaview Harbor Marina!

A beautiful sail down the NJ coastline – the “skylights” are a new addition which allow us to keep our canvas up and see the sails – a BIG improvement in comfort underway.

Anchored up in Cape May with many other boats heading south.

Ems behind the wheel at 8am with an unexpected 18 knots of wind. Clearly looking in need of more of the coffee sitting next to her!

Going through the C&D canal was, once again, a non-event . . . although we had lots more company than in June, but only small boats like ourselves. No tankers!

Frank teaches Ems the term “sun dog.” It’s a mini- rainbow kind of thing. See to the right of the sun . . . that’s a sun dog. Try to find something prettier – I double sun dog dare you!

Red at night was certainly our delight in Still Pond.

The next day we hoofed it right on down to the Rhode River, another long but wonderful day. It was very exciting when we caught our first sight of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge again for the first time in several months!

Looking at the Bay Bridge again! A familiar sight.

We love this view of the bridge!

Frank has found that, while I’m at the helm and conditions are calm, he likes to do boat chores. There were OH so many things I could have done to him at this moment, but I resisted the urge . . .

We anchored up with nearly 80 other boats to attend the gam. It was fun to reunite with friends that we made from last years’ gam and great to make some new friends as well! I was even reunited with my former neighbor, Kate, from Hellertown, PA from more than 10 years ago! She has married a sailor as I did and they are talking about cruising to the Bahamas! She and I laughed: if anyone had told either one of us what we’d be doing in 2013, we wouldn’t have believed it! Life has funny twists and turns. Why I didn’t get a picture with her is beyond me. If only I was traveling with someone who could operate a camera . . .

We attended seminars given by seasoned cruisers on a whole host of topics. We are now more well versed on going to the Exumas in the Bahamas and traversing the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)on our way through the southern US coast. I met a remarkable woman at the gam last year who I got to visit with again this year: Margaret Roth. Margaret is a tiny little woman in her 90s who comes up to about my chin. She and her husband lived together on their boat cruising the world for more than 30 years! Her husband authored a number of books on sailing and I bought one and asked her to inscribe it for me. During a panel discussion, a group of accomplished woman sailors (including Margaret) was asked, “What is the worst thing that happened to you on board?” Mostly the answers were, “You know, nothing really bad has happened.” There was a health scare or a particularly bad storm mentioned. Margaret took the mic and chimed in with her very scratchy voice, and in a non-plussed, matter of fact, British manner answered, “Well, there was the time we were shipwrecked off of Cape Horn . . . ” It was priceless. Why I didn’t get a picture with her I’ll never know. If only I could get my hands on a photographer . . .

The opening night dinghy raft up at the SSCA Gam. I borrowed the picture from Michele who borrowed it from a friend . . .

Gam Friends from left to right: We met Anthony and Annette from Magnolia last year. They are in their first two weeks of cruising! They introduced us to Al and Michele on Kindred Spirit (which they are) and last year A&A introduced us to Dudley and Cheryl who came with us on a test drive of our Gozzard since they are in the market. Cheryl is my #1 blog supporter! (after my sister)

Gam Friends from left to right: We met Anthony and Annette from Magnolia last year. They are in their first two weeks of cruising! We have enjoyed getting to know them very much. They introduced us to Al and Michele on Kindred Spirit (which they are) and last year A&A introduced us to Dudley and Cheryl who came with us on a test drive of our Gozzard since they are in the market. Cheryl is my #1 blog supporter! (after my sister) What a truly wonderful group of compadres.

Then we headed to one of our favorite places on earth: Oxford, MD. We love it so much we got married there aboard Eleanor Q more than two years ago. We came around the corner happy to find “our spot” in the anchorage unoccupied and spent a great few days at anchor. We were thrilled to find our new friends on Kindred Spirit from the gam anchored just across from us! Then another boat from the gam showed up and a mini-gam was born! We had “date night” our first night there – we always like to go back to the restaurant at the Robert Morris Inn where we had our after wedding dinner! It is a splurge when we are in Oxford, but one we can never resist. So you might think, “Why do you need date night when you’re sailing around alone together every day? Isn’t every day date night?” Well, here’s the criteria for it to be considered a date night: a)we both shower, b)Frank puts something on other than his dirty relaxed cut jeans that make him look like Farmer Jim, c)we don’t do our cheap cruiser calculating when we order our food and actually get a bottle of wine with dinner, d)I actually wear my hair down and attempt to make it look like something. If I’m feeling real sumthin’ sumthin’, I put on some mascara and a little lip gloss just to be sassy, d) we have an actual conversation over our meal and it takes us more than 7 minutes to eat it. And THAT, my friends, is date night! I manage to coerce Frank into one every couple of months.

A cleaned up Ems . . . nice to feel a little girly from time to time. Almost forgot how!

Awwww . . . isn’t he handsome?

Tuesday we went crabbing. Our friends from Kindred Spirit took shots of the action. We take about 10 floats (water bottles and mixed nut jars), wrap twine around them for a line, put a weighted hook on the end to hold the raw chicken, and zip around in the dinghy dropping our “buoys” about 30 feet apart. Let those puppies soak for a few minutes and then it’s time to start checking the lines. The net and bucket are at the ready for our catches, and after about 3.5 hours we had 15 LARGE crabs ready to serve up for dinner to our boat neighbors! Frank is the finest crab steamer around . . . a big pot with water, beer and old bay. Yum. He is also a good coach on the most expedient way to clean a crab – Granny taught him! (who was THE Eleanor Q, by the way.)

Crabbing in the anchorage in Oxford.

Here we are casting our crab line apparatus. Very high tech!

Crab Fest! Michele’s photos . . . and tomatoes and quinoa salad, for that matter! Rob and Karen brought an outstanding tuna dip. Cruisers are experts at the pot luck dinner.

The next day we took advantage of the bike rentals and had a little picnic lunch at the park beside the Methodist Church in town looking out over the water. By the way, thank you to the United Methodist Church of Oxford for the beautiful chimes that play every day at noon and 6:00pm. I’ll hum along and Frank will say, “Do you know that one?” And I’ll say, “It’s a Methodist Church . . . I’ll know ANYTHING they play!” There was a funny moment during our bike ride . . . it’s not going to SOUND funny, but it really was, so hear it the right way. We rode around the Oxford cemetery which overlooks the anchorage where EQ was parked. Neither one of us has any intention of being buried in an actual plot (not that we discuss it much, mind you, other than Frank saying “Put my ashes in a coffee can and throw me in the dumpster.”) We toured the whole place admiring how well kept it was and looking at the view. As we pedaled down the long road out, Frank looked at me and said, “You know, I don’t want to be buried in a cemetery, but if I did, this wouldn’t be a bad one to be in.” I laughed out loud and said, “I was thinking the EXACT same thing!” Great minds . . . I know, that’s weird humor.

Picnic at the park . . .

Frank looking over at Eleanor Q in the anchorage

As much as we love Oxford, Frank had a major setback there, however. . . the Highland Creamery (home of the finest ice cream) was closed for mid-week. He is still under treatment for depression from the incident. He had to make do with other ice cream options – and he did. Actually, on Monday we thought the Creamery was going to be open and planned to hit it on our way back to the boat . . . we had walked to the little market in town and while I was grocery shopping, Frank went to the ice cream counter inside the store and got a cone. Here’s the conversation that followed:

Ems -“Didn’t you just go online and see that the Creamery is open today?”

Frank – “Yes.”

Ems – “So when were you thinking we were going there? It’s not open tomorrow.”

Frank (with half eaten ice cream cone in hand) – “When we leave here. DUH!”

Yeah, I know . . . what was I thinking? Who wouldn’t have ice cream with an ice cream chaser? Especially if you’re Frank Quigley. Duh indeed. Unfortunately, the website lied and the creamery was closed until the end of the week. He’s nearly over it now, but it was a rough go.

This was actually the following day – Frank now brings his own spoon and goes to the freezer section of a store when there are no ice cream stores around – a technique he learned from a fellow cruiser.

Downtown Oxford

By the way – for those who saw June’s picture of Frank’s “catch” – this would be the scene of the crime, otherwise known as where he “caught” the striper. Just sayin’ . . .

Another nice evening with boat neighbors, a good nights’ sleep and we were underway to our next Bay destination. Until next spring, Oxford! It’s good to be home on the bay.

Sep

From New York to New Jersey

Once again I/we are woefully behind on posting, so as a quick update before sharing the past few weeks . . . we have been back in NJ at our new home base seeing family and friends. We also participated in the ALS walk in Ocean City – an annual event which brings friends and family together from all over. It was a great event and one that is SO important to Frank each year. It also serves as somewhat of a family reunion for Frank – and all three of his children were in town this year which made him (and me) very happy. We are now back in the Chesapeake Bay for a while enjoying our former home turf . . . but before we got to all of that, we still had to make it back from Rhode Island through New York to New Jersey. We left off with our stormy stay in Point Judith. From there we headed south towards NJ. As people ask us what some of our favorite “moments” have been in the last three months, one of the highlights is certainly this last leg that took us down the Long Island Sound into the East River and through New York City. But before we got to THAT moment, we’ll share the very cool re-visit to one of our favorite stops: Shelter Island, NY. After leaving Point Judith, we took a long day to get back to Derring Harbor in Shelter Island, one of our favorite (and unexpected) stops in July on our way up the coast. We visited with our “Gozzard cousins,” once again being treated to their hospitality and graciousness. This time around, our friends conspired ahead of time to get me (Ems) out sailing on their Herreshoff doughdish sailboat. Frank keeps telling me that I need to get on a small sailboat to really feel the wind and understand it at a different level than I can sailing on a larger, more forgiving vessel! Our friends agreed and so had decided to get me out for just such an experience. And so, Frank stayed behind and worked on boat projects and my Herreshoff Captain took me out for a lesson!

Ems’ sailing lesson! What’s a tiller?

So cool!!!!

After enjoying another meal and musical jam session at their house, it was time for us to push on towards our home turf via the Long Island Sound. After an early start and a rough/choppy first hour of wind vs. current (not a good combination), we made it around the corner through Plum Gut (a notoriously tricky cut between pieces of land that has strong currents, traffic and shoaling) before heading down the Long Island Sound with beautiful conditions – perfect wind and lobster pot free!! We enjoyed the best sail we had had in weeks!

The lighthouse at Plum Gut

Sailing at last!

Our destination that day was Port Jefferson. We found a great place in the anchorage there and enjoyed a restful evening. Our welcoming committee was a male swan that Frank promptly named “Bubba.” (By the way – Frank names most any animal “Bubba” if he doesn’t know their actual name.) I will do a whole separate post about Bubba and his antics, but the short story is that Frank had Bubba eating out his hand in short order.

Frank and Bubba

After a restful night, we had another early morning departure . . . and saw the remnants of an event that had taken place after we had come into the harbor the prior evening. You never want this to be your boat . . . but it happens.

Don’t you just hate when this happens?

So off we went down Long Island Sound headed to New York City. Now you have to understand – I had some trepidation about taking this route at all. So true confessions here: New York just makes me uncomfortable. I love the idea of New York. I love what it represents for us as a country. But New York and I have a rocky history. I have been in the Big Apple on a number of occasions over the years. I even interviewed for an HR job at one of the big, fancy hotels back in the mid 90s when my first marriage was going south. I have dealt with a taxi scam, a near robbery in Central Park and a chalk outline on the sidewalk beside my car in the morning after visiting a friend (you know, the kind where the body was laying a couple of hours earlier.) Frank had entertained a number of customers back in his Atlantic City days and always enjoyed his trips to the city pretty episode-free. My “episodes” in the city all happened when I was in my 20s and 30s, so I figured I was past all of that when I accepted a consulting gig there in 2001 in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 54th floor of Tower 2 about 8 days a month for about a 9 month period. The last day of my contract was July 6nd, 2001. You do the math . . . I harbor a lot of mixed feelings about the place. So when I thought about the idea of sailing right through the heart of it all, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Frank had even coached me to have an attitude adjustment about the trip. I almost wanted to bag it and go back out in the Atlantic and do another long passage to get home. But after much discussion, we decided that New York was the way to go – and I managed to embrace the idea and get into the spirit of the trip. What we did not expect was the overwhelming feeling of excitement and pride that we felt as we cruised through the city on a spectacularly clear and sunny day. All the corny lines that you hear in songs about New York kept coming to mind during the trip . . . the city that never sleeps being the one that I kept hearing the most. The place was just throbbing with energy and activity in every direction! Ferries, mega yachts, skyscrapers, airplanes, helicopters, water taxis, sky writing planes . . . it was 90 minutes of constant action . . . it was truly sensory overload!! And from a navgtional standpoint, there’s an awful lot going on! There’s mega boat traffic and currents to contend with and two rivers coming together to create eddies at “Hell Gate.” There isn’t much more to say about it than that: let’s just let the pictures do the talking!

Throgs Neck Bridge, one of many bridges we passed under.

I was taking a picture of the plane flying over when I realized there was a skywriter publicizing a new restaurant! When was the last time you saw a sky writer??

We were watching planes landing at LaGuardia right next to the tennis center where the US Open was being played at that moment which is all right next to Rikers Island!

Look closely - there's a tram going across the bottom of the bridge!

Look closely – there’s a tram going across the top of the bridge! Really??

The captain is trying to navigate and take it all in!

The United Nations Building with the Chrysler building peeking out from behind.

The Empire State Building appears!

The Brooklyn Bridge

A look at the new World Trade Tower nearly completed.

A look at the new 1 World Trade Center nearly completed.

Helicopters fly overhead nonstop!

All we could keep saying was, “Wow!”

Okay, the other thing that we kept saying was, “This is UNBELIEVABLY COOL!”

The water taxi is a popular mode of transportation. We made this trip on a Saturday which meant that, as busy as it was, it would have been far more hectic on a week day!

And then we cruised right by the Statue of Liberty.

The Verrazano Narrows

And a final look over our shoulders at the skyline! Whew!We then cruised past Coney Island, one of the options for anchoring for the night, but decided to push on to Sandy Hook, NJ.

I don’t often use the word “awesome,” but this was truly an AWESOME day in the truest sense of the word and we were awestruck.

A lighthouse on the way to Sandy Hook . . . Frank finally got to take a breather and let Ems take the wheel for a bit.

We anchored in Sandy Hook, totally spent from our overwhelming day!

We settled in at anchor in Sandy Hook. The next day was going to be a long passage, and again, our timing was based on wind forecasts and the time of day we wanted to arrive in Little Egg Harbor Inlet in Longport, NJ – our base of operations when we’re at “home base” in NJ. We we had the next day to relax and rest before leaving at 4pm for our 16 hour trip down the coast. And while we were enjoying time in the cockpit, look who came around the corner! Why, just a lil’ old aircraft carrier, that’s who!! It was carrier #5. We were able to look it up and see that it is one of the “small” carriers that is especially for harriers and helicopters. This ship was also one of the first to respond after Katrina as it can be used as a mobile hospital unit as well.

Look who’s coming around the corner!!

Around 4:00 in the afternoon, we departed for our overnight trip down the coast. Now my second time down the coast overnight, I knew a little more what to expect. As with the first time, there were exceptionally inspiring moments and exceptionally nerve wracking ones as well. Sunrise and sunset are always amazing on the water – those are the great moments. The number of stars you see (since the moon set very early that night) is beyond words. We took approximately 2 hour watches early on which then spread to 3 hour watches overnight. As with the last time, the first hour of real dark threw me (Ems) for a complete loop. What a feeling of disorientation! But after that adjustment is made, it is kind of magical (although I’ll still opt for daylight when given a choice.) The forecast had called for winds to pick up after dark, but we had let the reef out of our sail early on since the strong winds were not there yet. Quick review: reefing your sails means you don’t have the full sail unfurled so you don’t get overpowered with heavy wind. There is an expression that if you’re wondering if you should reef your sail, you’ve already waited too long. We proved that again. Let me say that this was never dangerous – just unnerving for the inexperienced crew member! I was at the helm and Frank was still in the cockpit with me but attempting to get a nap. The wind had been building and I had been hanging in there with the growing wind, the growing seas and our increasing speed. (It WAS nice to be making our destination more quickly!) And then the wind was just a little too much and I experienced the phenomenon of losing the ability to steer the boat. We were heeling like crazy and I couldn’t fall off! (turn away from the wind.) I know when I need help and I yelped a clear, loud yelp which got Frank to leap up out of his light slumber to see what I needed. The sailors reading this are now going, “Well duh, Mary Marie! Just head it up into the wind if you have to to depower the boat!” Yeah – I know that now, thank you! It just makes such an awful racquet when you do that and it just feels wrong. But I get it . . . lesson learned. Frank quickly did just that – enough to get us back under control . . . and then I headed the boat directly into the wind while he reefed the sails. After that, the ride was a lot less harrowing and a lot more comfortable. That got my heart beating! But all of those moments are good learning and provide me with more experience. I’m just going to keep repeating that to myself several more times until I actually believe it.

Here are some of the beautiful moments of dusk and dawn.

A new moon at sunset over the Jersey Coast.

Well I WAS sleeping until the flash went off in my face, thank you very much. A most cruel man he is. (I guess I had it coming to me . . . I’ve taken some pretty mean pictures of him at times.)

Frank looking at the first light of dawn over the ocean.

We sailed all night and cruised past Atlantic City in the early morning, arriving in Longport and back to Seaview Harbor Marina around 10am where we would park Eleanor Q for the next two weeks. And so the first “segment” of our adventure comes to an end. We made it to Maine and back – over 1,000 miles! We have spent time reflecting on our major learnings in our first three months and here are some of our key takeaways: a) you don’t have as much time as you think you do to see and do everything you thought you would, b) it is HARD WORK between boat maintenance, dealing with weather issues and just the physical demands of operating the boat, and c) there’s nowhere else we’d rather be right now. It is every bit as cool and stimulating and challenging and fun as we thought it would be.

After a few weeks back in the Chesapeake, we’ll spend the next few months on “segment 2” – going down the southeast coast of the U.S. before our leap to the Bahamas this winter. We’ll keep you posted!! Thanks for riding along with us.

Sep

In and Out of Newport, Rhode Island

After passing through the Cape Cod Canal and anchoring in the harbor at Onset, Mass., we were off to an early start to make our trip to Newport. There is some back and forth about which is the bigger sailing/boating center: Newport or Annapolis. At great risk, that will be commented on later.

Coffee and an early morning start to Newport

We arrived in Newport right at the start of the Labor Day Weekend. We generally try to avoid the popular places on holidays, but we needed to get moving towards NJ and the wind forecast was the major driver in our choice of destination, plus we really wanted to see Newport! So holiday or not, we decided to go for it. It was a fun weekend with lots of boat “eye candy” to observe. It also turned into quite a social weekend with other cruisers.

First of all, Newport Harbor is HUGE! And even before getting completely into the harbor, we started to get a flavor of Newport from the boats in the area and the mansions on the shore. Newport was a big hangout for the Vanderbilts and other families of that ilk and there are a number of historic mansions that are open for public tours. Although we did not do any of the tours, we did pass them as we came in to the harbor.

A gorgeous 12 meter sailing vessel . . . the classic that was raced in the America’s Cup in the past.

A fine example of the mansions of Newport.

Another major landmark at the entrance to the harbor is Fort Adams. The fort is now a state park that hosts the famous Newport Jazz Festival among many other major festivals. But the fort has an interesting history. The first version was built in 1799 and was used during the War of 1812. After that war, it was decided that a newer and larger fort was needed and the “new and improved” Fort Adams was built (completed) in 1857. The fort served in five major wars: Mexican-American, the Civil War, Spanish-American, WWI and WWII – but it never fired an angry shot.

I found it particularly interesting (because of our affiliation to Annapolis) that, during the Civil War, the War Department was concerned about the political sympathies of Marylanders, so the Naval Academy was relocated to Fort Adams from Annapolis for a period of time until after the war. In 1976 the fort was declared a National Historic Landmark and in 2012 the park was the official venue for the America’s Cup World Series. We passed the fort a number of times. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

The historic and stately Fort Adams in Newport

We spent a good part of the weekend just walking all over town and seeing the sights. Here are a few of our stops along the way . . .

Downtown Newport

A classic intersection

We enjoyed visiting the Tennis Hall of Fame

Tennis anyone? There is a club and courts at the Hall of Fame

One of the displays at the Tennis Hall of Fame. By the way – Chris Evert has little teeny feet! We didn’t see her feet; just her shoes.

We made a visit to the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS). There are all types of old wooden boats throughout the facility that are being worked on, but the MAJOR project housed at the school is the restoration of the old wooden sailing schooner Coronet. The Coronet was originally built in 1885. At 131 feet, it is one of the oldest and largest schooner yachts in the world. She had an auspicious career as a transatlantic racer and global cruiser. In 1905, a religious organization called “The Kingdom” purchased the ship for $10,000 and took it around the world on prayer missions. The Kingdom owned the boat until 1995 when the IYRS acquired her and began a complete restoration of the vessel. Walking around the “bones” and looking at every article that was taken out of the boat, carefully cataloged and hung nearby is breathtaking. I can’t even imagine how many years this project will take, but we’ll be interested to see the final product when it’s finished!

Here is the giant fishbone that is the Coronet right now.

We continued our walk around town hitting one or two shops. Frank was on a mission to get a better wet suit option for colder temperatures (following our trip to Maine!). Here he is trying on a hooded wetsuit vest . . . I felt compelled to snap a shot. I know . . . nice of me.

The Irish Spiderman . . .

Then we walked around the docks and boat yards. Oh my goodness . . . the boats, the size of the boats, the size of the boat lifts!

Compare boat size to me and the Smart Car parked beside it. That’s a whole lotta boat!

And when you have to get a really big boat out of the water, you need a really big lift!

One example of the eye candy . . .

And then as we were driving the dinghy around the docks, Frank spotted this vessel. A fishing boat from Cape May!! Frank worked for a Captain who now owns this fleet of boats. We never could find anyone on it to talk to.

And then as we were driving the dinghy around the docks, Frank spotted this vessel that he recognized – a fishing boat from Cape May!! Frank worked for a Captain whose son owns this boat. We never could find anyone on it to talk to. They were parked for the weekend and the crew had gone ashore. Too bad.

On Sunday there was a Wooden Boat Regatta. The festivities began with a boat parade around the harbor. We had a front row seat for it in our cockpit!

Wooden Boat Regatta Parade

Also on the agenda for Sunday . . . the ever dreaded trip to the laundry. Ugh. But wait! There is a pretty new Mariners Facility in Newport right off of one of the piers . . . it is the lower level of an old church and it has brand new laundry/shower/lounge facilities. It was SPOTLESS. And more amazing than that, it was EMPTY!!!!! Oh yeah, baby – had the whole laundry to myself! I was so excited, I had to take a picture.

Laundry in the Mariners Facility – 5 Stars!

In our travels to the pier, we ran into another couple who we had met twice and had drinks with once in Maine!! Also that morning, we heard a dinghy approach the boat and a voice call out, “Ahoy Eleanor Q!” It was a man from a boat that we hear on the “nets” on the radio every morning. He recognized our boat name from the net and thought he’d stop and say hello! Long story short, a cocktail party was born for that evening and our new friends from Exuberant and Kabria joined us and shared snacks, beverages and good company!

New Friends come aboard

Great camaraderie in the cruising community!

So after a pleasant couple of days in cloudy Newport, we planned our getaway for Monday morning. We arose at one of those hours that I don’t particularly care for and set off for our next port . . . but not so fast. As we pulled out of the harbor and said goodbye to Fort Adams, we noticed light gray smoke mixed in the engine exhaust. That is never a good thing. We slowed down and pondered our next move. Do we keep going? Do we turn around? We let the engine run for a while longer and Frank did some initial trouble shooting. After weighing the options, the smart decision was to return to Newport. There are few places that have more services for boaters in the world . . . so why would we not figure out the problem there. So back we went past Fort Adams (again) and dropped the anchor. I think Fort Adams was smirking. Argh! The captain/chief engineer set to doing some more troubleshooting. We thought we found the problem . . . and thought we had solved it, but by the time that was accomplished, it was too late to catch the favorable current that day. Okay – let’s stay put and enjoy a quiet afternoon on the boat, which we did.

The next morning – again at an obscene time of day – we set off again. We passed the very smug Fort Adams, waved goodbye and went on our way . . . for a minute . . . when the smoke reappeared. NOOOOOO!!!! We turned around, flipped the bird at Fort Adams (which I now think was laughing at us), and came back to anchor again.( Okay, I didn’t really flip it the bird, but I thought about it.) Certain we were going to need a mechanic, we left messages all over the place and waited for the return calls to come. Meanwhile, the trusty captain/chief engineer went at it again. And God bless him, he found the rest of the problem in fairly short order and we were off!! We looked at Fort Adams with mistrust and bid it goodbye a final time. Just for spite, the fog set in right about at that moment. I think the fort had something to do with it.

For those who might be saying, “Yeah, but what was the problem????” … let’s just say that the air filter looked like it came out of a coal mine in West Virginia and I could have made a lovely salad with the stuff that came out of the engine strainer. The engine was being deprived of air and water and it was not very pleased about it. We had checked the strainers not long before, but we must have made a wrong turn and driven through a swamp at some point along the way. Anyway, all was well.

And for those who want to know, and I hate to say it because we love Annapolis and that has been our home port . . . but as far as which city is the sailing capital? Newport is Annapolis on steroids. Don’t hate me, Annapolis.

We had changed our minds about our next stop several times due to conditions. We wanted to end up at Fishers Island, but severe storms were coming through the area. We kept a close check on the radar map as we traveled and opted to stop in Point Judith, RI instead. We beat the storms there and got ourselves anchored and settled. A little while later, who comes on the radio but our new friends from Kabria! They were on their way to Block Island when they diverted due to the same storm system . . . and ended up in Port Judith right next to us! It was nice for each of us to know we had a watchful neighbor in place before the system came through. Although it wasn’t quite as bad as predicted, the storm still packed a bit of a punch and left behind about 4 inches of rain that evening. At one point the lightning was getting pretty intense and the winds were picking up when Frank donned the dreaded yellow foul weather gear. The yellow stuff (as I mentioned in a previous post) means things have the potential to get ugly.

Frank in his foul weather gear.

Although we have great confidence in our anchor, if the wind really starts to howl, there is the potential for needing to go up top to start the engine and take some pressure off of the anchor. He just wanted to be ready. And it was the first time that he said, “Ems, put your rubber sole shoes on and don’t touch anything metal.” Comforting words to say the least. Although boats are designed to be able to handle a lightning strike, you really don’t want to find out. It was then that I really thought about the fact that we’re sitting in the middle of a body of water with a 57′ mast sticking straight up. (Kind of made me think of the time I was sitting in a pedicure chair in the front window of a salon during a thunderstorm with foils in my hair and my feet soaking in a electric jet tub. I only wished I had brought a golf club with me to hold up at that moment. But I digress.) As a precaution, we also unplugged all of our electronics. Happily, the storm came and went with a bunch of noise but without incident otherwise. I did email one of my sisters during this episode while I was feeling a little nervous, saying, “There aren’t enough potato chips for this . . . “

And then we had the calm AFTER the storm . . . an eventful day was over, we were safe, and all was well.

Sunset after the storm. All’s well that ends well.

Aug

Family and Friends: Gloucester and Marblehead

Who can dispute that family and friends make life better? Our two most recent stops proved that once again.

First, Gloucester.

Frank’s late wife, Grace, lived in Gloucester in her early childhood. Her mother and father were from Gloucester. Both of them were one of thirteen children. You read that right, thirteen. I thought coming from a family of six was a lot! Many members of both families remain in Gloucester. Her father’s family was comprised of many commercial fishermen, and there was a point when a portion of the family determined that the commercial fishing business would be more profitable in Cape May, NJ. A contingent of them moved there, thus relocating Grace to NJ which later led to her meeting Frank . . . and the rest, as they say, is history. When Frank and Grace got married, he was 23 years old and they were married 28 years. When you are immersed into a family from ages 23 – 51, that doesn’t just go away because your spouse leaves this earth. Her family was his family. I’ve come to understand that from getting to know Grace’s parents, siblings, nieces and nephews in the Cape May area. But the trip to Gloucester was, I think, overwhelming to Frank as to how much this part of the family still embraces him. They say blood is thicker than water, but there’s something about having the water in common that ties this family together. Go one step beyond that, they welcomed me like family, too. We ate, we laughed, we visited, we ate. But please don’t ask me to repeat everyone’s names! Although if I tell you that I met Phil, Grace, Angela and Anthony, that would be correct for about 75% of the group!

Frank has, because of the family, spent a lot of time in Gloucester in the past, but it has been years. He had prepared me for what the city would be like. He wanted me to have low expectations of the city as being “pretty industrial” and “not much to see there.” We had two big surprises when we got there First, what Frank had remembered from the heyday of Gloucester were the commercial fishing vessels tied up five deep at the fishing docks. We pulled into the harbor and saw but a handful of the fleet left. The height of the industry is long since past. He was nearly speechless as he looked around . . . very sad to see. But our second surprise was that the town had not died with the business. It was thriving with restaurants and pubs and stores and younger people and life! It is a city in the midst of remodeling itself. Gloucester was a GREAT place to visit in and of itself.

Coming in to Gloucester Harbor

Classic looking building in the background while Frank ponders where we’re going to anchor.

The famous fishermen’s memorial in Gloucester. Sobering how many lives have been lost in the fishing industry. This has been used as a visual in many movies including The Perfect Storm which was based in Gloucester.

This is worth clicking on to see the sheer numbers of men lost to understand what this memorial really stands for.

In 2001 a Fishermen’s wives memorial was erected to recognize how much they have lost.

Here is some of the fishing fleet that remains in Gloucester.

Gloucester Harbor at night.

We anchored in the harbor the first night and then treated ourselves to a slip in the marina the next two nights because we really needed a hose to clean the boat properly and it was an easier place for people to stop by. We enjoyed the stream of visitors that we had at the dock! Our expectation of the visit was that we would visit with a few family members at some point and move along. What ensued was a flood of warmth and welcome and invitations for the next several days! Aunts and uncles and cousins were all around! By the end of our visit we had been treated to an amazing breakfast at the Morning Glory Restaurant, invited to a bridal shower, were given a car to use for the weekend, invited to dinner at two different homes where we were able to take our laundry with us, and were then sent home with leftover sauce, meatballs and sausage to store in the freezer along with some other tasty treats. Joe and Joyce: we loved both of your sauces equally! (Hey, we’re no dummies!) But seriously, we can’t say thank you enough for the warmth and generosity from everyone. We were SO mad at ourselves for not taking pictures at our second dinner . . . I think we were having too much fun to remember to pull the camera out. We left Gloucester with a clean boat, full fuel tanks, a full freezer and full hearts.

Our hosts, Joe and Kelly, invited many family members over for a visit!

Aunts, uncles and cousins!

Our hosts with the most for Sunday dinner #1!

Frank’s Uncle Phil and Aunt Joyce. True confessions: I stole this right off of their Facebook page today because we forgot to take pictures!!!!

We left Gloucester and went “around the corner” to Marblehead, Mass. I have a colleague/friend who I’ve worked with off and on over the last 15 years. And I have now worked with his daughter, Annie, over the last two years and have unofficially adopted her as my niece. I had only briefly met Kevin’s wife, Dee, once about fourteen years ago. He and his wife are sailors (J boat racers!) and live right off of the harbor. Early on when I told Kevin our cruising plans, he said, “Stop by Marblehead on your way through!” I wasn’t sure how serious the offer was at first, but as we got underway, our talks of a stopover in Marblehead became more concrete. I figured Frank and I would be tourists around Marblehead and would hope to meet up with Kevin and Dee, as their time allowed, for a dinner or two. We were totally bowled over with the hospitality we got for our three days in town! After we settled on to the guest mooring they had arranged for us, they came out on their Zodiac to greet us bearing an amazing lunch and two bottles of wine plus gifts for the boat galley! What an awesome welcome! Then we jumped in their boat and got a tour of the harbor. They dropped us back off to relax and settle in for a while before we met up with the whole family for an amazing dinner in town. Annie was able to be in town to join us and we met their son, Chris. I get why Annie talks about her brother in such glowing terms now! And I quickly felt as if I had known Dee for years and that palling around together was an everyday thing. (Again, someone explain why I didn’t take any pictures!)

The next day we met for badminton. Yes, badminton. We’re not talking your average back yard barbecue version of badminton. We’re talking the serious kind you play at a club like racquetball. They are members (and Kevin is president) of the “Gut and Feathers” club – and we had the two courts to ourselves. First they gave us a brief clinic on the game and taught us the essential shots we needed to know. Then we practiced, guys on one court and ladies on the other. Then it was time for the real competition to start! Mixed doubles, baby! And by the way, for those of you who know about the Quigley household table tennis exploits and think we’re competitive, we look like total pansies compared to these two! It was a blast! And it was tremendous exercise. And our arms hurt so bad the next day!! And I can’t remember who won. (I know, Kevin – we were up and should have had them. Next time, I swear!) We went back to the boat for a while in the afternoon, tried to recover and then took the dinghy to their beautiful house for dinner. Chris schooled Frank in the finer points of cribbage which we have been vowing to learn (we have a beautiful set on the boat that my family gave us for Christmas), and I got a chance to sit down and serenade Dee on her piano for a few minutes while she finished up in the kitchen. I miss my piano badly. We carefully dinghied back in very dark waters to collapse, full and happy, on the boat.

Downtown Marblehead. Great, historic city with very interesting architecture.

Frank looking out over the harbor.

Mary Marie (Ems) with the harbor in the background.

Looking at the harbor before a trip to the museum.

Next day’s activity: a visit to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. Frank stayed behind to do a couple of boat repairs that had been nagging at him. I’ll just say macerator and generator and leave it at that. Dee and Kevin and I enjoyed the Faberge exhibit as well as a great collection of nautical art. What a beautiful facility. If you’re ever in Salem, I highly recommend it! We all met back at the Yacht Club for lunch – LOBSTER ROLLS! Hey, every time I eat lobster I figure we’ve not dodged all of those pots this summer for nothing! Our last event for the day was going to be the Wednesday night sailboat races. Frank was going to help crew and I was going to go along as “rail meat” (ballast, if you will, since I have no experience racing). Unfortunately, the race was called for the first time in memory due to . . . our old friend . . . fog. It had been a beautiful day, and then this very odd mid-afternoon fog came and settled right over the harbor.

Fog in the harbor.

Instead, we met up for one last beverage together in town to say our goodbyes. They walked in bearing MORE gifts – reminders of our visit to Marblehead. I used my new coffee mug today! Hugs/handshakes all around and talk of doing this “same time next year” and our ambassadors of Marblehead were off. We felt completely spoiled by the time we left and were so appreciative of the old friendships enhanced and the new friendships made. Once again, we were overwhelmed with the warmth and hospitality we received. After being out and about mostly on our own for the past few months, stops like these are especially cool.

Like I said at the start of this post: family and friends make life better.

Aug

From Maine to Mass – Our Last Days in Maine

This post is being written (started) from Gloucester, Massachussets, but Gloucester is a story to be saved for next post! This post will cover our final days in Maine.

After our somewhat back and forth relationship with Maine this month, we ended our trip on a very high note which was greatly influenced by the fact that we didn’t see fog for the last seven days and the weather was quite beautiful, which makes the scenery even more beautiful and everybody happy!

We left Northeast Harbor (Acadia area) and headed to a really interesting island: Frenchboro. It is quite remote and isolated and is pretty much all about the lobstering. There are two primary family names that have kept the island going for many years. There is a school that has an enrollment of around a dozen plus or minus a few in different years. Once again we saw the dramatic difference in tidal swings. We enjoyed some good lobster rolls and a beautiful walk on some of the trails around the island. Noteworthy event there: anchoring wasn’t really recommended and we secured one of the last public mooring balls. For the rest of the afternoon, we watched boats stream in looking for a place to secure themselves for the night . . . some had no luck. Then we saw a boat come in with a hailing port of Annapolis: NEIGHBORS! Sunset wasn’t far away and they needed a place to stay, so we hailed them on the radio and asked if they wanted to “raft up” with us on our mooring ball which means we tie our boats together side by side. They happily took us up on the offer and we had very pleasant neighbors for the evening. We enjoyed sitting in our mutual cockpits the next morning having coffee and visiting with each other. . . a nice way to meet.

Our first stop in Lunt Harbor on Frenchboro Island

Watching the lobster being offloaded in Lunt Harbor – now that’s fresh!

Low tide!

Frenchboro has a funky little vibe . . . this shed is a good illustration!

Frank looking out over the harbor

Next morning we headed to Seal Bay. What an exceptionally gorgeous place! We were so enamored with the place and there were so many exciting looking nooks and crannies to explore with the dinghy, we abandoned our plans to leave the next day and decided to treat ourselves to a lay day to relax and enjoy. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing on this cruising thing, right? There were a few other boats anchored up, but there was so much space for all of us, it still felt like we had a whole lot of the place to ourselves. At low tide we went out and harvested mussels which made for an excellent dinner that night! And, of course, we were in search of Seals. The place is called Seal Bay, right?

Coming in to Seal Bay

Harvesting mussels

Ems proud of her muddy feet at low tide.

Seal Bay is way up the list as one of our favorite stops.

Mussels and Linguine . . . it’s what’s for dinner!

After a great sleeping night, we woke up to a spectacularly sunny and warm day. Enjoyed the morning doing boat chores and making/eating blueberry coffee cake! Then we saw boats start to pour into the area! Came to realize that there was a flotilla coming in from the New York Yacht Club (one of the most exclusive yacht clubs you’re likely to find)! We’re talking maybe 50 boats of all sizes and shapes! We quickly became one of the smallest (and least expensive) boats in the place! The quiet little bay wasn’t deserted any more. I said to Frank, “One thing we don’t have to worry about with this group – no one is going to come in blasting rap music.” He responded, “No – but they might come in blaring Beethoven!” It did make for some fun boat eye candy – Frank’s favorite past time is ogling boats, so he was supplied with great fodder for that. By the way, we saw a grand total of one seal in Seal Bay. Do we smell that bad?

No, I am NOT eating the coffee cake right out of the pan! Okay, maybe a little bit . . .

The yacht club joined us in Seal Bay . . .

Left the next morning for Tenants Harbor. This stop was very good location-wise for our travels . . . but I can’t say there is any other reason we would stop there again, so I’ll move on . . .

Next we headed to Boothbay Harbor. We had visited that area on the way up, but this time anchored in the harbor by town itself instead of in the cove around the corner. We took advantage and walked to a real grocery store and enjoyed town in much better weather than when we saw it the first time. Although Boothbay is a popular summer destination, it doesn’t have that overcrowded tourist town feeling. It is a lovely place with lots to see and do.

Next on our speedy tour back down the state of Maine, Jewel Island. This anchorage was really just a little cove that you can duck in to for some protection overnight. There is nothing there but beauty and woods. Its beauty makes it quite a popular spot, but there is only room for about a dozen boats. There were people camping on the island and two families on their boats traveling with their children having the time of their lives kayaking and swimming (in 58 degree water, no thank you). The place had a very congenial feeling. We enjoyed a quiet evening there before taking off again the next day. No rest for the weary!

Jewel Island lives up to its name.

Jewel at Dusk

The most pleasant surprise of our last days in Maine was our stop in Biddeford Pool. It is about 5 miles south of Kennebunkport which is a town name more people recognize. We thought of it as “the alternative location so we don’t have to go to Portland again.” BEAUTIFUL! We anchored up with the plan to stay for two nights because of a strong wind forecast for the second day, and not in the direction we needed. Our walk around town and to the point was positively civilized. What do I mean by that? It was idyllic in a way. It was the portrait of niceties in a town that appears to have a little money in it. We walked by a group playing croquet . . . we happened onto a nature trail that ran between the cliffs and a nine hole links golf course where they were having a mixed couples, “Wine, Nine and Dine” outing. The ice cream truck was rolling around the neighborhood. The truck that used to come around the neighborhood in Harrisburg used to play something obnoxious that I couldn’t get out of my head for hours . . . something like “Pop Goes the Weasel.” I wanted to take a range rifle to it regularly. This ice cream truck was playing, “Sailing, Sailing, Over the Deep Blue Sea . . . ” You can’t get mad at that! And it was just one nice view after another. We met couples from two other boats in the anchorage and have exchanged messages with both with promises to meet up in the future since we are all heading south! The one-liner of the night came from the one gentleman who said, (in an Australian accent just to give you the full effect), “The coldest winter I ever spent was this summer in Maine.” Just cracked us up! The other couple came over for cocktails bearing a bag of paperbacks that they were finished with and lots of good advice for cruising the Bahamas. We chatted comfortably with them for quite some time.

The view from the nature conservancy at Biddeford Pool

A beautiful view across someone’s back yard

Ems trying not to fall off the rocks while while posing for a picture.

If you can’t find an ice cream stand, just take your own spoon and go to the store! Appropriate that he’s eating Moose Tracks in Maine.

Another example of the dramatic tide swings!

Our new friends leaving at dawn . . . we were about 15 minutes behind them . . .

Sun rising as we left! Forgot to put on the improved sunrise playlist.

It was finally time to say goodbye to Maine. We knew we had about a ten hour trip ahead of us to get to Gloucester so we left at sunrise. Along the way we saw a seal pop his head up and check us out for a while! Finally! We may have seen a grand total of 8 seals the whole time we were in Maine! And – at long last – we spotted two whales that day!! We think they were Minke Whales . . . not too big and could be mistaken for a dolphin swimming at the surface of the water until you realize it is much too large to be a dolphin!! The sightings were brief, but exciting. We took two hour shifts, it was warm, and we were going downwind, so it was a comfortable ride other than the flies that wanted to make the trip with us. Ten hours flew by, and then we were pulling into the harbor in Gloucester, another town with LOTS of Frank’s family to visit . . . but we’ll save that for the next post.

And so we say goodbye to Maine. It’s so hard to believe the first leg of this journey is over already. Leaving, we feel more experienced using our radar in the fog, more adept at dodging lobster pots, and realize that there is no place like Maine. As I’ve said before, the cool factor in Maine is high . . . but you gotta work for it! Will we be back next year? If you’d asked us the first week of August, we might have said no. . . but now, I don’t think we could pass it up. So Maine – we’ll be seeing you!

Aug

A Reach to Our Ultimate Maine Destination: Acadia

Before we get into our latest escapades, first things first:

We want express appreciation for the nice comments and feedback we’ve received from many of you about this blog. We had two initial reasons for doing this blog: 1) So friends and family could keep tuned in to our whereabouts, and 2) So as we get old, feeble and forgetful we’ll have a record of this time to look back on for ourselves. (We are one of those three things now, but I can’t remember which one.) So we’re surprised at the number of people who have taken an interest in our adventure and read along. Thanks for your time, support, thoughts and comments! It’s nice to know you’re out there.

Moving on – our “ultimate” destination in Maine has always been to get to Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island. We had one more stop after leaving Pulpit Harbor and that stop was Center Harbor. The route that we chose to get there was through the Eggemoggin Reach. (I love the names you come across in Maine.) The reach is a 10 mile long body of water running between Deer Isle and the mainland and it averages about a mile in width with spectacular views on both sides. At one point there is a suspension bridge that runs across (plenty high enough for us to pass under).

The suspension bridge across Eggemoggin Reach. Made us think about the Bay Bridge in Annapolis a little bit!

The head sail up for an easy cruise down Eggemoggin Reach

It is called a “reach” because the way it is positioned and the direction of the predominant winds, a sailboat is almost always on a “reach” (meaning with the wind hitting the boat broadside) which is the most desirable point of sail. The weather was gorgeous and, best of all, the lobster pots subsided for a while!! My friends, we did something shocking. We put up the sails and turned off the engine – a rare experience in these parts for us! Sun, warmth, wind, no pots – that makes Frank very happy. Here’s how happy it made him:

Here' what's really happening in this picture: Frank is so happy, he turned on some Motown music and started singing and dancing, that's how happy he was!

Here’s what’s really happening in this picture: Frank is so happy, he turned on Motown music and started singing and dancing, that’s how happy he was!

After thoroughly enjoying our sail for a portion of the Reach, we started nosing around to decide which harbor we would spend the night in . . . and ended up in Center Harbor – a perfectly delightful place. We took what appeared to be the last mooring ball for rent. Not two minutes after we got settled, a boat came towards us looking like he had something on his mind. This kind soul told us that we weren’t going to be very happy with the mooring at low tide . . . it was dangerously close to a rocky ledge . . . and he suggested that we take a nearby private mooring that belonged to someone who would be out of town for several days. Not only was it a better spot, it was FREE! Good samaritans everywhere.

The good weather was holding out for us again and we took the dinghy to shore and hoofed it for about a mile to “town.” We were mostly looking for a nice walk and to find some dinner, maybe check out the market – ’cause that’s what we do. We hadn’t showered or changed clothes and expected to come across the usual casual eatery. There was only one game in town for dinner and that was the Brooklin Inn. Yes, we were in Brooklin. (Not THAT Brooklyn.) We walked in right at 5:00pm (our eating hours are highly unpredicatable) – and then we saw the white table clothes and thought “uh oh.” But we were really hungry and weary and looking for a good meal, and they welcomed us in spite of our appearance (and ripeness). What a GREAT meal. Good food makes me very happy.

Dinner at the Brooklin Inn

The Brooklin Inn – a charming place.

A well fed Ems is a happy Ems!

The chair had babies. This was too cute not to take a picture.

It was warm enough to enjoy some time in the cockpit and a beautiful sunset when we got back. (Usually by sunset we’re freezing our you-know-whats off and have retreated to down below, only sticking our heads back up to watch the last sliver of sun drop down behind the horizon. Then we shiver and run back down below. Yeah, we’re weenies.

Sunset in Central Harbor

Sunset – Moonrise

Next day, off to Mount Desert Island. By the way, I am well read on the subject of how you pronounce the name of the island. It looks like it should be “DEH-sert” like the Sahara, and many people DO say it that way and that would technically be correct; HOWEVER, the locals pronounce it “da-SERT” like ice cream after a meal. I just wondered aloud about the pronunciation as we motoring, happened to have good enough internet to Google it, and proceeded to read my findings to Frank. I do believe that was one of those, “I’m going to blow my brains out” moments for him. There was a point where I kept going just to torture him. I thought it was interesting. I won’t bore you, too, but the short answer is that the Frenchman who discovered it thought it looked like an island with a deserted mountain and thus named it “Ils de Monts Deserts.” The French pronunciation for “deserts” sounds much more like the ice cream. So blame the French but don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.

Although a grueling, pot-filled trip, It was spectacular arriving at Mount Desert Island. This is Acadia National Park! This was our ultimate northeastern point of our trip! We had made it clear to here from Annapolis!

Arriving at Mount Desert Island

Ems up on the bow as we come into Northeast Harbor with Mt. Desert Island in the background. A big moment!!

That was a big moment for us. We pulled into Northeast Harbor and made that our home base for the next four days. We had a new experience in the harbor: floats. We called in to the harbormaster to see about getting a mooring ball . . . they were all taken, but they had a float available. A float is like a little, tiny floating dock just about the length of a boat. It is, like a mooring ball, anchored to the floor of the body of water, but it is a mini-dock. You get one side of it and another boat gets the other, so you have one very close neighbor. One thing we have discovered: the “knucklehead factor” up here is pretty low, so you’re not worried about having “Fuggedaboutit” pull up beside you blaring Pit Bull (no offense, Pit Bull fans). We found it very comfortable, quiet and good sleeping. Our first night there, a dinghy came riding over with two familiar faces: a couple we had met at the gam! They invited us to come for “sundowners” on their boat. It was a great way to wind up the day, and they had lots of helpful information about getting around the area.

Northeast Harbor

Eleanor Q on her float

Frank with the harbor behind him

Day One: Couldn’t wait to get to Acadia. Northeast Harbor is a great location for exploring the area. There are bike rentals right in downtown, which is just a few blocks away, and there are free buses that go all over Acadia subsidized primarily by L.L. Bean. What a great service! We chose biking for this day. In addition to a whole lot of hiking trails, Acadia has more than 50 miles of carriage trails that are for pedestrians, horse drawn carriages or bikes. That’s it. They are hard packed gravel and they are wonderful. We did not bike all 50 miles, I promise you. We figured we did about 8 – 10. That was plenty! It was a great way to see the park . . . both the heavily, inland wooded sections to some of the vistas looking down over the water. We didn’t see as much wildlife as hoped . . . just a few deer.

We rode to Jordan Pond, a HUGE tourist destination (which we did not know). After coming off of the sparsely traveled carriage trail to the mass of humanity waiting to get into the hotel restaurant for a famous popover, we did a quick walk around, bought a couple of t-shirts and made a hasty exit. We wanted to avoid the crowds! (Our goal was to stay far away from Bar Harbor for that reason). We completed our tour with tired legs and happy hearts.

Ems conquers Mt. Everest! Well, no. But we did bike around Acadia State Park

Frank on the Carriage Trail

Beautiful Views

Asked a passerby to take our picture. Her son jumped in the picture with us!! Priceless. Noticed her shirt: it was an autism group. Yes, he was autistic. Had a great chat with both of them . . . and he had a Hershey shirt on!

After a walk through town (to the market!), we paused at the boat for lunch and then . . . went for a walk? Straight up a hill? I don’t know what we were thinking. But it was a gorgeous day and we wanted to see the Asticou Gardens. It was definitely worth the effort.

The view from the hillside path to the gardens

On the way to Asticou . . . pausing at a pavillion

Asticou Gardens

Impressive Lilies

Day Two: A foggy, drizzly day. Good for doing chores, one being the dreaded laundry. We piled our stuff into the dinghy and hiked into town to find the laundromat. Here’s the thing about a place like this on a yucky day: everybody is just a little more miserable. When I got to the laundromat, two woman who looked less happy to be there than I did had commandeered the entire place and were not looking to share any of the machines any time soon. We walked down the street and treated ourselves to a luxury: same day laundry service. Yes, I paid three times as much and left the laundry there for the day to come back and retrieve it at 5:00pm that evening. I am not embarrassed to tell you that it was a well spent $40. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. We hit the hardware store and the market again. Aaron, the owner, and I were on a first name basis by the time we left town. We puttered around the rest of the day and made a nice dinner on the boat.

Foggy day in Northeast Harbor

Day Three: Woke up to sun which was quickly hidden by the fog. It was not predicted to stick around all day, so we headed off to the park again, this time picking up one of the buses by the harbormaster’s office. There are multiple routes going through the park to multiple destinations. We tried very hard to figure out the routes and schedules. We made sure we knew how to avoid the buses that went to Bar Harbor. We hopped off and started walking through a different part of the carriage trails for about 45 minutes. Although there are designated stops for the buses, the instructions are clear that if you flag the bus down at any point in the park, unless they deem it unsafe, they will pull over and pick you up. We wanted the bus to Southwest Harbor and waited for what felt like a very long time. Finally we saw it coming and flagged the bus down. Apparently he deemed it “unsafe” despite the fact that we were standing right across from a sign that said “bus stop.” Don’t get me started. The next bus wasn’t coming for another hour. There was no way we were going to make it to Southwest Harbor. We agreed that we should jump on the next bus that came along – and we did. It went to Bar Harbor. The good news about that was that the Bar Harbor stop was the central clearing house for the buses, so we were able to get off of one bus, take one look at the mass of humanity and get back on our return bus without ever leaving the town square. I want to say a big thank you to L.L. Bean for the free buses. We made a donation towards their continuation . . . but could you throw in some customer service training for the bus drivers, please? I’ll even barter goods for services with you . . . I’m sure we can work out a deal. Call me. In spite of our extensive experience with public transportation that day, we loved being back in the park, so it was all good. Hopped off the bus on main street and went to say goodbye to Aaron. Stopped for a delicious seafood fest in a funky little joint on our way back to the boat. And they had ice cream.

A little fog didn’t deter us from walking through Acadia

Misty Trails

Ice Cream!

We had done Acadia – many miles of it. We were satisfied and pleased with ourselves. And sore and tired. It was a good tired. And we slept like babies with visions of carriage trails dancing in our heads.

Aug

Anchors Aweigh . . . or Not: Midcoast Maine

It’s rarely dull out here. This week has been no exception. We have been fortunate not to have any severe “near miss” experiences. We have little “near misses” or we’re around other people who have had issues . . . they are all reminders that it is important to keep on your toes when you’re living on the water!

We left Rockport in the sun and headed to Gilkey Harbor next to Islesboro, Maine. Fifteen minutes after our departure, we were back in thick fog. We slowed down, used our radar and watched closely for the dreaded lobster pots and other vessels! That’s Maine.

A schooner in the fog. This fog bank moved in and out all day!

We were on our way to attend our second Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam. As we talked about the upcoming event with family, someone finally said, “Hey. What’s a gam?” Gam is not a household word. Before last year, the only time I had heard the word “gam” used was when watching a movie from the 50s or earlier and a women with attractive legs would walk by and the guy would say, “Hey, nice gams!” Definition: Gam – a friendly gathering of seafaring people. The term originated from whaling days when two passing whalers out at sea would pull their boats up beside each other and exchange news and information (since they had been away from home for a while and didn’t have internet . . .) This particular gathering was attended by just shy of 60 boats. We were most interested to make some new connections in the cruising community because it sure is nice to run in to some familiar faces in different harbors along the way.

The first night included a first for us . . . a cocktail party via dinghy raftup. The picture kind of says it all. A pack of dinghies tie up together anchored by one main boat. Everyone brings their own beverages and snacks to share. I have to say, 50 plates of hors d’oeuvres being passed frenetically across a pack of floating dinghies whilst trying to hold an intelligent conversation with people you’ve just met is challenging at best! But new acquaintances were made.

A herd of dinghies rafted up together for cocktails and meet and greet.

At sunset the first evening of the gam, this man rode around the harbor playing his bagpipes!!

A look out at Gilkey Harbor

The weather was very changeable. The good news is that it made for a beautiful rainbow over one of our neighbors!

The next day was a gathering at the cottage of one of the members who has now hosted this shindig for 23 years! The weather turned beautiful for exactly the portion of the day that we were gathered for a covered dish lunch and a program in the afternoon. The speakers shared information about Maine, its economy, and the state of the islands themselves. (Fun fact: there are 3,166 islands in the Maine registry! I know! Who knew?) We met great people and got lots of helpful information from those who have been sailing our same route for many years, some for more than a decade. I especially laughed at a comment one couple made that we were talking to. They said, “Yeah, we can tell you haven’t been cruising that long – you look too clean . . . after ten years you’ll look like us!!” I didn’t think they looked all that bad, but he did have a rather long and curly mustache bordering on handlebar. Wonder if Frank will give up shaving somewhere along the way. Doubt it. Many people were especially helpful in prepping us for traveling through the Bahamas this winter. All in all, a good gathering.

The Down East Gam in Islesboro, Maine at our wonderful hosts’ house.

Sunday morning we were set to leave Islesboro to head to Camden to pick up my sister, Triana. Just because you are set to leave somewhere does not mean you are ACTUALLY leaving. So we went to pull up the anchor, Ems at the wheel and Frank on the bow pulling the anchor up. Frank gives hand signals for “forward” or “reverse” or “we’re free . . . pull her out,” at which point I start driving. But after a minute or two, I could tell Frank was really finagling and that something was not quite right. Hmmmm. Our anchor was stuck. Really stuck. We tried all the usual tricks to get it up . . . go forward over it, reverse behind it, spin off to the side at a different angle . . . nothing was working. The good news is we had just been at a gathering of very experienced boaters and 40% of them hadn’t left yet. We had lots of good help. Jim from s/v (sailing vessel) Heather came over to assist first. Then Evans from Hawk (he and his wife have written articles and done seminars about cruising) came to help. The harbormaster was called and came to check out the situation. We had two choices: 1) cut the rode (chain) and leave our anchor behind (gasp! – a brand new, not inexpensive piece of equipment), or 2) have someone dive and take a look to see what the real problem was. The harbormaster offered to come back and dredge the anchor up if we had to cut it and leave it . . . we could swing by later in the week to retrieve it, which was a wonderful offer (and yes, we have a backup anchor, but not one that makes us nearly as comfortable). No local divers were available on that day. Evans had the gear, and as importantly, the full wetsuit to dive and take a look. (Mind you, the water temps up here are in the 50s.) It didn’t take him long at all to drop about 20 feet and spot the problem: the claw of our anchor had perfectly gone through an old, embedded piece of chain buried in the harbor. Not under it, mind you. It went right through one of the links! The chances of us catching it that perfectly are slim and none. With a visual of the angle and the problem, it was then easy to know how to wriggle it out. Soon afterwards, we were free and on our way to Camden, only two hours later than expected. Thank you, thank you to Evans from Hawk and Jim and Joanne from Heather!! Close call solved.

Evans coming over in his wet suit and dive gear.

Off we went to Camden. Ems’ sister, Triana, had driven up from NJ to meet us. First, it is always exciting to see a family member live and in person, so let me start with that. Second, do you know how exciting it is to have someone with a car come to visit you??? sunny, fog-free mornings we had seen in quite some timeGROCERY SHOPPING! Load up the car with anything you want! No thinking about, “Can I walk a mile with this much stuff?” But WAY more than that, it was great to see another sister on board! After spending the evening walking around we took off Monday morning and headed for Castine – a lovely, lovely harbor where we stayed for the next couple of days. The weather in Maine had been suspect before Triana’s arrival, but she brought exceptional weather with her!! Those were the first clear, sunny, fog-free mornings we had seen in a long time!

Looking out over Camden

Castine – A great harbor.

We secured a mooring ball in the harbor next to town. It was a very comfortable spot close enough to shore for easy accessibility, but quiet enough for nice time in the cockpit and good sleeping. We were nose to nose with the ship “State of Maine” – a training vessel for the Maine Maritime Academy which is based in Castine. We went into town and enjoyed the sights and some oysters and beer on the deck of the seafood restaurant overlooking the harbor.

Dinner overlooking the harbor at Castine.

The next day, Triana and I took a historic walk around town. Castine is one of the oldest towns in New England. When you think about how far east Maine is, it was one of the first things some sea captains came upon when they were heading over from Europe.

Seems that a lot of different countries were interested in this portion of land and it flew under 4 different flags during different periods of time: Dutch, British, French and, of course, American.

Historic Castine

Loved this planter. Beautiful gardens al over town.

Loved this planter. Beautiful gardens all over town.

A local church steeple

More sights from our walk.

Triana by the Maine Maritime Academy vessel State of Maine

The three of us met back up for lunch and then toured the vessel State of Maine.

Here’s the view looking down at Eleanor Q from the bridge of the State of Maine

And a very big engine room!

Our second night there, the wind kicked up and the current was strong. But they weren’t strong in the same direction, which makes for an interesting situation in a mooring field. Because the wind and the current were fighting as to which one would have dominance, boats were turned willy-nilly in all directions in the mooring field, some being more influenced by wind, some more by the water. Normally, all the boats face the same direction like well choreographed little vessels sitting at attention. Well, it seems that our mooring ball was a little close to the one beside us in a circumstance like this. There was a lobster boat who was the regular tenant on that mooring. When he came back from working, it was clear that we were going to be pretty tight. The owner of the marina came over and offered for us to move and spend the night at their dock for no extra charge, but we weren’t anxious for that spot – we liked the one we had. Frank felt sure that once the tide shifted, the boats would straighten out again. The lobster boat guy couldn’t have been nicer, and much of that was due to Frank riding the dinghy over to him as soon as he pulled in for the evening to ask him if he wanted us to move. They agreed it wouldn’t be necessary and Frank used the dinghy to help straighten his boat out. Then the guy used all of his horsepower in his boat and managed to drag his own mooring ball backwards by several yards (no small feat!) All seemed well and the lobsterman left the boat and headed home. But alas, about a half hour later, boats went to swinging every which way again! Here is how close we came . . . we were literally taking turns pushing the lobster boat off of us with the boat hook. We wanted to provide Triana with a little nautical entertainment, you know. Frank assured us that, as soon as the current turned and agreed with the wind, all the boats would shore up and get in line as they were supposed to . . . and sure enough, they did, and we didn’t have to worry about colliding with the boat again. Flukey little things like that will happen! (Can I call it “flukey” if it was a lobster boat?)

Dear Miss Abbey . . .

Miss Abbey getting a little close for comfort.

We enjoyed a couple of dinners on board. Watch out . . . Ems is in the galley!

Next morning we headed back to Camden.

Ems dodging lobster pots.

While underway, we heard a distress call on the VHF radio . . . a boat named Archangel was talking with the Coast Guard. We could only hear the Coast Guard’s side of the conversation, but it sounded like they had hit something and disabled the boat. Everyone on board was safe and help was being sent to assist the boat. We could tell it had happened fairly close to our location. When we got back to Camden and picked up our mooring ball back at Wayfarer Marina, the staff was all abuzz about the boat the had run aground. It was the boat we had heard on the radio, and it was coming in to the marina. They said it had been demasted, which is exactly what it sounds like – the mast snapped off in the impact. That is a heck of an impact! The next morning when we were taking Triana to shore, we saw Archangel parked at the dock. Oh my goodness. She’s a 70 foot Hylas (meaning big and beautiful) and sure enough, the mast was snapped right off. Just made your stomach turn. They had been under full sail and hit a big rock. Amazing no one was hurt. It was another reminder that you can’t lose your attention when you’re out on the water! Amazingly, the boat was able to be uprighted and come back in under its own power.

Archangel on her side . . . the boat had been chartered. This photo was taken by another cruiser who was in the area. We borrowed your photo, Moonraker!

We said a sad goodbye to Triana that morning. The day she left, she took the good weather with her, and the fog and rain returned. I recently saw the blog of another couple we met up with here. She had a post titled, “Marvelous Maine/Miserable Maine.” That is SO appropriate. Maine is somewhat of a love/hate relationship, although locals assure us this summer has been particularly persnickety.

Goodbye Triana! Thanks for hanging with us.

We left Camden on a less than ideal day because the next day was predicted to be stormy, and Camden’s harbor is not the most protected or comfortable place for that. We headed directly across the bay about 8 miles to Pulpit Harbor on the island of Vinylhaven. It is known to be a hiding hole from storms because it has a relatively small entrance and is surrounded by land. We anchored very comfortably there and settled in that afternoon after a mile walk to “town” and a little market to pick up a few things. (No hardware store – none needed.) We enjoyed a gorgeous evening there and hunkered down for the next day.

On the way to the market at Pulpit Harbor

This is what the typical market looks like that we find. My idea of a grocery store!!

Leaving Pulpit Harbor on a spectacular morning after a stormy day.

And the unsettled weather moved in as predicted. That morning was the first time we actually got up and unplugged anything that was plugged in and charging (phones, computers) for fear of a lightning strike. Then we rolled over and went back to sleep . Not much you can do at that point! All was well – no direct hits. We listened to it rain hard for the day and took advantage of the time to read/nap/catch up on bills and correspondence, etc. Sometimes a forced down day is a good thing. We actually didn’t mind. And it was a very scenic harbor!! After a day filled with rain, the skies cleared for the most beautiful night with the sky lit up with stars. Amazing what lack of lights will do for star gazing!

And so we head out, destined for our ultimate Maine destination: Mt. Desert Island and Acadia State Park! Hopefully with no close calls

Aug

Boothbay Harbor: Lobsters and the Pots They Come In

We left Portland on a beautiful day with some nice wind in our sails. We set off that morning thinking we were headed to a place called “The Basin.” That was until we realized that a) we were doing about 7 knots (that’s good), and b) we were actually sailing instead of having to motor sail or motor, something we haven’t gotten to do much of lately and we like it! So we decided to take advantage of the good conditions and keep on going to Boothbay Harbor area. And so we did. The great sailing didn’t last the whole day, but it lasted for more than half the trip which turned out to be about a 6 hour trip.

By early afternoon the wind wasn’t as favorable, so we turned the engine back on. And we became even more acquainted with our friends, the lobster pots. And we were reminded that when you’re traveling over 57 degree water, it’s rarely going to be really, really warm.

Don’t know if you can really tell from this picture, but pots are just littered throughout the bay. We are finding this to be the norm most everywhere up here. We have still successfully dodged them – so far. It is unlikely that I will ever complain about crab pots in the Chesapeake ever again. It is becoming more natural to us, but you can never let your guard down!

Because Boothbay can be very crowded in the summer, we opted for anchoring in a cove around the bend known to be a quiet anchorage. After the rocking and rolling in Portland, we were ready for a quiet anchorage! We found a beautiful spot in LInekin Bay. We had read about a park at the head of the bay where you could land your dinghy and then walk into Boothbay Harbor. Another thing that we had read about was the 10 foot difference between low tide and high tide . . . a swing that we are not so accustomed to. We considered that very carefully when we were anchoring, being sure to think about how much water we would be parked in six hours later. But when we took the dinghy to shore for a walk, we didn’t give it quite as much thought. The following pictures tell the rest of the story.

A beautiful shot of the park from where we tied up the dinghy.

A beautiful shot of the park where we tied up the dinghy.

And the dinghy is still looking good as we set off for Boothbay Harbor by foot.

And then we come back from our walk about three hours later . . . guess the tide was going out.

I swear there was water here when we left. It may not look like it from this picture, but we actually laughed really hard which did not make it easier to drag the dinghy through the rocks and mud to get it back to a floating position.

We enjoyed a nice walk into to town. Boothbay is a tourist destination, but a relatively laid back, civilized one. We found a place to have an incredibly cheap lobster dinner a little outside of town, and then walked back to the main harbor the next morning. (The next day we checked the tides and had a little better dinghy parking strategy!) It is hard not to feel for the lobstermen/women. There is a glut of lobster and they are getting less than 2.50/pound. We had a complete lobster dinner with two – that’s TWO – 1 1/2 pound lobsters for about $18 per person. We will do our best to support the industry while we’re here.

Lobster that is less expensive than beef!

Sunset in Linekin Bay

Ducks hanging out in the cove. No doubt laughing at us after we dragged the dinghy.

Classic Maine – a seagull atop lobster pots.

Downtown Boothbay

And, of course, no matter how chilly or damp, we gotta hit the ice cream shop for Frank!

As you can see, the weather turned and the layers of clothes and jackets became necessary again. A number of times before we started cruising, we told people we were going to “sail to 80.” That wasn’t referring to our ages . . . it was referring to fahrenheit . I commented to Frank today that I think we sailed right through 80 and straight to 70!

Our assessment of Maine so far . . . it’s a beautiful, cool place (in more ways than one) . . . but you gotta work for it!

Aug

Portland, Maine: New Friends, Reality Shows and Spin Cycles

Last post we had stopped over in Isle of Shoals, the little patch of islands about 8 miles off the coast of Portsmouth, NH. It was dipping our little toe into Maine since it was right on the state line. Well we have now thrown our entire bodies deeply into the state of Maine. First stop, Portland.

Entering Portland

Portland is a pretty good sized city and somewhat industrial. There are lots and lots of working boats, commercial fishing boats, transports, ferries, sport fishing boats and pleasure craft constantly going in and out. Busy place.The harbor itself is not the most picturesque, quaint place in Maine. It is an older city that is reinventing itself into a hip, industrial-turned-trendy type of town. (That’s our perception of it, anyway.)

So some posts are more about the pictures and scenery of places we’ve been. And some are more about the stories of events that occurred. This post is the latter. There are a few story lines that wove themselves into our three days in Portland. But we’ll come back to that in a minute.

Story Line #1 – A Close Call and New Friends

When we were about an hour outside of Portland, we heard a distress call on the radio. A boat had lost all steering and was contacting the coast guard for help. I was down below making lunch when I heard Frank yell, “Ems, turn up the radio. There’s a boat in trouble and I think they’re close to us.” We listened to their coordinates and determined that we were past them, but not by far, and were trying to decide if we needed to turn around and go assist (a boating code of ethics). The boat in trouble was Wind Runner, a 42′ Island Packet sailboat. But we soon heard another boat – “Grumpy” – coming to the scene to assist. (My first thought was that if I had to get help from another boat, I’m not sure I’d want it to be one named “Grumpy”). We heard Grumpy let the Coast Guard know that they were on the scene. We were glad to hear that Wind Runner was not going to be drifting onto the rocks and we went on our merry way.

Just another lighthouse on the way to Portland

Story Line #2 – A rocking marina.

Our mission in Portland was to get in a marina for two nights so we would have a full day to give Eleanor Q a much needed bath and to do some basic maintenance. Plus we needed to do the ever precious laundry. We got to the marina, fueled up and then were shown to our parking spot for the next couple of nights. It was not in a slip. It was attached to a long floating dock where boats are parked end to end like parallel parking on a city block. The dock was an outer dock and it was pretty exposed to northerly winds, to swells from the bay and to wakes from all the large vessels going in and out of the port. We don’t mind some rocking, so didn’t think too much about it . . . until we saw how violently the wakes were slamming Eleanor Q into the side of the dock. We put out all the bumpers plus some more that the marina loaned to us and hoped for the best. Now the inside of a boat has lots of handholds, so if you’re underway and you’re trying to walk around the boat, you have something to grab onto. You’re NOT supposed to need to use them sitting parked at a marina! So for three days it felt like we were in a washing machine on the heavy duty cycle . . . when all the towels get stuck on one side.

Speaking of washing machines, we took a walk to check out the laundry facilities and to go to dinner.

On our walk to dinner . . . graffiti in Maine is different than what we’re used to.

The view from the restaurant: sitting in South Portland looking across to Portland

When we came back from our walk, to our amazement, we saw Wind Runner in a slip right across from us!! We walked over and introduced ourselves, explaining that we had heard their distress call and the resulting assist from Grumpy – and wanted to know if they were O.K. They were just fine aside from the fact that they had snagged a lobster pot and got it wrapped snug around their prop, thus having no steering. After throwing the boat into reverse several times, they got enough of the line unwrapped to limp the boat into the marina with the watchful eye of Grumpy escorting them. They mentioned that Grumpy was a rather large boat. Once they had made it to the marina, Grumpy disappeared into the mist (so to speak). We learned all of this when we invited them over for cocktails and some empathy for the day they had just had. And that’s how we met Jim and Vanessa. They were having the boat hauled the next day to take a look and see what damage had been done . . . oh, and they were going to do laundry. Again with the laundry. We enjoyed our visit and went our separate ways.

Next day, the boat cleaning began and I went to do laundry. Who do I meet in there? Vanessa.

Jim and Vanessa on Wind Runner

Story Line #3 – Reality TV Stars

When Frank and I came back from our walk the night before, he spotted a boat and kind of stopped in his tracks. He said, “I think I know that boat!” You’d be amazed the number of times he has said that on this trip. He said, “I think that’s from the show ‘Wicked Tuna.'” I believe I referenced that show in an earlier post. It is a Discovery Channel reality show about tuna fishermen . . . another one of the shows that has come out since “Deadliest Catch” became so popular. He said, “I think that’s the kid who’s on Wicked Tuna!” and I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . ” So he walked back and checked out the back of the boat . . . and sure enough, it’s “Pin Wheel” from Rye, NH – one of the regular boats on the show. The young man who captains was there with a young lady. I dared Frank to go talk to him – and he thought about it – but then said, “If he’s still there tomorrow, I’ll go say something.”

So the entire second day was dedicated to boat scrubbing, laundry, and more boat scrubbing. Plus we were attacking some mildew that was starting to show up on our clothes and in our hanging locker. Now mind you, we were trying to do these chores while being constantly thrashed up against the dock every time a big boat came through and holding on for dear life. Not pleasant. Doesn’t make for very good sleeping either. I was becoming Grumpy.

That evening we treated ourselves to a cab ride to Old Port for a stroll and dinner. Very cool looking city. We were walking around the waterfront and eyeing up the various boats of all sizes when we spotted a beautiful 100 foot power vessel all gleaming. We both were commenting on it when we spotted the name: GRUMPY! We had found Grumpy! Holy mackerel, guess I wouldn’t mind having Grumpy come to our rescue after all – that was one beautiful vessel! And clearly run by a professional crew. Somehow the name and the boat just didn’t seem to match.

Dinner and a stroll in “Old Port”

When the cab driver brought us back to the marina (after a stop at Home Depot, of course), he and Frank had struck up a conversation about “Wicked Tuna” which the driver watched faithfully. Frank told him about “Pin Wheel” being in the marina. When we got out of the car, we looked to see Pinwheel was still there. The boat and all the power cords were gone. Bummer. Frank was a little disappointed; he really wanted to chat with the young captain. And then as we got closer to our boat, we saw big deck lights shining right off our stern where there was no boat parked before we left for dinner. Unbelievably, it was PIN WHEEL! They were parked right behind us!! Frank approached the boat and the gang on the boat said, “Oh we’re sorry . . . do you want us to turn off our lights?” They thought he was walking over because he was ticked that their lights were shining on our boat! Frank put them at ease and struck up a conversation with Captain Tyler who couldn’t have been nicer. The next day gave Frank the chance to chat it up with Tyler a couple more times. We got the biggest kick out of it! They were getting ready to leave the next day to start filming the new season. A Discovery Channel cameraman was there running wires and getting set up. It was very fun to watch.

Pin Wheel and Eleanor Q

The next day was a washout with rain and heavy winds. It was no day to try to leave, so we sat there thrashing about on the dock for yet another day. In the mean time we had discovered more clothes with mildew on them. Boats. So guess where I headed? Yup, back to the laundry room. On my last batch of clothes in the dryer, guess who walked in? Yup, Vanessa. We just looked at each other and laughed – hard. How much laundry can two women do in two days’ time? I was able to catch up on the fact that they had discovered the remains of twisted lobster pot line wrapped around their prop which they were able to get off in short order when they hauled the boat. No permanent damage and all was well. They could continue their interrupted journey to Boothbay Harbor the next day. We ultimately decided to have a “combined resources” dinner together on their boat that night: they made the steaks and we made the sides and brought the wine. It was a most enjoyable way to end a labor intensive day with fun new boating cohorts.

Later that night we saw Pin Wheel in a flurry of activity. It was time for them to make a hasty exit to head out to Georges Bank and the fuel dock was about to close. Frank walked over to offer assistance in getting the boat off the dock and we wished Capt. Tyler luck in the new season as Pin Wheel took off. It was a little excitement in our chore-filled stay.

Frank offering dock assistance to Pin Wheel and Captain Tyler

Pin Wheel pushing off the dock

Pin Wheel off to start a new season . . . trying to defend this season’s first place finish!

And so our three story lines come full circle. Pinwheel got out of Portland. Wind Runner got out of Portland, and we, at long last, got off the rocky dock and got out of Portland, too . . . wearing clean clothes.

Jul

We Made it to Maine!

Oh my goodness; we’re in Maine!

Suddenly we decided to hit the afterburners and get to Maine . . . enough tooling around in Rhode Island and Massachussets . . . let’s get to MAINE!

Consequently, we have hit a number of places rapid fire and I am behind on posting about them. So this will be a tour through several locations. I will apologize for the length of this post right up front. Quick overview of our trip so far:

From May to Maine!

After Cuttyhunk we headed to Martha’s Vineyard. We hit two different spots in the Vineyard which were very different experiences. The first was Vinyard Haven. It is pretty but a slightly more industrial section of the island. We anchored outside of the harbor which was peaceful and entertaining. We watched all kinds of boats coming and going along with the constant stream of ferries coming to the island. But our greatest entertainment that evening came from watching a very large shooner that looked a bit like a pirate ship. When we rode into the harbor by dinghy to check things out, we saw it anchored. There were signs indicating that it served as a summer camp. Turns out, they spend the nights anchored up outside the harbor after sailing in the late afternoon and they were our neighbor for the night. (Not very, very close, but close enough for us to get the gist of what was happening on the boat.) We heard the chow bell, we heard them doing chants and songs like they were sitting around a camp fire later on and then they set off the traditional sunset canon (a popular thing here in New England!) We could tell they were settling into their bunks and instead of having an actual anchor light up in their mast, they did it old school . . . they actually lit real lanterns and hung them from the rigging. So neat to imagine what they were talking about or if they were telling ghost stories while swinging from their hammocks down below. Although it was a very hot day by land, it was so comfortable at anchor and we had the most peaceful, easy, relaxing afternoon and evening aboard just minding our own business and watching the world go by.

The light at the entrance to Vineyard Haven Harbor

Vineyard Haven Harbor

Two schooners used for youth camps. The navy one was our neighbor in the anchorage.

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight!

The second part of our visit to Martha’s Vineyard was the more bustling, touristy Edgartown. First let me just say, it was blazing hot. We had made a reservation for a mooring ball right in the harbor. We would not do that again. Some mooring fields are open and spacious with local boats that are not always occupied . . . just sitting waiting for their owners to come show them some love. Not Edgartown. This is like getting a summer rental in Ocean City. Actually, what it was most like was like being parked in a floating RV park. (Now some people might like that . . . nothing wrong with RV parks). It was loud, crowded, busy and boats just one on top of another. Edgartown was very busy with tourists and quite the happening place. And it seems that at about 10pm every night, anyone over the age of 30 basically gets thrown out of town and it is taken over by the young, wealthy, happening crowd. We were in the area for about 3 days. The second day the breeze picked up and it was much more comfortable, but the first and third days we were melting quite a bit. On day two we were able to take a good long walk around town to find a hardware store (I can’t remember what needed fixin’ that day) and to get some exercise. We saw some amazing boats/yachts. But frankly, it just wasn’t our kind of place. Beautiful, don’t get me wrong. I’ll bet I’d like it more in October. Plus we should have anchored outside of the harbor where the air was moving and the boats were further apart. Lessons learned. First sighting of a motor yacht called “Blue Guitar” which everyone thinks belongs to Eric Clapton. (I researched this one hard and am pretty sure it is not his yacht – but that is a very popular urban legend.)

Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard

Walking around Martha’s Vineyard

Beautiful gardens all around Edgartown

Picturesque buildings in Edgartown

As we were walking, Frank let out a sort of “whoop.” Scared me half to death. It was the siting of the beloved Dairy Queen – his favorite part of Edgartown. Oh boy.

Next we went through Woods Hole (one of the openings between islands in the Elizabeth Islands) and came across a little slice of heaven: Quissett Harbor, Mass. Picturesque, protected from storms (which we were expecting), a quiet, charming harbor. Not a whole lot happening in Quissett itself, but if you walked up the road about 1/4 mile there was a trolley that ran either to Woods Hole or to Falmouth. We needed parts at a hardware store (again) and took the Trolley to Falmouth the first day. Nice downtown, shops, grocery, West Marine (bonus!), hardware stores and plumbing supply (which is really what we needed). We enjoyed provisioning all over town and finding a nice pizza place to have lunch at the bar and watch some of the British Open. Oh, and a barber shop! (I escaped using the clippers again!) The guy who oversees the harbor is such a cool character. He’s been there for 30 years (He must have moved there when he was 20), and manages the marina/yacht club. In the evening he gets in his skiff, puts on bermuda shorts and a big straw hat, has a beer in his hand and rides around the harbor to collect the very reasonable mooring fee from visitors. Did I mention that if they did a movie of his life Richard Gere would definitely get the part? What a stitch. We loved him.

Quissett Harbor

Waiting for the Trolley in Falmouth after provisioning.

At the Barber in Falmouth. I am spared from clipping again! Wow, is it short.

Again, it was HOT! And I had about one nerve left which someone was about to get on . . . so as we were gliding out of town, I spotted . . . I’m embarassed to admit it . . . a vey nice looking hair salon. I called and found that they had a cancellation the next morning. Yup, I weenied out and went to a grown up hair salon for some air conditioning, Wi-Fi and pampering. I am SOOOOO ashamed. My hard core sailor needed a break for a couple of hours and I turned back into a girly girl for a bit. Can I tell you, it was DELIGHTFUL! And Frank dodged the bullet from having to trim MY hair!

Rachel was a sweetheart! It's only fair that I get a picture in the midst of getting my hair done, too.

Rachel was great! Ladies know it is nerve wracking to go to a new stylist – but anyone would be better than Frank! It’s only fair that I get a picture in the midst of getting my hair done, too.

Funny story (now) . . . I had taken the trolley into town and left Frank repairing the head (yes, a crappy job . . .) and expected to see him when I returned to Quissett. When I was finished at the salon, I listened to a voicemail from him saying he was coming into Falmouth to go to – you guessed it – the hardware store and to call him when I got done. I was feeling happy and refreshed and human and respectable looking again, walking down Main St. with a little extra swing back in my step. I figured I would find him and we’d go have lunch before heading back to the hot boat. And that’s when the following conversation took place (approximately):

Ems: Hi! Where are you?

Frank: I just got out of the hardware store and now I need the pluming supply store.

Ems: Okay. Where is that?

Frank: I don’t know exactly.

Ems: Okay. Were you in the hardware store on Main Street?

Frank: Yeah, I think so.

Ems: Where are you now?

Frank: I’m behind the library.

Ems: Okay, well I’m in front of the library, so we’re going to be making eye contact any second now.

Frank: Yeah, well I’ve got to get this part to finish the head, so I’m headed there now.

Ems: Okay, where is “there?”

Frank: I don’t really know! I’m not looking for you right now – I’m looking for the PLUMBING SUPPLY STORE!

That is a direct quote. I don’t think I exactly hung up on him . . .

Moral of the story, he thought I was still sitting in the salon trying to get him to come say “hi” while I was finishing up. What he failed to realize was that I was on Google Maps trying to chase him up and down Main St in nearly 90 degree weather with my new hairdo now sticking to my face trying to catch up with him!! We were able to laugh about our miscommunication over lunch in the air conditioning , but the sidewalk was sizzling for a few minutes before that. Ah . . . communications.

We met a really lovely couple from two boats down as we were riding around the harbor . . . had cocktails together our last evening there. They were SO kind as to give us their cruising guide for Maine. We have a cruising guide for all of New England, but this is the penultimate guide specifically for Maine. They had used it for a couple of years and wanted to pass it along to us, and asked us to pass it along to someone else who could use it when we were done with it. What a generous and wonderful thing to do. We already have referred to it multiple times in our first few short days here. I’ll say it again – people on the water are amazingly kind.

We left Quissett on Sunday, made our way through the Cape Cod Canal and went to Provincetown, an extremely colorful place that is welcoming of all kinds of lifestyles, some very flamboyant. I’ll just tell you that we learned what “bear week” is and I’ll leave it at that. We grabbed a mooring ball close to the bustling town because we were . . . wait for it . . . in search of a hardware store – quickly. And then we very quickly made our way out of Provincetown the next day and headed east to Maine.

Leaving Quissett Harbor at daybreak

Entrance to the Cape Cod Canal – Like the C&D Canal, you have to time your trip through the canal based on the currents; thus the early morning departure.

The Maritime School at the Canal Entrance

Exiting the Canal. Again, we didn’t meet any large boat traffic. We hardly met any traffic at all! We looked for whales after we came out the canal, but they would not come out and play that day. Guess they feared Frank the mighty fisherman!

Proof that we were actually in Provincetown . . . for 12 hours.

Our thought was that Provincetown is like a mix of Key West and New Orleans . . . a carnival-like atmosphere. You can’t really see the large, orange painted transvestite on the unicycle. Yeah, you read that right.

The harbor in Provincetown. Supplies from the hardware store secure in the backpack.

We didn’t feel like doing another overnighter . . . that took a lot out of us . . . so we were looking for a way to turn the trip into a couple of long, back-to-back days instead. We were on the single side band radio one morning listening to the morning cruisers net with boats checking in from all over when someone mentioned they were in “Isle of Shoals”. We looked at each other like a dog does when it’s confused – you know – head cocked sideways . . . and kind of made that little “wuh?” noise. We’d never heard of it. And we knew these people were headed for Maine. Upon further research, we found this little patch of nine teeny islands in a cluster that are about 10 miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Maine/New Hampshire state line splits right through the middle of them. They are a perfect stopover point for a trip to Maine. And so, we decided we would explore the Isle of Shoals. There is quite a history if you Google Isle of Shoals and start poking around. There was a grizzly murder of three women on one island in the late 1800s while the men-folk went to fish and couldn’t get back to the harbor due to weather. There are rumors that Blackbeard’s wife’s ghost wanders on one of the other islands after he left her there to wait for him and she died before he returned. On Star Island there is a huge retreat and conference center for the Unitarian Church. (I always thought Unitarians were pretty cool. The guy who wrote “All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is a Unitarian minister . . . trivia for the day.) We grabbed a (free) mooring ball in the harbor expecting to stay just one night and mosey on the next day. We realized the harbor was right where the state line crossed, so we figured when the wind blew one way we were in New Hampshire and when it blew the other way and the boat swang around, we were in Maine. It was a beautiful, remote, picturesque, interesting place to see. And not a place very many people will ever have a chance to lay eyes on. I think we like some of those kinds of places best of all – the ones that very few people get to find. It just feels extra special. We ended up being there for two nights . . . that pesky weather, you know. Our day was spent on boat chores. We ended up re-sewing a lot of canvas by hand where the thread is starting to dry rot. It was the best job of collaborating on a project that we have done in a long time. We have a hand stitcher and it is a much easier job with two people. Remember, canvas is very thick and heavy and requires huge needles. It’s not like hemming a pair of pants! Three hours and two stiff necks and backs later, our repairs were in pretty good shape. And it was cool enough, at last, to be able to cook a real dinner on the boat without melting. Boat care and maintenance never go away and we’re putting some hard miles on this baby.

The next morning, we started out at about 6:00am in a bright sunny Isle of Shoals to head to Portland, Maine. About twenty minutes later, it wasn’t bright and sunny any more. It was foggy. Very foggy. And it stayed that way for the first four hours of our trip. We got some good practice time in on the radar. We know we need to get used to it . . . that’s the part of the country we’re in and boaters around here know how to deal with fog. But it’s still a little nerve wracking for us . . . but we did very well, and around 10:00am, the sun finally started breaking through again. By the way, there has been very little actual sailing in these last few legs. Either there hasn’t been any wind or it’s not in a favorable direction, so we’ve been motoring or motor sailing a lot. So after a couple of days of grinding northeast, we finally made it to Maine.

The Retreat on Star Island, Isle of Shoals

Good company in the mooring field.

Sites around the picturesque island

Welcome to Star Island! Another fun night of listening to youth campers enjoying there time in this very remote location.

Not leaving the Isle of Shoals today! A raw, rainy day in the harbor.

The lighthouse as we leave the Isle of Shoals in the sun.

We’ll spend pretty much the next month exploring just a few of the myriad of islands in these parts. So much to see – so little time. We frequently talk about the fact that two years sounded like a long time to try to do this, and yet we know we will only scratch the surface of the number of things to see on this route in two years.

So next post will begin our adventures in Maine for the month of August starting with Portland. I wonder if Portland has a hardware store?

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Posts from the ‘General Posts About Travels’ Category

Back Home on the Chesapeake Bay

From New York to New Jersey

In and Out of Newport, Rhode Island

Family and Friends: Gloucester and Marblehead

From Maine to Mass – Our Last Days in Maine

A Reach to Our Ultimate Maine Destination: Acadia

Anchors Aweigh . . . or Not: Midcoast Maine

Boothbay Harbor: Lobsters and the Pots They Come In

Portland, Maine: New Friends, Reality Shows and Spin Cycles

We Made it to Maine!

Places We’ve Been

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