Mystic, CT

Bill and I are enjoying our stay at Mystic, CT. As Bill wrote last night, we are actually staying inside the Mystic Seaport Museum. It is both strange and fascinating. Strange because we feel as if we are almost part of an exhibit, as museum goers can stroll by the boats in the small marina (there are nine boats here including sv Mary Elizabeth). Fascinating because the museum grounds close at six and then we have the place to ourselves. We became members of the museum so we could get the better rate on the dockage since we'll be here through Saturday.


The museum, officially called Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, is sort of like Plymouth Plantation, for anyone who is familiar with that. The website states that it is a "living history museum" and is 17 acres "depicting life in New England in the 19th century." There are three tall ships that visitors can board, a working shipyard, planetarium, and a recreated village. Bill and I are going to explore more tomorrow.

Today was an "errand day." I got up early and went for a walk. Bill secured a diver for tomorrow afternoon to come out and look at the propeller. We walked to West Marine and did some shopping for essentials. We haven't been to a West Marine since we were in Cataumet. Now we are back at the boat enjoying the late afternoon breeze (it has been hot in here).

For a slideshow of pictures of Mystic, CT click below:

Not a good day for the Captain.....

(This entry from Bill) After a very uneventful passage from Block Island to Mystic Harbor under sunny skies in wind from the wrong direction (again) we motored up the scenic Mystic River past Noank to the first of two bridges to get to Mystic Seaport, a railroad bridge, which is normally in the open position but was closed when we got there. During the fifteen minute wait, we made several 360’s but after multiple donuts, I decided to put the boat in reverse to hold our position.

Our normal routine is to tow our dinghy on a line that runs about 25 feet off our stern. But after a couple of minutes in reverse, I realized the dinghy was not behind us anymore but was right next to us. I asked Lauren to bring in the towing line. So Lauren, being the great first mate that she is, responded and said "it's stuck". We had about a 2 knot current pushing us into the bridge at this point and I had a pretty good idea what had happened. The towing line had caught in the gap between the rudder and the keel of the boat - very scary because this is very close to the propeller. After trying several options and being very close to one of the channel markers, we realized our only option was to cut the line to try to pull it free. No luck!

We re-attached the dinghy to the boat using the “painter” (which is not used for towing but is used to attaching the dinghy to docks) and then, remember the channel marker? Because it was getting very close and I was unsure of where the approximately 24 feet left of line was, I needed to decide whether to put the boat back in gear or to drift out of the channel. Not having but 15 seconds to make this decision, I put the boat into gear and made a hard turn to avoid a collision with the channel marker.

Thankfully, we avoided the marker but we ran ourselves firmly aground in 5 feet of water! Things were not looking good. Call for a tow or put the engine in reverse to get us off the bottom and risk having the tow line (who knows where it was) sucked into the propeller? Neither were great options. I elected the latter and we were able to get ourselves out of the mud. We made our way through the railroad bridge and the next bridge and finally docked at Mystic Seaport, wondering if we were a ticking time bomb (i.e. were we going to suck the remaining tow line into our prop?)

So tomorrow I have to decide whether to dive the rudder myself, as I have gear on board, or hire a diver. However, looking over the stern of the boat today, I counted upwards of ten jellyfish floating near the surface and I am leaning towards having a professional do it since I don’t have a full wetsuit.

Looking back, safe and sound at the dock, after a great dinner downtown, one can realize that it only takes a few seconds of complacency to turn little problems into a big deal. Lesson learned again.

On another note, we are staying at (as in inside) the Mystic Seaport Museum and are actually docked next to three tall sailing ships. And it looks like our stay here is going to be fantastic.

What do we do about mail?

When I left Alexandria for good in February, I filled out a change of address form at the post office and we signed up for a mail forwarding service. Basically all of our mail is sent to Green Cove Springs, FL to a company called Mail Forwarding Services at St. Brendan’s Isle. They collect our mail, toss the junk, and keep it until we are somewhere where we know we will be. I then go online and fill out a mail shipment request; they package everything up, and then send it overnight via FedEx or UPS. For example, we are going to be in Port Jefferson, NY this weekend. We are going to have our mail shipped to Linda Sanders’s house (Bill’s friend from high school) and she’ll bring it when we go for dinner with her and her family (Thank you Linda and Mike!) And last week we had a shipment sent to us in Nantucket since the marina agreed to accept the package for us. It has worked well so far and we are able to keep in touch and get our magazines, etc. We do all of our bills online.

BI, RI

What a perfect day! We got up early and decided to take the scooter around the rest of the island after our tour was cut short yesterday by bad weather. First we went to Mohegan Bluffs – which was absolutely incredible. We walked down a huge flight of stairs onto the beach and watched the surf for awhile. It was as pretty as anything we have seen in the Caribbean – huge waves and boulders, lots of green shrubbery, huge cliffs. There were lots of people on the beach – including kids who decided to give themselves a mud bath. We learned that the sand is black because of iron deposits. Bill took this picture of a family enjoying the sand! Hey people pay big money at spas for mud wraps. These kids are onto something.

We hopped back onto the scooters (after a long trek back UP the stairs) and went to the Southeast Lighthouse, back through town, and then onto North Reef Light. We stopped and had hotdogs and brats on the rocks at North Reef and then went to a “Labyrinth”, which turned out to be more creepy than anything (we were thinking large shrubs and / or cornstalks but it was more like a weird shrine.) We had to return the scooter at 2:00 so we headed back to town to the rental place and then walked back to the marina.

Bill washed down the sides of the boat and we had a visit from Jeremy who is in Block Island captaining a charter with sv Splendido. We are now enjoying the late afternoon sun on the boat. We are planning on a sunset dinghy ride, dinner at the Oar, and the Red Sox tonight. Tomorrow we leave for Mystic, CT, another place we are both looking forward to seeing.

Block Island has been fun. It is a neat place – only 10 square miles. And we found out today that most of the Island is protected. Lots of people vacation here (on boats, at the hotel where the marina we are staying is, or in several beautiful B & Bs we saw).

For WAY more pictures of Block Island, click HERE.

OR

Watch the slideshow below.

We moved off the ferry / fuel dock around 10:45. Bill and I dropped off our laundry and then finished filling the tanks, etc. We then decided to take a walk and explore.

We walked about 30 minutes into town (which is very small, really just one main drag with ten or fifteen stores). We found a place to rent scooters and off we went. Since it was lunch time, we drove around for a bit and then stopped at a restaurant on the water.

All morning we watched the thunderstorm clouds but each time they missed us. We knew that there was bad weather around Block Island from listening to the marine forecast. As we were eating, the sky got progressively darker. Bill got calls from both Dave and Tommy (it is nice to know there are people looking out for us!) saying the skies were about to open up. So... we got our check and high tailed it back to the marina. Watching the storm roll in was absolutely amazing. The skies were stunning, the lightning beautiful, the thunder LOUD. The wind wasn't so bad (30 kts max), but it poured!! And it hasn't stopped. We basically stayed in on the boat for the rest of the day watching movies and hanging out. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will come out again. We have the scooter until the afternoon. Here are some pictures of the storm.

Well, we finally got on the fuel dock around 6:30 or so. We hung out for awhile, and then had some (much needed) cocktails at the tiki bar. As we were walking up to dinner, we saw the dockmaster again, who told us that a sailboat would be rafted up next to us. This marina is crazy. They have managed to squeeze a boat into every possible location. And it is the most expensive place we have stayed so far. Bill managed to "negotiate" so our stay on the fuel dock is free.

This morning we got up early because we were told we would have to vacate in order to make room for the ferry. It is 10:30 and we are still waiting to find out where they are going to move us to. There was a mass exodous this morning of big powerboats, so we should be fine. We are filling the water tanks, etc. now. Before last night, we had been on a mooring for 20 days. We did a good job of managing our power (especially since the generator is still not working) and water (we have made water off and on for the past couple of weeks). But it was really, really nice to have AC last night, to blowdry my hair, to take really hot showers, to turn on all the lights and not care!!!

Today, after we get our new slip assignment, we are going to explore a little. It is a nice day!

Block Island

We are now sitting in Block Island topside listening to the crazy radio. All radio traffic for the various launches (there are about 400 boats in here), all radio traffic for the marina, all radio traffic for Aldo, which we gather is some sort of food delivery service, and all radio traffic for the local fishing tournament is transmitted on one single channel – channel 68. We are getting a huge kick out of the horrible (but amusing) radio etiquette, people talking over each other etc. For example, we just heard “Champlin’s, I need a pickup” on the radio. The water taxi came back and said, “What is your location and type of vessel” (there are a TON of boats here all in different locations, mind you.) The woman came back on the radio and said, “We are a sailboat.” Ummm…. Could you be a little more specific? We have heard all about Aldo’s pepperoni bread (he doesn’t have any left, but you can still get spinach), the rules for the children’s class for the fishing tournament, and a 26 foot motorboat Orion that still cannot find the channel into the marina. And all of the people on the radio sound like they are characters out of the Sopranos. It has been a very amusing way to spend the early evening.

So… why are we sitting listening to the radio? Well, we got to Block Island around 3:00. When we called for our slip assignment and tie up instructions, the marina did not have our reservation. Now, to their credit, we changed our reservation a few days ago because we were delayed in Nantucket because of the weather. Apparently they did not update the change in their system and thought we were no shows when they expected us last night. So…. We were told to standby. And we did. For about 40 minutes. They had no room for us, so they were trying to find a boat that we could raft up to. The marina actually tried to negotiate our draft (from the waterline to the bottom of the keel, which is the deepest part of the boat) – are you sure you aren’t 5 ½ feet? Nope, we are 6 (well, not really, but we always round up just a little). Well, another ½ an hour later (and after phone calls to three other marinas and the harbormaster for any available moorings [nope]) we were still hovering in the channel. The dock manager decided to get into the launch and come out to look at our boat for himself before making a decision whether we could safely fit and raft up with another boat. WHAT? Was he going to take his tape measure to the boat?

Anyway, all parties involved decided that we will wait on a private mooring with the harbormaster’s approval (and hope the owner doesn’t show up) until they can move a few boats around and put us on the fuel dock (oh, and after the ferry leaves). So, it is 6:00 and we are still waiting. We are assured we are going to get a slip eventually…. In the meantime, we have heard two other boats where the reservation has been “mixed up” so we don’t feel as bad.

On a better note, Block Island looks like it is going to be a lot of fun and we are both looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

Cuttyhunk, MA

Cuttyhunk was fun. We arrived under blue, sunny skies but no wind. We got a mooring outside of the jetty (in front of Al and Corinne's friend's house!) since the moorings on the inside were full. We took the dinghy to shore and explored a little. Cuttyhunk is a very small, quiet place. And it is dry (meaning no booze at all). According to the 2000 census, only 52 people lived on the island.

An interesting think about Cuttyhunk is that residents and visitors use golf carts to get around. I guess it makes sense since Cuttyhunk is still in tax-achusetts and you don't have to register a golf cart!

We went to the market, which was smaller than many of the markets in Tortola, for a few things and then explored the beach / shoreline before heading back to the boat. We played yahtzee, listened to the Red Sox on the radio and had an early dinner. Cuttyhunk is beautiful for anyone who wants a very relaxing and quiet vacation.

For more pictures of Cuttyhunk, click here.

Off to Cuttyhunk.

We left Nantucket early this morning in fog and misty rain. We are motoring to Cuttyhunk and should be there in six hours or so. The wind is at less than 5 knots, which isn't enough to get this boat moving very fast at all. We passed Dave and Molly on Five Keys on their way back to Nantucket a little while ago. The weather is getting nicer the further southwest we go.

On another note, I finally finished my first cross stitch. Although the kit stated it was an "easy weekend project" it has taken me several weeks (and hasn't necessarily been easy). It isn't perfect, but it has been a nice project to work on during rainy days and while we are underway. During our motor today I have started a much easier, much smaller cross stitch of Edgartown Light.

Another rainy day

So we spent the day on the boat. I am 99.9% finished with my cross stitch. Yeah! We also tackled some engine "issues" and Bill cleaned out the sump pumps - never a fun job. I cleaned down below and Bill did a lot of planning for the next month or so this afternoon. I also got to chat with my sister, Nancy, and Melanie, which was a treat.

We are in for the night (chili and a movie) and off early tomorrow for Cuttyhunk - if all goes according to plan, which we know it doesn't. I have been keeping track of mooring and slip reservations in a notebook, which also includes (tentative) future dates and destinations. Right now my notebook is full of scratched out lists and torn out pages (I have to get over having a "perfect" to-do / to-go list or else I am going to drive myself [and Bill] crazy!)

And Bill and I wanted to clarify. We are not complaining that we are "stuck" in Nantucket. Poor us, right?!!!? Nantucket has been amazingly beautiful and a lot of fun. We just didn't think that we would be here for a week!

Here are some pictures of one of the storms (we have had several today) that passed through. Thanks Capt Dave for the heads up - or else we would have been sailing in this mess.

Still...in...Nantucket....

Bill and I are still in Nantucket. We were supposed to leave on Monday, but extended our stay last week until Wednesday so we could see some more of the sites. Then on Wednesday we extended our stay another night so we could get our mail (which was delivered to Nantucket Moorings) and stay in Cuttyhunk only one night instead of two. Today, Thursday, we decided to stay another day because of some nasty weather that is supposed to come our way. Since we do an average of 8 knots (sailing or motoring) there is no way for us to "outrun" a storm. Bill made the decision after getting a head's up from Captain Dave, then listening to the marine forecast and reading online to stay here safe and sound on our mooring for another night. As the Captain, Bill makes all decisions related to navigation and weather, etc. I always 100% trust his decisions either way (but am glad we won't have to deal with any "hail and damaging winds" today!) Here is the weather report:

Nantucket Sound-
Today S winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft. A chance of showers with a slight chance of tstms until late afternoon...then showers likely with a chance of tstms early this afternoon. Patchy fog. Some tstms may produce heavy rainfall...large hail and damaging winds early this afternoon. Vsby 1 to 3
nm.

Tonight S winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft. Showers likely with a chance of tstms. Patchy fog in the evening. Some tstms may produce heavy rainfall...large hail and damaging winds. Vsby 1 to 3 nm.

Right now it is pretty choppy and there is about 20 kts of wind (and rising) in the mooring field and the sky is getting darker. So looks like we are in for another afternoon on the boat. I am going to do a good cleaning down below and hopefully finish my cross stitch. There are also a few boat maintenance projects that we are going to work on as well as continue to make reservations for Annapolis, etc.

So we have been mostly hanging out on the boat the past few days. We did some errands yesterday and had sushi for lunch. We also walked around and found the beach at Brant Point (and saw the lighthouse up close). A few more v-e-r-y big boats have been in and out of the harbor - to include My Shanti, which is listed as one of the top 100 boats in the world. After watching the Red Sox win in the 12th inning last night, we made dinner (bacon and egg wraps) and watched a movie.

I have been bad about taking pictures for some reason, so I don't have many to share. Except for this one of a sign that we saw at a dog park the other day, which made us both do a double-take then laugh out loud. Enjoy.

We feel popular....

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Wakeup calls and good reads

Bill and I were unpleasantly awoken last night around 2:15 am. The wind had shifted 180 degrees and was howling. Unfortunately, the mooring ball (that was now) directly behind Mary Elizabeth was empty and was banging - with a lot of force - into our stern. For those of you who have seen our boat you will remember that we sleep in the aft cabin. The noise literally sounding like a wrecking ball was coming through the hull at our heads. We got up and, after figuring out what was happening, tried to put out fenders, moved the dinghy and even tried to tighten the lines to our mooring to shorten the boat. Nothing worked - the wind was too strong and it kept shifting so the ball was right off our port then starboard side hitting the boat the whole time. After about three hours the wind shifted enough that sv ME was out of the path of the mooring ball, but we did not get the best nights sleep to say the least. The worse part is, the mooring balls are white with red stripes. Our boat is blue. We are still assessing the damage..... Quote of the day - "Never again will we have a blue hulled boat!" -- Bill McClendon, 3:19 am.

On another note, Bill and I have both been reading. I finished In the Heart of the Sea: The Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. I bought this book at the gift shop of the Whaling Museum. It is an incredible story, and a fabulous read. It is about the whaleship Essex out of Nantucket. In 1819 at the height of the whaling industry, 20 crew left for the Pacific. After about a year of being at sea, their ship was rammed by a whale and sunk. The 20 crew got into three whaleboats in search of land. In the Heart of the Sea is their story of survival. The book won the 2000 National Book Award (Nonfiction). If anyone is interested in reading it, I would be more than happy to put it in the mail. More information can be found on the author's website: http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com/heartofthesea/index.html

Bill and I both also read You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Letham (one of our favorite authors). It was an OK book (not my favorite, Bill like it a little more) about the LA art / rock scene, a struggling band, and a kangaroo. We passed it along to Keith to read on the ferry yesterday. Here is a book review from the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502626.html

Nantucket Pt. 3

Well, we are still in Nantucket and not too much to report. Today it alternated between rain and thunderstorms ALL day. We stayed on board the duration of the day - Bill on the computer and the hand-held yahtzee game, me doing cross stitch (I am about 3/4 finished with my first "master" piece.) We watched the mooring field empty and then fill up again - to include a IP 485 sister ship (complete with a painted hull!) We are just hanging out and relaxing. Here are some picture of the storms via our viewpoint in the mooring field.

Yesterday I went into shore for awhile, walked around and went food shopping. We stayed on board, had dinner (tacos!) and watched a movie. The night before we went out with Keith for sushi and drinks. It continues to be a fun time at Nantucket. We actually started to call around for places to stay in Annapolis (since we will be there for about a month) but everywhere so far is full - so we might have to come up with a plan B. We are still planning on leaving Nantucket on Wednesday morning. We will head to Cuttyhunk for two nights (and hopefully meet up with Carol and Bill from sv Rigel). Then we are on to Block Island, RI for three nights and then Mystic, CT. Slowly but surely we are making our way south.

For more pictures of Nantucket, click below.

Nantucket Cont...

We continued to have another perfect day on Nantucket. After doing a little more polishing of the stainless, we took the dinghy (and our trash and recycling) to shore to say goodbye to Dave and Molly. It has been such a treat to be in the same place as they were for the past few days. We have really enjoyed seeing them and getting to spend some time hanging out. Both Bill and I look forward to seeing them in Maryland later this summer.

After we bid them farewell (and watched capt' Dave nail leaving a very tight slip at the dock) we had lunch and then went to the Nantucket Whaling Museum. I have to say that it is one of the nicest museums I have ever been to. The picture below is a full size, real skeleton of a whale that washed up on Nantuckets shore in 1996. We sat and listened to a 35 minute talk of the history of whaling and Nantucket, which was extremely interesting (so much so that I bought Moby Dick, which I have never read, in the gift shop!) We saw scrimshaw, nantucket baskets, tools and a replica of a boat that the whalers would have used, and a ton more. It is a very fascinating subject, and one that I didn't know anything about before our visit to the museum.

There was also an "observation deck" on the roof of the museum. I took this picture of the mooring field from the deck. Mary Elizabeth is out there somewhere.

Afterwards we got ice cream and walked around a bit more. We went into several neat stores and Bill bought a clock from a local artist Don Freedman. We and are now back at the boat, having happy hour and about to start a game of yahtzee before we go back into shore for dinner.

Nantucket

Bill and I are having a GREAT time in Nantucket. We arrived here on Thursday morning. When we pulled into the mooring field, Bill noticed that we are directly next to sv Madhatter, which is the boat that our friend Keith captains. Small world....

The best part about being in Nantucket is that Dave and Molly are here!!! It has been so nice to see them and hang out. And Bill and Dave have actually had enough time for a little yahtzee tournament.

Friday afternoon Bill, Dave, and Frank, the owner of the boat that Dave captains, went fishing. They caught a few and saw lots of seals. Bill actually thinks he saw a shark stalking the seals. There have been numerous shark sightings in Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard, and a great white (female, 6 1/2 feet) actually washed up on the shore in Nantucket the other day. While the guys were fishing, Molly gave me a great tour of Nantucket (there are so many shops and beautiful cobblestone streets, and plenty huge, monstrous boats!) It was the perfect afternoon!

Friday night we had Keith over for dinner. I used the rest of my dad's sauce and made chicken parm, which was delicious (if I do say so myself). After work, Molly and Dave came over to the boat for some yahtzee.

Saturday Bill and I did some walking around for a bit. We went food shopping and finally got to a ship's store. After a little afternoon yahtzee with Dave, we made dinner and watched a movie and called it an early night.

This morning Bill is doing some boat maintenance. He is checking the fluid levels and topping things off as necessary. We seem to still be having a problem with the generator, so, in addition to the wind generator, we have been running the engine to charge the battery.

The weather has been perfect. Sunny and warm and windy every day. We are actually going to extend our reservation a bit (until Wednesday) so we have time to visit the whaling museum, go for a tour of the island with Cindy's friend LJ, and possibly go on a boat tour to see the seals.