Connie, Beth (a last minute addition to the roster), and I flew in to Rockland Maine and caught a ride up to Camden. After a bit of lunch we went out to walk around this very quaint Maine seacoast town.
Then we caught up with Tom, Nancy, and Carolyn McCandlish for dinner on the SB.
Thursday August 11
In the morning (very foggy) most of us got up at about 6:30 to watch Dennis maneuver out the tight, one way passage from the harbor, missing sail boats and lobster pots all the way. Beth never heard the foghorn but it sure startled me when Dennis blew it for the first time in the harbor. Glad we were exiting and the hotel patrons couldn't see the name of the boat thru the fog.
This was the longest ride of the trip, about seven hours but the seas were mostly glassy and foggy.
Maine has a million islands and we learned that if one could stretch the coast of Maine out in a line it would be about 3000 miles.
Our destination was Portsmouth New Hampshire, and we docked at the nearby Wentworth NH Marina.
Carolyn left the boat in the morning to bring the McC's car down to Wentworth but then joined us on board.
Portsmouth was a lot more blue collar (shipyard there) and a lot less touristy than Camden. Dennis took us by zodiac into town for a while, and we cruised the Piscataqua River which is known for its fast current due to the tides.
On the dock I talked to a fisherman who went 12 miles out and hooked into a huge tuna that took all his tackle.
Drew fixed salmon with Maine blueberry balsamic (a gift from the McC's) and okra for dinner:
Here we all are on the bow with the Piscataqua behind us-
We ran another four or five hours to Boston today and docked at the Constitution Marina. Carolyn came down by car and picked up Tom and Nancy who were headed back to their "camp" on the lake.
The Constitution marina is within walking distance of the Bunker Hill Monument (which is actually on Breed's Hill for some reason) but the obelisk was closed due to the 95 plus degree heat.
Today was also the big night for guests, with my friends Daniel and Maria Gerrity from Boston coming on to spend one night, niece Anne Stevenson from Boston coming on for one night, Connie's friend from Newport News Jackie Potus who lives in Boston now coming for dinner, and Jim and Kaki coming in for the remainder of the cruise.
Drew fixed halibut for dinner which was great but, oops, I did not realize Maria is allergic to white fish so she could have gone hungry..... except for the fact that Drew also served his signature chocolate chip ice cream club sandwiches for dessert.
Saturday August 13
SB headed for New Bedford in the morning, and, as you can see, the seas were not too rough for Beth.
This hammock was a great idea, and it can be taken anywhere easily. Along the way as we were going thru the canal between Sandwich on the Boston side and Hyannis on the ocean side, Daniel pointed out that the Mayflower was one half the size of the SB. Another interesting factoid- today in the US there are about 60 million people who claim to be related to Mayflower passengers.
The reason to go to New Bedford, which is a pretty hard scrabble place populated by lots of sailors for young women to be wary of, and which is home to the scallop fleet which drags off the St. George Bank where the cod used to be, was to visit the Whaling Museum. Michael went there last year and highly recommended it.
In addition to an extensive scrimshaw collection, any number of exhibits about the Portugese and Cape Verde islanders who were whalers and some of whom settled in New Bedford (Captains Courageous?), the museum has this model whaling ship (1/2 size) and an interactive display where one can see if any of your ancestors were whalers out of New Bedford. There was one Gottwald, Edward, who was 24 years old, from Germany, with black skin (swarthy?), who went to sea on a whaler called the James Allen in the 1820s.
Read this carefully to see how much a whaler took home in pay after 2-3 years at sea:
Tonight the museum was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the building and the model ship which was constructed inside the building.
For us back on the SB, we had scallops for dinner and were thankful that New Bedford was home to the fleet.
If we repeat this cruise, next time I think we might try to visit Woods Hole for this stop.
Sunday August 14
Next stop: Block Island, Rhode Island
It was another calm and very hot day, but the water was calm and the hammock provided a gentle rocking for the trip to BIRI.
I had never been to BIRI before and was amazed at the harbor and at how many boats were there. Our slip was right next to where the ferry let passengers off and next to a small bar that was hopping during the day. We all went for a short hike to the other marina to check out the 330 foot long Archimedes.
We got back for a clam chowder lunch with some wonderful tater tots as croutons (Drew had a much fancier name for them) (judging from the light in this photo I think the clam chowder was actually dinner).
Monday August 15
The shortest ride of the trip took us past Montauk Point and a Coast Guard trainer tall ship and then on into Sag Harbor which has another very full marina and anchorage because it is so well protected by double jetties.
The town was very full of tourists and locals and easy to wander. I can easily see why Jim and Nancy like to go there so much. We found a great little book store where the cashier showed me how to find John Steinbeck's house and writer's cottage both by land (you can't see anything really) and by sea.
When we got back to the SB, we loaded up the zodiac and went over to get a photo of the cottage- where he wrote Travels with Charley, where he left from and returned to in Travels with Charley. See the NYT story about the house and a bit about the ownership squabbles since JS left the house to his wife rather than to his children: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/nyregion/24steinbeck.html?_r=0 (hope this works); and the slideshow of the house from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/09/23/nyregion/20100924_STEINBECK.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
The result of the hot zodiac ride was another trip to the cool tub. Sadly, we go home tomorrow.
Tuesday August 16
On the walk this morning we found another Whaling Museum to explore on the next trip.
Heading home. No new birds, no fishing at all, but a great time with Beth and with our friends!!
This last photo is my view of the anchorage at Sag Harbor early in the morning of our last day there.
