SarABeth trip August
17-25, 2017
No time to rest. We
got back from Alaska with August after dinner on August 16 and left the next
day with Leesa's whole family for Sag Harbor to join the SarABeth.
When we landed there
we got a ride with Yuri, a Ukrainian, via his company limo to the marina. A
very personable guy, newly married; his most famous passenger- Ed Norton.
There wasn't much
time in Sag Harbor, just enough for a short walk around town and to visit the
book store. I asked around about eclipse glasses for the 21st but they were
sold out everywhere.
The crew for this
trip was Dennis, Igor, Drew, Cookie, Josh and Harry.
The crew had been up
north for a pretty long time- Canada, Maine, Nantucket, and places in between
with Dad and Helga, then John and Greta, then Matt and Sydney, then Nancy B.
Getting in and out of the various ports is very difficult, especially for a big
boat like the SarABeth, and especially with all the boat traffic. I am still
amazed at how Dennis got into and out of the port at Camden Maine last year.
This trip Dennis told me he was counting down the number of times into and out
of the remaining ports- 14 to go.
Friday, Aug. 18- We
had to be off the dock by 7:30 am because the next boat was coming in. We went
to Block Island, trying to get in ahead of a little weather.
After the rain, we
walked to town and remembered that BIRI is not walker friendly. Leesa and
family went for a bike ride to find a basketball court for Thomas and got
soaked. In addition August dropped her phone and it was unusable.
On the plus side we made a trade with the family on the
sailboat berthed next to us- Dennis gave the boy in the family a tour of the
helm and Thomas got to swing in the sail rigging.
Aug. 19-
Block Island Rhode
Island (BIRI) Connie and I got in a long (way too long) walk in the opposite
direction early in the morning; the road was supposed to be a circle but it
never seemed to want to turn back. Then the SarABeth left for Montauk. The rain
was gone but there was a rolling swell and the kids were a little green during
the ride. We saw the Montauk light from a distance and there is still an old
submarine watch station near it. The entrance to the harbor at Montauk is tight
but very scenic. There are commercial fishing boats and lots of pleasure boats
of all sizes in addition to a classic 1930s looking clubhouse. Again everyone
except me went off looking for town and T's basketball court while I, nursing a
blister from the long BIRI walk, roamed the docks looking at the boats.
When everyone got
back, Gordon borrowed a paddle board and took T for a paddle and August jumped
off the bow and higher up. There was a minor bathing suit incident with the
jump but nothing major.
This marina in
Montauk has a very New York crowd but they are also very happy- we had possible
2 birthday parties going on the boats and then a pretty loud band playing into
the night.
Aug. 20- In the
morning we made the short hop across Long Island Sound to Mystic Connecticut
and the Seaport Museum. The entry to Mystic is quite beautiful with rocky
islands on the outside (including Fisher's Island), then a lot of marinas with
a lot of boat traffic on both sides, then a short and close passage thru town,
which has to be timed to reach the scheduled railroad bridge opening, and then,
we docked on the grounds of the Seaport, right near the repair shop so it was
just a short walk to any of the exhibits.
The special exhibit
for the day was an antique outboard motor display with about 20 engines, some
featuring very polished brass, and some dating from quite early in the 20th
century. Part of the regular museum in the same area is a display of marine
steam engines from 1800s and 1900s, all in working order and cranking out
steam. Also near there is the shed where the museum is working on restoring the
Mayflower II, an exact replica of the original which the Brits built in 1957
and now have given to Mystic.
Mystic Seaport is a
Williamsburg like replication of what the old port would have been like in
whaling days. There are many different kinds of sailing ships including a
whaler, a cod fishing ship, a coal burning steamer (which is stirring up the
neighbors because of the ash), an African Queen like boat, and a gentleman's
yacht (Huntington Hartford of the A&P grocery family) now used as a dorm
for campers at the week long sailing school. In addition there is a true
replica of a Viking vessel which the modern sailors took from Iceland to
Greenland to Canada (see the Maritimes post) and then up the St. Lawrence before donating it to Mystic.
The buildings on site
included sail shops, a chandlery, a display of figureheads, a scaled down map of
the harbor and area, and a great little nautical book store.
After exploration of
these ships and shops and watching a couple of demonstrations of life saving
and throwing the anchor, Connie, Leesa and the kids went to town (to find a
basketball court- a now familiar refrain) while Gordon and I stayed in the
museum. I rented a cod fishing/ whaling dory to row for a while but it was
really hard work- off balance for me, with oars slipping in and out of the
oarlocks. Then Gordon and I went on a harbor cruise in a cat boat with a great
sailor/ volunteer docent.
That night Michael,
Jeanie and their friend Layne Kaplan Levenson (a celebrity to me because she
produces Tripod on WWNO in NOLA) joined us.
Aug. 21- Connie and I
started the day with a long walk into Mystic proper and then along the river
toward the I 95 bridge. The walk took us by some beautiful homes of mid to late
1800s vintage and also along very close to the water. On the ones for sale that
we could look up the prices seemed less than those at Virginia Beach but then
one would have to put up with Lyme Disease here and the harsher winters.
The SarABeth's port
for today's travel is Port Washington, also on Long Island as was Montauk and
Sag Harbor.
This is eclipse day
but we have no eclipse glasses- none to be found at any stop so far. More later
on that.
Michael left in the
morning by car for NYC, planning to meet us at the end of the day and the girls
stayed with us on the boat.
The big event of the
morning was that Gordon and Harry decided to shoot some drone video as we were
leaving the museum and going thru the town on the way to Long Island Sound. For
some reason there was a little problem and the drone banged into the rail road
bridge (when we went by, I was on the hot tub deck and at eye level with the
bridge keeper) and then crashed into some bushes along the waterway. Gordon was
depressed, caught quite a bit of flak, but then had an inspiration- let's see if
Michael can drive back and look for the drone. Even though he's not Irish, Gordon had the luck of the Irish. From the GPS coordinates Gordon could guide Michael
to the approximate location, Michael went to some condo dwellers and asked
permission to look in their bushes, and there it was. Gordon was bailed out
with only a little bit of damage to the drone, more to his reputation as a
pilot.
We experienced the
eclipse at sea, but it was a little hazy and we were not at the right latitude
for it to be a full eclipse. On TV the folks in Washington state had the whole
thing and it was impressive. Someone in our group used the idea of a pinhole
camera approach and we could see the partial eclipse thru a colander from
Drew's galley.
In Port Washington we
learned there was a basketball court within a half mile or so of the dock. This
led to one of the big highlights of the trip- three on three basketball.
Thomas, Jeanie and August versus Gordon, me and Michael. How these teams got
chosen for fairness is a mystery to me. Thomas was a whiz in handling the ball
and shooting but kept calling out things to do that his teammates did not know-
"post up" etc. T started calling Jeanie Kareem and the name may
stick, but Michael kept Kareem from doing much damage with his suffocating (and
fouling) defense.
Aug. 22- This was the
scenic highlight- leaving Port Washington we went by a long stretch of huge
homes reminiscent of The Great Gatsby or The Gold Coast by Nelson Demille, and
looking on the map the street these houses must have been on was called Gatsby
Way.
Then we began the
passage into NYC, down the East River with a full view of the East side of
Manhattan, the UN building, the bridges, etc. We crossed to the Jersey side to
Liberty Landing.
It was a very hot
day, We took the ferry over to the financial district of Manhattan, for some
lunch, went by the 9/11 memorial, saw the Fearless Girl statue (not so many
people looking at it as at the Wall Street bull of Merrill Lynch fame), then up to the 64th floor of the new World Trade Center (where Jeanie works). In
getting our visitor passes for the building we had to get photographed and get
a visitors card. The guards got Michael and me mixed up and didn't worry about
the name on the children's passes, so Thomas got them to put Steph Curry on his
pass and he probably still has it among his prized possessions.
Connie and I made a
quick visit to Trinity Church while Gordon and August went to the Apple Store
to check on phone repairs. Then we went to the 9/11 museum but I ran out of gas
from the oppressive heat and walking in the crowd so I went back while Connie
stayed to see more.
The Harbormaster
moved us to the very back of the marina while we were gone. It was a full
quarter mile from our spot to the ferry.
Aug. 23- Russ and
Julie came over for breakfast this morning and Michael, Jeanie, and Layne went
back to NYC.
Then it was off to
Atlantic City, with a close up view of the Statue of Liberty on the way.
Today I introduced
Thomas to western movies. We watched one from Dad's collection about the Nez
Perce Indians and Chief Joseph with a title like "I shall fight no
more" after beating the soldiers and running them ragged for a long time.
I think he liked the movie.
When we got to
Atlantic City everyone went to the boardwalk and then to play basketball and I
went for a long walk in the casino parking deck. T played ball with a boy named
Sincere
near the marina after winning a basketball in the games on the boardwalk.
I don't think I need
to go back to Atlantic City.
Aug. 24- Atlantic
City to Ocean City Maryland. Good weather, smooth seas, and time for T, Gordon
and me to watch John Wayne in The Cowboys, which turned out to be a good one
for a boy to watch. I explained to Thomas that John Wayne is the Steph Curry of
cowboy movies.
Ocean City is another
version of Atlantic City. In spite of the warm feelings for OC generated by
Ping Pong Summer, it is another place I don't need to return to.
Aug. 25- Back to
Virginia Beach!!! I can't say enough about how great the crew was on this trip.
As usual Drew's food was terrific and Cookie was the perfect stew. I think
Thomas and August enjoyed fishing with Harry and Josh in the evenings from the
stern. And Dennis is glad his 14 docking and departures are over. Unfortunately
we ran this whole trip on one generator and Dennis now has to take the SarABeth
around to Portsmouth to try to get the second one repaired.
