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| Before leaving for Martha's Vineyard, Ken brought the "girls" (from left to right, Tammy, Jamie, Eri) of our family to Brown's Island in Marblehead. |
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| Gay Head cliffs in Martha's Vineyard (notice the red sand in the water) |
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| Nina (with the water), Harry, Tom, Sally, Jean, Ken waiting for the bus on the Vineyard |
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| My favorite picture, in Aquinnah looking down from a steep hill, to the shoreline and the crystal clear water about 100 yards from us |
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| Tyler and Joel with ice creams and purchases getting ready to board the ferry for the mainland |
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| I made stuffed quahogs from the ones Tyler gathered in Cape Poque |
Our Hull
boating friends (Harry, Sally, Jean and Tom) got us motivated to head out to
Martha’s Vineyard in July. They are on the boats BREWSTER and EDGECOMB, and got
a head-start on us. The pictures they were sending were of the great numbers of
fish they were catching in Vineyard Sound! Ken wasn’t about to let a little rough
weather divert him from our goal, to anchor in Lake Tashmoo outside of Vineyard
Haven. After one night in Onset on the way, we ducked into Hadley’s Harbor for
lunch when the weather blew up. Ken is usually very happy to stay in Hadley’s
for multiple days, but after lunch he determined that the wind had lessened and
we were off for Tashmoo, only about another 90 minutes when the current in
Wood’s Hole and Vineyard Sound is cooperating.
The Hull
boaters were still using up their fish bounty so shared it with us that night.
The next day we all headed for the farmer’s market and Blueberry Festival on
the island. We sat in the shade and each had a bowl of blueberry cobbler. I
should comment that the weather in the Vineyard, and everywhere in the
Northeast, had been, and continued to be, sweltering hot. It didn’t matter if
we were on an island or on a boat. Most people coped by standing in the water,
covered up to waist-deep or more, and sheltering with a broad-brimmed hat or by
finding good shade and a breeze. But it still was HOT! It turned out that the
buses that run all over the Vineyard are another somewhat cooler way to go.
They are not air-conditioned, but with the windows open and the bus moving, the
fresh air was welcome. We took buses around the island the day of the Blueberry
Festival and almost every day after that.
Other
activities we got involved in were hiking in Felix Neck Sanctuary (the women)
and more fishing (the men). I made chowder from the last of the fish caught
earlier in the week and distributed a container of it to each boat. We walked
to Vineyard Haven and dinghied to the beach at the opening from the Lake to
Vineyard Sound. After the Hull boaters moved on, we contacted Bill and Marilyn
Adams, friends from Cohasset, and had dinner with them at their Edgartown
house. Later in the week we had a chance to see Bill and Marilyn again at a
boathouse/guest house with dock that they watch for their friends. It was one
of the coolest afternoons of the week, sitting near the water, in the shade,
talking (although in the sun it was still in the mid-90s).
Our nephew
Tyler Wilson, who just graduated from a university in Washington State, was in
the area after completing a month-long solo bike trip from Toronto to Durham,
NH. Our niece in Durham drove him down to Massachusetts and he connected up
with my brother Joel and the two of them came out to the Vineyard on an early
ferry one day. By this time we had moved our boat to Lagoon Pond, on the other
side of Vineyard Haven, and we met the ferry and had breakfast at the Black Dog
Bakery. Our plans for the day included a boat trip to Cape Pogue, outside of
Edgartown, some shopping in Vineyard Haven, and dinner for all of us at the
Offshore Ale brewery in Oaks Bluff. Pretty much a perfect Vineyard day! Joel
and Tyler departed on a ferry at about 8 pm, and Tyler was on a plane back home
to Oregon two days later.
After 10
days on Martha’s Vineyard we left to start heading home. We stopped in Pocasset,
and anchored off of Bassett Island and our friends Barry and Susan from
Mattapoisett joined us in their boat. We had one additional night in Pocasset
and had dinner at the Chart Room. On our last night we jogged (in our boat)
over to Marion and my brother Jon and his wife Debbie drove over, picked up
pizza from the Wave and we all ate in RISING TIDE’s cockpit. Jon and I went to
Rochester for “game night” with our mom that night. The heat and humidity
finally abated as we headed back to Cohasset.
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| Houseboat in an otherwise vacant end of Perry's Creek on Vinalhaven Island |
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| Rainbow over Goat Island Light at Cape Porpoise (the rainbow seemed to go right into the water in front of our boat) |
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| RISING TIDE at anchor in Perry's Creek |
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| We played with the self-timer on our camera until we got a picture that was aimed right and had us both smiling! |
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| We met this person on Islesboro, and he was gathering wild berries and flowers to sell to local restaurants. Lincolnville is in the background. |
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| At Crocker Park in Marblehead, I noticed that Ken and Justin had complementary t-shirts. |
About 10
days later, with awesome weather predicted, we left for Maine, with a stop
first in Marblehead. We always like to take a walk in Marblehead, then while
dinghing back we found Ken’s brother Pete and sister-in-law Barb on a Nordic
Tug they were visiting in the harbor. We joined the group for a boat tour and
cocktail hour.
We bought
groceries the next morning in Old Town before we left, as Crosby’s Market is
close to the dock. We did a full day of motoring and got to Cape Porpoise (part
of Kennebunkport) after 8 hours. The next day we stopped in Portland for an
appointment to see a Zodiac rep (our dinghy has a warranty issue) and then
continued on to our friends’ mooring area in Falmouth. We had a nice boat-meal
with them on RISING TIDE. That night the temps sunk to the 50s. We scrambled to
find some more blankets!
The next day
we were surprised to find our friends Lynda and Frank on their boat when we
pulled into Tenant’s Harbor. They had time for an hour of catching up and we
agreed to see them later in the trip. Our next destination was a planned
meet-up with Ken’s high school friend Scott who is traveling by boat with Linda
on their first cruise to Maine. We spent
two nights in Perry’s Creek, part of Vinalhaven Island. I always dig some
mussels while in Maine, and Perry’s Creek has tons of them. But since Scott and
Linda are not mussel-eaters, we had a pot-luck dinner of veggies, grilled pork,
and a rice dish. Our second day in Perry’s Creek was wet, our first rain of
either of our boat trips this summer. It wasn’t too bad so I took a hike on the
Fox Rocks Trail and picked some berries (huckleberries?). That night we had our
steamed mussels, and the last of our fried green tomatoes from home. Another
Marblehead highschool friend is in the Creek, Barry, on a classic
Crocker-designed wooden cutter.
We had one
more wet day so spent it traveling to Rockland and getting ready for a fun day
at the Boats, Homes and Harbors Show there. Show day was dry and beautiful, and
we enjoyed the exhibits. We got to talk for quite a while with Phil Bennett (a
co-worker of mine when I worked at Hood Sailmakers in the late 70s) and his
wife Dorothy. Phil was on the Hinckley boat at the show. Then later that day we
got picked up by more Marblehead highschool friends, Judie and Andy, and taken
to their house in Lincolnville for dinner.
Their daughter Emily was there and
their two dogs, one a new growing puppy. Andy sent us home with some beer from
his brewery, of course.
We followed
up Rockland with a few days on anchor at Islesboro Island and a side trip to
Belfast. There were opportunities for walking and bike-riding on Islesboro, and
we also spent lots of time bird-watching and watching the comings and goings of
cruising boats and ferries. In Belfast we shopped at the Coop there and met up
with Andy, Judie and Emily again for a dinner out.
When it was
time to start heading home we made sure to pass by Eastern Egg Rock in
Muscongus Bay and we were rewarded by seeing a dozen puffins, not on the Rock
but swimming in the water. On this trip we have seen puffins twice, both times
near the Rock, and this is the first year we have ever found them, after
visiting this re-settlement area for probably 15 years. We also stopped in
Damariscotta, about 13 miles from our coastal route, up the Damariscotta River.
There’s a nice village here, lots of thriving shops, and it was a good meeting
place for us to have dinner out with Lynda and Frank (who we had only gotten a
quick visit with earlier in this trip).
To finish up
our cruise, we called my niece Cathy who lives in S. Portland and she was able
to meet up with us, along with Brandon and toddler Henry for dinner on our boat
in Cape Porpoise. It was a beautiful day, one of the best, and we all had a
good time. There were just two more stops, in Gloucester (we hadn’t been ashore
here for years so had fun revisiting some favorite spots while we took a long
walk) and Marblehead, and then we were back at our home mooring in Cohasset.
