I guess it had to happen. We have reached the point in our trip where it is time to turn around and start back tracking to good ol' Hampton Roads. As I write this we have just returned to Senara from a day-long trek around the town of Nantucket. Another port in the New England islands steeped in history and tastefully preserved. The downtown area is full of high-end shops, old book stores and galleries; the residential streets are cobblestone, manicured, and charming. The whaling museum is a must-see, as the American whaling industry was born here and revolved around this island for more than a century - right up until 1929! The whaling ships from Nantucket were the accidental explorers of the far flung islands in the Pacific as they hunted whales around the globe. One whaling excursion might last for 5 years! It makes our little trip pale in comparison - on the other hand I haven't had to boil any blubber. Yet. I did walk down to the fishing boats and bought a few really really fresh fillets off of one of the "bait boys." While waiting for my fillets I noticed a few people gathering around on the pier - and there he was - a 360 pound Mako Shark coming off the boat! In addition to tourism, a lot of people here still make their living from the sea. Check out the shark below.
Nantucket wharf area
Nantucket neighborhood
Fresh shark anyone?
Beautiful wooden racing sloops ready to go!
Some of our more upscale boat-neighbors, and I didn't have my ogling binoculars with me!
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We have sailed 1,052 nautical miles since leaving our creek. I have mixed emotions about turning around - I am beginning to miss home - but we have another thousand miles of exploring to do. There have been a number of bypassed coastal towns, anchorages, and port-cities along the way where we said "we'll stop there on the way back" including Newport, the Connecticut River, and the entire northern coastline of Long Island. One of the aspects of this trip that I love - we just never know where we are going until we look at the chart, listen to the weather, and pull the anchor. All I know right now is that we will have a strong favorable current early tomorrow morning headed in the direction of Woods Hole, MA. So we will be sipping coffee at the helm by 6:00 and hoisting sails by 6:30. Thoughts of home will just make the sailing even better.
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