Galilee or Jerusalem?.......from K

We are anchored behind a spit of rocks with a lighthouse flashing on the horizon, barely visible through the Monet-like fog. The eerie sound of a foghorn gives a morbidly sense of solace, signaling that we’re near land and also dangerous rocks. I love being in New England.
It has been our first all-day rainy day since we left in July, but as we listen to the threats of Gustave in the south on the Weather channel, this misty, grey day feels most welcome. At least it keeps the biting black flies away. P has a new strategy: Slap and Suck. He slaps the beasts with a flyswatter then sucks up the carcass with our dirtbuster...it's quite an operation!

The cove we’re in is truly tucked between the towns of Jerusalem and Galilee - the metaphors are endless...

This "ghost ship" appeared out of the fog as we were motoring out of Newport. I saw no-one aboard.

Good spot for a lighthouse here!

New drink - "summer home on the rocks"
and make mine foggy.








Newport 12 meter sloops staging for
a regatta in the harbor

Nantucket-Falmouth-Newport......from P

Wow - lots of catching up to do. The weather in coastal New England has been perfectly beautiful, including good breezes to sail under. Even after our primary genoa sail tore on the way out of Nantucket, the breezes were accommodating and allowed us to continue along.

Morning departure around the point of Nantucket

One of the many mansion views as we sailed into Newport. Um, is Mr. Gatsby home?

A new record under sail! From Falmouth we sailed 45 nautical miles Thursday - all the way to Newport. It was just too perfect to stop sailing until we got there. Newport and Annapolis have an ongoing battle for the title of "sailing capital of the U.S." Newport is a great city for sailors - boasting an easily accessible (by boat or dinghy) charming downtown area, and a unique stop-over place for "weary mariners" known as the Seamen's Church Institute. This attractive but unpretentious building sits on prime property in the midst of the pricy waterfront cafes. It is a not-for-profit facility that feels like a nice hostel, offering cheap food, overnight lodging for mariners, a well stocked library, a chapel, bathrooms and washer/dryer facilities. We had lunch there but overnighted aboard Senara. What a great concept! Every port city should have one of these.

At the Institute

Our entertainment in Newport included gawking at high-tech race boats sitting next to little unkempt sloops, and - oh yes- going to a local theater to see The Boss (Mr. Springsteen)'s concert film, "live in Barcelogna." We found ourselves hollering and singing along - then a nighttime dinghy ride back out to Senara who was sitting patiently tied to her mooring ball.

K's favorite new boat name....

Of course, Newport was the original site for the America's Cup races - and the culture here is still centered around sailing. But I can't quite grant this town the title of sailing capital of the U.S. - there are just too many other great places!

A Necessary Snafu........................from K

Sailing out of Nantucket was gorgeous and brisk until the halyard loop on our genoa snapped and our big billowing sail was languishing in the Nantucket Sound. Pulling a sail in from the water is a lot harder than hoisting it up but we did it - and now we have one more exciting experience to add to our adventure. Once again, I was impressed with how well P & I work together in a crisis. Of course P is always the decision maker and I just try to assist and anticipate the next consequential disaster. "What do you need for me to do?" is my crisis mantra. I'm not sure if I'm talking to P or God at such times!
I think we kinda needed this problem. We were both getting a bit of the duldroms and we couldn't decide if it was because we were having to begin our northern treck home or because we had hit our 7th week out and the novelty was beginning to wear thin. Nonetheless, nothing makes us communicate better than a good problem to solve together. As our good friends Liz and Andy say, "when you get lemons, make lemonade." So we hoisted our brand new storm sail, which turned out to be perfect for our brisk day and found a sail repair marina in Falmouth, MA. We LOVE McDougal's! They could not have been more accommodating. Although it sounds like all we meet are great people, that's not so. We just focus on our angels. Rick repaired our sail better than new, I did laundry, and P & I sat in the cozy marina lounge until late last night watching the Dem. Convention - I'll leave comments about that to the pundits - and perhaps another blogsite.
P & I slept so hard last night that we woke up exhausted. It was the first time in weeks that we were not anchored out or tied to a mooring ball. No matter how tired we are, the rolling, bumping, tinging of boats and anchor lines wake us during the night. We didn't know it, but we needed an uninterrupted night of quiet sleep. Yeah, I do miss my bed.
As I write, we are motoring through Woods Hole Passage on our way to Westport, MA. Mom, if I see Paul Newman, I'll give him a kiss for you.

turning point ......... from P

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.

no vines here.........from P

We did not expect to like Martha's Vineyard. We expected touristy commercialism, souvineer shops and T shirt outlets in town. But as soon as we entered the little harbor of Edgartown on the SE end of the island we were charmed by the cedar shake homes, cabanas, and local restaurants tucked behind rocky shoals and beaches. What a great little walking town. Narrow streets with small gardens framing old, nicely kept homes mixed with quaint shops. We kept looking for Woody Allen or Mia Farrow. No luck yet.

Martha's Vineyard and Chappaquiddick Island are separated by a very narrow inlet that widens into an accommodating boat basin. The current visibly rips through the inlet - between the little ferry landing sites near a certain infamous bridge location. I thought I might ask some of the locals about "Ted's bridge incident" but K sensibly talked me out of it.

I can see why people are attracted to this place and my hat is off to the powers-that-be; they have managed to retain the old fashioned New England charm here. I liked it so much I had to find a T shirt outlet and buy myself one.

The Chappaquiddick Ferry

A view from the street

Blue Guitar........................from K

Block Island is the Outer Banks of northeast, but better! It's the vacation island for the New Englanders - and others. We were four boats away from Eric Clapton anchored on his boat, Blue Guitar. We actually dinghied ten feet away from him as he was sitting in his cockpit, but of course P & I were too busy admiring the boat to realize it was Eric until he was cruising out of the harbor. Oh well - I doubt he would have invited us aboard even if we had waved and stared and begged for an autograph.

The water is crystal clear here - really! We could actually see our anchor hit bottom. The beaches are long and dramatic with cliffs and houses on the bluff, and the water is coooold. We ate lobster at Finn's and wandered the cute little shops - who buys all this stuff? Our favorite entertainment is still dinghying around as the sun is setting guessing the make and year of boats and imagining our "next" boat. No worries, Senara, you're still our best girl!

Eric Clapton - headed out of the Block Island inlet. You can see his head just above the stern rail. Nice, classic yacht with character (for a power boat).

I have never seen so many boats at anchor in one place.

Block island - google map link

http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS269US270&q=block+island&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=imagesnum=1&ct=image

The water is crystal clear, but really cold.

Lobsta! At the local place.

mystic pizza...............from P

I was very dissapointed that Julia Roberts did not wait on us, but we had to admit that this was one of the best pizzas we have ever eaten. Yes it does exist and it is a great little place. I recommend that you find a table facing away from the screen which runs the movie constantly over and over again. We ate the whole thing, and we are still paying the price - but it was really good.

The little town of Mystic is a treat. Galleries, nautical shops, ice cream parlors, and pubs are all shoehorned together along a very walkable mile or so beginning at the old drawbridge. We did not make it to the world famous Mystic Seaport museum area, as we have been there before by car. We just gorged on pizza, met a fellow boater-banker in a great little Irish Pub (hi Wendy & John, I'm counting on you to make Wachovia's stock go back up), and shopped as though we were really going to buy something.

But admittedly, or maybe predictably, my favorite part was sailing into town - ogling the grand collection of sailboats lying at anchor, and sailing with some of the old schooner replicas that

were coming out of the harbor. Onward....... to Block Island. I hear that's the place for lobsta!