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| Manchester on Sea |
We were very sad to leave Maine after our fabulous time there but the fall was coming and it was time to head South. Overnighting in Portsmouth we sailed on to Manchester on Sea, trying to visit places we had missed out on our way up. Servicing our winches at anchor we were delighted to meet some club members, David and Janet, who were passing in their boat and had spotted our ensign. They invited us to tea in their beautiful house overlooking the water and told us all about the area. We had walked around the town the day before and really liked the place with lots of fabulous houses set in beautiful gardens.
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| Boston waterfront |
Our next stop was Boston and this time we managed to book a mooring ball on the waterfront, which was a much more reasonable price. The iconic waterfront was very impressive as we motored in and we went for a walk around town, soaking up the groovy vibe. Hopping on a bus we got a good insight into the town, passing the site of the Boston Tea Party. We met Sam for dinner and took him to the Italian quarter, catching up on his news about his new university life. Unable to take him for a drink after dinner we found a fab spot with swinging benches by a water feature and chatted for awhile, enjoying the breeze as we had arrived in a heatwave.
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| Old Ironsides |
The next day after some chores Andrew and I followed the Freedom trail and went to visit the two historic ships in the old boat yard and were delighted to find that entry was free, you wouldn’t get that in the UK. The first, HMS Constitution or Old Ironsides, is very similar to The Victory so the viewing would have been unmemorable if it wasn’t for the international incident that I almost started. Overhearing some young Americans talking about the UK’s historic friendly relationship with the French I couldn’t help myself and informed them that in fact as a nation we have always hated the French. It was a great pity that the young man’s cousin was with him visiting from France! And the awful thing was that I couldn’t bring myself to try and save the situation and just walked away, oh dear!
Moving swiftly onto the other ship the USS Cassin Young which had served in World War II. I immediately felt like I was in an old black and white movie. It was just fabulous and I managed not to talk to anyone, or cause any offence. We completed our trip with a Chinese meal, I had been craving one for awhile and a last drink in the ‘Cheers’ bar, well the tourists version, but it had to be done.
Heading South again, our destination Provincetown, we detoured into the bay with the whale watching ships, intent on spotting some whales and we were not disappointed. About a half a mile from us we were unbelievably fortunate to spot a large whale throwing itself out of the water and landing on its back, eight times! And then it flipped onto its front and started beating its tail on the water, what an awesome sight to behold. We felt very privileged.
Provincetown was where the Pilgrims first made land before sailing onto Plymouth where they settled. It is an extraordinary town, a little like Brighton with a seaside vibe and it is full of very camp and colourful gays. We passed some interesting shops that I wouldn’t have dared walk into and some interesting ads for entertainment later that evening with college boys.... Needless to say we didn’t stay for the entertainment and only just made it back to the boat before a big storm appeared with the most extraordinary cloud formation, I have never seen anything like it before.
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| Hullabaloo’s Mayflower moment |
A trip back through the Cape Cod canal and a visit to Martha’s vineyard in very grey, wet and windy weather. We discovered that even the most glamorous places are miserable in bad weather, it’s all about the sunshine! A stop in Newport, the weather was now getting colder and therefore it was time to put the heating on. Motoring up river we anchored off Bristol and spent a day in the Herreshoff and America’s cup museum. The later was not that well presented but the Boat Museum with all the beautiful old Herreshoff boats was fantastic. We had a volunteer to take us around who was very well informed about the two brothers and the fabulous boats they built including those for the America’s cup. What an amazing success story, It was just fascinating and we loved it.
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We had a few days to kill before we were due to leave Hullabaloo at the New England Boatyard whilst we returned to the UK. So we visited Greenwich Bay and Dutch Harbour and then motored back up river again in the remnants of Hurricane Florence. Andrew got very wet and I was happy for once to be down below cleaning. We put our baby to bed and left her in the hands of PJ, a few jobs to be completed in readiness for our next leg.
We had three and a half weeks in England and poor Andrew had to have another Op on his nose, which took up quite a big part of our time at home. I had my own small health scare with some slightly high blood pressure, luckily easily remedied by cutting down on the vast amount of salt I seem to have added to my diet. I am going to really miss my Marmite though!! We did manage to see some of our mates, the lovely in laws and spend quality time with the girls so all good.
Returning to the boat we found her in the water but with a long list of jobs still to be completed. The central heating wouldn’t work in our cabin and the remedy, a new £2,000 part, seemed silly considering our intended destinations. We were leant a heater from the yard and had to feed the lead through the window to plug it into the mains, not ideal but it helped keep the bed clothes from freezing! The engine part we had sent to them in September had gone missing, FedEx said they had delivered it but the yard said they hadn’t received it. Luckily the original was still working so we ordered another for delivery further on our trip, more on that another time. The stopcocks were all supposed to have been checked, a blockage in the aft one flooding the boat showed that this job had not been done and the boat had to come out of the water again, at their expense of course. An extension lead now necessary for the heater and we were grateful to be able to warm ourselves in the Gulf Stream onsite bar/restaurant that kept us fed and watered very well.
Add to our list of frustrations were two new deck hatches that had to be replaced three times as they kept leaking and the time all of this took! However most jobs got completed, including the installation of my new washing machine which is a joy but must be the most expensive machine in the world and it only has a 3.5kg capacity. And we had a visit from Karen and Sam in the middle from Boston which helped keep us sane. Karen was keen to take Sam to Zelda for lunch and then we had a stroll around Newport with them. Conscious of the fact that I just didn’t have enough warm clothing with me I purchased an enormous blue fluffy jumper, Karen said I looked like a blue yeti in it, I thought a blue lamb was more appropriate and that is what it had became known as. It saved me from the cold so as far as I am concerned I don’t care what I look like in it and it was my constant companion for the next few weeks.
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Ten days after our arrival we motored up to Newport, put the anchor out and sat out a big storm the next day happy as Larry to have escaped the yard and be on our way again. After our pyjama day we set off up Long Island Sound well wrapped up, stopping at New London, Port Jefferson and then Port Washington, enjoying the fabulous red hue on the trees, huddling down below on anchoring and setting off each morning looking like two tellytubbies. When Mr Richards had been with us in the summer he had encouraged us to get some resistance bands and they became a very useful way of keeping us warm, not so keen on Bloody Ben Richards Days we have become very fond of our Bloody Brilliant Ben Richards Bands!
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We spent a fabulous morning motoring down the East River into New York, I just love that vibe a big city has on a weekday morning doing its thing. Coming out passed the financial district there she was MY Statue of Liberty just as beautiful as always. Hurrying up to the foredeck to take yet another picture a text pinged onto my phone telling me Emma had finally exchanged on her new house, we had been waiting anxiously to hear all morning. We were so happy, I was dancing on the foredeck, Granny B was dancing on the clouds.
Settling in for an over nighter we headed out into the Atlantic, a long and bumpy ride ahead. One good thing about the cold was the lack of Little fuckers which normally attack us on this stretch of the coastline. A large black and white whale gave us some entertainment showing off some backflips and we then settled in for the night. The weather was with us so we decided to continue down to Beaufort which took us almost three days and nights arriving at 5am in the Bight at Cape Lookout. The corner off Hatteras was bumpy but otherwise the journey was uneventful. We rested for another night and then set off again stopping at Wrightsville beach, which would have been a lovely place to explore in the summer but it was far too cold to venture out. We tried to get to Wilmington up the Cape Fear River but there had been so much damage from Hurricane Florence we had to remain down river. With no choice we anchored in the river itself as all the marinas were full from the Snowbirds making there way south to the Caribbean through the inter coastal waterway, for which we are far too big. We could hear them on their radios all the way down the East coast wittering on about who should pass who at what speed, it made us happy to be out in the open sea.
A Huge storm came through and we spent the night riding a bucking bronco which totalled our snubber rope. But we slept ok secure in the knowledge that we would know pretty soon if our anchor dragged and the fair ground ride eventually came to an end. Then we spent a night in the Waccamaw river and again there was no room at the inn in George town so the next morning we carried on to Charleston and secured a berth in the very smart and newly finished Charleston Harbour and Resort Marina across the bay from the town.Finally legs somewhat shaky after fifteen days on the boat we landed on terra ferma and headed to the local restaurant where we had a crab bisque that was so good it will be forever etched into my memory. Very silly to then have coconut prawns, my poor stomach felt like it was going to explode.
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We anchored of Cumberland Island which the pilot book suggested was worth a wander around. As the next day was Thanksgiving we were unsure if the park would be open but we dinghied ashore and found an honesty box to pay our entry fee; so we set of to explore the maritime forest. It was so beautiful with massive trees covered in Spanish moss and there was a ruined estate called Dungeness from the early 1880’s which had been the winter home of the Carnegie family, which had also once been an oak plantation which was very interesting. However the best bit by far was spotting an armadillo in the shrubbery who didn’t seem at all worried about us and was the most unusual looking chap.
Moving to Fernandina Beach town the next morning we spent the day on shore enjoying the post Thanksgiving festivities in the form of a large Pyjama party and Black Friday sales. I managed to persuade Andrew to visit the ladies hairdressers to have his hair cut for $30, he is still getting over the expense. Then onto St. Augustine which we had loved the first time around and it certainly lived up to our memory as we strolled around town. Even if it did take us a very long time to find a decent bar, we needed the exercise. Our last stop in the US was Palm Beach which was so disappointing, there were some lovely houses but the town was dead and not at all what I had expected.
Even though the weather had been getting gradually warmer as we crept South it was still quite cold and the weather was correct for crossing the Gulf Stream so off we set in hope of warmer climes. We had enjoyed some of our time travelling down the East coast and not having the pressure of any time scales meant we never had to set off into bad conditions, but spending time at sea in countless layers is something we could do at home. We did love encountering the different wild life as we headed South, leaving the Seals behind and encountering Whales, then pelicans and much slimmer Dolphins.
The Gulf Stream was obvious to the naked eye with a roadwork of clouds over it and the sea conditions were calm, so much better than two years before....
