Edgartown, Marthas Vineyard

Kinvara left Cuttyhunk at 7:30 AM to catch a slack current in Buzzards Bay then the full current through Quick's Hole into Vineyard Sound. Our planned destination was an anchorage near Vineyard Haven called Lake Tashmoo but we decided to keep going though since we had current and wind to aid our trip around the tip of Vineyard Haven and south to Edgartown.

We had not been in Edgartown on our own boat. Two or three times in the past Peter tried to call for reservations for the long fourth of July weekend and could not get through or it was already booked. There is such a process to get a mooring with dates, specific times, online reservations only etc. Tuesday, when Jane called by phone to get a mooring they told her check in/out was 11AM, that reservations are only online and to call back at 11AM. When we arrived at the harbor entrance she again called on her cell and got exactly the same statement. She told them we were at the harbor entrance but they wanted us to hail on VHF when we entered. Not 5 minutes later we arrived in the harbor so Peter hailed and we were instantly directed to a mooring. What a process!! There were at least a dozen moorings empty the 2 days we were there. Again today, 2 days later, Jane asked the collection boat to take payment for 1 more night. She was told, again, that check in/out was 11AM and to call them back at 10:45 to see if it was available. We could count at least 20 mooring balls empty. So we sat until 10:30 then let go of the mooring and moved just outside the harbor and happily anchored.

Edgartown is a beautiful little village with lots of expensive shops and plenty of restaurants and beaches. We met our friends Bernie and Aiden Gleeson, who gave us the use of their ball in Newport. We walked around the town with them a bit and chose a restaurant to go to for dinner. When we returned to our mooring the sky opened up with torrential rain and lasted for over 2 hours. It started to soften by 6PM so we took the launch in and picked up the Gleeson's on the way. We had a delightful dinner at an Italian restaurant and returned by 9:30PM. Because it was high tide and the wind was blowing the tide into town we found the docks under ankle deep water when we returned to get the launch back to our boats.

The next day we rode our bikes about 2 miles to a beach and soaked up the sun and salt air for a bit. On the way back to Edgartown Peter's rear tire was failing. We found a little bike shop who replaced the tire for $25 so we are now good to continue riding.

　

On our third day in Edgartown we moved off the mooring and anchored just outside the harbor entrance. Later that after noon our friends on s/v Brenna arrived from Nantucket. We had a lovely evening with drinks, appetizers, and watched a glorious sun set. We planned to go to Block Island tomorrow so we had an early bed time.

Cuttyhunk...a favorite spot

Monday, July 30

We left our mooring at the point in Newport and motored into Newport Harbor to fill with water. They have a little floating dock which boats can tie up to for water. By 8:30AM we were on our way to Cuttyhunk. It was a beautiful sunny day to sail. The wind was hovering around 8-10K  and we were joined by about 10 other boats all heading toward Buzzards Bay. The current was with us all the way.

Once we arrived in Cuttyhunk pond we motored around the perimeter to anchor but another boat beat us to the spot so we just picked up a mooring for the night and went ashore.  there is not much there but we love it anyway.

Cuttyhunk pond

Harbormasters office

local shop

interesting way to grow pole beans

Moving on

We arrived in Newport last Tuesday and will leave here tomorrow. It has rained almost every day we have been here but mostly in the evening. We are not sure of our destination. It will be Cuttyhunk or Martha's Vineyard. The weather is showing 2 really nice days then 2 days of possible rain. We will make sure we are in a protected harbor for Wed. and Thurs.
Our time in Newport was spent between relaxing on the boat, watching boat traffic, touring the harbor in the dingy, dodging raindrops,  and spending time ashore visiting Sarah's house to watch Olympics on her TV. At least their dog, Petey, kept us company as every one else was working.

Yesterday we had a lovely day ashore withe our friend Ian McMahon, Betsy, Brendan, and his friend. They are en route to Nantucket for a week. We will connect with then again on Thursday or Friday as they make their way back to Mystic.

Ian and Betsy at the Black Pearl

Moved to downtown Newport

We left the dock at NEB by 9:30AM and travelled a quick 8 miles to downtown Newport. After circling the inner harbor to look at all the boats great and small we went around Goat Island towards the Newport Bridge and picked up a mooring ball. Our friends, the Gleeson's, are gone for a month and graciously allowed us to tie up as a guest. We can stay for a week. We are close to downtown Newport without having the busy traffic and noise. It is also close to Sarah's house where we stored our car. If you check on the Kinvara map we have marked her location. It could be worse. We are looking at the Newport bridge and can watch the outer harbor. Right now there is a north wind from squalls and the fetch is creating lots of movement but it actually is refreshing to move again after being so sheltered at the dock.

Last 2 weeks at New England Boatworks

After returning from Florida with our car we had a wonderful week of cooler weather. So we put ourselves to work on the boat to complete some necessary work. Jane started working on cleaning and waxing the smooth deck top and then worked on cleaning and waxing the non skid deck top...all 43 feet of it. That took 3 days of elbow grease. Thank goodness for the clouds!!  Peter started in the forward head to fix our leaky and very noisy manual pump toilet. It requires taking the pump assembly off and changing out some parts before reassemble and greasing it. We are happy to report that it now works perfectly. It's a shitty job but someone has to do it!  Next Peter tackled the 4 winches, He took each one apart to wash with mineral oil, sudsy water, then re lubricate. Each winch had so many parts which needed to be put back into place. It reminded us of being in Georgetown, Exumas when the wind generator came apart and had to be fixed. Boating is just fixing things in exotic places!

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We left on Saturday morning to visit friends in Quincey, Carmel and Martin. We had an Irish breakfast brunch and stayed the afternoon talking and talking...and talking. It's great to catch up on everything again. We left late afternoon to spend the weekend with Jane's brother, Jim. He lives in Shirley, MA and we had not seen him since September. We had a lovely time eating out Sat. and Sun. night and visiting Rockport, MA. This is one of our favorite places we travelled by boat. We stopped there 3 times!

Motif #1
Called this because it's been painted
so many times.

US Coast Guard training sailboat

On the way back to Rhode Island Jane stopped by the cemetery in Framingham to visit her parents grave and her grandparents. Always a sad moment in time.  Once back in Newport we headed to Sarah's house to celebrate Jane's 63 birthday. We went to Goat Island to an outdoor bar, Pineapples, at the Hyatt. Then back to Sarah's house where Natalie met us and we had dinner there. Sarah made an "island pork" roast in the slow cooker. Yummy. It was so nice to have my 2 girls with me again.

Our last week at the marina brought Florida weather....hot and humid. We spent our time doing errands in the air conditioned car and going back and forth to Sarah's house. finally on Thursday we packed a lunch and drove to Cape Cod for a visit to a few marinas. That made the day a little more bearable. By the time we got back to the boat, apx. 4:30, there was a severe thunder storm at our doorstep. We made it back aboard just before the deluge. Jane was standing on the companionway steps watching when we heard an explosion. Jane saw lightening hit a mast with sparks flying. the boat was on land so it's mast head wad in a higher location. This is the second time we have seen severe lightening very close since being back in RI.

This weekend we saw many boat friends before we leave the dock...hoping to see them again before we return to Florida!  So today is Tuesday, July 24 and our month is up at the marina. We will push off the dock later and start cruising around for the next month.

First Week in Newport

Our week began without a car so we took our time to get the boat cleaned and organized after 5 weeks of traveling. Our first business was laundry on Monday. That took most of the morning. Jane tackled some cleaning and waxing of the deck and taking the ICW brown stain off the hull. Now we look a bit more respectable!!  Tuesday our friends Joe and Jackie came to meet us. We had a great day visiting and driving around Newport. Lunch was in The Lobster Bar where Sarah's boyfriend is the manager. The lobster rolls were yummy. Wednesday was more cleaning until Sarah showed up and took us to her new house rental in Newport so Peter could see it. We got our doggie "fix" playing with her dog Petey. Thursday we again went to Sarah's house to celebrate Peter's 63 birthday and Eric's 35 birthday. We had steaks on the grill with all the fixings. Then strawberry shortcake for dessert and gifts. Peter and I stayed overnight and Sarah brought us back in the morning before work. Friday we stayed at the marina and met up with some friends we knew when we were here before. On Saturday Sarah picked us up again to go to the farmers market then back to her house. Peter cut the grass in the back while Sarah and Jane went shopping to the Christmas Tree Shop (a real New England favorite). Since Sarah was working we kept her car and went into Newport. Luck had us finding free parking right in the middle of town! After walking around the shops we went to the ferry dock to try and find an old friend of Peter, Brian Moore.  We had lost touch with him many years ago but on the chance he still lived in Newport Peter called the only listing for Brian in the phone book. Peter found from his wife Mary that Brian is now a captain of the Newport Jamestown ferry. At the ferry dock we spoke to the harbormaster who knew Brian very well so he was able to get us onto Brian's ferry and surprise him!  After a short ride to Ft Adams (where the America's Cup series was) we departed the ferry with a promise to see Brian and his wife again. We walked right into the America's Cup village and watched a few of the very exciting races offshore. Tomorrow will be our full day at the races with the girls so we did not stay too long. We returned to the boat for the night with Sarah's car.

Sarah's little Newport house

Our marina pool

America's Cup World Series Trials

Sunday, July 1, 2012
Our day started off early with breakfast at a diner with Sarah. We were expecting Natalie down but she was running late so we got take out for her and Eric. We left the house at 10AM to get to Ft Adams early. There was no delay in the traffic and we easily made it to the parking lot by 10:30 and started our hike into Ft Adams to get a spot to watch the races. We were loaded down with bags, chairs, and towels. It was going to be a hot day in the sun. We found a great spot on the rocks just in front of the finish line. We would be able to see all but the most southern leg of the races.  It did not take long before the rocks became very crowded but we knew we were in a good spot because we were just above the high tide line. Sarah, Natalie, and Jane took off to look around the America's Cup village shops and food booths. Of course they stopped at the Moet champagne booth at 11:30 and had a "refreshment" before returning to the rocks. Our friend Ian Mac Mahon arrived in Newport to anchor (after midnight!) so he joined us on the rocks with his sister Fiona, son Brendan, and girlfriend Betsy. We had quite a crew cheering for the 2 USA boats. It was hot but we had a constant ocean breeze to keep us comfortable.

Natalie and Sarah

Start of the exciting race

Overall winner...Team USA Oracle

After some very exciting races we decided to head out in the crowd to go back to Sarah's house for a cookout.  Our walk back to the car was a very long route so Sarah and Natalie walked on ahead to get the car and pick us up on the way out. Peter and Jane stopped near the park entrance to wait for the girls to drive our way. Unfortunately a storm decided to break loose right on top of us. It poured rain with thunder and lightening all around us. We were soaked by the time we got to the car! There were so many people leaving the races that it took us about 2 hours to get to the car and get ourselves back to Sarah's house. After hamburgers and potato salad for dinner Natalie drove us back to the boat. We were exhausted but it was a great day. We now have to pack for our quick trip back to Florida to collect our car.