Southbound September

September came too quickly this year! We squeezed in last minute dinners with friends and began to work through the checklist prior to leaving for the winter. 

Leading up to our departure the dock and float were taken up, the aluminum dinghy (we lovingly call it the beer can) was stored and the engine flushed and put away, water to the cottage was turned off and plumbing winterized. I couldn’t bear to take the bird feeders in, so we left them for Kevin to bring indoors once they were empty. The car and truck were stored and the cottage locked for the season. Reluctantly, (the temperatures have been consistently above normal so it seems too early to leave) we left the next morning, Sept. 12^th, exactly two months after our arrival, and began our voyage south. On our way out of the cove, Judy, one our friends on the island, caught us on camera as we left Burnt Cove. 

We stopped to say goodbye to Kevin on Gypsy Queen and had a few fishermen wish us safe travels over the VHF radio. We passed familiar sights and some not so familiar. 

The "spark plug"

What in the world is that?

A sport fishing vessel had a tuna hanging off the bow, something we’d not seen before. At 3:00, after 6 hours of motoring into the wind, we anchored at Pleasant Point in Cushing, ME in the St. George River.

The next day, Jeff’s birthday, we woke to lobster boats at 5:30 and left before the sun rose. We motored our way to Harpswell, ME since when the wind filled in it was on our nose. Because we liked the Dolphin Marina on the way north we wanted to return and ended up staying two nights as questionable weather was forecast. This family run marina is just the greatest. Chris gave us his truck to make a trip to the small grocery store. Mimi (his mom) is very proud of their restaurant as well she should be. We ate dinner there both nights and the food was incredible. They have the BEST blueberry muffins!

Good morning Cushing!

View from the Dolphin Restaurant

EXILE on the dock

View of the marina and restaurant from EXILE

Peaceful place

Early on the morning of the 15th, we were off the dock heading to Rockport, MA where we reunited with a childhood friend of mine, Cindy, and her husband Richard. We got together for a stroll through town and grabbed a pastry and coffee. This is one place I want to revisit and spend some time being a tourist. We were very fortunate to be able to see the inside of the Rockport Music Performance Center, thanks to Cindy and Richard who are extremely active in this venue and played a large role in helping it become what it is today. For detailed information visit their website HERE.
We left before all the quaint shops opened, so we are definitely returning sometime.

For all of the art students in Rockport, this is known as Motif #1. It's a memorial for Rockport fisherman

Our float neighbors were the same length. Notice how boats have gotten wider in the last 50 years

Richard, Cindy and Jeff

EXILE in the harbor

Stage backdrop, Rockport Harbor through the windows

The view from the stage. Each seat has it's own A/C outlet on the floor below it

The view from Cindy and Richard's condo

Notice the sign!

After a quick tour, we left Rockport and headed toward Scituate to meet up with our friends Carol and Jack on Toucana. We secured a mooring at the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club and then checked out the town and enjoyed a nice dinner with Carol and Jack at the Mill Wharf. The next morning Jeff had to don his wetsuit to check out the prop. It wasn’t running the way it should have been the day before. Sure enough there was a brown plastic trash bag wrapped around it. Could have been worse! We left together and headed toward the Cape Cod Canal, stopping at the entrance to fuel up and top off the water tanks. After that, we motored through the canal and into Buzzards Bay and were on our way to Mattapoisett, where our friends Karen and Chuck keep their boat, MAX. They insisted we use their mooring since they weren’t there (thanks guys!) so we gladly accepted. Carol and Jack took one of the free moorings the town offers, a really nice perk in Mattapoisett.  We had lobster dip and Carol's yummy tacos aboard Toucana. 

Jack and Lili

That'll slow a boat down!

From Mattapoisett we sailed together toward Falmouth since Woods Hole had no availability and the aquarium we wanted to visit was closed. About 2 miles out from Woods Hole our dinghy support failed and it dropped about 6”. Thankfully, Jeff had tied a safety line to the outboard so he jury rigged a support line to hold until we could anchor in calm water to lower the dinghy into the water for the rest of our trip to the Falmouth Town Dock. Jack and Carol stayed across the way at MacDougalls. We took our dinghies to the head of the harbor and went to West Marine so Jeff and Jack could fix the dinghy swage. While they did that, Carol and I checked out the sandals and I found a pair I liked on sale! We went back to our boats and spent a quiet evening aboard. The next day was raining so we stayed put. Holy moly, while we were waiting for the rain to stop under the marina awning after walking back from West Marine that morning we noticed a woman and dog asking our neighboring boat about the people onboard EXILE. Turns out it was a friend we met a couple of years ago while sailing, Karen Keevers and Maggie! What a total surprise. They have completed their “two year sailing plan” and are renovating a condo right here in Falmouth across from the Town Marina.  What fun to run into Karen!

Cape Cod ferry

Heading to Falmouth

9/11 Memorial

The guys were great sloshing around in the rain with us while Carol and I ducked into several shops

Karen and Maggie

We continued the next morning to Newport, RI and took an Oldport Marine mooring. After checking out the shops in Newport, we had dinner at Clarkes with Carol and Jack and Dan, a friend of theirs from the area.

Surreal

Continuing on with Toucana, our next stop would be Bristol, RI to tour the Herreshoff Marine Museum / America’s Cup Hall of Fame. This was an amazing museum and we spent a good portion of the day there. It’s definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area! Check out the website HERE. Herreshoff has moorings that include admission to the museum. Great deal! The four of us enjoyed a scallop dinner aboard EXILE and parted ways the next morning. Thanks Kevin for the scallops and Sharon for the recipe!

Toucana and Exile

Old Classics, lovingly restored

Carol and Jack

Guess who?

Good night Bristol

Kayak tow

Jeff and I decided to head to Mystic, CT to spend the evening before meeting up with my family in Old Saybrook and Wallingford. The sights along the way included a submarine and her escorts.

The Charles Morgan was in port when we were there. Read more about this special boat HERE

I spent a week in Westbrook. Jeff flew to Dallas (again) to continue his work on a patent infringement case. During that time I visited with my brother and his family and my mother and sister. I was fortunate to meet up with Robin and Obi (also a high school classmate) for dinner one night in Wallingford. The first night we were there, friends Bob and Robin drove down to have dinner with us. Never a dull minute with these guys! 

Robin and Bob

Chris and Kylie

My brother Don and Chris adding a roof to the outdoor shower in progress

My sister, Sue

Mom and Marvin getting a lift to the second floor. Check out those xray eyes!

Once Jeff returned, we had to wait out bad weather for three days before we could toss the dock lines. Next stop, Oyster Bay to visit Brian and Ama.

Meanwhile, we were keeping our eyes on Matthew.

To be continued...