On the move to Newport
We stayed in Belfast until the end of the first week of October. Dave has made great progress on his friend’s wooden boat. The inside is now pretty much fitted out, the hull has been painted, all that remains is to put the cabin top back on, give everything several coats of varnish and re-rig it before launching next year.
Friends and boat neighbours John and Mary have been building a barn this summer and we went to see the latest progress. It’s incredible, bigger than most UK houses! In the local tradition, it is all timber-framed and will be clad on the outside with wooden shingles. Here, there are no planning restrictions but houses seem to turn out nicely regardless.
We were invited to join the schooner ‘Bowdoin’ for a short daysail before we left. This is a historic vessel - the original owner built the boat for the Arctic and made numerous pioneering trips there in the 1920’s. The boat is now owned by the Maine Maritime Academy and will be off to the Arctic again with select students next year.
(http://bowdoin.mma.edu/)
Katie is now 6 months old and has just started eating solids. Her initial response was slight bewilderment but she has soon got the hang of it and now opens her mouth eagerly for each spoonful. She is still delightful and seems to have a liking for ropes and ship's wheels, amongst other things. This is her at the helm of the 'Bowdoin' (still safely in dock!)
We had an enjoyable trip to Newport, doing short day-hops and visiting a few new harbours along the way. We had a steaming first day’s sail down the Bay to Rockland, where we spent the night before topping up with fuel.
From there we went to the Kennebec River (motoring, no wind) and spent a night anchored opposite the very ugly and presumably disused Fort Popham.
The next day a mixture of sailing and motoring took us to Cape Porpoise Harbour, a fishing town, which we had assumed would be rather ramshackle but turned out to be very upmarket and jam-packed with desirable properties. This was apparently due to its proximity to Kennebunkport, where the presidential Bushes like to take their holidays! It was a very pretty harbour, once inside, but the narrow entrance was littered with lobster pot buoys. It was bad enough to negotiate in calm conditions and would be downright dangerous in rough weather.
Our next two stops were Gloucester and Plymouth, where we’d been before. Once through the Cape Cod Canal we took a slight detour to visit Martha’s Vineyard, a beautiful island and summer playground of the rich and famous.
On route, we stopped off briefly at Woods Hole Harbour. This is the home of the WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and the town is basically full of academic buildings and laboratories dedicated to ocean research.
The Institute has four research vessels, the newest one ‘Atlantis’ (274 ft long)launched in 1997 and specially designed to carry the manned deep-sea submersible ‘Alvin’.
We visited the Aquarium and Exhibition Centre (both free), and saw some amazing exhibits, including a portion of a previous ‘Alvin’ (what a lot of buttons to be in control of) and a styrofoam cup the size of a thimble that had been ‘miniaturized’ by the immense pressure of the deep.
(www.whoi.edu)
Katie's sea berth
On Martha’s Vineyard, we headed for Edgartown, at the eastern end of the island. This is a classy resort town full of designer shops and expensive restaurants so we were amazed when the harbormaster offered us a free night on the fuel pontoon. Obviously there are some perks for arriving out of season!
The following day we went to the opposite end of the island and visited the fishing village of Menemsha. ‘Ros Ailither’ looked a picture in the middle of the harbour and we stepped ashore to a friendly welcome from the locals, who were intrigued about the boat. Again, they had just quietened down from the summer onslaught of visitors and we enjoyed a peaceful day relaxing on the deserted beach and exploring the vast inland ‘pond’ by dinghy.
Menemsha harbour
From there we headed to Newport and have now taken up our winter berth on the pontoon.
sunset in Menemsha
Friends and boat neighbours John and Mary have been building a barn this summer and we went to see the latest progress. It’s incredible, bigger than most UK houses! In the local tradition, it is all timber-framed and will be clad on the outside with wooden shingles. Here, there are no planning restrictions but houses seem to turn out nicely regardless.
We were invited to join the schooner ‘Bowdoin’ for a short daysail before we left. This is a historic vessel - the original owner built the boat for the Arctic and made numerous pioneering trips there in the 1920’s. The boat is now owned by the Maine Maritime Academy and will be off to the Arctic again with select students next year.
(http://bowdoin.mma.edu/)
Katie is now 6 months old and has just started eating solids. Her initial response was slight bewilderment but she has soon got the hang of it and now opens her mouth eagerly for each spoonful. She is still delightful and seems to have a liking for ropes and ship's wheels, amongst other things. This is her at the helm of the 'Bowdoin' (still safely in dock!)
We had an enjoyable trip to Newport, doing short day-hops and visiting a few new harbours along the way. We had a steaming first day’s sail down the Bay to Rockland, where we spent the night before topping up with fuel.
From there we went to the Kennebec River (motoring, no wind) and spent a night anchored opposite the very ugly and presumably disused Fort Popham.
The next day a mixture of sailing and motoring took us to Cape Porpoise Harbour, a fishing town, which we had assumed would be rather ramshackle but turned out to be very upmarket and jam-packed with desirable properties. This was apparently due to its proximity to Kennebunkport, where the presidential Bushes like to take their holidays! It was a very pretty harbour, once inside, but the narrow entrance was littered with lobster pot buoys. It was bad enough to negotiate in calm conditions and would be downright dangerous in rough weather.
Our next two stops were Gloucester and Plymouth, where we’d been before. Once through the Cape Cod Canal we took a slight detour to visit Martha’s Vineyard, a beautiful island and summer playground of the rich and famous.
On route, we stopped off briefly at Woods Hole Harbour. This is the home of the WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and the town is basically full of academic buildings and laboratories dedicated to ocean research.
The Institute has four research vessels, the newest one ‘Atlantis’ (274 ft long)launched in 1997 and specially designed to carry the manned deep-sea submersible ‘Alvin’.
We visited the Aquarium and Exhibition Centre (both free), and saw some amazing exhibits, including a portion of a previous ‘Alvin’ (what a lot of buttons to be in control of) and a styrofoam cup the size of a thimble that had been ‘miniaturized’ by the immense pressure of the deep.
(www.whoi.edu)
Katie's sea berthOn Martha’s Vineyard, we headed for Edgartown, at the eastern end of the island. This is a classy resort town full of designer shops and expensive restaurants so we were amazed when the harbormaster offered us a free night on the fuel pontoon. Obviously there are some perks for arriving out of season!
The following day we went to the opposite end of the island and visited the fishing village of Menemsha. ‘Ros Ailither’ looked a picture in the middle of the harbour and we stepped ashore to a friendly welcome from the locals, who were intrigued about the boat. Again, they had just quietened down from the summer onslaught of visitors and we enjoyed a peaceful day relaxing on the deserted beach and exploring the vast inland ‘pond’ by dinghy.
Menemsha harbourFrom there we headed to Newport and have now taken up our winter berth on the pontoon.
sunset in Menemsha
posted by Katie at 11:10 AM
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