In early June, we left Cuttyhunk and continued on to Martha’s Vineyard, anchoring in Lagoon Pond on the inside of Vineyard Haven. We had never been to the Vineyard before, but had heard about how bumpy it could be in the Vineyard Haven anchorage outside the breakwater. So, we decided to give Lagoon Pond a try. We came in and out of the bridge with some current flowing, anchored up between some moorings along Cedar Neck, and stayed for nearly a week.
Vineyard Haven and Lagoon Pond
As I write this, it is September 15th, which is my birthday. I am about three miles off Kennebunkport at the moment, heading for Isles of Shoals from Jewell Island up in Casco Bay. It is great to be out on the water on this day; there have not been too many birthdays that I have had that privilege. At the same time, I do wish that Hurricane Jose was not heading towards Cape Cod, because the storm is causing a little bit of anxiety and affecting my planning going forward.
The National Hurricane Center’s track for Hurricane Jose on September 15th.
Margaret and I started cruising early this summer, getting to Newport by the middle of May and to Maine by the middle of June. Even still, by the time the end of July rolled around, we did not want to leave and head south. The Maine coast had amazed us with its beauty and overwhelmed us with the seemingly endless anchorages. There was too much still to explore, and we felt like relaxing and enjoying ourselves rather than pushing southwards back to the Chesapeake. However, I had some commitments back in Peoria in late August, which meant Margaret could not just head back to Illinois herself while I took the boat south as we have done in previous years.
Bear at Jewell Island in Casco Bay, Maine, June 2017
Looking ahead to our sabbatical, we are stocking up on cruising guides to help us plan our trip. Of course, we will be using these while on the trip as well. Since guidebooks can be hit or miss, I have been combing through the internet looking for recommendations and beginning to sample a few. I would love to hear suggestions that people have for the Caribbean – those guidebooks most like our beloved Taft guide to Maine and Shellenberger for the Chesapeake – in the comments below.
Old friends: Shellenberger’s Cruising the Chesapeake and Taft’s Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast
Margaret and I are just eight months away from her 15-month sabbatical. We have pretty much decided – as much as you decide anything on a cruising boat – to head to the Caribbean. And, as we make our preparations, we are starting to gather the charts and guidebooks that we think we are going to need. As we begin to do that, I figured I would share the resources that we are looking at and also solicit recommendations.
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With the twinned gasps of porpoises close by, somewhere forward of the dodger, I put my book down and bounded out of the cockpit. Now standing along the port rail, I waited for the harbor porpoises – who had been cruising the cove every day at about this time – to come up again. After a moment, the mother and calf rose up three times not more than thirty feet away before diving again. They were not close enough for me to see them under the water, but I imagined that they were chasing the mackerel that have been about in large numbers.
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This is part three in a series. If you have not read part one and part two, you might want to check those out before reading this one.
The next morning we awoke at 6am, made our morning caffeinated drinks, and re-checked the weather. It looked like we were good to go with 10-20 from the southwest for the day and some lighter, more variable winds overnight and into the following day. We quickly decided to depart for Block, and, by 6:30, we had the anchor up. A half hour later, we were out the Cape May inlet and putting the sails up. With a single reef in the main and most of the genoa unfurled, we were making over six knots.
This is the second post on our trip north from Rock Hall, Maryland, to Newport, Rhode Island, in early May 2017. You can read the first installment here.
We awoke in the morning at about 6:30 and were both instantly checking the weather. The forecast still looked good – 15-20 knots out of the SW with gusts to 25 – so we decided to go. The Minnesota boat – a forty-something sloop with a family of four aboard – had already left. And 2 Outrageous and Dagney were stirring as we hauled anchor and negotiated the entrance to the Chesapeake City basin, which was fairly easy as it was near high tide.
I picked up Kerry in Annapolis on May first. At the time, I was still anxious about both having Kerry aboard and departing. Despite all the work I had done on the boat, there were still quite a few jobs – almost none of which were really necessary for the trip – that were yet undone. But more importantly, the boat was still unclean and disheveled with tools everywhere. Moreover, the sails were not on and I had a few last minute errands still remaining. Given all that, I needlessly worried that Kerry would be disappointed or frustrated that I was not ready to leave. Of course, Kerry was very understanding and helped me get all the work completed, including hoisting me up the mast, the following day. Little did we know that it was to be our last warm day of the trip, which made the awesome Henri Lloyd foul weather jacket I picked up that day at Rock Hall Marine Consignment all that much more of an incredible find.
Things have been busy on Bear this past week, as we splashed, knocked out jobs, and hung out with some friends. I took the boat out – by myself for the first time – to test the new Gates v-belt; it seems to be not slipping or stretching, which is a relief. Now, just about all the “must do” jobs are completed. Though, of course, I do have a long list of small jobs, including cleaning and organizing the boat, before I pick up my buddy Kerry in Annapolis tomorrow evening. He is my crew for the trip to Newport, and we hope to be leaving on Tuesday.
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