| s/y Nine of Cups Summer in New England and Back South 2001 |
| We arrived in Bristol and left Cups on a mooring for a couple of weeks as we headed out to Denver for niece, Gentry’s wedding and youngest son, Brad’s college graduation. As always, the trip “home” was wonderful. We got to spend lots of time with old friends and relatives. But the boat beckoned and we returned, happy to be back on the water and heading North. Jelly who had stayed at “summer camp” was rather aloof for the first couple of days we were back. Obviously, she was not happy at having been left behind and was careful not to show too much emotion at our return. |
| Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD - 39N16.55 / 076W36.30 |
| Portland, Maine - 43N66 / 070W24 |
| Lin, Kerry, Nicks and Lucy (Kerry's mom) met us in Portland, Maine to celebrate the 4th. Though the "boat" is definitely not her thing, Lin managed to enjoy the Portland waterfront. |
| Cups got all spruced up for the 4th of July. We watched a great fireworks display right from the deck of the boat. |
| A Sailor’s Tale… Captain Blake was an excellent captain and well-respected by his crew. He had a habit of coming onto the deck each morning and opening a gold locket which he wore around his neck. None of the crew knew the contents of the locket, but surmised it was a picture of his wife or sweetheart whom he missed dearly during the long months at sea. The captain was a private man and no one ever dared to ask. During a particularly long voyage, the captain became ill and died. While preparing for the proper burial at sea, the crew urged the First Mate to look inside the locket to satisfy their curiosity. The First Mate carefully opened the locket and shared with the crew its contents. It was four words only: Port = left, Starboard = right. |
| Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine - 44N16 / 068W18 |
| From Portland, we headed to Mt. Desert Island, Maine. As advertised, summer in Maine was wonderful…fog and lobster traps notwithstanding. We daytripped northeast, but were anxious to get to Mt. Desert Island which was the farthest north and east we had gotten the year before. We spent about week in and around Acadia National Park and enjoyed all that it had to offer. |
| Acadia National Park is awesomely beautiful. Free park buses run throughout the park on a frequent schedule allowing us to roam and explore at will. Above, David waving at me from the Sand Cliffs and to the right, a great view of Thunder Hole. We sailed up Somes Sound, the only fjord on the Eastern US coast and climbed Cadillac Mountain (1532'), the highest peak on the US Coast within 50 miles of the shore (whew!). |
| Above, David waving at me from the Sand Cliffs and to the right, a great view of Thunder Hole. |
| We sailed up Somes Sound, the only fjord on the Eastern US coast. At times, the fogbanks were thick as walls as we approached and then they just swallowed us up. |
| While waiting for our dinghy engine to be repaired in Bar Harbor, we motored over to serene Sorrento Harbor across the bay for a couple of nights. The town is quaint and quiet. We visited the town library…honor system for books and read a bit about the history. We chanced to meet Beppie Noyes, a long time resident who gave us a tour of Tasseltop, the family home for generations and one of the first “summer cottages” built in the area. |
| We picked up a free mooring in Sorrento Harbor and to the mooring line a floating wooden plaque was attached in memory of Robert M. Lewis. What a fitting tribute to a cruiser. We respectfully saluted him as we cast off the mooring. |
| From the ship’s journal… 17 July 2001 “Mosquitoes…they descended last night around dusk…no wind, fog rolled in and hordes of mosquitoes. Even “Off” didn’t keep them away. The valiant mosquito fighter, Jelly, tried in vane to catch and eat them, but finally surrendered in defeat and took a nap. Trying to play cards, we have a tissue full of dead bodies we've swatted.” |
| From Mt. Desert Island, it was daytrips again, anchoring in small, secluded coves. Deep, deep water with significant tidal changes. We were in Downeast Maine now…fewer amenities, fewer towns and cities and very, very close to Canada. |
| Back to the USA after a month in Canada when we knew we could have easily spent an entire season or two there. Nephew Nicks was coming with us for a week though and we needed to get to Camden to pick him up. Our first stop back in the US was Rockland, Maine where the local lobsters were in "bloom". |
| From Rockland to Searsport and then to picture perfect Camden where we met Lin and Kerry and picked up Nicks for his week aboard Nine of Cups. |
| We're heading for Canada and excited about the prospect. Join us! |
| We left Camden Harbor for Pulpit Harbor and anchored overnight. Nicks did well, but got bored. We decided it would be best to leave very early in the mornings while he was sleeping, sail awhile, then put into port so he wouldn’t be bored by so much time sailing and could run off energy ashore. The plan worked well. We decided to head to places that Nicks would never get via land and first on the list was Monhegan Island which fit the bill perfectly. Monhegan Island is like a step back in time. About 10 miles offshore, it’s only 1.4 miles long by 0 .7 miles wide. Other than private boat, the mailboats are the only way to get here. The resident population is small, mostly fishermen & lobstermen and their families, but the natural beauty attracts many artists from around the world. |
| Monhegan Island, Maine - 43N76 / 069N31 |
| "Down East" can be best described as any point on the coast between Ellsworth and the Canadian border. At times, it is jokingly referred to as any point along the coast, east of the speaker. The Down East, The Magazine of Maine FAQ explains the origin of the term: "When ships sailed from Boston to ports in Maine (which were to the east of Boston), the wind was at their backs, so they were sailing downwind, hence the term 'Down East.' And it follows that when they returned to Boston they were sailing upwind; many Mainers still speak of going 'up to Boston, despite the fact that the city lies approximately 50 miles to the south of Maine’s southern border." |
| Monhegan Island view from the lighthouse. |
| Dusty footpaths are the main streets which meander around gray-weathered houses are the main streets of the island. |
| Town dock |
| Signs of fishing and lobstering are everywhere. In some places, the lobster traps were piled high all along the sides of the streets. They voluntarily suspend lobstering between June 25 - Dec 31 to maintain the lobster population. The island generates its own electricity using gas generators as well as solar power and boasts the world’s first solar- powered post office. |
| David & Nicks scan the local bulletin board on Monhegan which seems an effective form of communication & advertising |
| The anchorage was deep, but a local fisherman directed us to an empty mooring. Above, Nicks enjoyed feeding the gulls and ducks. |
| Across the bay, Manana Island is uninhabited except for an abandoned Coast Guard station. The views are magnificent. That's Cups' mast sticking up on the left side of the photo. |
| X Marks the Spot ...The “X” actually shows the location of faintly visible Norse runes reportedly inscribed by Norse Explorers on a visit to Manana Island centuries ago. |
| There is a small dock with stairs and a steep ramp which runs up the cliff from the water all the way across the island supposedly used to get supplies from the dock to the Coast Guard station in years past. |
| Read a short article Marcie wrote. Monhegan Island...Leave Us Alone |
| From Monhegan back to civilization and really acting like tourists…Boothbay Harbor. The trolley around town was free and we took advantage of it. |
| Boothbay Harbor, Maine - 43N84 / 069W61 |
| Blue lobsters? Most assuredly. Yellow ones, too. Not very common, but we saw one in Canada then again at the Marine Resources Aquarium in Boothbay…in fact we even got to hold them at the touch-aquarium. |
This lobsterman statue was so
huge, you can barely make out
Nicks leaning against his big boots.
huge, you can barely make out
Nicks leaning against his big boots.
| It was time for Nicks to go back home to turn 7 and start First Grade. We rented a car and drove him back to Boston, helped celebrate his birthday, then returned to Boothbay and began the trek back south. Above, the Sagamore Bridge on Cape Cod Canal at dawn. |
| Where were you on 9/11/2001? We were in Newport, RI awaiting Becky’s scheduled arrival in Providence the next day. Lin called to tell us about the World Trade Center disaster. We were grief-stricken and numb like the rest of the nation. Without a TV on board, we relied on National Public Radio aboard for all of our news and updates. We ventured ashore to watch some TV in a local pub, but decided it was better if we stayed on the boat. We listened to the radio and cried. With all air transportation halted and most harbors closed, we opted to sail up to Bristol, RI again and have the boat hauled for an overdue “bottom job”. |
| The Pillsbury Dough-girl applying a badly needed coat of anti-fouling in Bristol. We stayed in Bristol for nearly two weeks working on Cups and waiting for things to settle down then rescheduled Becky's flight to Providence. |
| We lived with Lin & Kerry while working on the boat and drove each day from Bristol to East Walpole, about an hour each way. Marcie got time off for good behavior and had the chance to go apple picking and pumpkin selecting with Lin and Nicks one fine Fall day. |
| By the beginning of October, things were getting back to normal. Planes were flying and the President was urging citizens to get back to living again. We hesitated to ask Becky to come out now, but she didn’t hesitate for a minute. She was on a plane and arrived safely in Providence to begin a 3 week sail from Bristol to Baltimore through New York City. We did mostly day trips to start, hugging the southern Connecticut coast and taking our time. Becky never had a problem. She never got seasick and she never got tired of sailing or being on the boat despite the fact that she celebrated her 84th birthday aboard! |
| We had passed through Hell Gate and New York City last year, but this time it had new meaning. We passed under the many bridges, including the most famous above, Brooklyn Bridge. There were innumerable Coast Guard and harbor police vessels present and we could only be under way between the hours of 8am – 4pm. |
| We sailed so close to the UN Building, we could almost touch it. |
| The World Trade Centers were conspicuous by their absence. Last year we had seen them on the skyline and this year no more. We didn’t venture close enough to see any rubble, but the cranes and cloud of smoke was evidence enough of the disaster that had occurred. Above, the Empire State Building. |
| The ever-beautiful Lady Liberty |
| From New York City we traveled south but ran into a gale and anchored in Sandy Hook, NJ for a couple of days. Very rough, high winds, big waves and Becky never complained for a minute. It was all part of the adventure. We celebrated her 84th birthday while at anchor in the Harbor of Refuge, Cape Henlopen, Delaware at the entrance to the Delaware River. A chocolate cake was baked and frosted and minimally candled. Her gift…an entire day of card playing! We ventured up the Delaware and through the C & D Canal and into Chesapeake Bay. We sailed down the Chesapeake and anchored on the Sassafrass River one night making our way to Baltimore. |
| The entrance to the C & D Canal |
| Scenic Chesapeake City along the C & D |
| The entrance to Baltimore is under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. |
| Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is beautiful and we stayed right in the middle of it at the Inner Harbor Marina. |
| Baltimore's Inner Harbor water taxi in the foreground and in the background the tallship, USS Constellation. |
| The 14-mile long Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C & D Canal) connects the Delaware & Chesapeake Rivers.It is one of the few fully sea-level shipping canals in the world. |
| Becky returned to Denver and we headed down the Chesapeake. We anchored a night in Annapolis and then stopped in Solomons Island for a couple of days. This pretty community was fairly well closed down for the season but we enjoyed the scenery. On the move again, it’s nearly November and getting colder and colder at night. We're slowly moving down the Chesapeake. Finally, we were in Norfolk…the end of the Chesapeake. We stayed a couple of days here, debating whether to go on the “outside” or follow the ICW. We decided it was faster and more enjoyable for us to risk going around Cape Hatteras. From Norfolk, it was a direct passage to Charleston…our final destination in 2001. |
| The Drum Point Lighthouse shown here is the typical architectural style of lighthouse found in the Chesapeake. |
| We anchored in Ingram’s Bay one night and photographed Nine of Cups not only in the moonlight, but in the light of a blue moon. A “blue moon” occurs when there are two full moons in a month and it’s the second moon. |
| The IntracoastalWaterway, ICW for short, or "the ditch" as cruisers refer to it, is a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Some lengths consist of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea. |
| Norfolk, VA - 36N50 / 076W17 |
| Just as Chicago had its decorated cows and Rockland had its illustrated lobsters, so Norfolk has its mermaids all decked out and on display throughout the city. |
| Norfolk is a pretty city as viewed here from across the river at Portsmouth. |
| Charleston Maritime Center, Charleston, SC - 32N47 / 079W55 |
| We were back in Charleston in time for Thanksgiving. The oven on board Nine of Cups isn’t big enough to accommodate a turkey so the Maritime Center let us bake our pies and roast our turkey in their oven even though it required a separate trip in for the staff to open and lock the kitchen since the marina was closed. Our friends, Cindy and Steve from Celadon joined us for the Thanksgiving feast. Cindy Mahan died of breast cancer on January 1, 2002. Read Marcie's Tribute to Cindy. We hadn’t seen Marcie’s parents since our visit to St. Pete with the boat in June 2000 so we decided we’d spend Christmas with them in Largo. We left the boat in Charleston, rented a car and spent a terrific week with the folks and enjoyed the holidays. Jelly came with us, of course, but didn’t stay with us in the “condo” my parents rented for us. Oh, no, she spent all of her time with her grandparents getting spoiled. Another year end. We were back at the boat on December 27th and celebrated a very chilly New Year’s Eve dockside with fellow cruisers. The year has passed quickly as they all do now. We sailed a total of 5,203 nautical miles this year…9328 cumulative miles since leaving Kemah, Texas in May 2000. |
David carries Big Tom to the boat.
| Santa brought new glasses for everyone! |
| David got new pirate gear! Arrr! |
| It’s been a great year. We’ve learned lots about the boat and ourselves, traveled all up and down the Eastern seaboard and seen a bit of Canada and we’re ready to start a new adventure this year. Come with us as we head back to the Bahamas in 2002. |
| Ship’s Library... Crew's Choices for 2001
|
| Add to the Vocabulary: Casuerina – extremely tall, narrow trees which stand out on the horizon and are sometimes used as landmarks on which to take a heading. Downeast Maine – Maine north and east of Mt. Desert; so-named because to get there from lower New England, you needed to travel east and downwind. Wharfinger – Canadian term for dockmaster Bluenose – the nickname given to Nova Scotians supposedly because the wool mittens and sweaters traditionally worn were dyed blue and rubbed off when wiping runny noses in the winter time; also the name of the famous fishing schooner pictured on Canadian dimes and stamps. Lunenburg “bumps” – an architectural convention around the turn of the 20th century in many Lunenburg, Nova Scotia homes where the front porch area “bumps” out as an addition from the rest of the house; supposedly to accommodate the addition of indoor plumbing on the upper floor when it became available. Saltbankers –Boats which fish the Grand Banks and fill their holds with salted cod. |
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