We go t little out of order with out blog posts, so excuse us as we take you a little back in space and time...
Ivan, puppy Arlo, Allen and Adam pose for a shot on Afterglow in Essex CT.
We have been busy getting ready for our cruise to Maine with the Salty Dawg Sailing Association. The President of Salty Dawg, Bob Osborn, has been absolutely wonderful to all of us planning to go on the rally. Not only did he schedule fabulous lunch and dinner meals and informative seminars, but he also drove me and Allen around town to pick up some jerry jugs to carry extra fuel and provisions for the trip. We can’t thank him enough.
In Rockland, Maine: I am writing this from the comfort of actually being here in Rockland Harbor on the evening of our arrival today at 4:00 p.m. after a lovely overnight of sailing/motoring from 8:00 a.m. yesterday (Tuesday morning) from Essex, Connecticut, where the rally took off. That’s 32 hours of travel via sailboat. So much has happened since last we blogged, but here are some memorable tidbits.
Adam joins the crew: Flying in from South Carolina where he and a friend planned an archeology trip, our youngest son Adam joined us in Essex, CT, to help out on Afterglow as he has done in the past on long cruises. Since there was to be an overnighter passage, his help was especially needed this time. He also brought along his quiet sense of humor, his deep friendship and gaming antics with his dad, and a wonderful collection of great music to listen to while we sailed and motored for our 32-hour trek to Rockland, Maine. (More on this later.)
The Griswold Inn in Essex: Not only were we so happy to have our son Adam along, but we had a lovely meal at The Gris in Essex, a very old establishment in this wonderful small town. With the meal were four seasoned singers doing Sea Chanties. We got to sing along. Many thanks to my son Ivan, Adam’s older brother, for picking Adam up t the airport in Providence, Rhode Island, and bringing him here to us in Essex. Not only is Ivan a very busy man, but he also did not have enough time even to stay for dinner. He had more work to do at Pfizer.
Nevertheless, I managed to screw up his planned time that evening to prepare for some meetings the next day. I left a small gift bag in his car which happened to also contain my phone. Once Ivan was on the road home from Essex, he had to return to give me my phone. I just can’t believe how awful I felt, and the gift certificate from The Gris for Ivan and his girlfriend just doesn’t assuage my guilt.
My Shoe Can Float: One of Allen’s biggest concerns is fuel capacity for such a long trek to Rockland. Afterglow has only a 40-gallon tank. During our passage through the Cape Cod Canal, we planned a fuel stop in Sandwich, MA. So far, so good, until while climbing over our dinghy to get a bowline set up, my deck shoe came off and landed in the water. Goodbye shoe, I moaned. While at the fuel station, I turned and realized that my expensive deck shoes can float, and a nearby small fishing vessel with a long net retrieved it for me. I will never complain about the cost of good deck shoes. If they can float and be easily retrieved from the water, they are worth it!
Eyeglasses—Allen’s and now Adam’s: When we were in the Mystic River, Allen wore his croakers every minute, and certainly every time we were in the dinghy. Well, the one time he did not wear them while getting out of the dinghy, he tripped and his glasses landed in the Mystic River. (Luckily, he had a spare pair on the boat.). If that was not bad enough, we told Adam about this mishap and he gladly wore croakers for his own glasses. The problem was that the croaker was too tight and his eyeglass frame split in two. Allen came to the rescue after masking tape did not work for more than 10 minutes: he glued a wire to the frames and then used heat shrink to create a more stable but temporary fix. Tomorrow we go to the optometrist in Rockland to pick up new frames which Adam had ordered from his eye doctor in Seattle. It’s amazing what we can do when mishaps happen. Well, I should say, it’s amazing what Allen can do in such situations.
Salmon Burgers: The meals we have on Afterglow during this cruise so far have been well received. Most especially, both Allen and Adam (me, too) appreciated the quality of the salmon burgers I made that first night of our trip. They were thick and juicy and seasoned really well. Aqua Star Pacific Salmon Burgers are the best! Tonight we had large shrimp with red pepper strips and caramelized onions as well as beans and garlic mashed potatoes. Dessert was a fully ripe and juicy cantaloupe. Yummy.
Our previous blog covered the fabulous overnight experience. In truth, we were all tired tonight had to get up early to dinghy to the optometrist.