It was great to get back to Greens Island, just next to Vinalhaven, where we spent a lot of time with Margaret and Brian. Brian rows this skiff over to work every day! Phil took the yacht over to town to watch the rugby at 4am while I enjoyed a girls night by candlelight with Margaret. The island was humming 20 years ago but now there's just these two here in the summer.
Mark (above) was living on the island with his family 20 years ago and had started this post and beam house. It was great to see it finished and we had a lovely evening there, again by candlelight. Mark and Carol live on Vinalhaven now.
The Vinalhaven harbor was crowded with lobster boats. The yachts and launches have mostly been hauled out and covered for the winter. We feel like we might be the last boat to be cruising this late in the season.
Portland was our first city in a long while. We were kindly given a berth at Portland Yacht Services which is owned by Phin, a very interesting guy who loved talking with Phil about anything connected with boats. It's a great city to walk around and we caught up with several more friends while waiting for a serious blow to go through.
Leaving at dusk (4.30pm) on November 3rd we did an overnight sail to Gloucester. It was now November and the days were getting shorter and definitely cooler. Once again we were given a dock to tie up while we enjoyed a very social few days. It's always fun to re-visit places and people.
Terry has joined us for the next leg to New York. We left on a windy forecast, but it was from behind and we had a great sail south through the Cape Cod Canal, anchoring in Mattapoisett.
The engine stopped as we were approaching the anchorage so we dropped anchor while Phil changed the filters. We covered a short distance before it died again. Dropped anchor, checked fuel, discovered air was getting into the filters, checked all the connections and no leaks so decided the lift pump wasn't working. Being a sealed unit Phil couldn't fix it so we ordered a new one over the phone to collect closer to New York. He used the electric lift pump from the diesel heater which was installed as a back up.
There was a glorious sunset as we dropped anchor at Mason Island the following day, overlooking an island retreat. The moon was almost full and it was a perfect ending to a big 70 mile day.
We wrote the names of our friends who have just passed away in the chapel by the sea...we remember.....
Next morning we were motoring up the Mystic River to Mystic Seaport, a working museum, with two opening bridges along the way .
The staff were surprised to have a yacht turn up at this time of the year but were able to give us a cheap rate to tie up as the power and water have been turned off for the winter. It used to be free for 2 nights for foreign flagged boats but that was 20 years ago. Still, it's such a fun place to visit and Terry hadn't been here before. We have had 2 sunny days poking around enjoying the exhibitions but today we are having a bit of snow. We were going to fuel up and get a few miles closer to New York but have sat by the heater having a lazy day instead. Expecting -8 tonight!!!!
One plus of being here now is that the staff have time to chat and we were lucky to be given a tour of the hundreds of boats that are stored away, along with old engines, boat plans and a huge library. It is an amazing collection from walrus skin kayaks, ice yachts, Chris crafts to small yachts, all in the original condition they were donated in.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and we will continue on our way to New York where we will spend a few days walking the streets and maybe seeing a show before taking a big leap south. Meanwhile , it's time for a rum and coke before we start cooking.
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