(Republishing.  Some subscribers had this post go into their spam folder because of the previous title format.)

September 14-17

“Sea, wind, and beat of sea,

Broad lands stretching endlessly;

Where are bonds to bind the free!

All the world was made for me”

-Richard Halliburton

Bryson reeling in another false albacore

As rough as the trip to Martha’s Vineyard was, the trip back to Newport was like being in a different world.  It was sunny and clear with calm seas and the perfect amount of wind.  We flew towards Newport, enjoying the beautiful day.  I have to admit, I’ve been waiting and waiting to use the awesome quote above and smiled to myself during the trip, knowing that the time had come.

checking out brand new boats…not such a good idea.

So why were we going back to Newport for the third time?  Yes, we love Lana and Dave THAT much.  We also wanted to attend the Newport Boat Show.  Chris, always on the prowl for more boat projects to keep him busy, wanted to check out the new boats as well as cruise the booth tents for watermakers, refrigeration, and who knows what else.

waiting for lunch in the hospitality tent.

After pouting because the brand new boats made me green with envy, I looked at the nautical jewelry (just for fun), the watermakers, and the sailing magazine publishers.  I spoke to a few people who sounded promising about publishing one of my blogposts as an article in a magazine.  I am very excited about the prospect and hope to put something together by the Annapolis Boat Show in October.  We didn’t buy anything, except for some rope for $8.00.  And I bought a book about growing up on the Maine coast.  I’m like, really into Maine now…

Jim, who found Patronus for us, and Chris

I could write captions for this picture all day long….

yup. that’ s a TV hidden in the center island of that boat.

such a cute little cabin

the kids play at Lana and Dave’s while we are at the boat show

After the boat show, we spent more time with Lana and the kids at their house, saw my cousin Marlene, and just enjoyed this lovely spot in the world.  Lana and I even got to go out together for dinner at an amazing little Mexican restaurant called Perro Salada.  The food was great and reasonable, and the atmosphere was so quaint.  Lana and I worked on her house a bit more, which I wrote about in a separate post.

Porter “helps” Lana make lasagna

Bryson enjoys watching Liam and Calan’s soccer game

Reese and I with our cousin Marlene

dinner on Patronus

Before we left, Lana and the kids came out to the boat for a farewell dinner.  We enjoyed Lana’s leftover Italian feast and the kids played.  We ate Dave’s birthday cake for him, since he was away in Chicago for his race, but we at least had him on the phone while we did it!  We also pre-celebrated Lana’s birthday a week early.

scrubbing the decks by hand for almost 3 hours. I had bruises on my wrists the next day!

The next morning, we gave Patronus a bath at the dock while Lana kept us company.  As we were leaving, our old sailing friend, Mark Ploch, walked up the dock!  We sailed with Mark (who owns a Doyle Sails loft in Florida) for years on High Noon (Chris’ dad’s boat).  It was great to catch up with him.  I thought about how cool it is that the sailing community is so small and tight-knit.  At the boat show, we had seen Dave Dellenbaugh, who is also a Cornell alum and who raced against Chris in the Thistle class in the 1980’s.  We also saw our boat broker from West Haverstraw; Dave Armitage’s uncle, who had a booth at the show; and the women who created Sea Bags (see our Portland, ME post).  It is amazing that, after being out of sailing and racing for so many years, we have floated right back into the sailing world so easily.

Well, I can’t say that we had had our fill of Newport, but we left all the same.  Next stop: Bryson’s favorite place in the world, where we celebrated his tenth birthday last year.  Any serious blog readers out there remember where that was?  A huge hint: we spent his birthday riding bikes around this island…

a bunch of kids alone on the launch. that seems safe.

Lana and I hit the town.

I get a quiet lunch by myself on the patio of the New York Yacht Club. Ahhhhhh…..

Reese, after rolling down the lawn of the New York Yacht Club in Newport.

September 13-14

Ah.  A quick and easy post.  Even more of a reason to love this adorable little island!  We had a smooth sail from Martha’s Vineyard, catching a few zzz’s as well as a False Albacore.  We did schoolwork and had our typical lunch underway: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We pulled into Cuttyhunk feeling like old pros.  I remembered coming into Cuttyhunk last year on our two-week “trial” sailing trip.  It was only the second port we visited last year on our chartered (rented) 42’ Jeanneau.  I remember standing on the bow in a near panic as we snaked through the narrow channel to the harbor.  I expected to run aground at any moment and was relieved for exactly three seconds when we finally pulled into the harbor.  It was then that we looked at the mooring field, which was completely full.  The boats seemed to be packed as tightly together as the parking lot of the Garden State Plaza on the night before Christmas.  It was a windy day and I couldn’t fathom how we would maneuver this unfamiliar boat in and between all those boats and somehow grab the mooring we had reserved on the first try.  We managed just fine, but I thought about how different I felt this time.

one of the awful sights that we cruisers have to put up with: cute boats in the glow of evening sun..

We glided through the channel and I stood on the bow, looking out for shallow water, but I wasn’t nervous at all.  I felt confident as we pulled into the mooring field and picked up our mooring.  Since it is after Labor Day, we had the luxury of being picky about our mooring choice.  We didn’t like our position, so we dropped that mooring and chose another one.  No biggie.  Very cool.

lunchtime!

We jumped into the dinghy and went into “town”.  Chris went in by paddleboard.  Hope you aren’t settling into your morning coffee, because by the time I start describing the town, I’ll almost be done.  In fact, there is no town.  There is a dock, with a fish fileting table right at the head of it.  There is always a fisherman there cutting up the day’s catch.  The seagulls stay close by and a loud clatter accompanied by a chaotic flutter of wings tells you that a fishhead or a tail was just tossed in the water.  That’s pretty much the most exciting thing that happens here.

A walk past the public bathrooms brings you to “the intersection”.  There is a store there, but it was closed.  I remember from last year that it is a small gift shop.  We made a right and took a long walk past the weathered homes up to a point with a beautiful view of the harbor.  There are many homes here, but only 52 year round residents.  Cuttyhunk is part of the Elizabeth Islands, which lie just northwest of Martha’s Vineyard.  The population swells during the summer to 400.  The rest of the Elizabeth Islands are privately owned by the Forbes family.  Though we didn’t visit this year (it was also closed), there is a quaint little Historical Society Museum near the school.  If you ever visit Cuttyhunk, be sure to check it out.

On the way back, we stopped at the adorable little one-room schoolhouse.  The door was open even though it was about 1530.  I poked my head in and the schoolteacher welcomed us in to check it out.  The kids loved meeting the teacher and looking around the classroom.  I tried not to point out that I have more students than she does.  There are currently two students at the Cuttyhunk Public School: a second grader and a third grader.  She had the room set up beautifully, with lots of books, bright posters, a fishtank, a piano, lots of maps, and art projects on every surface.  It was a lovely school and it was great to hear about what teaching is like on this small island.

The kids point out where we have been on our trip.

Raw Bar Boat!

The kids played on the playground for a bit, and next thing we knew, it was time to get back home to start dinner.  We stopped by the dock and asked the Raw Bar Boat to stop by Patronus on their next trip.  This is seriously cool.  A boat drives out and serves up seafood directly into your cockpit.  We had shrimp cocktail and clam chowder up on deck while watching a beautiful sunset.

happy girl

It was a lovely night, and the next morning, we left for Newport.  Wait.  What?  Didn’t we already go there seventeen times this summer?  Well, we’re going again.  And I’m going to write about it again.  So go make another cup of coffee:..

Porter looking so cute putting his lifejacket on

feet dangling from the boom at sunset

Chris watching the sunset………

….and then ducking down and popping back up so he can watch it again.

hard to see but seals lying on rocks just hidden by the water.