Well, we’ve been having so much fun that I find myself six ports behind on our blog!  I would love to share our experiences about each of these wonderful places, so bear with me as I catch up.  The past few nights, we have been on remote islands off the Maine coast, with no access to WiFi. I will continue to catch up on our posts and will upload them when we get back to civilization.  Please note some changes to our website, including new pages (The Floatplan is Up!!!) and new features on the sidebar (“Like” our Facebook fanpage, conwaysailors, and get real-time pics and status updates).

On July 14^th, we left Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, and headed northwest across the bay towards Marblehead, Massachusetts.  I was excited about this port for two reasons.  First, but not even close to most important, I was keen on visiting this historic yachting community.  It certainly lived up to its reputation, with over 3,000 boats in the harbor, five or more yacht clubs, and quaint street after street of perfectly restored maritime/colonial homes.

But most importantly, our friends Keith, Liz, Adam, and Sarah Bernhardt were planning on visiting us there from Boston.  Keith was my very first friend in this whole world and we are still connected in a very special way.  We grew up in Ronkonkoma, New York and attended Cornell together.  His wife Liz is an incredibly talented artist and I have liked her very much since Keith first described her to me, years and years ago, when they first met.  They have two gorgeous children, who are delightful.

the kids play down below while we get ready to leave the mooring

But first we had to get out of Wellfleet, which had to throw us one last wrench.  As we pulled up anchor in the Outer Harbor (remember this?  With 100 feet of chain out?) the windlass stopped working.  The windlass is the machine that cranks up or down the anchor chain so you don’t have to do it by hand.  Chris figured out that a nut was loose and it started working again, but not before I had gotten covered in mud, which was splattering off the chain and all over me.

We were expecting rain, but it cleared up quickly.  As we passed Provincetown, we started looking for whales, but all we saw was the high-speed ferry.  It was pretty cool, though.  That thing hauls!  We had a long motorsail that day, so the kids played “dots”, napped, and read.  Chris tried working on the macerator in the head.  I “drove” the boat (watched for lobster pots) and cleaned the teak.  I promise you that before the year is through, I will finish a post without telling you how I cleaned the teak!

can you find Boston in this picture?

At 1545, I shouted “Land Ho!” when I spotted the Boston skyline.  You would have thought I was Erik the Red, discovering North America for crying out loud.  But it was neat to see land after looking at just the sea for a few hours.  Who knows what kind of shenanigans I’ll be pulling when we spot Bermuda after 5 days of sailing!!!  Forty-five minutes later, we approached Marblehead and I hailed the Boston Yacht Club to get the number of the mooring I had reserved for the next two nights.

Chris shaves his head in Marblehead!

We moored at 1730, after a friendly, post-racing crew overheard us on the VHF and pointed the way to our BYC mooring.  Seeing them on the boat, enjoying the après-racing scene was nostalgic.  The Saturday races had just finished and boats were coming in to the harbor, folding sails, drinking beer, listening to music, and feeling festive.  We got on the launch and met another racing crew, who enjoyed hearing about our trip.  They were extremely nice and offered tips on getting around Marblehead.  One of our new friends even offered to have us as guests to his yacht club to use the pool!

see our groceries on the side? we had to carry that all back to the dinghy!

At the BYC, we took showers and headed back to the boat to make dinner.  It was a late night, but we decided to take the dinghy to town to the nearby grocery store, which just so happened to have an ice cream store next to it.  Buttercrunch ice cream for me, which is in my top 10.   That flavor brings me back to those Long Island after-school-concert celebrations at Friendly’s.  We may have gone a little overboard on the groceries, as it took all five of us to carry the bags and cases of water back to the dinghy a few blocks away!

Finally it was time to welcome the Bernhardt’s to our boat.  I ran over to our friend’s yacht club to do laundry and some laps and Chris picked up the Bernhardt family at the wharf.  The kids instantly bonded and started playing cards while we adults caught up with one another.  They have been busy with life as well and we just chatted and chatted until we realized that we were all very hungry for lunch.  We had lunch at BYC, took a walk to a very cool park right on the water, and headed for the ice cream store.  Coffee shake this time.  Good thing I’ve been swimming so much!

water balloon fights at the Boston Yacht Club

taking a 3 second break from all the fun

A 40-year friendship…

fresh muffin delivery on Monday morning

We sadly took our leave of our friends.  It’s never enough time.  We would have loved to go to their house and see how they have renovated it.  We would have loved to watch our children playing together, just like Keith and I did when we were young.  Liz and I could talk for hours about the creative process, being artists and writers, and raising children.  But it was time to get back to the boat to make dinner.  Chris and the kids went for a quick swim while I did some more laundry at the yacht club.  The next morning, Chris surprised us with muffins from the bakery for breakfast before we left for Gloucester.

Marblehead was a lovely port and I would go back in a heartbeat.  I could wander the meandering, narrow streets for hours, drooling over the houses (and texting pictures of them to Steffanie), admiring the seaside hydrangeas, and seeing what else it has to offer.