One if by land, two if by . . .

Well we won't worry too much about sea right now. We had planned to visit Boston on our trip but not this early and not by land. However, we noticed last week that Jake was not feeling well and that he had some redness and puffiness in the area where he had his surgery back in May. He was seen at the hospital in Vineyard Haven and shortly after that it was decided that he had a pretty substantial infection that needed to be treated with intravenous antibiotics at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Jo and Jake flew over to Boston from the Vineyard to get the antibiotics and Drew, Emily and I stayed on the boat. It was supposed to be a day or two trip and then they were coming back. Once at Children's Hospital (one of the best in the country for kids) it was decided that surgery was required to remove the infection and drain the area.

Jo called me on Friday morning with the news and by 4:30 pm that afternoon Drew, Emily and I were at the hospital. It was a short ferry ride and a MUCH longer drive to get there but there was no question about being together while Jake underwent his surgery.

He didn't go into the OR until 8:45 pm and was out by midnight. It was a really long day for everyone, especially Jake who couldn't eat until after surgery, but the doctors were great and he did wonderfully.

So, that was Friday and today is Tuesday and it looks like he'll be discharged today. Then we'll be heading back to the boat. It is during times like these that you realize how really lucky you are to have things like insurance and other resources.

Jake is doing really well. He spent yesterday eating chocolate ice cream with Drew and Emily, watching WAY too much Sponge Bob, and playing video games in the Patient Resource Room. He's been smiling a lot and says he feels great.

He won't be able to swim for about the next month because he has an IV line in his arm for the administration of antibiotics that we'll give him on the boat. But there is plenty of other stuff to do on the Vineyard and we'll likely sail over to Nantucket and Hyanis during that time as well. We have to be back in Boston in about three weeks to get stitches out and to have a follow up with the doctors. We'll sail up to Boston through the Cape Cod Canal which should be pretty interesting. We'll keep you posted.

Hanging out in Vineyard Haven.

Well, we've been here on Martha's Vineyard for a few days now, guess it is almost a week. When we realized how crazy Oak Bluffs was going to be we moved from there to Lagoon Pond in Vineyard Haven. It is a lot quieter and much more our speed.

Here is a picture of us at anchor the other evening in the pond.

And here is a shot of the pond. Notice the lack of giant shark hunting power boats!!

We took the bus to the Gay Head Lighthouse the other day. The Martha's Vineyard bus system is really nice and got us around the island without a hitch. Here is a shot of the bluffs and the light. We could actually see this bluffs from across Vineyard Sound when were were on Cuttyhunk Island.

Here are a couple of shots from the day prior to the Monster Shark Tournament. I'll make a longer post on the event (which should probably be closed down but more on that later) with some pictures but for right now I just have time to get these few shots up before my time slot at the library expires. We did take the kids to the weigh-off because the boys really wanted to see the sharks. But, if I had it to do over, I don't think we'd attend.

The Flying Horses merry-go-round in Oak Bluffs was a BIG hit with the kids, and with Jo and I. Here is a set of shots of Drew grabbing for the brass ring. He actually grabbed it twice in a row and gave the free rides he won to Jake and Emily. That's a good big brother! Check out the end shot in the series.

This shot captures the excitement of actually catching the brass ring!!! Click on it to see it in larger format.

I'll post some more later when I have a bit more time. For the present we'll be staying in Vineyard Haven. We're waiting for our alternator to be shipped back from Texas. We're having it checked out because it seemed to be on the fritz with regard to charging the batteries and it is much better to have a problem like this worked out while in port than when we're out sailing. And, this isn't too difficult a place stay while waiting for a part. Lucky for us the Honda generator is keeping us charged up while we await the arrival of the alternator.

Oh, and here's one last one for now. We went to Moshup Beach the other day and found this chair that someone made out of stuff that was lying about.

Moving Due to Monster Sharks . . .

Yes that's right we moved from Oak Bluffs this morning due to the attack of the Monster Sharks (fisherman that is). The harbor was getting WAY to crowded for our taste due to all of the people coming in for the tournament and we really wanted some place where the kids could swim, where we could anchor and where it would be a lot more quiet.

So, we're now safely anchored in Lagoon Pond just off of Vineyard Haven Harbor. It is a really pretty anchorage and is close to groceries and a nice beach. Doesn't get much better than that. I'm sending this post from the lovely Vineyard Haven Library.

We'll have some pictures of this place soon . . . and then we're off in the next few days to Nantucket? We'll see.

Behind every great blog . . .

Is a really nice woman who said yes to packing it up and taking a sail for a while. Lest you might think our trip is all clams on the half-shell, sunsets and s'mores, I will from time to time include, as Paul Harvey would say, the other side of the story. Included below are a couple of Jo's posts to her office that she's agreed to let me post here. This is a section of the blog we'll now refer to as "Behind the Blog". It explains, in sometimes vivid detail, the rustic and charming nautical side of our life afloat. Its all just a matter of perspective.

A post from Cuttyhunk:

Subject: Behind the Blog... Hi there - It's Sunday. I'm sitting on the deck of our boat squeezing in a quick email before we lose signal again. We're in the middle of Cuttyhunk Pond. It's a wonderful moment in time... our holding tanks are empty, our water tanks are full, we have plenty of food in the galley, we got fresh lobster right off the boat for dinner last night, Drew fished and actually CAUGHT something, it's sunny, we have internet access... surely there'll be a rainbow, too. Things are going too well! Compare this with last Thursday in Newport when we were on day 2 with no water other than bottled, the mooring we were on was extremely ROLLY, everything was wet, and had I had internet access, I would have sent out a call for someone to PLEASE RESCUE ME!!!! This is a very interesting experience because you just never know what will happen next! Our water tanks last about 3-4 days, depending on if we acually want to shower. For me, the answer is yes, but the kids seem to be okay with the beachcomer look! Our holding tanks are generally full after about 48 hours. The boys can extend this timeframe a bit, but I won't go into too much detail here! Our food supply is good for a couple of weeks, along with propane, and we have a generator so we can repower cell phones and computer batteries as needed. Hot water is very limited, so I generally have to boil some to do dishes - I really miss the dishwasher... among other things! When Pat posts some more photos on the blog, you'll see what grocery shopping and laundry via dinghy are like! The slogan for Cuttyhunk Island is "if you can't relax here, you can't relax". This is something that has always been hard for me, so we'll see how it goes... we plan to stay here for a while. Today was a great day. Hoping it's a sign of good days to come!

A post from Oak Bluffs:

Subject: Behind the Blog... Hi there - We're in Oak Bluffs Marina on Martha' Vineyard. It has poured rain ALL DAY. It was laundry day - 1 wet dinghy ride, 2 blocks to the laundromat, 2 weeks worth of clothes and sandy towels, 2+ hours, and 3 large laundry bags tucked inside some garbage bags to stay dry, and we're good to go.... oh, and about 12 million quarters! Pat took the kids to ride America's oldest merry-go-round located right here in Oak Bluffs while I watched the laundry spin and knitted part of the left arm of a sweater I'm making for Emily. They came back with pizza which was nice. This is definitely the wettest day we had yet, but nothing is leaking so that's good. Also, we won't have sandy sheets tonight. We have neighbors today... a fishing boat tied up to us because the harbormaster has authorized up to 3 boats per mooring ball in preparation for the Monster Shark Tournament that begins tomorrow... really, ESPN is even here. Apparently it's a huge event. The kids can't wait for the big Weigh-Off on Friday. Having a boat tied to us combined with the storm is making things extra rolly this evening. So far it hasn't had a negative impact on the Pass The Pigs game underway in the "dining room". We're nearly out of food, except for about 40 cans of tuna... Pat is the only one who likes tuna and he really stocked-up when we came across a Trader Joes on the way to his brother's house a few weeks ago. Thank goodness for cheese and crackers and apples and wine, but as of about an hour ago, we're out of those items too. Heading to the grocery tomorrow, rain or shine.

Hope the sun is shining there!

And so there you have it from the other side of the boat. We'll keep you posted!

Testing out our Picasa Web Albums . . .

Well it is a rainy day in Oak Bluffs and we have internet access so I thought I'd try to figure out our problem with Picasa. I think I have it figured out so I'm going to try to post this entry with links to pictures. If this works, maybe I can bulk post larger sets of photos from our trip which would a lot handier than posting them individually.

As a test, here is a short web album of our time in the slings from Noank just click here to see the photos.

OKAY!!! So here is another thing we'll try. Here are 35 pictures from Cuttyhunk (see also the Cuttyhunk post below) that I'm going to try to embed as a slide show. We won't always be able to do this but while we have the connections we might as well shoot some photos up. And, if you want to see a larger version of any of these, just click on them! Pretty cool!

Cuttyhunk a place you NEED to visit!

Hello again from sailing land!! We're moored right now in Oak Bluffs Harbor on Martha's Vineyard. We'll tell you about this place soon but first let us tell you about where we've just been. We've spent the last ten days at Cuttyhunk Island and then yesterday we came over from Cuttyhunk to the Vineyard. On the way we stopped at Tarpaulin Cove on Nashoun Island to anchor, swim and eat lunch. It was a great stop over at one of only a very few places (maybe four) that you can go ashore in the Elizabeth Island chain. Cuttyhunk is a great exception to the no landing rule.

There aren't many places in the world where Jo and I would feel comfortable letting the kids take the dinghy out by themselves so that they could go into town for a trip to the market (for candy) but Cuttyhunk is definitely that kind of place. Here is the Expedition heading into town. When the kids use the dinghy they're Expedition on the radio and we're Jubilee.

Drew has been doing his best to catch a keeper Striped Bass. The limit is 28 inches or over. This guy measured 17 inches so we had to put him back. Still a VERY nice catch for our young angler.


Cuttyhunk has the market cornered on quaint and quiet. From the high spot on the island you can see the entire place without any trouble at all. And what you see is absolutely gorgeous. South and east is Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard and north and west you see the other side of Buzzard's Bay. And of course everywhere you look there is water.

Cuttyhunk has a about 35 year round residents and there are 2 children who attend public school at the one room school house. The public library is right next to the school and it has an eclectic collection of books and a VERY nice librarian. Just down from the library is the Cuttyhunk Historical Society that had a great exhibit about Bartholomew Gosnold who "discovered" Cuttyhunk in 1602.

Here is a shot of Jake in 17th century sailing garb that he got to try on at the Historical Society.


Here is a shot of Drew 21st century sailing garb. Drew helped with the helm during our trip from Newport, RI to Cuttyhunk, MA. We'll have another post soon about provisioning the boat in Newport.


During our time at Cuttyhunk we just hung out and relaxed. The town mottos is: "If you can't relax here, you can't relax." We anchored for all our time at Cuttyhunk save the first two days when we took a mooring. We're getting pretty good at our anchoring routine and it is nice to skip the mooring fees ($40.00 per night).

Here we are having a beach party complete with hot dogs and S'Mores.



While there are not a lot of dining options on Cuttyhunk (maybe two) there is a really cool Raw Bar boat that comes by with clams, oysters, etc. each evening which is really great after a "tough" day swimming at the beach. Also there is a place to buy lobsters off the boat right next to the dinghy dock and the lady who sells them is just wonderful. We cooked lobsters aboard two nights during our stay and they were fantastic.

The weather at Cuttyhunk was pretty interesting. Most days were sunny and warm but there were some days and many mornings when the fog would roll in and limit visibility at some points to less than 100 yards. Because the pump-out boat only comes on Wednesdays and Sundays, trips to the restrooms from the boat were fairly frequent. I felt like I was running a ferry. But it was pretty cool to be out in the Cuttyhunk Pond at night in the dinghy with the fog searching for the boat.

Here are some more pictures from our stay at Cuttyhunk:

This is what relaxation looks like as it is actually taking place.

Jumping off of the boat into Cuttyhunk Pond was a big form of entertainment. Here are a few shots of the gang doing what they do best, have fun.

As you can see, Emily still sports her earrings (this pair she made herself) even when diving off the boat.


Above is Jake and below is Drew and I and during a Geocaching session (click on the word for more info). We found the only Geocache on Cuttyhunk and we made sure to leave a couple of Geocoins from Portland, OR in the ammo box we found.

Jake, Emily and Jo are also big Geocachers . . .


Well that's all for right now. I have to get this posted and then it looks like we'll be taking our last two weeks worth of laundry to the laudromat. It isn't all fun and games out here. We've got work to do. So by for now.

So what does it take to provision the boat?

Good question, glad you asked. The provisioning of the boat in Newport was a REALLY long day. It started when Emily bonked me on the head at 6:00 a.m. to ask me what time it was because she decided she couldn't sleep anymore. After reading my watch to her, I realized that the weather had finally calmed and that it was the perfect time to fill our water tanks on the boat. They'd run bone dry and we were working off a couple of gallons we'd stored on the boat.

So, that was the start of our day. I got up, got dressed and then readied the boat for motoring over to the Goat Island Marina fuel dock where I had scouted out a water hose the previous day. It takes a while to get the boat ready when you've been moored for a couple of days. The wheel is off and tied with a bungee to the railing. There are lines and stuff that need to be squared away. The dinghy needs to be secured to the back of the boat etc.

By 7:00 a.m. it was time to wake Jo and the kids and fire up the engine. Then we motored over to the dock and filled up with 170 gallons of water. It takes a while to do and we go through it in about a weeks time. After the fill up we motored back to our mooring and got ready to head into town with all our laundry that needed to be taken to the laundromat and gather up some things for bringing back groceries. We also needed to take our gas tanks in (one for the dinghy and the other for the generator) so that we could fill up with cheaper gas than what is available at the marina docks.

By 9:30 a.m. we were in town. Then we talked a mile or so up to the laundromat and divided up. Jo and the kids started the laundry while I went back to the dinghy to get the gas tanks to get them filled. When that was done, I returned to the laundromat to meet up with the rest of the family and then I finished off the laundry while they went to the grocery store.

By the time the groceries were done the laundry was dried and folded. So, we all got together, and borrowing the cart from Stop and Shop, along with our own hand cart, we wheeled our stuff back down to the dinghy.

Here is a shot of us in mid provisioning . . .

As you can see, it take a fair amount of groceries and and even larger amount of laundry to feed and clothe a family of five. You should see all of this stuff in the dinghy. It was an interesting trip back to the boat. But that wasn't all. We still needed to go back into town, take a bus to the West Marine and Wal-Mart (egad!!!!) so that we could get a chain snubber, stock pot for lobsters, propane for the grill and water tanks for holding extra emergency water.

I then took all that stuff (and some more) back to the boat while Jo took the kids to a playground. Then we all met up back in town and split a pint of Oreo Explosion and Chocolate Rasberry Gelato. All in all it was a 12 hour day from start to finish and was pretty tiring. But we were glad to get all of the stuff we needed in Newport because we knew that Cuttyhunk had very little in the way of provisions.

A Bit of Internet Luck . . .

They're having some internet troubles here at Cuttyhunk but we just managed to find a window where we were able to get on the net so here we are. I think I'll just try to post some pictures with short descriptions where needed to give a flavor of what has been going on recently. The first flavor would be AMAZING pizza. We 're about 2500 miles from the Lucky Lab in Portland so we have to make due on our own. Here are some shots of us doing our best to compensate . . .

The finished product was wonderful. The dough for the pizza is Joanna's creation. She uses a recipe from Good Food, Great Medicine A Homemade Cookbook written by Mea Hassell and Miles Hassell, M.D.. It is actually a recipe for pita bread but does wonderfully on the grill.

So, those fireworks is Newport, yes they were pretty fantastic. Heres an impression of what we watched . . .


And here is another impression . . .


The fun thing about these two shots is that the blur in each is really a function of the weather we were experiencing at the time. The wind was really blowing and it was raining. On top of that there was a fair bit of chop in the harbor. So when I was taking the photos the camera was moving due to the motion of the boat. As a result the images are in "motion" but I think that actually works for the pictures.

Here is a shot of Jo, Jake and Emily at the beach at Block during the fireworks show . . .



This is shot of Drew at the helm on our way over from Newport to Cuttyhunk . . .

So as not to push my luck, I'll post this entry and then try for another. Just don't want the net connection to crash before I get this post up.

Playing a bit of catch up . . .

Well hello again, this time from Cuttyhunk Pond on BEAUTIFUL Cuttyhunk Island. If you're saying, Cutty where? Then click here for some info on this little slice of heaven. Or just click on this picture. I put a red arrow on the picture to show where we are.

The pond is a wireless hot spot which is amazing for a place with a one room school house. But, before I go on and on about this wonderful place I'll back up a bit and fill in some details about where we've been and what we've been up to over the the past few days. While I do this, I'm going to have to take short breaks to finish the blueberry chocolate chip pan cakes Jo has made this morning. Fanflippin'tastic!

So, after the fireworks at Block Island we decided that the weather would be best on the 4th of July to make the move to Newport. It was a really good move because the weather really turned foul for the next two and a half days after we arrived.

Newport was a bit of a shock to our systems after being on Block Island. We went from this fairly remote setting to what seemed like the big city compared to Block. Newport isn't really that big but was much busier than Block. Block Island is a truly amazing place. Nearly half of it is protected land that is looked after by the Nature Conservancy. We'll likely stop off at Block again when we head back south but for right now we're northbound.

We went to Newport to provision the boat and get the supplies we would need for our stay at Cuttyhunk. The added bonus of being at Newport on the 4th of July was a second fireworks show. It poured rain but we were under our canvas in the cockpit and it was a great show. I'll put some pictures up as soon as I can but right now the internet link from Cuttyhunk is a bit slow so it will have to wait for a stronger connection.

While we were provisioning the boat, we watched the weather carefully and realized that Saturday was the day for heading over to Cuttyhunk. This worked out great because we only had a mooring in Newport until Saturday. We were amazed to be able to pick one up on the 4th of July but I guess it was just good luck. And, given the weather we were really glad to have it.

So, yesterday we went over to Cuttyhunk from Newport. It was a beautiful day and we sailed a bit but the winds were pretty light so the motor was on almost the entire time.

The only glitch we had on the trip was a loose alternator belt. We had to stop for a while so that I could get some tools out and tighten up the belt. But after that, we got into Cuttyhunk without incident.

I'll have some more on Cuttyhunk soon and hopefully a lot more pictures. They're on the computer but still having some difficulty getting them to the net from here.

Now we're in Newport!!

Hello from Newport, RI!! We're on the boat right now in the harbor. We came in yesterday ahead of some nasty weather.
I'm using some wi-fi I found in the harbor and have my wireless antenna duct taped to an old fishing pole. The connection is a bit
sketchy right now but when we get a chance I'll be posting some really cool fireworks shots. We got a double dose of fireworks this year.
The first was on the beach at Block Island and the second was here in Newport moored off of Fort Adams. Two really nice shows.
The weather right now is not nice but it should clear by Saturday and then we'll be off (hopefully) to Cutty Hunk Island.

Pictures should hopefully be up in a day or so.

How YOU doin' ? Our side trip to New Yawk!!

Another trip we took, while waiting for the boat to be done, was to my brother Jeff's for baby cousin Jack's second birthday. Here is a good comparison of the different cannon ball techniques used by West Coaster (Jake) and East Coaster (Uncle Jeff) . . .

This trip was the first opportunity for me, my brother and my sister Samantha to be together in one place with all of our children. Here are some shots of all of us and of the birthday bash for Jack.

The birthday boy certainly enjoyed his Thomas the Train cake. At one point he just started using the train as a fork. Yummm!

Here are some shots of baby cousins Jayden and Ashely, Samantha's twin daughters. Ashley is in yellow and Jayden is in pink. They're both a couple of cuties.

Baby cousin Liam, Jack's new brother was a big hit too. Here are a couple of shots of Drew, Jake and Emily taking turns with Liam.



Here is Drew reading to baby Jack. Did we mention that Drew is now an American Red Cross certified baby sitter?

Here is shot of Jo hanging out with Jack, Jake, and Liam.

Me and Jeff hanging out at the pool.