Hello again from the Vineyard.

After spending about a week in Nantucket we're back in Vineyard Haven to get Jake's last supply of medicine. We all agree that if we had to choose we'd pick Nantucket over Martha's Vineyard. There is just a lot more history on Nantucket and it is very well preserved. Also the amount of green space and natural places is comparable to Block Island.

Still, Vineyard Haven is a lovely place too. The kids just turned in their summer reading program cards at the VH Library this morning and received in return pieces of fudge that are bigger than they are! They should have lots of energy today!

For something different, I made up a web album, click right here for it, of a few pictures showing our time on Nantucket. The album ends with a few shots of our trip over to Vineyard Haven yesterday and last night's dinghy rescue. The kids did a great job of returning a lost dinghy and were rewarded with a $20.00 bill. Drew, however, realized that twenty was way too much for returning the lost dink and he gave the money back. A nice deposit in the karma bank. (Perhaps this accounts for the lady at the fudge shop giving Drew an extra hunk for his politeness.)

Stay tuned, we'll update you with more on our trip soon. Enjoy the pictures.

And now for another episode of "Behind the Blog"!!

Here again I include the other side of the story, from the other side of the boat. Jo tells it strait from Behind the Blog. I need to get some theme music for this. Jo wrote this the other day but I was only able to get it posted today. Here goes . . .

Behind the Blog

Dealing with trash when you’re a transient

In harbor master lingo, people who live aboard their boats and cruise around from harbor to harbor are referred to as transients. Transients prefer the term live-aboards; they also prefer anchorages (free) v. moorings (not free). Harbor masters and marinas tend to prefer power boats (can we fill those gas tanks again for you, sir?) and weekend sailors (that’ll be $3 a foot for the night; can I take your credit card?). Thus things like getting water, filling your dinghy gas can, taking out the trash and recycling have at times been adventures.

The gold star so far on our trip goes to Nantucket. They have mandatory recycling and the harbor master gives you a brochure detailing all their services related to pump-out, trash collection, disposal of empty propane tanks, motor oil, etc... when you arrive in the harbor. They also provide very nice bathroom and shower facilities next to the dinghy dock to further encourage the preservation of the harbor and conserve water.

Most of the places we’ve been have had dumpsters easily accessible, but recycling has been a task that required a lot of dedication and patience, which isn’t easy when 5 people (1 in particular who likes bottled beer) are living in a small space.

Newport and Hyannis have been the least well-equipped for live-aboards. Hyannis didn’t even have a public dinghy dock, but they did have a very nice charter fisherman who let us share his spot and gave us directions to everything we needed in town.

Like Nantucket, Cuttyhunk encouraged recycling, but requested a fee of $5.00 per bag of trash dropped off at their dumpster. The first aid station attendant had the pleasure of collecting from people, as well as tending to the bathrooms at the town dock. She rarely looked happy. Perhaps she was just lonely... most people seemed to visit the trash collection area “after hours”.

The good news is that we don’t generate that much trash, except on those days when we’ve just provisioned and need to get rid of excess packaging; or days when Pat gets involved in engine project, which we judge the severity of by the number of rolls of paper towels he consumes! His record is 2.5... so far.



Fish Fry
Murphy’s Law was definitely in place last week when we did provisioning before leaving for Nantucket. Not sure what takes longer... the grocery shopping or the grocery storage, but neither is brief. The kids were REALLY good while Pat ran to get oil and ice and I put away the groceries. They entertained themselves by fishing and on this particular day (unlike most other days) they just couldn’t stop catching “scup” that were “keepers” (12 in or more). Pat cleaned 3 before leaving for his errands and when he got back there were 4 more waiting for him. Drew brought one below to show me and proceeded to drop it right next to his sister, who nearly lost her mind screaming. It really was a accident, and I’m pretty sure my screams were equally loud!

So here we are with groceries AND very fresh fish coming out our ears, and did I mention it’s gotten to be about 8 pm at this point in the day? The kids were absolutely bent on cooking the fish, so Pat prepared them in the dark with a flash light and we had our first fish fry at about 9 pm. Pat loves any fish, so he thought dinner was great, though the hour and the mess were a bit much even for him. I didn’t mind the fish, but the millions of tiny bones I had to pick out kind of ruined the experience for me, plus I could hardly stay awake. Despite their big talk, I’m really not sure if the kids even tried the fish. The whole evening is a blur now, but I’m pretty sure they all 3 stuck to left-over chicken.

The next morning, I went out into the cockpit and noticed that one poor scup was “left behind” in the cleaning process. I reported the sighting to Pat and handed he and Drew some rags and a bottle of Clorox. We have now issued a strict catch and release policy regardless of scup size until such time that Pat regains his appetite for these little guys. Exceptions will be made for stripped bass which must be at least 28 inches to keep and would likely be worth the effort.



Best Of...
We did a family survey recently. Here are some results...

Favorite place visited so far 3 votes for Cuttyhunk (dad, Drew & Emily)
2 for Block Island (mom & Jake)

Something you want to see but haven’t yet 5 votes for whales (actually it was 4 votes for whales and 1 for cheetahs, but Jake was disqualified for that entry)

Best thing about living on boat everything (dad)
more family time (mom)
fishing (Drew)
more free time (Jake)
visiting lots of libraries (Emily)

Least favorite thing about boat living hitting rocks (Drew)
beds aren’t comfy (Jake, who sleeps on the couch like a ROCK every night)
missing friends (Emily)
smells (mom)
complaints regarding smells (dad)



Moment...gone
So we get to Nantucket on Sunday early evening. It’s a LOVELY evening and a BEAUTIFUL place and we have a great dinner on the grill. Also, I was told to mention that Pat makes an excellent Mojito, which is very true. **

All the right tanks are full and all the right tanks are empty. Except that we’re anchored a bit out of range of the harbor wi-fi service’s reach, you couldn’t ask for more. Well, also there as a mega-yacht blocking our sunset view, but you can’t have everything.

We wake up Monday morning and explore Nantucket, including the Whaling Museum which was really nice. It’s a leisurely, lovely day - no chores, no projects, no rain, no problems. The library is wonderful, the town is quaint, and we spend the day getting our bearings regarding what all we want to do while we’re here.

Then the moment is gone.... during the night the strongest winds we’ve had all summer blow up. It’s impossible to sleep. Every boat around us has their lights on for the same reason: checking and hoping their anchors don’t drag. It gets to be about 2 am, and Pat decides to have a glass of iced tea. Interestingly, it’s not very ice-y. The refrigerator (a flattering term for the box in which we keep our food cold) seems to have stopped working. Not having much insulation in the freezer section, and being a bit low on ice all around, it isn’t taking long for the $7 million dollars worth of meats, cheeses and other perishables we’ve stocked up on to become something less than cold. (Jake’s theory is that the wind must have knocked out the power.)

Pat spent the next 2 hours trying to repair the motor. After much troubleshooting, it turns out a breaker we didn’t even know existed, was tripped. By morning... which came very quickly... things were getting cold again. Otherwise, we’d be having one big breakfast! The wind still hasn’t stopped, but it’s a bright sunny day and our anchor held. We’re a bit closer to our neighbor than we were yesterday, but we still have to yell to say hello. Based on radio conversations we heard during the night, several boats got up close and personal... so much so that they required towing assistance to get pulled apart.
Glad all we need is a nap today!

Reports from the field.

Drew, Jake and Emily were recently asked to do some reports for the lesson work on the boat. Here they are in their original spelling.

Are you famous?
An unedited story about famous people and Martha’s Vineyard; written by Emily, age 8, July 2007


Oh hi. I am Emily. Did you no hilary clinton’s favrot book stor is Buch of Grapes book store? It’s in Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard. She is one of many famos people who visit this island and this is going to be the most coolest thing you ever hered, Judy Blume donated the young adult room in the libray. Did you know many athors and musical people visit Martha’s Vineyard?

In 1602 bartholomew Gosnold discovered and named it after his daughter and all the grapes he saw. The Indian name is Noepe which means in the water.

Yester day I wakt on the docks ware the movie Jaws was filmed. That was in Edgartown.

Sproting Lentils
Instructions written and illustrated by Emily sorry we could not include the pictures) based on the suggestions of Mea Hassell in the cookbook, Good Food, Great Medicine. August 2007

1. Fill a jar with water and lentils.
2. Soak for 6 hours. Tip: No sunlitgh.
3. Rinse a paper towel for a cover and get a drain boul.
4. Rinse and drain the lentils 2 times a day. Tip: ceep in cool spot.
5. Eat. Yammy!

Hurricanes and Hurricane Holes
An unedited story about our stay in Lagoon Pond on Martha Vineyard; written by Jake, age 8, July 2007

Hello, this is Jake. It’s good to be in a hurricane hole when a hurricane is coming, like when hurricane Andrew made a boat drag ancher all the way to a field of palm trees. A hurricane hole is a safe harbor blocked from the wind. We are in one rigt now called lagoon pond in Vineyard Haven MA. It’s blocked by a very hard to get in to brige. Hurricane season is late summer to early fall, so we are not here to escape a storm. We are here because it’s a great place. It has a bunch of ice cream and fudge shops, a great library, beaches, and light houses. Being in a hurrican hole does not keep you from getting wet!!!! If your dinghy is heading in to the wind the waves will still get you soaked. Also it still might rain on you.

The Monster Shark Tournament
A balanced perspective on the largest shark fishing tournament in New England by Drew, age 11, July 2007

The Monster shark tournament in Oak Bluffs, MA on Martha’s Vineyard has been going on for 21 years and is very cool. The monster shark tournament has a lot of blood and killing, but luckily the meat all goes to homeless people in Boston.

For fishermen, it is a very fun thing but expensive. All the fishermen have to pay a fee over 1,000 dollars and with all the bait and guest fees it cost over 1,500 dollars. In the tournament 2,500 sharks are caught and the biggest 50 are brought in dead to weigh them.

The sharks they catch are mako, thrasher, tiger, great white, and blue shark and children under 16 can’t participate.

According to the Humane Society, in the past 50 years, the shark population dropped by 90%. That’s one of the reasons that the Humane Society wants to stop the tournament and others like it.

It is fun to watch the sharks get weighed, and the biggest shark in the tournament weighed 1300 pounds. So I hope you come next year.

Mojito!

In the post above, Jo referenced the mojito, that refreshing summer beverage. So that you to can enjoy a bit of our cruise at home, I include here our very own mojito recipe. Try it soon, you’ll LOVE it.

First, the ingredients, it’s all in the ingredients. FRESH mint. No substitutes here. Get it at the grocery store or better yet grow it at home. It is a nice part of the process to go out in the yard to cut just enough mint for a mojito. We have it growing at home in Portland. One lime. They don’t grow in Portland so just pick it up at the store. Simple syrup. Yup, it is really simple. Three cups of water, boil, then slowly stir in three cups of sugar. It will turn a light goldish color. Set aside and cool. I usually don’t wait for it to cool if I’m making up a first batch for mojitos but use your best judgment. You don’t need all the syrup for a drink, so save it in a mason jar. A recycled pasta sauce jar works great for this. Just keep it in the fridge for later mojitos. White rum, I use Bacardi. Ice cubes. One martini shaker or similar device.

Second, the mixology. Take about 8-10 mint leaves and tear them to small pieces and put them in the bottom of the martini shaker. Then put in one ice cube. Next muddle the mint at the bottom of the shaker. You can use a muddler or just the end of a wooden spoon will work fine. Muddle away. You want to release the essence of the mint. Next the lime. Before cutting the lime roll it vigorously on the kitchen counter with the palm of your hand. You want to loosen the meat of the lime so it will juice really well. You can smell the lime at this point. Once this is done cut the lime in half like a grapefruit. Squeeze the juice of this half lime into the shaker. Then pour in one ounce of simple syrup and two-and-a-half ounces of rum. Place ice cubes in the shaker so that they fill it about half way. There is a bit of estimation needed here. Your going to shake the contents and then pour it into a highball glass or something similar. So you want to ideally have enough liquid and ice to just fill the glass to the top. Once all the ingredients are in the shaker, cap it off and shake well. If it is a metal shaker it should frost a bit. Then pour all the contents into a glass. Don’t strain it because you want the mint leaves in the drink. Place a small piece of lime in the glass and enjoy!!! Experiment with the mix, depending on how your syrup came out and how juicy your lime is you may want to tinker with the recipe. You’re going for refreshing. Not to strong or sweet or limey...just right. You might have to have a second one or three to get it down perfect. Have fun with it!

This is a shot of the mojito process. Don't be put off by the picture. I make it look a lot harder than it really is.

Try to guess where we are now . . .

We've moved again. But this time we'll make it a bit of a guessing game. In the photo below there is a clue to where we've moved to. Look carefully at the ship in the picture and see if there is something that tells you were we might be.

If you guessed Nantucket, you're RIGHT! Man oh man is it nice here. We got in yesterday after coming across Nantucket Sound from Hyannis. It was a flat calm so we motored all the way. But it was a very nice day and we had a great trip. This morning we're checking out Nantucket Town and heading over to the whaling museum.

Here is a picture of the kids at anchor yesterday afternoon.

While we were making our way over here yesterday we had a visitor on the boat. This dragonfly was tired and decided to take a break by resting on our bimini. Given the calm conditions it was no problem to grab the camera and get a close up shot of this big guy.

Drew has been doing really well with his fishing. Here is a picture of him with one of the largest Scups he's caught so far. This is just one of about five that he caught the other day and it made for a great meal while we were in Hyannis.

Drew also came up with the idea to "water ski" behind the dinghy. Here are some shots from Lagoon Pond on the Vineyard that we took a week or so ago of Drew being pulled on his boogie board by Emily and I. Jake can't swim yet due to his IV line but he's chomping at the bit to try out boogie skiing.

In some of our pictures you can see Joanna knitting while on the boat. Well she's been working for some time on a sweater for Emily. Here is a shot of the finished product. It came out GREAT!

Here is the last shot for right now. We had another small adventure before leaving Martha's Vineyard (aka the Island of Doom). We were all ready to take off for Nantucket and when we tried to pull up out anchor we found that we were pinned to the bottom of the harbor by a big piece of metal. I snorkeled down the chain in about 11 feet of water to find the chain going strait into the metal and I couldn't even see the anchor. Visibility wasn't great and I could only stay down as long as I could hold my breath.

We called Tow Boat US and had them try to pull us off the metal but even their 450 horsepower tow boat was no match for this hunk of metal on the bottom of the harbor. Here is a shot of the tow boat that came over from Falmouth to help.

The next morning we had a diver come over from the Martha's Vineyard Shipyard. As it turned out, the chain had gotten pinned under the metal and the anchor was fine. The diver dug out the chain and then we were free. It was nice to be near assistance and I've since bought a SCUBA tank, something I had not packed previously, so that in the future I'll be able to take a better look down below without counting on being able to hold my breath.

More on Nantucket soon . . . whale ho!!!

Hy from Hyannis!!!

We've moved again. This time from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis. We got into Hyannis last night and anchored in Lewis Bay. We were going to anchor just behind a place called Egg Island that was indicated on our chart. Only thing is that when we got into the bay we found the island was gone!!! Yes, Egg Island is basically the Atlantis of Hyannis. The kids thought that was pretty cool. I got the GPS coordinates off the chart and took the kids to find the island. It was about two feet below the surface. But, if you'd like to build a beach home I bet you can get the land pretty cheaply!

Today Jake and I needed to take a trip back to the Vineyard to pick up his next supply of medicine. We moved the boat yesterday because of the good weather. It is raining all day today. So, Jake and I took the ferry from Woods Hole after picking up the rental car and Jo, Drew and Emily are off to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to learn more about this stuff we're sailing in.

Right now Jake and I are under a porch at the Vineyard Haven Library using the wi-fi since the library is closed and keeping out of the rain while we wait for our meeting with Audrey the visiting nurse who is caring for Jake's dressing and lab work. After we finish with Audrey today we'll take the ferry back to Woods Hole, and then head back to the boat.

If the weather clears this weekend we'll likely head over to Nantucket. We're hoping to check out Nantucket for a few days before heading further north. The plan at the moment is to try to go to Boston and then Province Town after transiting the Cape Cod Canal.

More later and a lot more pictures.