Independence is sitting at anchor in sunny - chilly but sunny - Newport. We are waiting for the right weather window to head for Bermuda and our best advice is not until next Monday!! Keep your fingers crossed for us that the lovely Indian summer we are enjoying now to last for another week or two!
The summer has been wonderful. We got a great deal from Avis so while Independence was hauled out at Pirates Cove Marina in Rhodej Island, Pieter and I took a month to visit old friends, explore new territory and spend time with our grand daughter, Marisa, and our daughter, son-in-law and his whole family in Greensboro,NC. I won't be a boring grandma ... However, Marisa is the best, brightest and cutest baby in the world, to us, and I will post some pictures soon, enough said!!
We had a great time with Pieter's family in Ontario and arrived in Pickering hours after the birth of niece Leslie's son, Troy, so got to share in their joy.
Williamsburg was another stop and we loved it! We would definitely like to go back and share it with Marisa when she is old enough, maybe staying at one of the old inns. We got together with dear old friend, Dee Carstarphen Hopkins, for lunch and she brought us a copy of her book, Narrow Waters. It is a beautiful book full of lovely sketches, history, anecdotes and information about cruising the Intra Coastal Waterway. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in doing that trip or is just interested in canals and waterways.
Independence was painted and ready for launching when we returned to Portsmouth on August 24th, so after some provisioning and scrubbing we left to do a little cruising. Our old friend, Greg, whom we met on our last cruise north, found us a mooring in New Bedford and introduced us to THE local diesel mechanic. Our exhaust system, repaired after the melt-down it had on our way in to Newport, was still smoking into the main cabin and that was worrisome. Fortunately, it turned out to be a bad gasket, which was easily fixed. New Bedford is a lovely old town and we explored the cobble-stoned streets, Whaling Museum and waterfront. Picture us having 50-pound chunks of ice lowered down to our little dinghy while a huge fishing vessel loaded tons of crushed ice right next to us. When you travel on your own boat local color takes on a whole new meaning!
We left Independence on the mooring in New Bedford and drove with friends to Maine for the Labor Day weekend. Camden was a visit with friend, Benet, who gave us the royal tour of the schooner rendezvous, shipyards where lovely old yachts were being restored, and a tour of the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which was full of antique cars (Pieter's new passion). Our last night in Maine was spent at the home of former V.I.ers Sandy and Sherry. They live on Pemaquid Point, right on the water and we were lucky to have a calm and sunny day to go out on their boat and hunt for Puffins. Double lucky that we found 2 pair, but we couldn't get close enough for a good picture, better luck next time!
Back aboard and with all systems in working order we decided to head for Onset and Marc Antony's, home of the best pizza and scallops - it has been too long since last time we were there. It's right next to the Cape Cod Canal; no time to transit this year as we had spent too much time on road travel. We did get a trip up to Sandwich on Cape Cod with friends who took us to the Heritage Plantation. It is a lovely place with manicured gardens, a century-old carousel for me and a round barn full of antique cars for Pieter.
Newport for the boat show was next. It was a great weekend, with plenty of new gear and boats on display, and we bumped into lots of friends. We now have a chart plotter - a screen that shows the boat on a moving chart so we know where the buoys and the rocks are ... Amazing!
We spent a lovely day at the Mystic Seaport annual Antique Car Show ... What could be better then old cars and old boats?! Last weekend we went up to Providence to see Water Fire. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people came out to listen to music and watch as the fire pits in the river were lit, a gondola was giving tours complete with gondolier and hat with ribbons!
Now, projects are wrapped up, provisions are aboard and all we need is a good weather forecast and we will be off for Bermuda. I think we will head to Block Island and leave, hopefully on Monday, from there.
Starting the journey home - Pieter and Pat
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