After 3 months on the east coast, Eitan and I were finally cruising New England! As ignorant as it sounds, I was surprised to learn that New England wasn’t actually a state but a region comprising multiple states including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Eitan and I were waiting out the storm at Block Island and patiently watching the radar for a break in the weather so we could complete the trip into Newport. Around 11 am, we heard the sounds of anchors being pulled by our neighbors and joined in. It was a quick transit to get into Narragansett Bay and we were thankful for the weather window, allowing us to arrive dry since our clothes were still wet from the day before.
The charter company had a free mooring ball waiting for us at their base in Jamestown so Eitan called ahead to get the ball assignment. Once we were secured, we hopped on the free taxi-boat service and caught the next bus into town. Eitan and I enjoyed our only evening in Newport by walking around the superyacht shipyard followed by some famous lobster rolls. The following day, we pulled up to the dock for the boat to be recleaned before the family arrived that afternoon. Luckily, this cleaning crew did a much better job than the one in Annapolis and we only had to do some minor touch ups.
Eitan had gotten the outboard motor fixed on the dinghy that the charter company supplied but the small boat was clearly not large enough to hold 7 people and a dog for the week-long trip. Since the family is planning on buying their own boat in the coming years, Eitan was tasked with buying a new dinghy and outboard before the family arrived that afternoon. Somehow, he managed to secure one and outfit it within a few hours. Once the family arrived, it was lines off! Since the family arrived a little later than expected, we made it a short day and anchored overnight in a place called Sakonnet Harbor, then finished the trip to Martha’s Vineyard the following morning.
Our first stop on Martha’s was at a small town called Menemsha, which was the fishing village where Jaws was filmed. Although we had a mooring ball reserved for the night, we were surprised to find the only two balls were already occupied by several boats. One ball had three sailboats rafted up and the other with just two. We confirmed our suspicion with the harbormaster that they had put us on a mooring with two other sailboats. Since we were the widest boat, it would have been best to have each of the monohulls rafted up on either side of us. But since one boat was unoccupied and we could tell the other had had a few drinks that day, we rafted up on the end, looking a bit ridiculous. We were woken up early as our neighbors departed and we had to reset our tie to the ball.
We spent two nights in Menemsha, which was quite a cute town but didn’t have much to do there. We did a day trip out to anchor off one of the beaches for a swim. Upon returning, we found two new neighbors on our mooring ball and repeated the same shenanigans from the day before, but this time they were less than thrilled to be tied up to a charter catamaran and made several comments about their displeasure. Having to share a mooring ball was clearly not ideal for us either and they made a fuss about us having a dog onboard, when each of the other boats had cats. On our boat, the owners had brought their English Labrador, Kopi, who couldn’t have been more well behaved and unphased by the neighbors. I learned that there is actually a difference in temperament between an English Lab and an American Lab. English Labs are bred for show and personality whereas American Labs are bred for sport and are more energetic as a result. Since Kopi had immigrated with the family from England last year, I could tell he was much more mellow than the typical dog.
After Manemsha, we spent a rainy night in Vineyard Haven, two nights in Edgartown, followed by three nights in Nantucket. While each of these places is unique, they were all very similar and I have a hard time distinguishing between them. Since we were on a mooring ball at each of these towns, Eitan and I were able to go in and do a bit of exploring. As always, I loved walking around the neighborhoods and admiring the houses. If we weren’t traveling to the next town, we would do a day sail to see a different part of the island and do a bit of swimming. I enjoyed reading a book on the bow with the wife while Eitan taught the husband about sailing and navigation. Even though we were technically working, it felt like we were back into cruising life again!
Soon enough, it was time to head back to Newport where we offloaded the family and said our goodbyes after spending the week together onboard. Eitan and I tied up to the mooring ball once again and got on with packing our belongings. Since leaving Mexico, we weren’t quite sure how long this trip would last and I even brought my wetsuit and snorkel, since we were initially supposed to end up in the Caribbean on the motor yacht. We had quite a few bags and repeatedly weighed them to make sure we were within the airline weight limits, then shuffled some items between them and weighed them again. After 4 months on the east coast, we were finally going back to Mexico. But first, were going back to California for a few weeks to see friends and family. Although this trip didn’t quite end up like we had imagined when we first left S/V Sierra Wind in Puerto Escondido, we still made a lot of amazing memories and got to see some really cool places!
