9-2-06
Jay tells me that the last time he wrote was when we were in Portsmouth, VA, so I have some catching up to do. We've found that we have infrequent internet access; so even as I write this on Saturday, September 2, I may not be mailing it from the library here on Swan's Island until later in the week.
In a nutshell, we left Wilmington, NC, on 6/15, traveling all the way to Connecticut with friends Bryan and Chris on Pearl S. Buck. The trip was made more enjoyable by traveling with friends because we could get together in the evening over a bottle of wine and recount the day's adventures. Did I mention that we consumed a lot more alcohol in those first few weeks that we normally do? In terms of sailing strategy, we did coastal hopping, anchoring every night; so that made the sailing easy. Also, we had remarkably good weather (if you don't count the extremely hot and humid days). We only had thunderstorms twice while we were underway, so that was a blessing. We arrived at Swan's Island, ME, on 8/10, our destination for waiting out hurricane season.
During the trip, we stopped in Hampton and Jamestown, VA, Washington, DC, Annapolis and Baltimore, MD,
Staten Island, NY, New Rochelle, NY, Port Jefferson, NY, Warwick, RI, and Deer Isle, ME, to visit friends and family. Our longest stay was in Washington, where we were anchored right in the heart of the district, about half a mile from the Washington Monument and across from the Capital Yacht Club for two weeks. Our arrival there was quite memorable in that we had gotten a 10 pm clearance for the opening of the Woodrow Wilson bridge (they would only open at 10 pm and midnight for pleasure boats); and just as we were about to go under the bridge, the sky opened up with a major thunderstorm. In addition to the torrential rains making the bridge hard to see, there were no navigation lights on the bridge which made it tricky to determine the appropriate span for passage. Also, there was lots of construction equipment under the bridge (for the NEW Woodrow Wilson bridge) that significantly narrowed our pathway. 
In spite of all of the hazards, the captain (Jay, of course) got us through just fine, and we proceeded up the Potomac to the Washington Channel, dodging debris in the river all of the way to our anchorage. When we finally dropped the hook at about midnight, we were tired and relieved. We spent a lot of time in DC sightseeing (Bryan and Chris had never done that, so we had a great time taking them to sights we'd seen before) and, of course, visiting Mom and Dad, Aunt Janet, and brother Larry. We stayed through July 4th and watched the fireworks display (with the Washington monument in the background) while sipping wine on the deck of our boat. Fun!
Jay tells me that the last time he wrote was when we were in Portsmouth, VA, so I have some catching up to do. We've found that we have infrequent internet access; so even as I write this on Saturday, September 2, I may not be mailing it from the library here on Swan's Island until later in the week.
In a nutshell, we left Wilmington, NC, on 6/15, traveling all the way to Connecticut with friends Bryan and Chris on Pearl S. Buck. The trip was made more enjoyable by traveling with friends because we could get together in the evening over a bottle of wine and recount the day's adventures. Did I mention that we consumed a lot more alcohol in those first few weeks that we normally do? In terms of sailing strategy, we did coastal hopping, anchoring every night; so that made the sailing easy. Also, we had remarkably good weather (if you don't count the extremely hot and humid days). We only had thunderstorms twice while we were underway, so that was a blessing. We arrived at Swan's Island, ME, on 8/10, our destination for waiting out hurricane season.
During the trip, we stopped in Hampton and Jamestown, VA, Washington, DC, Annapolis and Baltimore, MD,
Staten Island, NY, New Rochelle, NY, Port Jefferson, NY, Warwick, RI, and Deer Isle, ME, to visit friends and family. Our longest stay was in Washington, where we were anchored right in the heart of the district, about half a mile from the Washington Monument and across from the Capital Yacht Club for two weeks. Our arrival there was quite memorable in that we had gotten a 10 pm clearance for the opening of the Woodrow Wilson bridge (they would only open at 10 pm and midnight for pleasure boats); and just as we were about to go under the bridge, the sky opened up with a major thunderstorm. In addition to the torrential rains making the bridge hard to see, there were no navigation lights on the bridge which made it tricky to determine the appropriate span for passage. Also, there was lots of construction equipment under the bridge (for the NEW Woodrow Wilson bridge) that significantly narrowed our pathway. 
In spite of all of the hazards, the captain (Jay, of course) got us through just fine, and we proceeded up the Potomac to the Washington Channel, dodging debris in the river all of the way to our anchorage. When we finally dropped the hook at about midnight, we were tired and relieved. We spent a lot of time in DC sightseeing (Bryan and Chris had never done that, so we had a great time taking them to sights we'd seen before) and, of course, visiting Mom and Dad, Aunt Janet, and brother Larry. We stayed through July 4th and watched the fireworks display (with the Washington monument in the background) while sipping wine on the deck of our boat. Fun!
Another highlight of the trip was going through New York harbor. Although intimidating at first, it wasn't as busy as some of the other harbors in which Jay has sailed, and we had fun taking turns taking pictures of each other's boats in front of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline. Along the way, we took friends and family on day sails when we had the opportunity; and they seemed to enjoy that. Rather than come all of the way to Maine with us, Bryan and Chris stayed in New London, Connecticut, where they have friends and the opportunity to do some work to earn money for their cruising coffers.
Maine is truly a nature lover's dream; so many islands, gorgeous scenery, and abundant wildlife (we had an up close and personal experience with a whale mom and calf). Swan's Island is a large but sparsely populated island (about 350 people year 'round which swells to about 1500 in the summer). Access to Mount Desert Island (where Bar Harbor is) and the mainland is only by private boat or ferry. It's one of the few populated islands up here which has not become "touristy" largely, I think, because it's a dry island (no bars or liquor sold). There are no fancy restaurants, no grocery store, no other stores. Supplies must be acquired via a ferry trip; and if you want to take a car on the ferry, you might have to wait all day to get a spot if you haven't made a reservation in advance (assuming you were able to make the reservation far enough ahead of time). It's an interesting way to live, and wouldn't work for me, personally. It actually feels more isolated than being on the boat, where we frequently pull into busy harbors and just go ashore to have access to some conveniences. The primary economy, of course, is lobstering. We're learning a lot about that occupation since Betsy's partner, Leona, has been lobstering since she was a kid. She works on a commercial boat, plus they have their own private traps. This allows us to eat fresh steamed lobster many nights a week. We are REALLY enjoying that! No butter for us; but the lobsters are so fresh (just coming out of the 56 degree water) that we really don't miss it. We've also taken several members of Leona's family out for day sails to try to make inroads into the prevailing local mentality that sailors ("yachties" "summer people" "people from away") are all kind of dumb and not good for much except the humor derived from pulling them off ledges when they go aground. It's all quite interesting from a sociological standpoint. Our plan is to stay here until about the end of September before beginning the trip south. While here, we're having a cockpit enclosure made for the boat and are installing solar panels and a wind generator so that we can be more energy independent while at anchor. I think we're also going to refresh the varnish and do a few more projects. 
So . . . after all the planning, we're actually living the dream. Not surprisingly, it has been challenging at times being in a confined space with another person 24/7 (we've heard the first three months are the hardest). Also, although I'm very comfortable thinking of the boat as "home", I do miss Colorado and our friends there. At times it seems like one of those really busy vacations where you're almost anxious to get home to relax and recover. Now that we've been on Swan's for three weeks, I feel largely recovered. While cruising, small tasks like grocery shopping and doing laundry become much bigger projects when you have bicycles rather than a car and the grocery stores and Laundromats aren't necessarily close to the anchorage. I'm still very content, however, with the boat and how comfortable it is for a small space. No concerns there. We'll be going south with the expectation of being in Washington for Thanksgiving for the annual Matheson family reunion and then on to the Bahamas and points south. We'll probably meet up with Bryan and Chris again for that trip along with two other boats of their friends.
Please keep in touch. We love updates from friends.
Barb
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