30th Anniversary Cruise

Although Cindy’s early summer broken leg caused a postponement of the major aspects of the planned 30^th wedding anniversary celebration in September, we have been able to salvage some truly fun times in the past few weeks nonetheless.

 We departed Traverse City on September 2 aboard the Balia with our great friends Gary and Ann from Indianapolis.

that's Cindy with 3 fingers and Jay with OK for our 30th on Beaver

Leaving in late afternoon we accomplished a short sail to Suttons Bay for the night and dinner at newly renovated Village Inn (although our favorite dining place in the town is Martha’s followed by Boones, for this trip we opted for the closest acceptable restaurant easily accessed by game but gimpy crutch ladened Cindy).

 With a strong west wind the next day we made the trip to Beaver Island on one tack in a record 7 hours as we averaged 7 knots the whole way with 5 ft partially following seas. First night’s dinner was at the classic bar Shamrock, and then Gary and Ann made a terrific dockside dinner for our actual anniversary on the 5^th.
 Gary and Ann now share our love of quiet Beaver as Gary even took an early morning stroll down the middle of main street with no cars in sight the whole time.

   

Before dinner we shared a bottle of wine sitting on the lawn at the Beaver Island Lodge, whose restaurant was closed but we were given permission to trespass, so we could also share one of the prettiest views in Northern Michigan from the bluff looking north to Garden, Squaw and Whiskey Islands. Cindy rented an adult tricycle, odd feeling to steer and then sit on the bike when you stop, and then biking master Gary whizzed all the way out to the lighthouse in record time looking like the wicked witch of the west pedaling in Dorothy’s tornado as he zoomed by. Jay of course had at least one ice cream cone a day.

 After 3 nights of quiet and breakfast at Dalwhinnie’s it was off to historic Petoskey for shopping and dining, the highlight of which was the Chandlery happy hour hors d’oeuvres on the patio.

Jay, Gary and Ann at Chandlery

Petosky marina

  We finished the trip in Northport taking A & G to our favorite coffee and pastry place, Barb’s, then home for a final dinner together at the best restaurant in Traverse City, Amical.

The anniversary couple looking good in Petosky

  We then spent 3 days in Traverse City partly enjoying our own town as tourists, but also to attend 2 meetings, do some toilet repairs (Jay still is apologizing, now publicly, to guests Gary and Ann for not rebuilding the head before they arrived) and for Cindy to have some additional physical therapy as the healing of the broken leg is proceeding much more slowly than expected.

  After that we began the second portion of our trip solo with a first night in Elk Rapids, then two in Charlevoix, after which we will return home much more relaxed and ready to face the end of the summer/fall tourist season with enthusiasm.

Doing stretching exercises

Getting around the boat for Cindy has gotten much easier with a cane versus crutches to get to anything nearby. Jay’s so happy not to be cleaning bathrooms and doing dishes as well as cooking, as he had to pick up all of the slack for the summer with Cindy being mostly in a wheelchair.

Abacos again

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e have returned again to one of our favorite places on the planet - Parrot Cay, Abacos . Lots of wind this trio, but some snorkeling and as always good eating. Enjoyed especially pour first evening back at Captain Jacks for "Jacks", aka bingo with bottle caps, great fish melt sandwich at on Day Beach today.

Boating again but not on ours

Now that the Balia and its Bowers Harbor mooring have been beached for the season, we decided to take another kind of boat trip using alternate yachting options. So with innkeeper Suzi fully in charge off we went to Beaver Island for 2 days followed by a few at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

 We absolutely love traveling to and from Charlevoix to Beaver by the ferry Emerald Isle

Lounging on the sunny Lido Deck




Chapel Rock

Munising Falls roots

Pictured Rocks is absolutely amazing and completely lives up to its hype in beauty. Yesterday we took the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruise for two hours along the southern shore of Lake Superior, and even though the weather was a bit drizzly the sights were still mesmerizing.  And the numerous waterfalls in trailed parks rival those of Hawaii.

Wagner Falls

Lover's Leap Rock



Munising East Channel Light







More Abacos photos

back to the Abacos

We have finally arrived in the Abacos, but this time by convenient air travel, and are once again staying on the bit of Paradise, Parrot Cay in the South Cottage. The past 4 days have been filled with snorkeling on Sandy Cay and Fowl Cay underwater preserves in the sunny warm weather

Portland, Bar Harbor and Acadia

We truly enjoyed the town of Portland as it reminded us quite a bit of a the culturally, culinary eccentric blue collar place we experienced in St. Paul Minnesota many years ago. Probably the most photographed lighthouse is the Portland Head.

Just amazing! On our way we stopped in quintessentially nautically scenic Camden and Cindy enjoyed the best lobster roll yet at Cappy's.

 Our second day "DownEastCoast" was spent at Acadia National Park and lunch in Bar Harbor at the "Thirsty Whale" where our server Sarah, no kidding, grew up in Traverse City!

 Instead of commentary this spectacular area is best described by photos.

More Coastal Sights

After an all day fog on Friday, as can only be experienced in New England (so time was spent at the Woods Hole aquarium), we journeyed under partly sunny skies to Martha's Vineyard for the day by ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. The harbor there was filled with so many classic sailing yachts that we would swear there wasn't a stone of fiberglass to be found anywhere.


      One of the most scenic locations on the island was the Aquinnah Cliffs. Indian legend tells of giant Moshup who slayed and rendered whales with the blood being the red in the cliffs and the black the ashes of the fire on which he cooked the fat.

Witness the windy selfie for the days weather.

      
We also went through Mememsha where scenes from the movie "Jaws' were filmed, and particularly enjoyed Edgartown which is so much like the quintessential whaling village it was in the past.



Finishing in Vineyard Haven with what else, ice cream for Jay.

 Then our travels led north to Maine, via one of our favorites Gloucester. As we did the last trip into this area we have been on a quest for the best clam chowder, and while Norwalk has it pretty good the best truly is still at the Gloucester House.

 So many places use canned clams rather than chopped fresh ones and the difference is noticeable. The one at the Gloucester House, where we visited 20 plus years ago and Cindy first ate almost 50 years ago just does it all well, but she just wishes she had enough appetite for what looks to be the world's best lobster roll as well.

 And of course the obligatory visit to the Gloucester Memorial to more than 5,000 fishermen of the area lost at sea.



 We spent today touring Portland, which is definitely a foodie haven with streets of the port area filled with restaurants, yet another chowder at J's Oyster, and one of the most unique Calamari presentations we've ever had at DiMillo's.  The lightly breaded calamari was served with a balsamic vineyard reduction sauce drizzled over it along with a tomato caper bruschetta scattered over the top. Amazing!
 But the most beautiful sight of the day belonged to the Portland Head Lighthouse!

 

On a New (England) Road again

Departing Maryland through New Jersey, where all gas stations are full service by mandate, and New York we arrived in Connecticut. After successfully but blindly finding a Norwalk riverside place we'd had a New England Chowder over 20 years ago that we'd since labeled the best ever, at the SoNo

Seafood restaurant we journeyed forth to our days destination of Mystic Seaport.






After checking in to the local pet friendly La Quinta (and yes Pounce is still enjoying his hotel rooms, especially when they have a window sill he can sit upon) we journeyed at dusk as always to anything on the water, in this case the Bridge restaurant (actually in Pawcatuck) for an amazingly tender and buttermilk crusted fish and chips after another chowder.

Today (just to keep track, Wednesday Nov. 4) we arrived at the entrance of this amazing historic village just minutes after opening and stayed until closing time. It was almost a mecca like pilgrimage to see the Charles W. Morgan (especially meaningful since we'd met one of the principal players in the ship's reclamation, Matthew Stackpole, and his wife Martha when they stayed at our bed and breakfast 2 years ago when doing a presentation to the Maritime Heritage Alliance Association in Traverse City).

We enjoyed so many of the whaling exhibits as well the re-enactors and their stories. Quite an amazing place
and we bumped into one of the crew on the Denis Sullivan at last year's Schooner Festival in TC, Kathryn, who was a was on another boat in Mystic waiting for a second crew to arrive; so small sailing world it is.




  At the end of the day we stopped in to CP Oyster Co. in Mystic for some local oysters for Cindy and Jay continued his clam chowder comparisons.

 All three selections, SoNo - Bridge - and CP have been good with only minor flavor differences - Bridge a bit hotter with pepper (which Jay preferred), CP more clammy broth with smaller pieces of clam. Cindy's take on the oysters, in the photo foreground with the Mystic River past the bar's windows - a selection of a Danbury, MA and two Rhode Island - a Ninigret Nectar from Ninigret Pond , and Conway Pearl RI all were small and salty with very minimal differences due to the closeness and similarities of their waters and all delicious.

 Tomorrow on to the Cape and Martha's Vineyard.

End of the Adventure, for now

   After brainstorming the electrical issues on the boat Wed/Thurs. it was determined that all 3 batteries had completely drained, so new ones (and yes they are expensive) were purchased on Friday. We traveled north to the dealer Tri-State to pick them up and Jay installed them on Saturday along with fixing the bilge float ( a possible culprit in the battery drain but not solely responsible). With the delayed departure date we explored our options again and made the decision Monday to ship the boat back to Traverse City by truck. So the rest of our time was spent taking sails off and removing as much of the rigging attachments as we could before the mast is stepped next week.
  Many factors such as the logistics of sailing home in the spring and early summer, as we have as yet to secure innkeepers for enough dates, and the flow of waters against our travel at that time of year; but mostly because of the disappearance of our cockpit canvas which makes travel in marginal weather so much more comfortable (and we are getting too old to suffer), and the accumulation of aggravation from last winter's problem led to this decision.  A sad day for sure but we believe the best decision right now.
 In between all the decision making and working on the boat we did get to spend Sunday at the Downrigging Tallship Festival in Chestertown put on by the Sultana Education Foundation.

                 
The highlight of the show was the Dutch Barque  "Kalmar Nyckel" from Willimington DE.















Historic Chestertown was charming of course as well.