The week leading up to the wedding of our daughter was busy, fun and rainy! We welcomed family and friends to the area, hung out in Newport - a favorite place of ours, sort of our soul-sailing-home - and took care of all the last minute details.
Someone smiled on all of us as the sun came out around 3pm on Saturday.
Greenvale Vineyard shown beautifully and brightly and provided a gorgeous backdrop for the very special union of Courtney and Paolo. Family and friends celebrated, enjoyed the fabulous food, gorgeous setting, terrifically fun band, and shared loving time with each other. It was a wonderful event.
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| Greg's Mom and Sharon's Dad |
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| Courtney and her Grandma |
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| Greg and his Mom |
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| The morning after |
The following week we got together with friends, enjoyed hanging out in Newport and relaxed!
Early Wednesday morning, the 19th, we headed out in the thick fog to Cuttyhunk, the last island in the chain of Elizabeth islands that separates Buzzards Bay from Vineyard Sound. Thank goodness for radar and AIS! It was quiet out there until the sun finally burned off the fog around 10:30am or so. We dropped the hook outside Cuttyhunk harbor and enjoyed an afternoon of sun and scenery.
Then, it was on to Edgartown. We nabbed the same mooring we had last summer on the west side of the harbor, down in front of what had been the Wrigley home. Now divorced and the home sold (for something like 22 million!), Greg figures even gum can't keep a couple together. Again, we had crazy weather with high winds, clouds and drizzle. And the cell signal was pathetic! Here we are in one of the wealthiest places on earth and you could barely make a phone call. Craziness! Greg went through daily gyrations to make business calls and deal with email and research.
Good friends Renee and Rusty visited for several days. We went for a spirited sail, rode bicycles, swam in the ocean, had some great meals and enjoyed lots of conversation. It was great to share time with them.
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| Renee and Rusty |
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| Sharon and Greg enjoying a brisk sailing day |
We poked around the Vineyard for the next few days. We went to Oak Bluffs for a laundry day....$35 and four loads later, that chore was done. Then, over to Vineyard Haven where the cell signal is way better than Edgartown. Greg worked, Sharon ran around on a variety of chores. We were fortunate enough to enjoy dinner with friends John and Grace from Wickford. Always a delight to see them, plus we got to see their new boat. A treat!
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| Dream Catcher nestled in amongst the mostly motor boats in Oak Bluffs |
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| The beauty of the Vineyard in July |
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| Quintessential Edgartown |
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| Greg's favorite |
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| John and Grace's new ride, Sweet P's |
By Friday evening, we hooked up with other good friends, Roger and Chrisy on another Island Packet,
Sanderling. We hung out with them in the Bahamas in 2015. We've been looking forward to sailing alongside them again since we haven't been able to do so for a couple years. Saturday morning, we both sailed over to Nantucket and spent a couple days walking around town, cycling to Siasconset (or Sconset) and back, enjoying a meal at
The Boarding House and sharing time with other friends Kevin and Debbie. Kevin is now running
Sherburne Commons, a 55+ community on the island and we had the pleasure of enjoying a yummy barbecue and great conversation at their home. Some of the scenery along our bicycle route:
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| A common snapping turtle?? |
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| Chrisy and Roger |
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| Sharon changing the light bulb! Can you tell it's windy?! |
Monday morning dawned sunny, but we knew the weather was going to deteriorate as the day went on. By 9:45 we headed out of Nantucket harbor, pulled out the genoa and motor-sailed close to the wind back to Edgartown. It was a great sail and we pulled into Edgartown's Katama Bay by 2pm. Nestled on our mooring, we had a little down time, then headed over to
Sanderling for cocktail hour, and on to
Edgartown Yacht Club where friends of Roger and Chrisy invited us to dine. What a treat! Thanks to John for that lovely meal and good conversation.
Tuesday, we gave in to the poor cellular signal and headed to the library to get decent internet and phone. Greg had an important call at 1pm, so we did a couple of hours work then walked around town and enjoyed the sights. That evening, we attended a very interesting lecture on Shark Conservancy. The
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy is part of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries. Led by Dr. Greg Skomal, they have now tagged over 100 white sharks and are beginning to piece together the incredible story of how these sharks live in the Atlantic. Very interesting!
That evening we said goodbye to Roger and Chrisy and wished them well on their return trip to Jamestown. Heading out to Vineyard Sound, our plan was to pass through Woods Hole and hang on the hook for the night in delightful Hadley Harbor. But - as we made our way past Oak Bluffs, the engine high temp light started screaming on the engine control panel. Immediately shutting down the engine, Greg went to work trouble-shooting the cause. He added coolant, he added a bit of oil, he checked and cleaned the raw water strainer - there was water coming in and water going out, just like it is supposed to. We started and stopped a few times, each at 1500 rpm's and one time it ran for over 40 minutes before the alarm went off again. The wind was finally in the right place to pull the jib out while he messed with it so we weren't totally floundering in the water. Finally, he pulled the front door off the engine room and found a deteriorated fan belt! Yay! Ten minutes later and we were all set, problem fixed. But he felt a little embarrassed by not finding the problem sooner! If it were a car, as soon as you opened the hood you'd see the broken fan belt. Our engine compartment has three doors. The forward door rarely is used, and it hides the fan belt. Geez!
Tomorrow, we leave the boat at
Pope's Island Marina in New Bedford for a few days while we drive way north in New Hampshire for Greg's nephew's wedding. Another fun family event.
"Til next time -
