Monday, July 30, 2007:
This morning we got off to a slow, leisurely start. Dixie let us sleep in until 8, and we soon heard the shouting of the Aldo’s Bakery boat: “Andie-ahh, andie-ahh-MO!” Andiamo, according to the book that gave us information about Block Island Harbor, means “let’s go”. The bakery boat was selling muffins, éclairs and other treats from boat to boat.

After we had our coffee, Dixie demanded we do more with our day. We took the launch in to shore, and a 20 minute walk brought us to a beautiful beach with hardly anyone on it. Dixie met Finn, a yellow lab who had his own umbrella and beach blanket. Lin and Moe took turns swimming, but Dixie didn’t want to get involved with those waves.














Our great beach on Block Island. There was hardly anyone there.















Dixie at the beach. She loves the smells, but not those waves!














Leaving Block Island. We couldn't see it on the way in because of the fog.

We left Block Island about noon, and arrived in Stonington Harbor at around 2:30. We’re on a mooring at Dodson’s Boatyard. This afternoon we visited the library to check our e-mail quickly, and then walked a long way looking for an outdoor restaurant where we could bring Dixie. No luck! So, we’re back on the boat for a relaxing evening, hot showers, good food, good books and great company. We’ve traveled 192 nautical miles so far.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007:
Foggy morning at Dodsons, and an opportunity to check e-mail in the marina store. We'll head out as soon as the fog lifts... long trip planned today! Possibly heading to Clinton, but we'll see what we can find for available moorings, and how the weather holds up.

We arrived in Clinton and did an amazing job of docking the boat by ourselves. Moe snugged Cricket right up to the town dock, and Lin lassoed the cleats. We look like pros. Ha! If they only knew. We had a great lunch at a place right next to the docks called Aqua. They had a large deck and we could sit with Dixie.... but the manager came, greeted us, and told us we were welcome to come again, but without only he dog.













Lin and Dixie relaxing in Clinton.

After lunch, we went back to the boat to relax some more, and were greeted by a family of swans, who came right up to the swim platform, looking for food. They looked like they would climb right up the ladder into the boat!












A visiting family of swans

Walked into town for dinner, awakened in the middle of the night by rowdy neighbors.

Wednesday, August 1:
Long day of driving, woke up at 7, pumped heads at 7:30, almost 7 hours travel to Noroton Yacht Club, left about 4 pm, 5 hour drive home.

Woooo, here we go! We spent the afternoon today arranging and re-arranging groceries to pack into our cooler tomorrow morning. Lin's parents are picking us up at 8:30 to drive us to Marion MA. Dixie watched with great concern while we bustled around the house all afternoon and evening, boiling eggs, making fruit and pasta salads, packaging things in small, stackable containers that will easily fit into the refrigerator on the boat. Last minute laundry and packing are next. The weather is hot and muggy, and thunderstorms are threatening the next few days. Oh well, it's part of the adventure!


We have a couple of concerns about while we're gone....who will feed our adopted cat, who lives outside but loves to sneak inside when we aren't fast enough? And, how will Moe's famous bees fare while we are gone? Our fingers are crossed. Maybe Wendy will stop by and check on them....








Thursday, July 26, 2007:
We are back in Marion Harbor, at the Beverly Yacht Club. We arrived around noon-time (thanks, Mom and Dad!), after driving by Lin’s childhood home only 6 miles away. It was wonderful to see again and brought back lots of memories.














Beverly Yacht Club, at Marion Harbor MA.

When we arrived at the BYC, we went straight out to the boat with coolers and bags full of food, clothes, and supplies. Dixie is much more relaxed this time, and has been more than happy to don her bright yellow life jacket for a ride in to shore on the launch. She stands with her feet up on the seat and watches the water with her fur all blowing in the wind. We hope she doesn’t jump, because as far as we know, she’s never been in the water. We have to work on that, and get her to learn to swim with another dog who loves the water so she won’t be scared.















Dixie is much more comfortable this time!

While we were at home over the last few weeks, Moe came down to the boat with a few friends and installed two new batteries. The batteries for this boat weigh about 140 pounds apiece! We’ve run the refrigerator all day just off the batteries, and they are still showing as fully charged. To be extra sure, Moe is running the generator for a little while to give them a boost before we all go to bed, so we won’t have to worry about running the refrigerator all night.

Tomorrow we head out to Jamestown Island, just across the bay from Newport, Rhode Island. We’ve got a mooring reserved for two nights at the Conanicut Marina. Today was hot and sunny, but the weather report predicts some clouds and thundershowers over the next few days.

Heading out of Buzzards Bay

Friday, July 27, 2007
Moe and Dixie took an early launch in to shore this morning, and Dixie had a nice (successful!) walk. Lin stayed on the boat, made coffee, and read some more of The Good, Good Pig. What a great book! We left Marion at about 9:45 am, under bright blue skies with a huge hawk circling overhead. He seemed to be looking at Dixie, but he was probably just fishing.

Just cruising along....

The weather held up nicely, except for one patch of dense fog that popped up in front of us like a curtain. On the other side, there was more clear blue sky and a couple of fast ferries. We were glad we were out of the fog when we saw them!

Round Hill Point Radar Dome

Near Round Hill Point, we saw a huge radar dome. We arrived at Newport at about 3 pm, and passed some large, amazing sailboats, and Fort Adams, which we visited a couple of years ago. After docking at the marina and filling up our fresh water tanks, we picked up our mooring not too far from the Jamestown Island Bridge, and are settling in.

Coming in towards the Jamestown Bridge

There is some wind so the boat is rocking, and Dixie is uncomfortable… she’s on the couch next to Lin. There is no internet connection here, so we’ll have to post this in a few days when we can pirate off of someone else’s wireless. We took the launch in to shore and went to a great place for dinner called Tricia’s Tropi-Grill, took Dixie for another successful walk, and caught a launch back to the boat by 9 pm. We are socked in by pea-soup fog, and everything, inside and outside the boat is damp from the humidity. Tomorrow we’ll try to walk into town and see if we can get internet access at the library.

Saturday, July 28, 2007
Dixie woke us up at her usual time this morning, about 6:30 am. She’s doing better every day. We had coffee and took an 8 am launch in to shore, and headed up the hill in the main part of town to the spot Dixie had chosen the day before. After our walk, we went to a little place called “A Touch of Heaven” for breakfast outside. People are impressed by how polite Dixie is. She’s been very good, considering she’s just barely over a year old, and this world of boating is all new to her. After breakfast, we walked back up the hill to the library, where we both took a few minutes to check our e-mail. It was a really nice and very friendly library, which happened to be having a book sale: “a buck a bag”!. Naturally, Lin picked out a bunch for her and Moe to share. Then across the street to buy Dixie a bottle of water, down the hill to do a little shopping at a nice store that let Dixie shop with us, and then back to boat around noon-time. It is hot and very humid on shore, but more comfortable out here on our mooring with breezes coming from every direction. The refrigerator has run all day without draining the new batteries at all…. Those new solar panels that Moe installed were well worth the time and effort. Moe spent some time up on the fly bridge reading one of the new books with his eyes closed, while Lin continued to enjoy The Good, Good Pig.

Sailboat racing at Conanicut Marina, Jamestown, RI.

Later, Moe watched the Shields Regatta, which was right in front of our mooring field, and reminded him of the good old days, when he raced sailboats. Lin watched some of the race from the shower! Our plan for this evening, after more relaxing, is to go back into town with Miss Dixie, have dinner and take a walk in a different direction to see what we can see.

Sunday, July 29, 2007:
We left Jamestown this morning at about 9:30, after Moe and Dixie had a quick run in to shore. Breakfast was on the boat this morning, since we wanted to get out before the wind and waves picked up. About half-way into the four hour trip, we ran into fog, fog, fog. Being in the dense fog is like being alone in the dark. You don’t have any idea what is out there, or might be approaching you. The water looks the same, black and rolling, on all sides of the boat. The sky is the same color in all directions, and you can’t see the land or even which direction the sun is in. Thank goodness for radar, which tells you when something is approaching, even though you can’t see it. And thank goodness for the GPS, which showed us the direction we were going in was right. It’s strange to know a big boat is approaching from behind you, and then watch it pass you on the radar, but never see it.

We arrived at Block Island about 12:00, and were lucky enough to get a mooring in just a few minutes. You can’t reserve moorings here, it’s first-come, first-served. Streams of boats were leaving as we pulled into the harbor, which is called the Great Salt Pond.

As fast as the boats were leaving, there was a line of boats pulling in. We picked up our mooring out in front of a place called Champlin’s Resort. All afternoon, Champlin’s has had loud, bad karaoke, blasting out across the harbor.

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Free pump-out at Block island, and Dixie makes a new friend.

After we arrived, we took the launch in to shore. We took Dixie for a walk on the rocky beach overlooking the many boats, and she was excited to wade into the ocean up to her tummy, for the first time. She had a great time trying to pick up stinky old mussel shells and run to keep them away from us… good thing we had her on a long leash! A short walk brought us to Dead Eye Dicks, where the three of us had lunch under a large canopy on their deck, overlooking the harbor. It sure is hot! We’ll relax for the afternoon, shower and have dinner on the boat.

When we were walking around the neighboring docks yesterday afternoon, we saw an old metal tug boat, which someone had lovingly and painstakingly resorted, cleaned, stripped and repainted. The tug was called “The General”, and had been made into a live-aboard. There were pretty curtains in the windows, nice wicker furniture and a huge gas grill on the decks, nice-looking lamps and pictures on the walls visible inside. In the doorway to the main cabin of the boat, a black and white cat greeted us as we walked by. He looked happy to have a big old boat for a home. Later in the evening, we heard the owner of The General come over the radio, and invite the launch operator over for “the cannon”. The cannon?? Sure enough, we sat on deck eating our dinner, and from the direction of The General, we heard two loud booms of a cannon. When our ears stopped ringing, we suddenly realized we could hear a bagpipe from over in the same direction. It was the first time any of us had heard bagpipes playing “When the Saints come Marching In”, or “Anchors Away”. VERY strange!

We’ve just returned home from our first week on the boat this year. Here’s how it went, and what we did:

Friday, 6-29-06. We spent Friday night on a mooring at Pepperell Cove, part of the Portsmouth Yacht Club in New Castle, NH. New Castle is a large island at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Our new dog, Dixie is getting used to the motion of the waves and wearing a life jacket. She is not happy, and stands like a sad statue with all four legs straight out, and her head down.

Saturday 6-30-07. The boat rocked and rolled last night from the wind, the current in the river, and the tide. Dixie slept on the bed with us for the first time. She’s usually independent, like a cat, and isn’t a cuddler. But, I think the movement of the boat had her feeling like she needed a little more security.
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Moe looks like he is flying a plane.
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We left Pepperell Cove at about 11 am, and headed south towards Cape Ann, MA. Moe saw a whale but Lin missed it because she was snoozing. Who was it that said it would be hard to relax? We went down the narrow, extremely crowded Annisquam River. The Annisquam is a salt water estuary, and is open to the ocean on both ends. We had to pass through some small, low bridges which made our hair stand on end just a little bit. It looked like it would be a fabulous, interesting place to kayak. There were even little houses in the middle of the river in some places!

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Houses in the Annisquam River.
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The village of Annisquam, at the mouth of the Annisquam River, was settled in 1631. It has been a popular place for artists and writers such as Winslow Homer and Rudyard Kipling, and "The Sound of Music" is said to have been written here. The river was shallow and people had anchored boats everywhere, so it was like an obstacle course. Lin forgot her reading glasses, and hard time reading marker numbers on the chart. After passing under two very low, narrow bridges (thank goodness one of them could lift for us!), we arrived in Gloucester Harbor, and picked up a mooring next to a huge fishing boat that could have eaten us for breakfast. Gloucester was also settled in the early 1600s, and claims to be the oldest fishing port in the country.
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Our nearest neighbor in Gloucester.
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After we settled in a bit, Lin picked up and passed on phone messages from work. Moe took down the dinghy, and the three of us went in to shore. After a good long walk, we found a great place to eat, where we could sit outside under a canopy and have dinner. Dixie was welcomed by the restaurant staff at the Madfish Grill in Gloucester, and the dinner was delicious. I think we are definitely starting to relax now…. even Dixie.

Sunday, 7-1-07. Wow, July?!? How’d that happen? We had a peaceful night on the boat, no rollers this time. Dixie slept with us again, which Lin loves and Moe has no comment on. We got up at 6:30, and Moe and Dixie took a dinghy ride in to shore for a walk, since Dixie refuses to pee on the pee-pads we got her to have on the boat. I guess we did a good job with house-training her! The sky is clear and the sun is hot already. Clann an Drumma on the CD player made for nice early-morning background music (high energy bagpipes and tribal drums) while we had our coffee and Dixie snoozed on the couch.
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Moe and Dixie return from shore.
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We left Gloucester behind us at about 8:30 am, and headed south past Boston towards Scituate Harbor.

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Boston in the distance.
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We passed a ship with guns in the front and a gazebo in the back.
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We’ve traveled 58 nautical miles so far. We’re on a mooring here at Scituate Harbor Yacht Club, a really nice place with a huge pool, tennis courts, clubhouse with a kitchen, tv lounge, rest rooms and showers. The cost of staying in this pretty harbor is $35/night. We generate some of our own power with the solar panels, inverter and generator, so we don’t have any need to go to shore except if we want to, or to take Dixie in to pee. The three of us went in to explore the little town, which has very old houses with signs on them commemorating heroes and heroines of the war of 1812. We had lunch at a little outdoor café named Riva, which offers bowls of water and treats to dogs.


After relaxing on the boat for a while in the afternoon, Lin went back in to shore and did some work on her computer, while Moe and Dixie napped for a while. Later, we all went into town and had dinner at the same dog-friendly outdoor café. We were back to the boat in time to watch the sun set behind the houses at the edge of the water.













Moe at work on a beautiful day.
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This is really a wonderful place... pretty, quiet, scenic and friendly. Dixie is curled up in a ball down below, fast asleep. Tomorrow, we are going to Sandwich MA and will stay in a slip, because they don’t have moorings, and there are no other choices on the northeast side of the Cape Cod Canal. The plan is to meet our friends Fred and Becky, visit with them, and see their new house in Yarmouth.













Dixie.
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Monday, 7-2-2007: The water was much rougher and Dixie and Lin were sometimes uncomfortable. We traveled 31 miles in about 4 hours. We are just inside the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal, at the Sandwich Marina. There are very different boats here, mostly power boats, most of them are fishing or lobster boats. Smells like fish! This place is quite different than our last stop. A couple mega-yachts are here, too. We met up with our friends Fred and Becky for the late afternoon and a dinner at their house. Fred is a music director for MIT, and Becky works for Mass Audubon as a bird expert. Becky and Lin went out to Seagull Beach (an old teenage haunt of Lin's!) to check on some Piping Plover chicks that are almost ready to fly, and then headed to Fred and Becky’s new house for a cookout. Dixie is doing really well with her travel and boat skills! She was a good girl at Fred and Becky's, too. This socialization is really great for our puppy, who just turned one at the end of May.
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Moe and Dixie laughing together on board.
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Tuesday, 7-3-07: we left Sandwich Marina at about 8:30 am, and traveled through the Cape Cod Canal. Very interesting, with lots of sights to see.
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One of the bridges in the Cape Cod Canal.
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There are walkways along both sides of the canal, and lots of people were walking, jogging and taking their dogs out.
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Trails along the canal.
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Fisherman were busy along the shoreline. There were a few interesting bridges; the Sagamore, the Bourne, and a railroad bridge that was the most interesting of all.



The railroad bridge is lifted so boats can pass under.
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Look up!
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The Enterprise was docked at the Mass Maritime Academy, in the Cape Cod Canal.
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Bird Island in Buzzards Bay, near Marion MA.
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We traveled 106 total miles since we left Portsmouth, 18 miles today, and traveled for about 3 1/2 hours. We arrived in Marion Harbor around noontime, met up with Ted, a sailing acquaintance of Moe’s. Ted is letting us keep the boat on one of his moorings here at the Beverley Yacht Club for a couple of weeks. This will be our last stop of this trip, and we’ll find a way home in a day or two, go back to work for a couple weeks, and then come back here.

We took the launch in to shore with Dixie, and walked into town. There are some beautiful houses here, with gorgeous lawns and perennial gardens, and white picket fences covered with climbing roses. We stopped at the Marion General Store and bought sandwiches and juice, then ate it about a block away on a grassy park with a bandstand next to the water. Lin went to concerts there as a child with her parents, but doesn’t remember. Tonight Lin’s sister Marjorie is coming with her dog Lily, so Dixie will have a wild time. We plan to go to Ted’s house about a half-mile from here to watch the fireworks off of Silver Shell Beach, which coincidentally happens to be where Lin took swimming lessons many years ago. She remembers it as if it was a picture: cold water, lessons sometimes cancelled because of jellyfish, sometimes not cancelled and held in the rain. Silver Shell Beach just seems so much smaller now than it did back then!


We spent the evening with Ted, his wife Ann and son Pike. They had a bunch of friends over, and tons of food. The weather was perfect for fireworks! The fireworks were great for Lin and Moe, but scary for Dixie, who hid her face inside Lin's shoulder under Moe's jacket. We walked back to the yacht club in time to catch one of the last launches back to the boat, and settled in for the night.











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Wednesday, 7-4-07: Marjorie didn't make it yesterday, so she's came today! Lin and Moe were very much looking forward to seeing her, and Dixie patiently waited for Lily. We caught the launch in to shore mid-morning, and walked into town to watch the Fourth of July Parade. This great parade went on and on, and was full of fun and colorful floats from Rochester and Marion.






























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Marjorie arrived just after the parade... or maybe she was in it. The wind had really picked up by then, so we weren't able to go for a boat ride, but we definitely made the most of our day. Other than the wind, the weather was gorgeous and it was nice to sit on the boat and relax, laugh, and eat! We knew we were just about to end our trip, and rather than have to pack up and carry everything in the refrigerator home, we tried to empty it by eating everything. It was great to have Marjorie and Lily with us for the day! Moe's friend Nick was in Marion for a sailboat race, so we were able to make arrangements for a ride home with him. Late in the afternoon, Lin, Moe, Marjorie, Dixie and Lily took the luanch in to shore, laden with bags and packages of supplies and food. We said goodby to Marjorie and Lily, and hopped in with Nick for the ride home.


In a few weeks, we'll head out again and continue our trip!