Some days are difficult. I'll be chugging along then suddenly out of the blue I am washed with sorrow and I can't see because of the tears. At other times like yesterday at the beach with my grandchildren I laughed with joy as they boogie boarded across the waves at Head-of-the-Meadow beach. Low tide and the surf was just right. I saw a huge seal head rise from the sea about 100 yards from where the kids were playing in the water. I don't usually worry about the the ocean, but I had to ask my grand daughter to stay a little closer to the beach, she has a tendency to go out as far as she can and then dive into the waves and body surf to the beach. I got spooked, but the kids knew no fear. Thank God for children and yes - they are our future. My own experiences with the ocean have given me memories that have made the journey worth any fear I may have felt.
I am using the two log books I kept during our journey south last winter to fill in the gaps in memory.
Captain's Log: October 21, 2016 - Arrived Menemsha (one of the best harbors on the east coast) after a seven hour journey. Except for putting the lines on the poles, traveling through the Cape Cod Canal was the best part of the day. Knowing that we won't be seeing it again for many months is a strange feeling: bittersweet. The calm water, the narrow trench that splits the land, the tide pulling us along at 12 knots. We are flying and I'm loving it. I told Dave I knew this was going to be a terrific vacation because I loved traveling at 9 knots instead of 70 miles an hour down Route 95. We arrived 11:30 AM and I made lunch after we were tied up in Menemsha Harbor. This time of the year is so quiet, different from the sunny summer days when the wharf is filled with tourists asking questions about the boat, the fish that Dave has iced in the tubs, and what it's like to be a full time commercial fisherman. In October the people that visit are friends or friends of friends. Sitting on Squid Row, yamming with Denis or his son Denny, or the Mayhew's or a lady named Grace who knows our friend Barry is a reward that we have given ourselves. We could have bypassed this sleepy hollow, but it just didn't feel right not to stop, after all Dave spent almost every summer fishing out of this harbor, over thirty years. Of course the harbor has changed in those years. There are fewer fishing boats, some friends have moved on, yet the sun is warming, the talk interesting, and the people always welcoming. It's the best first stop we could have chosen, appropriate Dave tells me. We spend only one night. We have many miles in front of us and the weather will be closing in before long. As Shakespeare wrote: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." We leave after a hot breakfast of oatmeal and tea. The day is cloudy, the wind 10-15 SW, and the seas choppy, all in all a normal day on the water in October. We have consulted the charts, the computer, and have local info from Denis Jason about our next leg. On to Galilee, Point Judith RI. I've never been there, so my excitement grows with the waves.
