You may have been wondering what has happened to us since saying goodbye to Rosie and Peter at the end of August.  Our plans to visit places around Cape Cod were changed with the threat of Hurricane Earl coming very close by.

What I am really enjoying about cruising is that, although you have an overall plan, it’s always a bit of a surprise how the day works out.  When you are at home - land based - you tend to live the future: you know what you are going to next Tuesday and there are things you do regularly each week, which in themselves map out a pattern of events.  It’s great to live much more in the present.  On the way to Gloucester we were invited to tea in a lovely home overlooking Wiscassett River and left with a great feeling of bonhomie, clutching home-made cookies and blueberry jam.  The prediction of Hurricane Earl took us to the safe haven of New Bedford, where we met all sorts of lovely people: Bob the Harbour Master, who not only gave us a lift ashore, but was also waiting in the hotel lobby the next morning to take us back out to the boat; Walter lent us an extra anchor and invited us to join him for dinner and then, overnight, found us a really secure mooring; a German couple came aboard and we spent a pleasant couple of hours sharing our cruising experiences; someone else came by to tell us of some good restaurants and of a Portuguese celebration that was taking place that night. In Newport we rekindled friendships with fellow cruisers who turned up at the same time, sharing diner ashore and supper on board.

Communication with the outside world feels slighting skewed too. We tend to take e-mails and mobile phones for granted on land, but on a boat you have both frustration of a Wi-Fi connection dropping out at the critical moment, having spent a long time trying to get connected, and then amazement at suddenly getting Skype when you are out at sea.  It was quite something to be watching a whale and then by chance being able share the excitement on a video call a couple of minutes later.

Whichever port you go in to, there is always something to visit.  In Gloucester we toured the old waterfront site of the Cape Pond Ice factory, which gave us an insight in to the history of the ice industry and an opportunity to learn how the ice was and is made. At the start, the ice was cut when the Cape Pond froze over in the winter, and was shipped not only to New York, but as far afield as China!  I had wanted to go there - as their slogan is “the coolest guys around”.  However, I don’t think either of us was aware that most people’s visit is inspired by the connection with the film “The Perfect Storm” – the story of the fishing vessel Andrea Gail’s final voyage in 1991.  The proprietor of the Cape Pond thought we must be the only people to visit who hadn’t seen the film. One of the actors wears a Cape Pond Ice T-shirt throughout the film and, as a result, at one point merchandise sales represented 10% of the profit of the ice business.  If you are inspired to get a T-shirt or cap go to www.capepondice.com as the business that has been going since 1848 is clearly up against the advance of technology, as it would be great to contribute to their continued success.  We also visited the memorial in the town hall to all those local men since 1623 who lost their lives at sea - over 5000 in all:  in one year (1878) there were 130 lost. 

Just four days after Peter and Rosie left us up in Maine we were in Boston, ready to meet our son, Andrew. We had a great mooring as close to the airport as you can get, but across from the city.  Dodging ferries, speed boats and ships in the dark across the meeting of the Mystic and Charles rivers certainly made for an exciting dinghy ride to the city, but it was fun to be part of the hubbub of city life at night.

With the hurricane looming, we left Boston at 1am in order to cross Cape Cod Bay and arrive at the Cape Cod Canal to go through with the current (a route that saves you having to go round the shoals of Cape Cod itself).  After much procrastination (a canal had been muted as early as 1623), the canal was opened in 1914.  Improved and widened in 1927 it is today the world widest sea-level canal and stretches 17.4 miles. 

Hurricane Earl turned out to be a damp squib, being no more than a strong breeze in the park.  I know I should be very grateful, but with all the build-up and preparation I was hoping for a bit more action.  Still, it was a good exercise for us and we got to see New Bedford as it has the benefit of a hurricane barrier to protect the town.  The town’s fishing fleet generates more revenue than any other in the United States.  Today there is a lot of scallop fishing, but the town used to be the centre of the whaling industry.  At one point New Bedford was the wealthiest city in the States and some 10,000 crew were needed for the ships registered there.  There is an excellent whaling museum, in which there are artefacts belonging to Herman Melville, who was inspired to write Moby Dick, having sailed from the city to the Pacific Ocean on the whaling ship Acushnet in 1841.  Another point of interest was just how many Azorean and West Indian people were involved in whaling, not just as crew, but as captains and ship owners.  In the 1840’s they represented a sixth of those employed, but they later became the majority.

Today the town reflects that legacy of drawing people from the Azores, Cape Verde islands and the west coast of Africa.  The prosperity of the 1800s is still to be seen in the large brick buildings and many imposing, columned banks, now converted to other uses, but there are also many signs that the local economy has suffered.  However, with the historic centre, a brand new city hotel and the warm welcome you receive from the harbour master, there seem to be some good raw ingredients for regeneration.

Despite having to curtail our plans due to the hurricane, we had a great week with Andrew.  Two days after Andrew returned to the UK, we were joined by friends Jon and Rachel, who flew up from Washington, and joined us in Newport. We decided to sail to Block Island, some 20 miles to the south of Newport.

Because of its name, I imagined Block Island to have an austere penitentiary.  The 7000 acres that wrap around the Great Salt Pond (which can sometimes have up to 2000 yachts moored) include a town, nice beaches, large summer homes and country farms.  Jon, Rachel, John and I hired bikes and explored a 20 mile route, taking in the beach and soft cliffs of Mohegan Bluffs, two lighthouses and an ice-cream shop.

Although we have now been in Newport several times, there is always more to see.  We met several people we knew at the Newport Boat Show and it was pleasing to find there the Discovery 55 on the front cover of the 2011 Cruising World calendar.  I visited the Redwood Library and Athenaeum and saw some wonderfully illustrated old books and an array of portraits.  Our intention to go to a Shakespeare reading there changed to having dinner with some cruising friends: the day tends to unfold as it goes along!

 In the last two weeks, with more unsettled weather and a chill in the air at night, we have certainly noticed that summer is drawing to an end.

Now we are heading down Long Island Sound towards New York.  At some stage we will leave the boat for a few days to drive up to Vermont to see some of the Fall colours and then continue on south to the Chesapeake to exhibit at the Annapolis Boat Show.