Our summer got off to a rough start with the birth of our
new grand daughter and some serious attending health problems. You could say, it took the starch out of our
sails. We rushed north, assisted as best we could, and then left our family to
give them a chance to get their lives back in order. As the situation stands now, the baby is
doing wonderfully but will be monitored for the next four years for a recurrence. I don’t want to elaborate further on this blog
as it is freely available online, but for personal friends who don’t know the
full story, feel free to contact me directly.
So, in the midst of all this, the blogging took a back
seat. And I came to the realization that
with six years under our belt, the stories are all sounding repetitive. Thus I have lost much of my inspiration. Yet, Burt continues to take wonderful photos
of our destinations and experiences. Yes, we do try to go new places and see
new things, but we also enjoy annual visits to favorite spots and reconnecting
with friends that span the entire East Coast. Thus, I am rethinking the whole
blog idea and will try just posting a short narrative and then a large group of
pictures with explanatory captions. After all, everyone likes pretty pictures,
and it gives Burt a little skin in the game as his assignment is to select the
photos. If you want more timely updates, I do post interesting waypoints and
activities on Facebook when warranted.
We present June and July in New England south of Cape Cod.
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| After a 36 hour passage from Annapolis, we overnight at Sandy Hook and then begin the trip past New York City on a favorable current. We made over 12 knots at one time in the East River. |
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| A friend calls this unique building connected to one that is totally straight with a sky bridge that contains a lap pool the gumby building. We just call it odd. |
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| The sight right across the anchorage from us in Newport. The boat's name is Columbia and is probably in the 150 foot range. Newport is definitely the place for nautical eye candy. |
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| The J Boat Ranger at the dock at the Newport Shipyard. The J Boats are reminiscent of American Cup challenges of the past and are probably some of the most beautiful boats afloat. This year seven of them ended up in Newport after the American's Cup in Bermuda. It was such a wonderful surprise to see them coming into the harbor. |
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| Sterns of some of the J Boats lined up at the dock. We were free to walk the docks and oogle the boats. |
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| The lighted masts at the shipyard at night - they are required to have red lights at the top denoting hazards to aircraft as they are that tall. There are few places in the world that you will see so many beautiful sailboats in one place. |
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| We enjoy biking along Ocean Drive and admiring the beautiful mansions, new and old. The architectural details are impressive. |
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| Rough Point, Doris Duke's mansion in Newport. We took a tour and found she has connections to Richland County, Ohio, our original home. |
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| Things get lively at the New York Yacht Club on the Fourth of July. We are anchored nearby. |
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| Fireworks at Newport set off over Fort Adams. It is a spectacular show to see floating nearby at anchor. |
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| Crowds at Block Island after the fourth. |
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| Fog has been common this year. We had clear skies at the Block Island Salt Pond anchorage but when we left to bicycle to the south shore, we came into fog half way there and by the time we reached the ocean overlook it was pea soup thick. |
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| The north lighthouse on a much nicer day. |
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| The south lighthouse without fog as we pass by on our way to Martha's Vineyard. |
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| One of five wind turbines located just off the south shore of Block Island. They attract both tour boats and controversy. |
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| Gay Head on the western end of Martha's vineyard. We took a public bus across the island to spend a day here exploring. This is the view from the deck of the restaurant where we had lunch. |
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| The clay cliffs terminate in a shallow beach which stays uncrowded as it is difficult to reach. |
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| Note the strips of red clay along the cliffs. |
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| More of the red clay cliffs - quite spectacular! |
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| This is the Grand Bleu, one of the largest private yachts in the world. Here it is anchored outside of Edgartown, but we saw it constantly from New York City to Bar Harbor - we must have been on the same schedule. Look carefully and you will see the mast of a 72 foot sailboat carried on deck. On the other side there is a 60-some foot motor boat, and we were told it carries a sports car along with a special launch in its "garage". It is owned by a Russian American friend of Putin. We kept our distance :) |
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| A close up of the sailboat on deck. All the toys..... |
