Adventures With Hook

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Gloucester,MA

Our never ending auto-pilot project...poor Steve

Tropical Depression "Danny" in action...

Maddie "lining them up" on the pool table at the "Crow's Nest"

Thanks for making the drive! Great to see you!

Steve, little Audrey, Kristin & Jon Glennon with me a the "Crow's Nest"

Another rainy day!

Getting the kids ready for rain on the boat is similar to getting kids ready for snow in the winter in Maine!

Giddy-up Horsey!

Park in Gloucester

Gloucester Fishing Fleet

August 28-31, 2009

Gloucester, Massachusettes

Poor Maddie! Another sea-sick start to the day. This time she was seasoned and actually made it to the cockpit and puked off the side like a pro! When the Merrimac River's current meets the wind just right it gets pretty wild at its mouth. The river can run 6 Kts at mid-tide!
Once out far enough it again settled down. So far Emma and Papa have the iron guts of the family...so far...
We had been told that coming into the Annisquam River was quite a windy trip. They were sure right. Windy and shallow! We were coming in at dead low tide too. The shallowest section was 7 feet on the chart. We draw 4'9" and were told we'd be just fine. We were but we did touch bottom and dragged through the mud/sand for 5-8 seconds! You could feel it happening under your feet as you stood in the cockpit! Wow! We, of course, were going extremely slow.
There were 3 bridges to navigate too. One tall, one train drawbridge and one car drawbridge. It was the first bridges we had to call ahead and have them open for us! Very cool.

It's like rush hour traffic on the water!

Train draw bridge....you got to wonder what is on the other side....

Example of one of the narrow channels...We have to fit in there with how much water underneath???

Annisquam River, MA

August 28, 2009

Newburyport, MA

Coming into Newburyport, MA up the Merrimack is quite a trip. We hit the tide well coming into the narrow channel of the Merrimac River. Lots of sport fishing boats were all around. Every boat we saw seemed to have something on the hook! My college friend Alison and her family came to grab us (and our laundry) for the night at their home in Groveland, MA. Steve spent the next day working on installing our auto-pilot while the kids and I played at their local community pool and went grocery shopping. We wish we could have stayed longer but word of more weather was coming through. This time Tropical Storm "Danny." We wanted to get further south before it hit. Fall is approaching and we need to keep moving in order to get to warmer weather!

Newburyport, MA

Alison & I with Hook in the background

Madeline, Owen, Trevor, Tanner, & Emma

A little glimpse of our new dinghy alongside "Hook", we miss our rowing tender but it seemed the practical thing to do...

Tanner Kamuda

All the kids in the pool...

Newburyport, MA-Groveland, MA

August

Kittery, ME

Leaving Camp Ellis proved to be quite rocky. Poor Maddie had her first sea-sickness.
Fortunately, she recovered quickly and 10 minutes later was jumping up and down in the cockpit singing to the seagulls!
Just the same, we were happy to find our way into Kittery to meet friends Bob and Meghan Kline. They were lovely hosts allowing us to raft up to their seaworthy 30' Morris Leigh (yes, the same design as ours) and tour us around their home port. Not only did they treat us to the best pizza and ice cream in town but allowed the girls to ram-sack their blackberry crop out front of their home! Yum!

Meghan and Bob Kline with the Piscataqua River behind...
Thank you!

The two beautiful Leighs...

Entering Kittery Maine

Kittery, Maine

August

Camp Ellis (Mouth of Saco River) ME

We left Portland on a beautiful day. The winds were light 0-5 Kts but the sea swell made it a "rolly" trip. At times we'd see 10 foot swells left-over from Bill, it reminded me of a kiddie roller coaster vs. chop. Upon entering the mouth of the Saco River we were unable to find good anchorage. After some general motoring about we decided to stop at the town dock and ask where to put Hook for the night. The HarborMaster at Camp Ellis asked us "How were the seas?" Steve replied, "Not bad really." He went on to say, "Tying up for the night is $60 so let me ask you again, how were the seas?...." Steve said, "The ocean was angry, we nearly died out there." "Given your here for safe harbor then, lets call it $30" he said. What a deal!

Sunrise at Camp Ellis

Who knew Steve is at the end of the rainbow....

Leaving Portland

Portland Headlight

Camp Ellis, Saco

August

Friday, August 21, 2009

Portland, ME

It took 2 long days to get to Portland from Rockland but it was well worth it. We beat Hurricane Bill and got to spend 4 wonderful days with family. The mooring at Portland Yacht Services was only 10 minutes from Auntie Char & John. The winds at the worst were only 15-20 Kts vs. the 50 Kts they had projected but it took several days after Bill passed by to calm the sea swell. We were glad we had such a great place to stay. Thank you!

Goofy faced girls...
Maddie, Emma, Lucy, Avelyn, Abby and Sophie (in the bottom right corner)!

Our Southern Maine mini family reunion. Thank you to Ben & Melinda for hosting and to all that made the time to come. It meant alot to us to see so many of you before heading out for the year! The kids had a ball!

Lovely lunch with John's parents, Walter & Sue.
Thank you!

Enjoying Portland Harbor with Charlotte and John...

Playing in the wind right before Hurricane Bill...

Mud Warrior, Emma!

Mud flatting in Cape Porpoise. Great idea Leslie! Sorry to have missed you Dana & Wendy, we'll see you Florida!

Emma, Leslie, Madeline, & Rutley

Fort Gorges, Portland

Portland Harbor Skyline

Portland, Maine

August

Boothbay, ME

Maddie catching up on her phone calls.

Our sail from Broad Cove into Boothbay was unfortunatley a 10 hour motor sail. No wind to speak of to help us along. The ocean was choppy and confused looking. It seemed to rock us from every direction. The girls had a ball jumping on deck at the bow with the waves and dangling their feet off the edges to get wet, completely unaffected while I barfed over the leward rail for a good 10 minutes.