MARBLEHEAD

He Said: Hello from Hull again:): After a few more days in Scituate it was getting to be time to head out. No doubt that we enjoyed our stay in Scituate since we stopped for a day and spent 7. We left on Wednesday morning and headed back North because we had a chance to spend some time with our Capt. Doug and his good buddy Fred at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead. Doug told us it could be a once in a life-time deal and well worth the backtracking we had to do to get there. He was correct.  It takes over 18 years just to get a mooring ball at this beautiful yacht club. The 3 of us met up with Fred at about 7 that nite for cocktails on the patio overlooking the marina. After a few, the 4 of us took a tour of the clubhouse.  What history there is in the world of yachting.  It was a great pleasure talking with Fred who works in the sports apparel world and bought a Titan Motorcycle from Mark Green who ran the business in Phoenix, I believe Dave Fishman knows Mark, small world isn’t it?  This club along with the NY Yacht Club is one of the finest in the east coast and we certainly saw why.

Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead
 

 

Final Scituate sunset from Meant To Be
 

Thursday morning we grabbed breakfast in this great little town of Marblehead at one of the Captain’s favorite joints.  It’s open for only breakfast and lunch , pretty cool. We pushed off at about 10:30 AM on Friday and headed back to Hull at Sunset Point Marina. We arrived at about 1PM with a dock full of cops all over the joint. You know how I love police people, so I thought Holy Shit, what have I done now? Well happily they paid no attention to the 3 of us due to the fact that the 42 ft. boat that was sitting next to us earlier in Hull had been stolen. How about that! Four young drunk punks stole it while under the influence at about 3AM on Friday morning. It was one guy and 3 young girls.  They ran the crap out of it and enjoyed some cold ones before getting caught early that morning.  You can’t exactly pull a 42 ft. boat out with your little trailer and pick-up truck. I spoke to the owner on Thursday and he just hopes nothing is badly wrong with all the mechanics under the boat - trim tabs, props and all the other fun stuff.  He said he just wants to finish up what is left of the summer then get it fixed if it is not serious then go break the kids’ knees.

 

We had BLT sandwiches for dinner that nite on the boat since the last several nites we had eaten out.  You really do get tired of eating out after a few nites in a row. I headed up to the little bar called The Sea Dog and had a few cold ones to give Pat a little break from my act.  We spend lots of time together and every once in a while it is nice to have a cold one and talk some sports to the boys. Friday morning we hung out until our TV dude showed up to do some minor repairs on our new TV. He spent a few minutes repairing and then we were heading to PTown (Provincetown).  We pushed off at about 11AM on Friday for about a 4 hour trip in the open water. The weather and seas should be good and hopefully our 40 or so mile trip will be a good one. That is about all for now, take care and Happy BD to my nephew Kevin and my nearly 87 year old mom.  L8r, Jack!

 

 

She Said:  As much as we’ve enjoyed Scituate, it’s time to say good-bye.  But before we leave we have a few last minute things to do.  Top of the list is getting our laptop fixed.  It’s been gobbling up data like crazy.  At first I thought it had to do with the Verizon JetPack we set up (which enables us to use the internet via a 3G/4G signal).  But I found that when we were using public WiFi we kept getting redirected to other website – that made me think that we might have a bug.  We took the computer into a local geek store.  The computer speed overall is faster and it’s no longer redirecting, but it’s still gobbling up data.  If anyone has any thoughts on what may be causing this, let us know.  Then, there was restaurant in town we hadn’t checkout, so on our final night in Scituate we had dinner at the Mill Wharf.  It’s a great view from their patio and the weather was perfect.

Mill Wharf Restaurant

 

We’re trying to conserve water because the water station isn’t convenient to us.  Since there are really nice marina showers, we’ve been using them.  On our way to the shower one day we rescued a man who tipped over his kayak.  Yes – you got that the right.  We were the rescuers NOT the rescuees.   He was out fishing and somehow flipped his kayak.  By the time we got to him he was out of the kayak but obviously exhausted from the effort and the water temperature.  We were in the dinghy so it was hard to provide a lot of assistance.  We gathered his oars and misc stuff.  In the meantime, a larger boat came by and was together we were able to get him on his way.

 

The Scituate Yacht Club is really close to where the boat is moored.  They offer sailing classes.  It is so cute to watch the classes.  Kids start in boats that have a rudder but no sail.  They’re pulled along in a train-like fashion and learn to operate the rudder.  Then they graduate to the sail - it’s follow-the-leader around the marina.  They come right alongside the boat.  It’s really fun to watch.  They certainly start the kids out early. 

 

Kids learning to control the rudder

 

Kids with the sails up playing follow the leader
 

 

For those of you interested in the mechanical stuff, we got the battery situation figured out.  We have 5 batteries.  We thought that one is dedicated to the generator, 2 are dedicated to the boat and 2 to the motors.  One is dedicated to the generator, but the other 4 are shared between the boat and the motors.  So batteries A and B are linked together to form battery 1 and batteries C and D are linked together to form battery 2.  Every day that we’re not hooked to shore power we should alternate between battery 1 and 2.  Things are now working great. 

Captain Doug stopped by one last time to give us suggestions on towns, marinas and anchorages throughout New England.  He is such a tremendous help I don’t know what we would have done without him.  He strongly urged us to see one of his favorite towns – Marblehead.  Doug has a very close friend who is a member of the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead so he could hook us up with accommodations.  When Doug said he’d join us for the trip we jumped at the opportunity.  That delayed our departure from Scituate a day or two.  And, instead of heading to Provincetown (southeast) we’re heading to Marblehead (northwest).

 

After a quick lesson on leaving a mooring ball and a gas and water stop, we were on our way.  I set our course and Jack took the wheel – off we went.  It was a very pleasant, almost uneventful, 3 hour cruise.  We’re out cruising in over 150 feet of water when suddenly our depth finder alarm sounds.  It shows that we’re in water less than 10 feet and it’s getting shallower.  Jack and I are in a panic, but not Captain Doug.  Once we relaxed he explained that sometimes that happens.  There’s nothing wrong with the depth finder, it was probably something floating under the boat like seaweed or a whale or a mermaid.  I’m going with whale; I think Jack’s going with mermaid.  We towed the dinghy just to see what it would be like.  We probably won’t tow it often.  When we arrived in Marblehead, Doug had Jack take us on a tour of the harbor which meant weaving between the mooring balls and boats.  It was very scenic but incredibly nerve-wracking for Jack.  Eventually we called the Eastern Yacht Club launch and they directed us to our mooring ball.  This one had an antenna on it so all I had to do was grab it (no hook required).  Bingo – we were attached.  After lunch, Doug headed off to do some work on a boat, and Jack and I headed into town to some sightseeing.  Marblehead claims to be the birthplace of the US Navy.  Throughout the town building are marked with signs noting when the building was built, for whom (including occupation) and when.  The buildings aren’t opulent, but I think they must have been large in their day.  It is really a very picturesque New England town.

One of the signs on building noting its history

 

 

One of the many beautiful new homes in Marblehead

Doug’s friend, Fred, hosted us at the Eastern Yacht Club for cocktails.  From the terrace we had a wonderful view of the harbor.  We were having a very enjoyable evening when suddenly there was a big bang, the entire terrace went silent and everyone stood.  Jack and I are looking at each other thinking WTF.   Apparently, it’s an age-old, maritime tradition to fire a cannon at sunset.  The same thing happens every morning at 8:00.  It was really very cool and because we didn’t know it was coming it was quite impressive.  Fred  couldn’t have been a better host.  He took us on a tour of the facility.  He also told us that the movies “The Way Way Back” and “Grown-Ups 2” were filmed here.  He pointed out the house where Adam Sandler lived while filming and told us about the other movie stars who were living in town and which houses they lived in.  He said that Adam Sandler was a really nice guy.  Fred also told us that his wife and daughter were in “The Way Way Back.”  We’ve just added those 2 movies to our must-see list.  The evening ended with Fred giving me a Chicago Black Hawks sweater (he’s in the sports apparel business).  It was a unique experience, and we were fortunate to have enjoyed it.

 

View from Eastern Yacht Club terrace.  Meant To Be is in the center of the picture
 

We then came back to Hull to have some TV work finished.  This time it really was an uneventful trip.  Upon arrival at Sunset Marina I handled the lines.  Jack handled the docking.  With Doug’s help, we looked like professionals.  It was a good exercise and a great confidence booster for both of us.  The dock was full of people and we were trying to figure out what was going on.  Apparently the 42-foot boat that we were parked next to when we were previously here was stolen from the marina that night.  They found the boat a few miles away with the kids on board “doing donuts” in the ocean. 

 

We’ve been enjoying the weather although most people here are really struggling with it.  Since we’re on the water it is much nicer than some of the inland areas.  The temps have been in the 90s with equally high humidity.  But there’s no rain and that makes us happy.  There have been power outages, but we’re sitting in our new favorite place and enjoying life!

 

p.s.  Happy 90^th Birthday, Evelyn!