America - by Elsie

 Happy Thanks Giving

I think that’s the correct greeting on this day of celebration in USA. We are now days away from sailing back south to the Bahamas after spending six months in USA. It can’t come soon enough for me, not that I want to leave this country but I do want to escape the weather. I left Scotland to sail to sunnier climes but even in Florida it’s cold enough for long trousers and fleeces.

Well, what are my lasting impressions of the land of the free? First of all I am not going to make political or social statements, enough is said on both these issues. All I will say is like Europe, UK and most of the rest of the world America has problems which are not going to be easily fixed. Enough said.

I came here with press and media ringing in my ears. We have sailed from St Augustine in Florida to Seguin Island in Maine and have loved every minute. OK, the sailing could have been better, the sailing could have been much better. The winds were not kind to us and we reckon 50% of our time was spent motoring instead of sailing or sitting on the hook waiting for sailing winds. We did not make it to our target of Halifax in Nova Scotia. The main reason was the weather was very favourable for going there but we thought we might get stuck coming south again and have to spend the winter, not good, so we turned just North of Seguin Island.

Going north we managed to sail the complete way offshore, visiting some iconic places on the way, and some not so iconic but still great. St Augustine in Florida was a good introduction. Lots of history but a bit too touristy for my liking. The next stop was Charleston, South Carolina. I loved everything about this place, the beautiful houses, the wide tree lined streets, the parks, the people and most of all their honesty. They showed off their huge houses, the opulence, their beautiful city but they also admitted how this huge wealth came about. How their ancestors not only kept slaves they also traded slaves, they actively encouraged ships to bring them more captured Africans so that they could sell them and make more money. Their honesty was refreshing. It was out in the open and not hidden. We visited a former slave market which is now a museum and nothing was held back. The conditions and lives of the inhabitants were well documented. The guide talked about her ancestors with pride. She talked about their work, their faith and the strength it took to endure what life and white people threw at them. It was an enthralling but harrowing morning. How could human beings do that to each other? And of course it’s still happening.

Service with a smile

Our next stop was Chesapeake. This bay was amazing and what made it even more “awesome” was the people. Everywhere we went we were greeted like long last family. We shared our history and they shared theirs. The great excitement for us was the Ospreys. They are a very rare bird in Scotland. In the Chesapeake they nest on every navigation beacon. They fish yards away from the boat. They eat their dinner in trees over hanging the anchorage. It was wonderful for us to see them up close. In one anchorage I even saw a racoon on the muddy river bank at low tide.

From Chesapeake we sailed up to Atlantic Highlands and New York. This was a high light of my sailing life, sailing into the Hudson, past Liberty and Ellis Island, seeing that skyline for the first time. I’m a country girl at heart. I love open spaces and rural scenes but I defy anyone not to be impressed by New York. There was a lump in my throat as we sailed past Ellis Island knowing the millions of people who were processed in these buildings and walked out into a new life in the USA. We were told the Northerners are not as friendly and open as the Southerners. They have busy lives and no time to stop and watch the sun set. These people could not do enough for us. Even in rush hour a couple of ladies helped us find the correct train back to Ruby in Penn Station AND waited until we were safely on it before they went back to their busy lives. In New York we did everything that a tourist does in the Big Apple – Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building, Wall Street, Met Art museum, Twin Tours Memorial, Yankee Stadium – everything!! But we also took time to walk around this busy, bustling city and watch everyday life, sit in a park and watch the world go by.

Iconic Skyline

 It was good but exhausting and I must say after a week I was glad to head up Long Island Sound back to our normal quiet life. There were some beautiful anchorages between New York and Rhode Island. We took time to recuperate before we hit “the sailing capital of America”, Newport, Rhode Island. This was a great place. A fantastic mixture of boats and people. I could have spent hours just sitting on deck and watching all the different boats coming and going. A real nautical place and the Clam Chowder was to die for. Great mix of boats and recent history, beautiful restored summer mansions of the rich and famous of another era and lots and lots of boats. Boats to “ah” at. Boats that made your eyes water knowing what speeds they could get up to and of course annoying boats that went too fast through the anchorage. Lots of restored wooden boats that just shone with the owners pride, tall ships giving the tourists a taste of nautical life and a fleet of 120 foot racing boats that proudly went out every morning anticipating the trophies to be won that day and every night slunk back into the bay with hard luck stories. We loved it.

Eleonora ready to race

Next was Block island and Marthas Vineyard then round to Cape Cod and up to Portland in Maine meeting great people on the way and seeing lots of the east coast. Maine was the country of crab pots, crab pots everywhere, a sea of crab pots, so many navigation was about how we got through them. The decision was made if we were sailing we just went over them. It meant we got some scraped paint on the hull sometimes but it came off easily. Motoring was another story. We do have a rope cutter on the prop but one thing we are always aware of is that it is somebodies livelihood and we didn’t want to make it more expensive than it was already so we tried to avoid them. The people in Maine were a different breed. They worked hard for their living. I’m not saying everyone doesn’t work in their own way but these fishermen are out in all weathers and live remote and solitary lives. The people were friendly enough but more wary of strangers. Maybe the difference is they do not depend on the tourist dollar or they are more independent and view strangers as a threat to their way of life. We respected them. I saw how hard they worked in all weathers and how much they valued family.

Seguin Island was our turning point. I wanted to visit because we seriously were thinking applying for the summer lighthouse keeper volunteer position next summer. I had talked to Tara on messenger who with her husband Brian was doing the job this summer but I wanted to see for myself. It was a great location and it still appealed to me but after talking to Tara and Brian for a considerable amount of time we decided it wasn’t for us. Lots of factors for and against but the main one was the commitment. I suppose we had got so used to hauling up the hook and moving onto new adventures when we got fed up.

Seguin Island

The decision was made and we turned South to escape the ever increasing temperature drop. Salem was a must but it was a disappointment, everything was set up with tourists in mind. A local told us to take a stroll down Chestnut Street where each side was lined with beautiful period houses. The street had featured in many films and dramas and we played spot the house. Next was Plymouth, the second landing of The Pilgrims happened here. See, I have been paying attention. This was a very interesting area with lots of history. It’s funny how the Americans have a different definition of old than we do. Next we sailed over to Province Town, the first landing site of The Pilgrims. This must rank as one of my favourite offbeat places we have ever visited. I’m not saying any more. Go yourself. Grab a coffee and sit and watch the world go by!

Proviencetown

 Through the Cape Cod canal, where we got beat up a bit with current and wind opposing, back to Rhode Island where we got hauled out for a bottom and paint scrub in a lovely little marina near Providence. This was an eye opener. Usually once your lifted out your on your own. The staff ignore you and if questions are asked or help requested you are treated like an inconvenience. Not here. The boss popped round every couple of hours checking we had everything we needed. The paint we had stored had gone solid. This guy dug out buckets, stirring devices, basically anything he thought might help. The staff moved the stands so Lionel could paint under them without a moan or a groan. Nothing was an effort to these people. Great place, great people.

Once Ruby was a spic and span again we set sail down Long Island Sound and back into Port Washington where we thought we would spend some more time visiting New York. It was not to be. After a couple of days friends messenger that there was to be a closure on route because the United Nations were meeting and the building is right next to the river. So, on the one hand we had to get through here to continue our way south. On the other hand there were two, yes two, hurricanes lurking threatening to come up this way and we would be much safer in Port Washington. We made the decision to go for it and find a lovely scenic anchorage beside the New York sanitation department building to wait out the bad weather. The best laid plans of mice and men. It so happened the friends who had alerted us to the closure stayed in Port Washington but ended up only a day behind us gaining Cape May.

Bye Bye

This time instead of sailing round to Chesapeake we decided to go up Delaware bay, through the C and D Canal and down Chesapeake. Delaware Bay must have been my least favourite of my travels this summer. Nothing to do with the people, more to do with weather, fishing pots and general bad manners. There is no speed limit on the C and D canal but it would be nice to think all boaters would be courteous of each other. No. We watched as large and small speed boats raced around swamping sailing boats and smaller speed boats. It was a lesson in selfishness as I watched a small boat trying to right itself as it took the full force of a huge speed boats wake. Not a coast guard in sight. Once we were out of the mayhem and had time to think it made sense. Boaters buy these fast boats but the open sea is far to rough for them to go at any speed so they go inland and race around on the still water.

At last we were back in Chesapeake. These people must be some of the friendliest we have ever met. Examples are, lifts back from the grocery store to the dingy, bus drivers making unscheduled stops so you get on the correct bus and just genuine friendly people. At this point we had decided we are going back to the UK for six months next summer. As we do not have a home to go to we were looking into the possibility of house and pet sitting. Lionel had registered on a site and two sits came up in Washington. The people were lovely. Susanne, our fist host, eventually decided to take Ben with her to Canada but still let us stay in her apartment when she was away. Starla and Fred took us round the aviation and space museums and had us for dinner so we could meet the puppies. We hope to meet them back in Scotland next September and show them some Scottish hospitality as a thank you. I think the reader will have got the message by now, the Chesapeake must be one of the friendliest places on earth. Reluctantly we kept on heading south to Norfolk and made the decision to go down the ditch as far as Morehead City. A new concept to us. It was four days of motoring and a bit of sailing with the head sail on some of the open water. Four days too long for me. I was so glad when we could get back out offshore from Morehead City to Jacksonville. But yet again great people were met, stories were exchanged and friends were made. There’s going to be one helluva party in the Bahamas at some point if we all meet up at once.

Here we are back where it all began. Officer Terry has been telephoned to make sure we have the check out procedure. We have yet again stocked up with food and drink for the five months we will be away and we are waiting for a break in the rain to go ashore and spend Thanksgiving with old friends. Back to my original question, what have a thought of my six months in the USA?

It has been

awesome.