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.
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.
Iconic Skyline
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!
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.
Proviencetown
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.
