Our Trip to the East Coast...

Our trip began in Massachusetts at Joe's parents' home. Joe and I were able to visit many of our old haunts and it was a lot of fun. Friday Joe put up the old rope swing and I had to come inside because I was suffering from serious anxiety...it was a VERY tall tree! The rope swing was a lot of fun though and I think the grandkids are all going to really enjoy it!





I finished mowing the other half of the field with the old tractor. It was POURING rain shortly after I began and I was pretty soaked! The seat would collect water in it and then when I would start going down hill it would all splash up against my backside...very, very cold water!

Saturday afternoon began our Sailing education. We drove to Jamestown, RI and met with our instructor and the two other individuals taking the class with us. They were two older gentlemen, very nice guys who were very similar to Joe in personality...imagine that!


This is Joe and I in Jamestown our first night. We were able to go ashore and eat dinner and walk around.


I took this picture while we were riding on the launch back to the boat that night. The moon was so full and the reflection on the water was magical! You can see the lights from the town of Newport in the distance.



These are pictures of us in Newport on Monday. We anchored in Dutch Harbor Sunday night and then came around the northern part of Connanicut Island Monday and anchored in Newport that night. We took a launch into town for dinner and did some window shopping.

This is Joe in our cabin working on the computer. We were fortunate enough to have internet access (through Joe's phone) during most of the trip. Joe was able to stay caught up on work during the evenings.

This is the main salon of the cabin. There were two heads (bathrooms) and we had enough water (most of the time) to shower every couple of days...that was nice!

After leaving Newport, we took our longest trip to Block Island, RI. We had favorable winds (Northern winds instead of the usual Southern winds) and were able to travel over 25 NM to the island...it was a VERY long day of sailing! (FYI. One Nautical Mile takes about ten minutes to sail going 6 knots...we averaged about that, sometimes sailing over 8 knots, other times going only around 4, depending on the wind.)
Rain falling in the distance. This storm was just ahead of us and we were lucky to miss it...just a few sprinkles was all we ever got.




This was by far me and Joe's favorite stop on the trip. We anchored in the Great Salt Pond (ironic?) and were able to take the launch to port. We took a taxi into town and walked around the town and then walked just over a mile back to the dock. It was a beautiful evening and so much fun! It was always hard to be on land because we had gotten so use to compensating for the constantly moving boat, we probably looked funny walking because we were always over compensating! I still don't think I have my land legs back yet!

Jelly Fish! They were everywhere! The first night, in Dutch Harbor, I jumped off the boat for a swim and after only being in the water for a few minutes Joe yelled, "There's a jelly fish behind you!" I thought he was joking around...until I turned around! It was RIGHT BEHIND ME!!! Yikes! I didn't do a lot of swimming after that!

Our next stop was Point Judith Refuge. It is half way between Block Island and Connanicut Island. It was a really nice, quiet spot. We anchored with only two other boats...nice!






This is the Puma Boat. We saw them out sailing almost every day we were out. They paint their boat like a Puma Sneaker every year and they were one FAST sailboat...they were a lot of fun to watch!

Our last night we anchored in Potter's Cove. It was just around the bend from our mooring in the Jamestown harbor. We took the dinghy to shore after dinner that night and walked just over a mile into Jamestown for ice cream. It was a great walk and a nice night to be out. On our walk back I took this picture of the moon...it was so bright and so red! It was really beautiful!



Overall we had a great time. I wouldn't call it much of a vacation (well, it was a vacation from the children) it was some of the most intensive learning I've ever done. We took three tests, over 337 questions total, and we spent from 9am every morning until noon or one sitting on the boat listening to lectures. We were given homework almost every night and we did a lot of flashcards and memorizing...it was crazy! I've been out of school for a very long time and it required a lot of brain work. My highlights were getting a 100% on the first test, walking through Block Island with Joe and getting my certification! Three classes completed and we're pretty darn happy about it! I don't know that I would sign up for something like that again, knowing what I know now, but I am really glad I did it...it feels pretty darn good!