Liz’s last day of vacation

 Liz’s last day of vacation                  18 August 2020

 

It is our custom to have visitors write a guest blog, so this contribution comes from Liz on her final evening …

 

My four days of sailing vacation is ending with my last supper of Mike’s excellent green curry served with a bottle of chateau crap – (the wine was a disappointment!). I have had a wonderful vacation and learned a great deal about sailing, mostly moving my butt from place to place to allow access to one or another storage compartment. We woke today to lots of rain and I jumped out of my aft berth (afterbirth according to Rod) at 4 am to go up on deck and stop the two kitchen sponges over the cockpit speaker that was allowing water to drip over my bed during the previous nights rain showers. This leak is now called “liz’s leak”. The rain cleared about 11am and we put on our foul weather gear (to keep our butts dry) and pulled up anchor and sailed out of the White islands on Vinalhaven, which we found to be a very bumpy anchorage – too many lobster pots and lots of current. In fact Gloria went out on deck this morning to find a lobsterman untangling his float from the dinghy line. “Sorry” she muttered … I thought she should have asked to buy a lobster or two. We motor-sailed up to Northaven island (north of Vinalhaven) and in to Pulpit Harbor, which is presided over by a pile of rocks with an osprey preaching from it’s nest atop the rock-pile. We found the harbor with a dozen or so lobster and sailboats at anchor. Once the anchor was dropped we immediately set to work on lunch, as it was now 1.300pm. Quickly consuming our salad we were all set to take off in the dinghy to explore the “city” of Pulpit Harbor. Whilst Mike pumped out the rainwater from the dinghy he noticed very dark clouds gathering in the southwest. Rod consulted the weather station only to see a band of thunderstorms moving into the area. We delayed our departure as rain started once more. We settled into the cabin to drink tea and engage in a heated discussion (Rod and me) about the best pretzel, untl Gloria began to bang her head on the wall! Once the rain stopped and the sun was out we piled into the dinghy and headed to the dock. Walking up to the road we discovered it was pave and deserted. Turning onto the main road we encountered car after car with outer state plates.

A short walk took us to a small grocery store. Rod stocked up on more cream cheese for our bagels, tomatoes and pretzels? No pretzels, we settled for potato chips. Across the road we examined the local air strip which consisted of a rise full of pucker brush over a field of about 150 yards. Then across the road the airstrip continued on the other side with an additional 300 yards. Too bad they couldn’t find a continuous stretch of field without crossing  road! There were signs warning of low flying aircraft. We back-tracked and followed the road around the harbor, stopping to look at invisible birds in the underbrush. Mike got some good photos before we returned to the dinghy and motored back to Cotinga It was now 7pm. Mike cooked up a delicious curry which we ate on deck watching the stars come out and Jupitor rise in the eastern skies.

All together an excellent ending to an excellent vacation. Good food, good company, good memories. Thank you Gloria and Mike

 

44 09.261 N, 68 53.021 W

photos to follow - poor cell phone here

A rainy morning at White Islands cove .... if I had more ambition I would have rowed to shore and tried to re-take the same photo I took the previous evening as a comparison ... but I was too lazy

Looking out of Pulpit Harbor after the thunderstorm passed

A landing craft transporter arriving at Pulpit Harbor ... it pulled up to  a gravel beach, dropped its ramps and off-loaded two big bulldozers

The flower of a "butter and egg" plant taken on Pulpit Harbor road

Pulpit Harbor, Northaven after the sun goes does. We were eating dinner in the cockpit. This motor boat was massive >100ft long!