Nice Fish
I proceed to catch bluefish after bluefish. Miss K gets a green eyed devil and snaps her St Croix rod 3 guides down. Now I'm thinking I have a chance. Nope. More bluefish. 10 eels later it's time to go meet dockmates, Dave & Joanne, in Great Salt Pond.
Block Island
Where's Waldo? Can you spot TaT & Betsy B sharing a mooring off Payne's Dock?
2 Delightful days and nights of eating, drinking, and sunsets occur in the blink of an eye. Laughing, dingy rides, striped bass on skewers with mango, bacon, and scallions. Wow. Fearing that if this becomes boring the only alternative will be suicide by mohito, it's time to move on. We leave "The Block" and head NE to Catumet MA, the beginning of the Cape Cod Canal and spend a night at the Chart Room with my Cousin Ron. It's Miss K's birthday so after the best lobster roll in the universe, MUDSLIDES! Mayhem ensues. My Samoan attorney advises we plead nolo. We decide to leave town instead.
Traversing the Cape Cod Canal
Next day we cross a placid Cape Cod Bay to meet up with Kevin & Joanie (Pitou) from Essex MA that we met at the second AOG Rendezvous in Boston at Sciuate MA. Scituate is a gorgeous harbor with a very good provisioning town attached. The problem was fog, like, 30 ft viz just as we got to the harbor entrance. Yikes! Came face to face with the breakwall from about 30ft. Reverse! Bow thrust, bow thrust! Apparently all medications are in proper dosages because no one gets hurt, physically or mentally.
Great time in Scituate. More bass skewers.
The Crew
Thursday we head south back through the canal and to MV in one shot, expecting to tie up in Menemsha and meet up with Dave & Ramie (yes Sawzall Dave). We are unaware of the visitation of Le Grande Frommage and the cheesits, as well as the fact that this is the weekend they light up the cottages in Oak Bluffs, the biggest weekend of the year in MV. Menemsha is booked solid. We move on to Vinyard Haven where the Tisbury Wharf Company subjects the desperate boater to a life sharing an oily dock with 200 seniors on weekend cruises to buy the stuff most of us laugh at in gift shops. Harsh, I know, but true. It is "wharfage" and ice at $4 bag, nothing more. Do we have fun? Yes of course! Does it cost money? Yes in hideous amounts, $100 taxi rides, $47 steaks but WTF.
The Ha-ba in Vinyard Haven
A Friday daytrip to Lake Tashmoo is the revelation that all cruisers go cruising for, a Shang-gra-la of scarily beautiful scenery arranged around still water, great holding, and and million dollar yachts coated with bikini models, all behind a beautiful sand beach and acres of clam flats.
Still water, good holding.
And there we spot the elusive Narwhale of Albindom, a creature seldom seen in the wild, a vision so unique that it could only occur in a fabled, mythical spot named "Tashmoo", a Compton 33! For those of you who have not heard tell of this unique creature, it what Terry Compton, the man who designed the Albin 28 TE did after the 28TE....
Compton 33, a 28TE all grown up ( and sissified)
What are we paying for back in Vinyard Haven? We pick up camp in Vinyard Haven and go on the hook for Saturday night for the most magical night I have yet spent on a boat. We spend our money instead on lobsters, and corn. Only one problem, I forget to fill the fresh water tank (been in a slip too long). Phone calls determine that Cousin Ron will be attending the evening's festivities in a borrowed Bertum 29 Flybridge, a lovely pocket yacht from the mid '80s. I convince him to top off the fresh water tank and deliver it to us along with 2 bottles of potato vodka (the original price of admission). Apparently the secret service determined that potato vodka was a security threat on MV.
Kids, listen to Sawzall Dave and never drink potato juice when using your Sawzall!
Well watered (and vodkaed), we are joined by Ron's daughter Lisa and husband Bruce in their brand new (to them) center console Pursuit (it's so cute to see youngsters in their new go-fast) for a 4 boat (illegal) raft up. Boil up them lobsters and corn on Bluesbreaker, spread newspaper on the engine box on Time after Time and we sit in a circle of frenzied crustaetious dismemberment. If Ralph Lauren showed up it could not have been a more classic Cape Cod post card.
Alas! We are not made to live among the gods forever! The weather appears to be turning to the wretched after so many fine days. Beat it home on Sunday with 3-5 footers following. The only casualties of the whole trip were the head door latch (second one in 2 years!) and the little do-da that lies flat on the hatch cover and lifts up to open the hatch (anybody know what thats' called?). Never saw the Prez or Michelle's arms, but plenty of choppers. Rumor has that Predator drones were on station over the island for the whole visit, circling 24/7. If they had the night vision on Lake Tashmoo, tell the CIA I'm sorry!
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