Wickford and Cuttyhunk, May 24 and 25.
I can't say that it was on my life dream list to spend my birthday (May 24) in Wickford Rhode Island. I had never heard of it. But it's a nice little town whose historic highway bridge is being rebuilt. The Wickford Marina is not really open for transients (that's what we are called) yet. They told us this when we called for a reservation but told us to come on anyway.
When we called on the marine radio in the early afternoon, we got no response. When we called on the telephone we got no answer. So we just picked the best slip in the Marina and pulled ourselves in. After lunch (complete with the heater in the cabin) I walked up to the Marina office. The old man in charge looked out and said, "That's where I would have put you anyway." Between his hearing aids and my southern accent, it was a difficult conversation.
On the way there, I got a phone call from Betsy telling me that her house had been burglarized in Nashville. Because of her burglar alarm, the thieves ran in and out. The only thing they got was her jewelry box. It upset us both because I had made the black walnut jewelry box for her a couple of years ago. The contents were valuable but so was the box. Oh well, life isn't about possessions.
Linda and I walked into Wickford and found several things we had been looking for. I found a jewelry store that could replace my watch battery. This is important for my job as the skipper. We also found a kitchen store that had several cooking items that we needed. Once again we saw lots of 1700s buildings and cemeteries that we enjoyed.
Linda cooked a great birthday dinner on board as the evening rain started again.
On Wednesday morning the rain had stopped and we idled over to the fuel dock to fill up the tank. As we pulled away from the fuel dock at 9:30, I noticed that a thick fog was pouring over the island in the middle of Narragansett Bay. We turned south toward Long Island Sound for our trip to Cuttyhunk. As we got to the mouth of the Bay, the fog rolled over us, too, and we had to slow down and depend on the radar to keep from colliding with other boats. We had a couple of "close calls" but never anything that we didn't see on the radar.
Wednesday's trip was only 37 miles, but I was still very glad to see the fog lift as we approached the Cuttyhunk entrance channel about 1:00 p.m. Once again, there was not response from the radio call or the telephone call, so we made our own decision about where to tie up. After doing so, we found the Harbourmaster getting on a boat to go fishing. We both agreed that he could catch up with us after he returned.
Cuttyhunk is the last island in a chain (called the Elizabeth Islands) that separate Buzzad's Bay from Vineyard Sound to the south. It was a perfect stopover on our trip to Martha's Vineyard. We both commented that it reminded us of Carribean islands. We learned that there are only 15 year round inhabitants. We hiked to the highest point on the small island and soaked in a view of Martha's Vineyard to the southeast.
We walked past the town school and both students were outside playing hopscotch with the teacher. We wondered what winters must be like there. They have plentiful fresh water from a well, but electricity is outrageously expensive (diesel generated). How different this is from the touristy hub-bub of Newport only 35 miles away.
So, I know many of you are waiting for a medical report on the CMO's paw. She hobbled around Wickford and Cuttyhunk on her duct tape bandage. When we changed the bandage, it looked much better. She no longer yelps when you touch it. It's true, you can fix almost anything with duct tape.
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