Leaving Cups & a Road Trip to Boston

Leaving Nine of Cups is never easy. We know she'll pout while we're gone and so we do our best to make sure she's as comfortable as possible before we leave. We were whirling dervishes trying to get everything ready. I took care of laundry, packing, cleaning and a host of little chores like putting on windscreen, compass and winch covers and packing away cockpit instrumentation (GPS, handheld autopilot control, VHF, etc) down below. The repaired transmission gear reduction case with new rear seal was delivered around 10am and David got right to work on re-installing it. We each had our list of to-do's and wasted no time in ticking them off one by one.

We had arranged for a one-way rental car so we could drive from Virginia to Boston. In order to minimize the rental days, we decided we'd pick up the rental at 6pm, load the car and then leave in the wee hours of the morning for the 9-10 hour drive to Boston. We were hoping to avoid most of the traffic and arrive in Boston early enough to offload all of our stuff at Lin's and then return the rental car by 6pm on the other end. We were told Avis would deliver the car, but found out after prepaying the reservation that they did not. The pick-up location was only about 3.5 miles away, so we left at 4:30 pm and got our exercise walking along Battlefield Boulevard to pick up the car.

There was a special on SUVs for our one-way rental and since we'd planned to offload a ton of stuff from Cups and bring it to Lin's, we took advantage thinking we'd have plenty of room. It took well over an hour to pack the SUV and there was barely enough room for driver and passenger when we were done loading. Cups, however, was feeling much lighter and her waterline showed it.

We were up at 0330 and on the road by 0415. An early morning mist shrouded the river and rose dreamily along the water's edge as we left the boatyard. We were across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel before the sun rose. The terrain of the Eastern Shore is flat and low and very rural. Water smells were replaced by earthy smells of newly mown hay and cut grass and in one area, onions. We saw endless trucks of chicken cages, empty and full, heading to and from the local Tyson and Purdue chicken processing plants. Those smells were quite distinctive and conjured up unpleasant thoughts of massive chicken slaughter and feather-plucking.

We passed up exciting opportunities like the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Red Neck Fireworks, Turner Wildlife Sculpture (in bronze and silver) and Frankie & Tammy's Fried Chicken. We were on a mission to get north. We drove on and on … into Maryland, then Delaware and finally stopped on the endless New Jersey Turnpike for a stretch, pit stop and coffee (our second stop of the day for such purposes). We couldn't help think about the distance we were covering. The trip was ~570 miles … a long day trip by car at 60-70 mph … and over a week in Nine of Cups at 60 nm/day on the ICW.

The traffic in New York was heavy, but moving as we drove across the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. The New York city skyline is always exciting to see. We remembered sailing past Ground Zero and the still-smoldering Twin Towers back in late September 2001. We were out of New York and into Connecticut. We stopped once more for a quick lunch in Norwich, then sped into Rhode Island and up I-95N to Massachusetts. Exit 9A to East Walpole was a welcome sight.

David backed up to Lin's cellar door and the unloading process was quick and efficient. We headed to Norwood Airport and the Avis drop-off office and finished the paperwork just as Lin drove in to pick us up. Whew! A long day, but we were ready to start a little land life and celebrate the 4th of July.

Marco Polo Speaks

I speak and speak ... but the listener retains only the words he is expecting.

It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear. - Marco Polo

Marco Polo states “I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed”. It's amazing how often we try to tell stories of our adventures and watch as people's eyes glaze over, and we realize they are not interested; they've stopped listening. We've learned to curtail our stories unless prompted, lest people lose interest in our company altogether. We've talked to other cruisers and they experience much the same reaction. It's reassuring that it's not just us.

We've discussed this phenomenon at length with fellow sailors. We think we're reasonably good storytellers; we think some of our adventures are worth sharing; so what's the problem? As Marco Polo states, “the listener retains only the words he is expecting”. If the words we speak are not expected, the listener turns off. Most people have no frame of reference for our life aboard a sailboat, for the constant travel, for foreign customs and lands, for big storms or endless seas. It's alien to them and since they cannot share the experience, they prefer not to listen. The chat turns to grandkids, or work, or recipes, or whatever seems to be common ground. Talk of sea adventures diminish in the chatter and we, then, are left to listen.

Sometimes our enthusiasm for travel and the liveaboard life is so unbelievable, our listeners think we're exaggerating and bragging rather than just sharing our stories. If they have visited the Caribbean Islands or ventured to the South Seas, it's a given that their experiences are vastly different from ours … and they'd rather recount their tales than listen to ours. Few members of our family follow our blog with any regularity. We can usually tell that they're not into our sailing life when we call and they ask where we are and what we're doing.

We've learned not to take it personally. It's not as much a lack of interest as it is a lack of familiarity with our non-traditional lifestyle. It's hard for non-sailors to comprehend the life we lead living on a sailboat. There's little common ground to share. School kids and the elderly seem to do best with the subject matter we present. They're either very eager to receive new information or patient and captive enough to listen to what we have to say. So … if you ask, we can talk your ears off, but we promise to stop when your eyes glaze over.

#TBT - Turks and Caicos 2002

We're in the process of moving into a new house in Las Vegas at the moment. Whenever it gets too crazy, we take a deep breath and think back about where we were in March in years past. The Turks and Caicos come to mind when we think about March 2002. We had finally broken loose from the hold of the Bahamas and we were heading to the Dominican Republic. The Turks and Caicos were on the way and well worth the stop.

We didn't have a website then. I kept a handwritten journal and I was just getting into photography. We were also really just getting into the cruising life. Everything was new and exciting. We were venturing just a little further off the beaten path. We stopped first in Provo (Providenciales), the largest island in the Caicos, and did a bit of exploring on foot. Provo is known for its luxurious resorts, its diving and its upscale tourism. Though we appreciated its beauty, it was far too touristy for us.

We moved on to the Turks and anchored off Grand Turk Island. Here we found what we were looking for … few tourists (except us, of course), an interesting history, and lots of exploring to do. We visited the tiny, but informative Turks & Caicos National Museum where we learned lots about the island from its curator.

While in the museum garden, I spotted two male lizards apparently having an altercation over a female or territory, I suppose … perhaps both. Their dewlaps were extended, and had they not been tiny critters, they might have looked ferocious. We were told that these anoles were endemic to the Turks & Caicos and that we would see endemic anoles in most of the Caribbean islands. To this day, it's one of my favorite photos.

We wandered down Front Street along the shore, admiring the houses, but one notable observation was that all of the houses had walls, gates and fences. According to poet, Robert Frost, “Good fences make good neighbors!”, but come on now on such a tiny island, is this really necessary?

It appears that if locals want to have a garden it is necessary, otherwise donkeys eat your yard. Donkeys? Lots of them! As very tangible reminders of the salt-raking industry of Grand Turk’s past, donkeys still roam freely on the island and can be seen most everywhere. The island’s official donkey keeper rounds up the equine vagrants about every six months and corrals them on a “ranch” in the northern part of the island. If adopting a donkey appeals to you, this would be a great place to find one. Providing a good home is the only criteria for ownership!

We wandered from one end of the island to the other. The Grand Turk Lighthouse, which was cast in iron in England and transported and reassembled in 1852 overlooking Northeast Reef was a good spot for a picnic.

The Bermudian Saltrakers were the first to commercially produce salt in the Turks and Caicos by evaporating sea water in a series of salinas or salt ponds. Salt played an important part of the islands' economy until the 1960's. The salinas still occupy a huge area in Grand Turk and Salt Cay, and are reminders of this history. The old, now decrepit windmills once used to pump water between the salt ponds, were particularly scenic.

There are more than 40 islands in the Turks & Caicos, only 8 of which are inhabited. Had we been a bit more seasoned cruisers, we would have explored more, but we didn't. We were anxious to move on. We've learned through experience to slow down and appreciate each place more. Guess we'll just have to go back some day and do a better job of exploring.

Want to learn more about the Turks & Caicos? Check out this website.