Holiday Greetings for 2021

I wasn't going to do a year-end blog this year. I really wasn't. But then I started looking through photos from 2021 and decided that more than ever, this is the year to reach out to friends and family we have seen far too seldom since covid entered all our lives. The 12 months of photos tell me that we went to a lot of places and saw a lot of wonderful things. But in looking back, the memories tend to run together unless they included seeing old friends or meeting new ones.  With a few notable exceptions, we saw far less of friends and family than normal. And that's what matters. Friends and family. 

When I roll the clock back to January 2021, we were in an Airbnb in St Pete Florida for a 1-month change of scene and a chance to spend many hours outdoors without freezing. Unfortunately, my clearest memory of that whole month was January 6. I made bread that morning (remember how it took months for stores to restock yeast?? The lines to get in? The empty paper products isles?). And then, with the fragrance of baking bread in the background, January 6 events in DC unfolded before our eyes in real time. It was one of those days when you will always remember where you were. I will say no more, but here's a tolerable reminder of that memory. 

Spring passed uneventfully, I guess. No photos.  No wait - on May 1st I did an art benefit in Annapolis, sold about 40 paintings, and donated all the proceeds to The Light House to assist individuals and families at risk of homelessness.  Many thanks to anyone reading this who bought one or more paintings. The Light House continues to experience radically increased need due to covid and the help from you all was much appreciated.  

Then on May 9 we joined a 2-week UnCruise expedition cruise from Seattle, Washington to Juneau Alaska. We were incredibly fortunate to be among the 50 passengers on that ship - the first little ship to be permitted to cruise up the west coast to Alaska from the time covid had started. This turned out to be significant because the birds, land and sea creatures had not been exposed to cruise ships for many, many months and seemed to be unafraid of us. We saw lots of bears, including a rare white spirit bear. Mountain goats, whales, dolphins and sea otters galore. More creatures than I can say.  We hiked, bushwhacked, kayaked, took skiff rides along the coast in small inflatables, and just had an incredible time. I have never been on a trip like that where it was so easy to quickly get to know other people  - everyone was there to learn and see and do the stuff of Alaskan dream voyages. 

This is Jim beside a huge chunk of ice stranded on a beach when the tide went out - part of an "ice garden" - and a whale diving.  

The scenery was gorgeous, although we couldn't stop as planned in the San Juans, anywhere on the Canadian west coast, or in Ketchikan, all due to covid. On the right is a photo of kayakers returning after a day's adventures on the water.  

 Below is a watercolor I did of some rock formations we saw while kayaking, and us on a beach walk where we got in a bit of trouble for not following strict instructions to stay with the group because there was a female brown bear with two cubs somewhere nearby. Oops.

It was raining when we got to Glacier National Park. The glaciers have receded dramatically in a few short years and didn't look as imposing as I'd imagined they would.  

Before returning home we stopped in San Francisco to see Jake, who treated us to a lovely couple of days of sightseeing in Marin and along the coast north of SF. I've gotten to see Jake twice in the last few months on the west coast. Here's a photo of me and Jake on a windy day near the Sutro Baths, one of the Bay Bridge in gauzy fog, and one of my two absolutely most favorite guys in the whole world!!

 

                                    

In June we headed north on Neverland to spend 4 months cruising in New England. This is a part of the world we know well and have seen several times from the water. The first part of the route is Chesapeake Bay north to the C&D canal, down Delaware Bay to Cape May then up the New Jersey coast with a sketchy overnight stop to anchor in Barnegat Bay (heavy fog, strong current, tricky to exit the narrow channel in the morning dodging little fishing craft). Then on to Great Kills Yacht Club in Staten Island and a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to NYC on a chilly, rainy day to check out the exhibits at MOMA.

From NY we cruised Long Island Sound to Block Island for a few days, then on to Newport, where we met up with several cruising friends, some of their friends, and had a couple of memorable dinners.

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Our friends Sharon and Greg are in both photos above They were also sailing their Island Packet Dreamcatcher north to Maine. We met up with them again in Martha's Vineyard where we explored the island with them by bus. I should have gotten a photo of us having a messy but delicious lobster lunch in Menemsha!

 

Further north we picked up mooring balls in Quissett Harbor and Pocasset on Buzzards Bay, where our friend Donna lent us a car for a day and did some fun visits to local artists with us. We then transited the Cape Cod Canal and spent a little time in Situate and Marblehead before picking up a mooring ball for several days in Gloucester. We really enjoyed roaming around several emerging and artsy neighborhoods. The art museum had a wonderful photo exhibit on the generations of fishing families that have been the backbone of Gloucester for decades. Here are photos of some fishermen and their wives.

This is the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor.

We took our usual short cut up the Annisquam River to avoid sailing all the way around Cape Ann, and fortunately had calm seas to motor to the Isles of Shoals for a night. It's a pretty remote place with interesting history, architecture and a small community of artists. 

Our main stops in southern Maine were Portland, Jewel Island and Boothbay Harbor, from where we took a ferry for a day to Monhegan Island, another remote and unique place to visit. Finally we reached Tenants Harbor, shown below at nightfall. This is the harbor at the southwestern most corner of Penobscot Bay, our favorite cruising ground in Maine.  

We spent much of August cruising around Penobscot Bay - below are photos from Rockland, Rockport, Camden and Belfast. We also spent time in Bucks Harbor and Castine before sailing down Eggemoggin Reach to Center Harbor. Then on past Bass Harbor to Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor and Somes Sound in Acadia National Park.     

Camden Harbor

A cute little house in Camden

Rockport Harbor

Guys teaching little kids to be pirates in a festival in Belfast

And another excellent dinner with Sharon and Greg in Belfast where we all tucked into the city marina to wait for hurricane Ida to pass...

In Northeast Harbor we met up with our friends Pamela and Thom who live in South Gouldsboro, Maine and caught up on lots of family news over lunch. Dang - no photo. We enjoyed walking to Asticou Gardens, a very manicured, peaceful Japanese garden, and Thuya Gardens with its extensive, riotously colorful flower beds.

   

When we were in Camden Harbor we had seen a gorgeous tugboat come chugging in, had sought out the owners and twisted their arms to give us a tour of the Sally W, pictured below.  She's a beauty and we got to thinking... In our 4 months on the water, we'd done very little sailing - mostly motoring - for various reasons. Too little wind, wind directly on the nose, too many lobster pots to deal with under sail, etc.  We love living on the water and had begun to imagine how we might extend our cruising life on board in colder weather (Neverland's open cockpit can get quite chilly and wet in inclement weather, or early or late in the season). It would be amazing to be able to increase fresh water tankage, refrigeration capacity, and room for storing clothing and gear. Neverland's 34' length and 10' beam are ideal with only 2 people to handle her and we love her dearly, but on longish trips it would be nice to be warm and dry in bad weather and to spread out a bit.  Maybe have bikes and a tandem kayak on board? Also, we've done a great deal of cruising on the east coast and in the Bahamas. It would be fun to extend our cruising ground to rivers, lakes and canals where we'd need to be able to get under fixed height bridges.  Can't do that with a tall mast. So we began looking for a tugboat like the Sally W.  Here's the Sally W on the left and one we found for sale named Titan (right) in Hilton Head. Both charming 37' Lord Nelson Victory Tugs made in the mid to late 1980s. So we put Neverland on the market in Camden Maine and made an offer on Titan. 

Long story short, the deal fell through - Titan turned out very unexpectedly to have a lot of hull, rudder and prop issues that only became obvious when the tug was hauled for the survey.  The surveyor valued it so far below the asking price that it would have been impossible to get insurance and financing. In addition, we were not looking for a project boat and thought we'd found one in turn key condition prior to the survey. So we walked away. Before we could take Neverland off the market, we were made an excellent offer from the first person to see her. But we turned it down and are now back to Plan A - sailing next summer in New England and maybe to the Maritime provinces. She's a beautiful, tough and trustworthy sailboat in excellent shape and we don't regret this happening at all. 

We turned the trip to South Carolina into a wonderful visit with our dear friend Sunny in Mount Pleasant who listened patiently to our tug stories and soothed us with ample food and drink. When we left Sunny's, we detoured for a short trip to Asheville where we toured the stunning Biltmore estate all lit up for the holidays.  

We will be with Jim's family at Christmas - the boys are now 5 and playing basketball and learning wrestling. The photo on the left is from last year, the ones on the right and in the center are recent. They take sports seriously!!

I didn't do much painting this year, but Jim continues to make stunning turned wood pieces like lidded bowls, boxes, candle holders and containers for things like kitchen utensils. He has also made several tables and donated several pieces to charities. My favorite is the live-edge coffee table pictured below in our living room. 

Since we won't be traveling south in the tugboat as we'd planned, we've booked trips to San Antonio Texas to celebrate the New Year, a 5-week trip to roam around Costa Rica in January-February and another Un-Cruise adventure in March in Hawaii on a little 36-guest ship, coupled with short stays on the Big Island and Maui.  Every day we thank our lucky stars - we're incredibly fortunate to continue to have the mental and physical health to live like nomads, and to have family and friends we love and who love us. We're not sure how long it will take for some semblance of normalcy to prevail, but we can't wait for days ahead when it will be possible to spend more time face to face with others near and far. 

We wish you peace and joy in 2022!

Cynthia and Jim