Have you ever been to a shopping mall by boat?  Joe and I have done so not once, but twice in the last four days. 

Our last day in Boston, Sunday, we had to ourselves.  We had talked about exploring the city by dinghy and decided to go for it.  It was a hot, muggy day and the best way to beat the heat is to get on the water.  We went through the locks on the Charles River, and cruised up the river as far as the Boston University boat house. 

There didn't look like many spots to pull over and tie up the dingy so we headed back to another little sailing club we had seen on the Boston side of the river.  We asked the folks there if it was okay to leave the dinghy.  "Sure, but you really should go over to the Cambridge Mall."  They told us how to find it, take a left at the Science Museum, so we decided to check it out.  It was amazing to pull into a little circular cove with a fountain and everything, right in the middle of a certified shopping mall. 

A few dollars later (sunglasses and lunch) we headed back to the boat.  We had one more birthday event, as our friends Bruce and Alison had bought us a fancy dinner at Olives (chef Todd English) for my 40th.  Wow!  What a feast.  The food was great and the service spectacular, without being stuffy at all.  It was a real treat and the perfect closing to a seemingly never-ending birthday celebration.

The next morning we filled up the water tanks and left our beautiful cozy spot at Constitution Marina to head north to Kittery, Maine.  It was a glorious day, with very little wind.  We wound up motoring for 8 hours of the 10 hour trip, but the last two hours of sailing, and the beauty of the spot, made up for it. 

We reunited with Cenou, who had left Boston on Saturday.  They were visiting with their friends on Truant, a 1940s 55 foot wooden schooner.  Christian, Michelle and their two sons live on this boat year round.  If you think we are crazy, you gotta check out this boat.  They are in the process of overhauling it, and the decks are littered with planks and old stoves and buckets of tar.  Apparently, it leaks like a sieve when it rains so everything is protected by plastic garbage bags.  You can stand upright in the galley but that is about it.  You are doubled over walking through the rest of the boat.  They just installed a head, to replace the bucket they have been using for the last year.  I tell you, it is a real labor of love.  They have no hot water, and very few of the conveniences we enjoy on Zia. 

Last night, we were invited over for pizza.  It was amazing to talk to Michelle.  She left her home in Australia at 16, working and traveling around as much as she could.  She wound up in New York about 10 years ago.  She took guitar lessons from Christian, which is how they met.  She had to take four lessons a week at $50 a lesson for a year before he asked her out!  She hasn't picked up a guitar since.  They decided to go cruising and bought a boat that they could fix up and then take off.  Two kids later, and the boat still not finished, they needed a bigger one.  They ran into the owner of Truant who recognized their love for old wooden boats and the courage of their aspirations and he gave them his boat outright. 

Their kids have been home schooled from day one.  Christian and Michelle create their own curriculum.  Coltrane, who is 7, is already doing algebra problems in math.  I asked Parker, the youngest, when his birthday was.  "Well, its in about a year from now, if you chop off a few days at the end."  Michelle tells me that they celebrate special occasions when they can, so birthdays are a little flexible.  There isn't always a Toys-R-Us that is convenient.  Christian makes a point of telling me that Parker's birthday is July 18th, just to be sure I don't think the parents don't actually know.

Joining us on Truant for dinner were Christian's parents, from Santa Fe.  His sister and her husband were also there.  They met in Santa Fe while they were both working at 10,000 Waves.  Joe loved talking to all of them about his former home town. 

Drake, who is also a live-aboard, cruiser, and his white cat, Abby, are not to be forgotten.  Drake is a Boston native who has been living on board for 8 years.  Until two years ago he lived on his boat at the Constitution Marina!  "We just spent a week there, at the end of G dock.  I wonder if you know any of the people we met."  Turns out he was neighbors and friends with at least one of the guys we met, Steve.  At about the same time Drake bought his current boat, Valiant, an old Westsail 32, Steve signed up for a big loan to buy a beautiful new Hans Christian 50 footer.  Drake has since been down to the Caribbean and back twice, "having the time of my life."  Steve is hoping to work at his start up for another year and then sell it in an IPO before he can take off cruising.  Drake, as you might have inferred, lives very cheaply on his boat, but he is doing what he wants to do and seems to be loving it.  The picture below is of Cenou on the right and Valiant, with the light blue hull, on the left.

We had a ball getting to know these "real cruisers" thanks to Claude and Rike on Cenou.  There were also a passel of kids on board but they mostly stayed down below.  Being kid free for the evening, I didn't get much involved with their activities. 

Today we decided to hit the outlet malls in Kittery.  There must be 100 different stores and we had a few items on our list that we thought we might knock off.  We dinghied into the Harbormaster's dock and wandered into the grocery store to inquire how far away it was to walk to the outlets.  Five miles was more than Joe wanted to bite off, so we asked about a taxi.  The owner of the store asked if we had a skiff, and suggested that we could row there, up to the end of Spruce Creek.  We had tried to do this in the dinghy yesterday, but got discouraged as we didn't see anything but shallow water in our first mile and a half up the creek.  He assured us that we could get there, "you just have to round this point and you can see it, and the land is all marshy around it so you should be able to find a spot to leave your dinghy."  We would much rather go for a dinghy ride than a taxi ride, and we had two and a half hours before high tide, so there would be plenty of water.  The tides are about 10 feet here so it makes a real difference when you are boating in marshy waters. 

We couldn't believe it as we got to the head waters of the creek.  As it branched off to the right I said "It looks like it keeps going."  We ventured on, testing the depth with our oar, and keeping a sharp lookout for obstacles.  The creek wound back another 500 yards, not more than 10 feet across at the widest.  We were encouraged when we passed a motor boat that was tied up at a private dock.  We went a little beyond that and pulled over.  The bank of the river gave way to grass, so we found a big stick, stuck it far into the soft ground, and attached our painter to that.  The walk out was a little mushy but we didn't get any mud on our shoes.  We were mindful of the need to return while the tide was still high, lest we ground our dinghy and wind up having to push it out. 

Outlet malls are pretty much the same everywhere but we did find good water shoes for the kids, some books, and a 12 volt blender to replace the one that had burnt out on the Dunoyer's visit.  We headed back to the boat shortly after 3pm.  We found ourselves wading back to the boat in ankle deep water where there had been none before.  It was a nice bed of long grass, though, so it really wasn't bad at all. 

A local women we ran into on the Harbormaster's pier told us about Chauncey's Lobster Pier a short boat ride away.  We made plans to indulge in the local specialty tonight with our friends on Cenou, and Cody and Dana and their kids (Wyatt, 2 1/2 and Lydia, just 4 weeks old) who live 35 miles away in New Hampshire.  We have reservations tomorrow for a mooring in Portland, 50 miles to the northeast.  That will be our farthest stop north, before we head back to Boston to pick up Cassie and Juliana on the 31st.  It has been a little lonely without them here on the boat, but they are having a ball with their cousin Kayla at Gran and Gramp's in Seattle.  They head to my sister Kathy's in Bellingham tomorrow, and are looking forward to a camping trip with Uncle Jim over the weekend. 

Many thanks to all of you who are following along with us.  It means so much to us to receive your emails and words of encouragement.  Thanks. 

Christy, Joe, Cassie, and Juliana

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