Our guest crew and writer, Crystal, hopped on a bus back to Annapolis this afternoon.  We have Cassie and Juliana safely back onboard after two and a half weeks of adventures with family in Chicago, Seattle, and Bellingham, and Zia feels like home again!  We missed our little girls. 

     We didn't make any set plans for the time the girls were away.  Once they were safely delivered to the airport, we started trying out our freedom a little bit at a time.  We tooled around Newport in our borrowed car (thank you Barbara and Henry!) with no particular plan.  We ate a late lunch and skipped dinner.  Returning to Block Island on the ferry, we decided to try to make it to Jean and Gretchen's party in Boston on the 16th.  Their friends in Woods Hole had arranged for a guest mooring for Zia at the Woods Hole Yacht Club four years ago and were happy to oblige again this year.  We figured they would be driving up to the party themselves and we could get a ride with them.  Turns out they were driving from a different location but offered to leave a car for us at the Yacht Club so we could come up on our own!  Alessandro and Laela, when we finally met them at the party, were as wonderful as this story would lead you to imagine. 

     We met dozens of other interesting and diverse people, gathered around to listen to the multi-talented pick-up band which kept drawing in new people from the crowd until virtually half the revelers had taken a turn up on stage in varying capacities from vocalist to guitarist to percussionist.  Guests ranged from neighbors to high school and college friends to local kite boarders.  There was a significant foreign crowd amongst all the groups which we always enjoy.  Sitting around the lawn, slapping mosquitoes and working hard to drain the final dregs of the keg, we were happy to have secured a bed for the evening at the Dunoyer household. 

     Early the next morning, we drove to Logan Airport to pick up Crystal.  According to Jean, the only purpose of Boston's Big Dig project - a scourge on the city's traffic for over a decade - was to cut the time it takes for him to drive to the airport from over an hour to a mere fifteen minutes.  We were skeptical but happy to confirm his assertions.  When our party plan initially took shape, we also started planning Crystal's visit.  I should regress here and tell you that Crystal is Larson's sister.  You might remember Larson from his previous Zia visits, in the Bahamas in May 2006, Sardinia and Corsica in 2007, and Turkey and the EMYR in 2008.  Crystal has long lamented the fact that Larson gets to have all the fun on Zia. When her perfect opportunity came up to take the time off from work/studies, she didn't hesitate to make arrangements!  We were thrilled to have her.

     We didn't waste any time getting back to Zia.  With a quick stop at the grocery store (so much easier with a car!) we decided to motor up to Falmouth to fill Zia's diesel tanks (first time since April) and then head for Martha's Vineyard.  There, we reconnected with our friends on Sky (John, Po, Jaimie and Skylar) and decided to follow them to Nantucket the next day.  We managed to get in an afternoon kite session in Cape Poge Pond, a large lake-like inlet on the north end of Chappaquiddick Island.  Waking up in Watertown, driving to Boston and Woods Hole, motoring to Falmouth, sailing to Martha's Vineyard and kiting in the afternoon; it was a busy day! 

     John picked out a remote anchorage just west of Nantucket on an island called Tuckernuck.  They had guests from Annapolis with them and John and Po were playing tour guides, a position they take very seriously.  We ourselves have benefited repeatedly from their knowledge and willingness to explore off the beaten track.  When we pulled into the small bay called North Pond, the clammers on the sandbar just yards away from us raised their hands to their heads in anticipation of Zia running aground.  On their way by in their motorboat later that afternoon, one came by to say "That was pretty ballsy, coming in here at low tide."  When we first started cruising, John owned the company that sold us our boat insurance and we often justified our riskier maneuvers using the reasoning that we were following our insurance agent so they had to cover us!

     North Pond is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow beach.  Less than a quarter mile to the southeast is the even smaller Esther Island, separated by and even narrower channel from the main island of Nantucket.  With daily tide variations of four or five feet, currents through these channels are extremely strong.  Current lines were clearly visible as the swiftly moving water formed miniature waves and troughs as the water rushed by at 2 to 3 knots.

     With dinghy support, we were confident enough to break out the kiting gear and give it a go despite the marginal wind conditions and strong currents.  John and Po both did long downwinders across the shallow sand bars.  The water grew significantly colder as you entered one of the deep channels.  Relaunching her kite in one of these channels, a seal popped up nearby, startling Po into a scream.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but they are supposedly all over the place up here.  Joe and I tried to stay within our little bay but were thankful for the dinghy rescue as the wind wasn't really strong enough for us to stay upwind.

     We moved over to the main anchorage on Nantucket the next afternoon.  The kiting terrain close to there was much more forgiving and we were within easy dinghy distance to go into town for a little birthday dinner as I celebrated my 44th.  We had a phenomenal meal at LoLa with John and Po, Rob and Becky and the three-strong Zia crew.

     An old friend of the Boyles resides here in Nantucket and Joe made plans to meet up with Hank the next day.  We got a driving tour of the town and surrounding area, and learned a little about the history of the island.  Hank lives in a co-op building on the hill and the walls were lined with fabulous art work donated by the residents.  I'm not sure if this is the ideal place to live as a retired elderly person, but Hank claims it gets better once the leaves and tourists disappear!

     You've already read Crystal's updates on our kiting exploits in Nantucket and our Hurricane Bill preparations so I won't bore you with too many more details.  I will say that Nantucket lies about 30 miles farther east than Martha's Vineyard and if the storm decided to take a turn towards the west, that thirty miles could have made all the difference.  The weather files we looked at showed about 10 knots more wind on Nantucket than the Vineyard.  Wind velocity, like earthquakes, increases in force exponentially.  The farther away from the storm we could get, the safer we would be.  Thankfully, it turned out to be just a drill for the Zia crew.

     With a date to meet the kids in New York City on the 28th, and wanting to spend a few days in the city while we were still childless, we started making our way westward through Long Island Sound.  We passed the next two and a half days on passage.  We overnighted in Cuttyhunk again, not even getting off the boat.  On the 24th we had a fourteen hour day on the water, arriving outside Old Saybrook, CT at about 7pm.  We did dinghy around the breakwater into the marina just to see what was ashore, but quickly wound up back on Zia, eating a light dinner of potato leak soup and playing Rummikub.  The days were sunny and warm, we caught a couple of fish, and were able to sail about half of the time.  Although there wasn't a whole lot of activity, it was peaceful and relaxing and represented everything we love about cruising.

     Along the way, we got in touch with the Moscarella's.  JP is an old high school friend.  He and his family live in Greenwich, CT, a perfect stopping point at the end of our third day of traveling, and a mere 35 miles from our destination in New York.  To make things easier for us to meet up, we found a marina just ten blocks from his house.  Although convenient for them, little did we know what an ordeal it would be for us!  The approach through Cos Cobb Bay and up the Mianus River was extremely shallow and narrow.  Our destination, Palmer Point Marina, also happened to be on the other side of the railroad bridge - a drawbridge.  No where in our cruising guide did it indicate how to contact the bridge.  The phone at the marina rang busy continuously.  We could see no sailboat masts on the other side of the bridge. 

    We finally raised the bridge tender on VHF channel 13.  No one knew either the vertical or horizontal clearance of the bridge. The two spans of the bridge didn't open all the way but only to a forty-five degree angle.  There were power lines running across the top of the bridge.  Our charts showed them at 105 feet.  With a mast height of 78 feet, we figured we would be okay as long as we could avoid hitting any part of the mast on the open portions of the bridge.  With current pushing us into the bridge, we were happy that we caught the bridge tender there with enough manpower to open the drawbridge and at a convenient time in between trains. 

Ten minutes and a few Hail Marys later, we were through the bridge and tying up at the end of "B" Dock.  The folks at Palmer Point were super friendly and amazed at our cruising story.  We felt like quite the celebrities.

     Not thirty minutes later, we found ourselves coming to the aid of a power boat that had run out of fuel.  We soon had three college kids, one father about our age, our friends JP and Lina and their two kids, Serena (7) and Leo (4), on board.  It was quite the friendly crowd but I couldn't keep up with all the conversations.  Crystal kept the college kids entertained while Joe talked kiting with the father and I caught up with JP and Lina.  Forty-five minutes later we were off to dinner at the Moscarella's house, where Crystal arranged for her college teammate, Jenna, and her mom to meet us.  The thought was that they would go off to dinner but we were all having so much fun that they decided to stay and hang out with us instead. JP and Lina were so wonderful to accommodate the extra appetites and the spontaneity of it all made it that much more fun. 

     Although there was a lot of brave talk about sticking around to kite the next day, the chances of the breeze filling in looked pretty slim so we decided not to spend the day sitting around and hoping for wind that might or might not materialize.  Jenna and her mom, Sue, were quick to accept our invitation to cruise into the city with us.  Commuter rail here, so close to The City, makes thoughts of getting home irrelevant.  Joe thoroughly enjoyed having four ladies sporting bikinis on the bow of the boat as he guided his ship down the rest of Long Island Sound, through the East River, around Battery Park and up the Hudson.  It was a glorious time, made more special by sharing it with our new friends.  It brings us immeasurable joy to be able to share our lifestyle with those who never imagined it possible.  Their awe leads us to a renewed appreciation.

     And what an introductory trip!  New York City is spectacular and even more so when arriving by water.  Our destination was the 79th Street Boat Basin.  We had heard rumors that catamarans were no longer allowed to take moorings, but were welcome to drop their own anchor.  The rumor was upheld by fact upon our arrival as the four catamarans we saw here all appeared to be anchored.  Why not?  Anchor for free on the Upper West Side or spend $6.50 a foot at one of the marinas in Midtown or on the New Jersey side of the Hudson.  No contest.   

     Let our feast of food and culture and city life commence.  Rosa Mexicana's, the Manhattan Diner, Isabellas, MoMA, the Met, Museum of Natural History, Central Park, free concerts, and miles and miles of strolling through the streets of this wonderful city have kept us entertained so far.  We ventured on public transportation to JFK to pick up the girls on Friday and barely made it before they called social services on us!  It was a joyous reunion.  Zia feels like home again with our family onboard and intact.  They thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of their adventure but it's time to get back to reality.  Home schooling will commence on the first.  Our adventures up and down the East Coast and beyond will continue indefinitely, and we will all continue to learn and grow from our experiences together.  How very fortunate we are!    

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