At the National Aquarium, we were watching the dolphins frolicking together
in the underwater observatory when all of a sudden one of the dolphins peed
directly in front of the window, leaving a long yellow stream. The group of
young adults next to us collectively groaned. "Did that dolphin just
pee?" asked one woman. Her male companion said, "Yeah! I mean, that's
just disrespectful. We didn't need to see that." The woman said, "Wow!
I didn't know dolphins peed!" Nice to know the aquarium is meeting its
objectives of educating the public.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail
Or, to a boat owner, every problem requires a complex solution. Matt is getting really efficient at taking things apart and fixing them. We have had a long string of these taking-apart-and-fixing episodes. So much so that when the running lights stopped working at the start of our overnight passage from NY to Cape May (NJ), Matt had the electrical switch panel cover taken out and had tested all the connections in less than 15 minutes. When nothing got the lights running again, and just before he brought out the snips to cut all the zip ties holding the wiring bundles together, he finally stepped back, thought for a second and realized that there was a separate breaker for the running lights that was off for some reason. After turning the breaker on, the lights started working. To be fair, while he was in the guts of the wiring he did find a loose connection, which could have been the original cause of the breaker tripping.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
New York, NY
Arriving in New York City after spending a month in sleepy Cape
Cod was a bit of a shock to our systems. Fortunately we were able to ease into it a bit
by anchoring in Port Washington, which is just outside of the vortex of downtown. Port Washington is probably the most boater-friendly anchorage we
have encountered.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Mainsails R Not Us
One of the reasons we wanted to live aboard with our two kids was to seek adventure. Yesterday was one of the days that we accomplished that goal.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Detour to Point Judith, RI
After a rolly night at anchor, we left Cuttyhunk for Block Island, which is
normally an all-day sail. The winds were forecasted to be 20 knots at the high
end. As we sailed along, we happily encountered the forecasted 20-knot winds.
Then they crept higher. As they pushed into the high 20s with gusts into the
30s, Matt put a reef in the main sail.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Happy cake day, Matt!
I don't think this lighthouse is the Edgartown is the smallest one in the U.S. but it is the smallest one we have seen. We held true to our pledge not to pay to climb any more lighthouses. It was a pretty easy decision because it just didn't seem worth it to pay $5 a person to climb the tiny tower when we have been to the top of some of the highest. When it comes to lighthouses, size does matter, apparently.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Oak Bluffs (Martha's Vineyard)
Today we took the bus up to Oak Bluffs. It has a real-life old-timey
carousel where you try to grab the brass ring for
a free ride, just like in The Catcher in the Rye.
We figured we would let the kids ride it once and then we'd move on to
something else. Matt paid to go on the ride because he wasn't sure the boys would
be able to reach the rings. Well, we didn't have to worry about Conrad and Mark
missing any rings. They had no trouble at all.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Martha's Vineyard
Edgartown is another town packed with great restaurants, galleries and ice-cream shops on every corner, albeit with a distinctly high-end flavor. If it wasn't for the fact that even at 4:30pm every other person on the crowded street was busy shoveling ice cream down their throats, we'd wonder how all the shops managed to stay in business. Tempted by the ice cream, but refusing to give in, Matt went into a bakery and was standing in line to buy something unhealthy and yummy for dessert. The woman in front of him tried to order a salad and the twenty-something behind the counter said, "I'm sorry, we stopped serving lunch at 4:00" It was 4:08 and all the salad and other lunch items were still sitting out. Matt thought, "Really?" to himself and walked out. He didn't feel like patronizing the shop after that nonsense. At least he didn't pull out an M-16 like Michael Douglas.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Here comes the sun
Conrad and Mark practiced faces. This is "scared." You can see more at kids.svperry.com. |
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
50 shades of gray (weather)
The only other sailboat left in the anchorage. |
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Rain, rain, go away
Rainy day + new game from cousin Charlie = instant addiction |