Wednesday, July 15 - Marion, MA to Plymouth, MA (Brewers Marina)

I have to say that today i am happy, giddy in fact, to report calms seas.  i am actually typing this as we are under way - something that would not have happened yesterday, as i could not have released my tight hold on the bridge ladder for more than a second.  I was convinced yesterday that there was no such thing as a calm sea.  Again, my faith in the ocean has been restored…today it is a kinder, gentler sea.  Yesterday it was a rambunctious, threatening sea.  Today, one could even sit up on the bow like we all did on the ICW Serenity cruise.  But i stay at  my usual traveling station which is the captain’s helm chair below the bridge, i feel safer here - i feel up top on the fly bridge it sways a bit.  I’ve learned i cannot look at the waves; so all day yesterday i craned my neck to the direct left to keep my eyes on the horizon and/or stared down at the deck or panel board.  Let me tell you the mind can come up with some strange thoughts when you try your best to keep your mind off the waves.  Thoughts are usually dark…and involve dying.  So yea, we’re having a ball!  Yesterday, i thought, this trip is great except for the traveling.

But yesterday is gone and over and today I’m giddy!  It’s a short cruise across buzzard’s bay into the cape cod canal and then a short sprint to Plymouth.  

calm waters

BIG news…Harry kindly diverted our course so that i can meet up with Anna Jean who will be in Boston on the 20th!  Our plan is to arrive in Boston on the 19th (weather permitting). And from Boston she and I are taking a high speed ferry to Nantucket to meet up with Joanna Hay.  I am beyond excited and thought yesterday that i could & would endure rough seas in order to get me to my daughter…..

We are nearing the cape cod canal and i promised Harry that if the waters continued to behave that i would come up on the fly bridge with him as we travel through the canal…so up i go….

railroad bridge crossing the cape cod canal

photo taken for Jed - promise i will not you every picture of a windmill

nearing Plymouth and the tourist rides

entry into Plymouth Harbor

What a difference a day makes.  Unbelievably calm ride.  as usual, when we finally get ‘put’ into our dock slip we venture into the office to settle up and then out to lunch.  

Finally in Plymouth - 2nd one on the left

We also needed a split for the hose so off to town we go to find the hardware store and something to eat.  as we walk Water Street we spy a crowd…and low and behold it’s a ton of tourist eye balling a rock - Plymouth Rock!  so we mark that off our bucket list (HAHAHAHA).  Honestly, it’s just a rock and i’m not so sure it’s the right rock… who knows??  so there’s the rock where the Pilgrim’s landed and then on the hill above is a beautiful statue of an American Indian as if watching as the white folks descend upon the land….but as we all know the Indians and Pilgrims got along just fine and dandy and even sat down together to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.  yea right.

Massasoit - the great sachem of the Wampanoags - protector and preserver of the pilgrims

But the true American camaraderie story happened today as we were walking to Bennie’s, the hardware store.  Harry is famous (to me only perhaps) of stopping people to ask them directions..so as we’re walking, Harry approaches a guy talking on his cell phone and does that hand gesture that can only mean one thing…’let me interrupt you while you’re talking and ask you something that’s important to me, never mind your conversation’….and i am amazed, the guy kindly allows Harry to interrupt and ask him how to get to Bennie’s.  Harry tells him what he needs at the hardware store and that we’re on a boat from the marina..yada yada yada…and the guy says ‘jump in, i’ll take you it’s a bit far’, so we jump in and Harry begins to tell him our life story…..the honey moon part really got to this guy plus the fact that i was ok with being on the boat for that long of a time.  I must say in talking with people (men) about our trip, this is what impresses them the most; asking me, ’and you really don’t mind being on the boat, just you and your husband for that long?’   and then almost always it’s followed by, ‘oh i always wanted to do that but i don’t think my wife would go for that….’  If i’d had more time with these people or perhaps a cocktail first, my story would tend to favor Donna Henderson’s, our Longboat Key friend, who when asked about long trips with her husband John she would  say, no thank you because she’s convinced he’s trying to kill her!  makes me laugh every time i think about that and i totally get it! 

any who….our new friend Joe takes us to Bennie’s and it IS a far piece and when we arrive he says, ‘go in get what you need and i’ll wait right here and take you back.’  I’ll be damn! so we hurry in, find our splitter, and hurry back as fast as we can.  Joe has 4 boys and a wife who he continued talking to him most of the time we were in the car and as he hung up he told her he loved her….ahhhh.  I asked, did you tell your wife that you had picked up two complete strangers and was driving them around town?  Joe also gave us great insider advice about where to grab some lunch and good dinner options.  This great day just keeps getting better.  All we could do is toast our new friend at lunch and share his goodness with you all - people are mostly good, really good.

Harry went back to the marina to wash the boat down and i ventured into town (uptown - away from tourist row) to find a wine shop.  a cute little downtown but travel on by if you’re in this vicinity…even our new friend Joe lives in the next town over.  And while people are mostly good, some people are truly troubled….i asked for a restroom in the local market and the manager had to unlock it for me, telling me that Plymouth has a heroine epidemic and they have to lock all pubic bathrooms to prevent users from shooting up (not sure what this solves).  He told me there were 6 overdoses last night!  How damn sad. 

We plan to stay put in Plymouth for two nights due to a bad weather forecast for Thursday.  We are in a slip, which means we can use all the electricity and all the water we want so i plan to clean the down below portion of the boat and use the laundry facilities.  Harry plans to give Finally a long overdue bubble bath, even in the rain; all of which cannot easily be done on a mooring.  Below are some shots from my second day spent in town.

Plymouth rock is down in there, it's a rock with 1620 etched on its' side

isn't this the most beautiful headstone?  many of the headstones were slate.

'they' say the pilgrims chose Plymouth because of the protected harbor and this fresh water known as Town Brook

OH and Harry and his foul weather gear…..He loves his rain gear.  Venturing out tonight he so wanted me to wear rain pants that are 14 times bigger than normal…i mean he really pushes this…  I say, ‘Harry i don’t care if my pants/shorts get wet i can dry them!’  Truly, it’s weird, i don’t understand it, he is like, Ellen, i think you need to take the rain suit. So tonight we head out - he in a rain suit get up gleaned in rain top and pants and me in my super cool, overpaid for, foul wether jacket purchased at the Miami boat show.