Beverly, MA.

From Plymouth we visited first Hull and now Beverly. In Hull we saw a very interesting museum for the local lifeboat which had saved many lives from shipwrecks of some of the big sailing ships on their approach to Boston in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (see photo form previous Blog).
Two parcels with spare parts for the boat have been sent to Beverly. The inverter for the generator arrived today and hopefully the parts for the depth-sounder arrive tomorrow. The boat will have to be lifted up on the hard to be fitted with the new units. This will happen promptly after arrival. Then we are off north to Maine and Canada for the last part of our cruise. We are having a great time and the weather is good. We are meeting so many interesting people. An example was a colourful 'live-aboard' in Hull. He was a household-remover, who was a happy-go-lucky fellow. He literally sailed close to the wind. He the had a lobster pot tied up to the pontoon, and he cooked his dinner on a 'slow cooker' plugged in to the phone charger in the yacht club. He invited us to join him for dinner, well-knowing that we were leaving that morning.
We crossed the Boston Bay and took a berth in the Beverly Port Marina for the night, to the cost of $100per night, which is normal price around here As we were waiting for our parcels we went out on a mooring the next day.
The tide here in Beverly is around 10 feet,which you can see on the photo. The white bird in the night is an egret, which was fishing at the pontoon.
Sunday we cycled to Salem nearby and saw the Witch museum, which was very popular and crowded. In the town-common a n international festival took place. Some belly-dancers showed a lot of belly!

Hull. MA (near Boston)

Hull, and US Lifeguard Museum in Allerton, MA.
Vi er på anker uden for en lille by, Hull, i nærheden af Boston. Vi har et forfærdeligt vejr med regn, torden og storm i nat og i dag, men vi er i shorts og t shirts, for det er stadig meget varmt. Vi har ikke været i land i dag. I går åbnerde vi for vand beholderen så alt regnen som faldt på dækket kom ind i bådens forsyning af vand. David har i de sidste par dage haft telefon forbindelse med forhandlerne af vort ekkolod, som endnu ikke er ankommet til det bådværft vi har bestilt det at skulle på land hos. Det er noget værre svineri, men sådan er det hele tiden. Vi fik en mail i dag som sagde at den del af generatoren ,som også skal fornyes p.g.a. errosion og derfo ikke virker, er afsendt fra UK og skulle ankomme på fredag.
Igår var vi pået lille museum forden lokale rednings båd. Det var meget spændende at se de store tre til firemastede skonnerter som var gået på grund her under vinterstormene i sin tid.
Jeg har heldigvis wifi forbindelse, og snakker dagligt med min Kirsten, og hun og lille Anna har det godt, men der går ikke lang tid mellem at hun ammer. Nu er hun heldigvis ved at få hjælp fra sundhedsplejersken. Hun er altid ved godt mod når vi snakker sammen. Jeg er selvfølgelig ked af at jeg ikke kan være der. Jeg strikker babytøj og et tæppe til barnevognen osv.

From Provincetown to Plymouth, MA

We are having a wonderful time here on the very most east coast of the United States.
We visited Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod, which is a long sandy peninsula curling itself out into the Atlantic. Here we ate lobster in a small cafe by the harbour.The sunset photo shows the tower which is a memorial built in granite in memory of the Pilgrim -Fathers, who arrived on the good ship The Mayflower, in 1620.
They did not like it, so off they went and settled in Plymouth across the bay. David is reading about the Mayflower just now, so we are in their 'footsteps', and went whale- watching on the way across the bay. The one on the photo is a Right Whale, an endangered species, which has its habitat in the Boston Bay, which we crossed. She' blew out' right in front of the boat less than 20 yards away. Fantastic!!

Visit from kusine Lynn, Nick henden mand , og Meredina , hendes datter

I dag havde vi besøg af Howards datter Lynn , hendes mand Nick og hendes datter , Meredina. De er noget så søde. Lynn ligner Kusine Jytte fuldstændig. Hun fortalte at Howard var meget imponeret over os og at vi havde sejlet hertil. hendes mand, Nick, fortalte nogle utrolige historier om Howard. Nick, som arbejder med noget ligesom Pernille, hjalp somme tider Howard på slæbebåden , og han var der dengang Howard fik en trosse i ansigtet og var nær slået ihjeld. En anden gang da de var ude i noget forfærdeligt uvejr og Howard sad oppe i masten på en stol han havde bundet fast, for at se bedre,lå besætningen, som var hans søn og Nick på gulvet og var møj søsyge, og så pludselig så de Hawards hovded, på hovedet gennem vinduet til styrhuest og han bad om en kop kaffe! Han var en gæv fyr!
Det var sjovt at snakke med dem.
I morgen sejler vi gennem Cape Cod Kanal og tager sikkert ud til den by, Procince Town som var det første sted skibet , The Mayflower, kom til med immigtrater fra England i 1604.
Håber I har det godt.

back in Cape Cod

Back in Cape Cod.

We are now back in Quissett Harbour in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after an overnight flight from Vancouver. The US customs officer, whom we saw in Ottawa at four o‘clock in the morning, when we changed plane, was a little suspect of David’s new purchase of a handheld VHF radio with WX- weather-forecast in the suitcase. It was ok-ed after some explanation. I am sure he thought he had discovered a bomb! In Boston we caught the bus to Cape Cod and arrived back at the boat in baking heat just before midday. A dip in the sea got rid of the sweat and stickiness, and life was worth living again.
The next day we biked to Falmouth and found ourselves in the middle of a large craft-fare. The tea cosies I tried to sell last year at the farmers market in Crieff would have gone like hotcakes.
While waiting on a new tool which David bought on the internet with promise of ’next day delivery’ we did some maintenance. David found that the generator and inverter were badly corroded. The dealer in Britain was contacted and a new part ordered. And so it goes on!
Our patience is tested all the time! Still, here we are on an anchorage in a beautiful quiet bay in Cape Cod, surrounded by green trees and a blue sky above. The sun is shining and we had a lovely day and an amazing sunset! And, on top of that I went swimming at midnight. Phosphorescent plankton were sparkling like jewels in the dark. Magic!

Re-cycling on Saturna Island

Saturna Island is one of the Gulf Islands outside Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Around three hundred people live on the island permanently. The island has its own private re-cycling and the inhabitants do it all with great enthusiasm. Anything, and I do mean anything which can be re-used or re-cycled, is collected at a center run by volunteers twice a week.It also included a free seconds shop, which takes donations only as pay. Convieniently this center is across the road from the island shop, which also has a restaurant and coffee- shop, where the islanders go to socialize.
It works very well.

Saturne Island July

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We took part in Canada Day( 1st of July) celebrations on the island . David helped carving spear-grilled lamb and I scooped icecream for a lot of people. There were one thousand dinners being served alltogether.

We walked around the point close to Janes and Brians house. The sand stone cliffs are 40 mill. years old and have made the most amazing formations and sculptures.

I managed a photo of a butterfly, the size of a small bird.

British Columbia, June & July 2008

Chemainus was a lovely small town famous for it murals of life in the area in by-gone times.
From the village park I heard fiddle music which sounded familiar. To my delight I discovered a group of Danish folk-dancers in their native costumes dancing an open stage. I could hardly believe it, but it was great. I was invited to meet with them after the performance. They came from the Island of Syd-Funen, but were wearing costumes from the areas from where they originated all over Denmark. The ladies had made all their own and the men's costumes. It reminded me of my time as a Danish girl-guide, when I modelled a native costume my mother and other ladies had made for the local girl-guide group more than 50 years ago.
From Vancouver Island we took the ferry to Saturna Island, where Jane and Brian have made a beautiful home, surrounded by nature and a stunning views over the sea.
Yesterday morning when I opened my eyes I was a doe and two sweet little fawns on the lawn outside the open window and in the background a sea-eagle was resting on a rock on the shore. It is so beautiful and the the nature seems so un -touched here.