Gloucester Lighthouse Trip

View over Salt Island from the White Shutters

Our good friends Harvey and Gail Smith have a beautiful family "cottage" in Gloucester, Mass. on the private section of Good Harbor Beach. We've enjoyed countless wonderful times there over the years and try to get back every summer. This year we could only make it for a couple of days but as always they were memorable. We lucked out on the weather as well with clear sunny warm days. My mother always said that it could be hot as Hades anywhere else in the area but on their front porch overlooking Salt Island, it was always heaven.

Leslie and Colin Smith

That's the view above left and us on the back porch. Harvey and Gail have two children, Colin and Leslie, and the former is my godson. Happily they came down from Vermont too! That's them right with a copy of New England Lighthouses and Harvey, Gail and Colin next on the left. As always we walked on the beaches and this time through the down town. There are a lot more attractive restaurants and galleries than on our last visit. Our second night was a special treat. They got tickets for all of us on a Thatcher Island Association Benefit Cruise to see the nearby lighthouses.

Gail, Harvey and Colin Smith

Bill Fonvielle and Carol Sharoff

Bill Fonvielle and Carol Sharoff joined us for the cruise. They too live in Gloucester, in their case full time. Carol owns Atlantic Vacation Homes Realty Company (atlanticvacationhomes.com) and it keeps her hopping. You can rent a home for a week or season with them, or buy/sell a house. Bill is a private management consultant but he and their son Jonathan all help out at times with the business. We've known them for a long time as well. That's them next below on the right.



Gloucester is a marvelous combination of working fishing town and resort. There are still lots of professional fishing boats everywhere alongside the yachts and racing boats. Gordon's Fish Packing Company is still downtown and the Quarter Deck Bar made famous in the Perfect Storm hasn't been gentrified.

Eastern Point Lighthouse

It was a lovely night on the ocean, warm enough for a change to forgo a jacket, if not a sweater. We and most of the others stayed outside the whole evening. Our ship normally is a whale watching boat and had lots of room. It was possible to buy drinks, hot dogs and snacks - although we were sorry we didn't think to bring food with us! Most people did.

Ten Pound Lighthouse

Our first lighthouse was on Ten Pound Island within Gloucester Harbor. Most people think the name represents the money given to the Indians for purchase, but historians believe it was named after the number of sheep pens (known as pounds) there. These were reserved for "rams onlie"! Guess they needed an ocean to keep them away from the ewes! In 1871 several witnesses saw a sea serpent pass the island with a head as large as a dog held 10-12 feet above the water.
Artist Winslow Homer spent the summer here boarding with the keeper in 1880 and painted over 50 scenes of Gloucester!

Notice the beautiful schooner under full sail in the rear left!

The lighthouse was built in 1821 and later rebuilt in 1881 and in 1925 it became a Coast Guard Air Station with 1 small scout plane and 2 amfibious ones. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1956 and restored in the 1980's.
Next was the Eastern Point Lighthouse at the beginning of the breakwater. This is at the end of Eastern Point and not on an island. It was first built in 1832 of stone and then again in 1848 higher. It originally had a "ruby light" but when the present brick 36' structure was built in 1890 it became white. The keeper's house is still in use. Two Coast Guard families live there now. The last keeper, till it was decommissioned in 1985, lived there with his wife, dog, cockadoo named Sinbad and two cats.

Pretty gaff rigged sloop and matching dinghy

Thacher Island is a National Historic Landmark and the most interesting. The island is 50 acres and has a number of building besides the twin lighthouses. They were the last twins still lit when the north tower was darkened in 1932. Once there were 7 twin lighthouses and one triple on the east coast! Today the north tower is lit again by private donations and is amber colored.

McMansions near Annisquam!

The island was first visited by Europeans Samuel de Champlain in 1605 and then again by John Smith in 1614. IN 1635 the ship "Watch and Wait" was wrecked in a terrible storm there and 21 people died. Anthony Thacher and his wife were one of the few to survive. He lost 4 children by a previous wife and his cousin, his wife and 6 children in the wreck. He was awarded the island by the courts as recompense and it remained in the family for 80 years.

Gail looks like she might be about to
take the quick way down the steps!

In 1771 twin 45' towers were constructed, called locally Ann's Eyes. It was run a bit like a farm with cattle, sheep and an orchard. In 1864 Keeper Bray left in the winter with a sick assistant and the other assistant to help him, leaving his wife Maria and her 14 year old nephew on the island. A big snowstorm hit isolating them for several days. Maria with some help from the boy never let the lights go out in either tower. In high winds and heavy snow she/they climbed 148 steps in each three times a night to keep the lights burning. It is still talked about today and made her quite a heroine then.

Annisquam Lighthouse

We had a excellent narrator, author of a book on N.E. Lighthouses, on board to entertain us with the histories of each place. Some of those stories I'm repeating here. Our next stop (the boat did a 360 degree turn at each lighthouse to give every one on board a good look) was Straitsmouth Island light, still flashing green, built in 1835 and rebuilt twice again in 1851 and 1896. The 1878 keeper's house is still there but falling down. The island belongs to the Mass. Audabon Society who are more concerned with it's being a bird sanctuary.

Straitsmouth Island Light

Our last lighthouse was the Annisquam Light. This is located at the north end of the estuary, open at both ends and called the Annisquam River, which separates Gloucester, Rockport and Annisquam from the mainland. It was first built in 1801 with the current brick light built in 1897 and a Coast Guard family still lives in the original wood frame Keeper's house.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way back. One by one the lights went on in the towers and provided way points for boats this night as they have for decades. We were enjoying flat seas but could imagine the huge storms that pound this coast every year. One story illustrates how bad things can get. At the Eastern Point lighthouse a past keeper in a terrible storm witnessed a boat driven over the 35' breakwater by the enormous waves. Hate to be in that boat!!!

Thatcher Island Twin Lights

Scott and I have sailed our "Scott Free" past these lights five times but always in good weather. Even then the lighthouse beacons are a friendly presence in the night or the towers a marvelous view shining in the sun.

From Washington DC to Herrington Harbor North Marina, MD

James really enjoys the Captain's spot!

 We decided to use the full weekend when our kids and their friends had off to move the boat from the Capital Yacht Club in Washington DC to Herrington Harbor North Marina in Deale, MD - Scott Free's home for the summer. This meant traveling overnight on Friday down the Potomoc! We set off in high spirits at 6:30 PM with James, Morgen, Sean and Piper on board.
We ate dinner and watched the shore lines and passing boats until dark. I took the first watch although Sean and Piper stayed up and kept me company. They took  the second watch, followed by James and Morgen, and lastly by Scott. Then the progression continued.

Sean and Morgen enjoyed some sunbathing

 It's pretty scary at night motoring down the narrow channel. We had some close calls with unlighted buoys! It's hard to figure out the lights at times, especially around the bridges. It took two people. One really focused on the computer showing our position on the chart and the helmsmen watching carefully for traffic and navigation lights.
But we had great success - no bumps in the night! The next morning we were in the wide area of the river and it was much easier. We had beautiful clear weather with not a lot of wind.
Out of the river we headed up the Chesapeake Bay on the west side. Before we turned into our destination for that night, Solomon's Harbor, Sean came up with a brilliant idea.

Scott and Piper 

"Why don't we put the sails up?" He had noticed that other boats seemed to be having a lot of fun. It just meant going a different direction (from where we were headed).
So we put them up and took off across the Bay. Lovely! We had a fun time playing in the waves until the thought of finding an anchorage for the night (and enjoying a sundowner or two) sounded appealing.
Solomon's was very crowded as always and our first anchoring spot didn't look as nice after the current changed. We reanchored later and spent a peaceful night. Mollie joined us in a rental car for dinner and the evening. Before that though, we took down the kyack and the kids took turns exploring in it and the dinghy


Piper and Mollie made a cozy bed in the cockpit! We had never slept so many people on the boat before. But everyone slept pretty well, especially after a big dinner and an overnight sail the night before.

Lovely brick walks and landscaped grounds at Herrington Harbor North

The next morning we didn't rush. It was almost 11 AM before we started out the channel. We filled up the fuel tanks at a relatively cheap spot. Mollie and Piper had to leave us to drive the car around to our next destination.
The plan was to meet Morgen's dad near Herrington Harbor so that she could spend the rest of the day and evening with him and her sister. It was Father's Day. We almost missed him as we got such a late start. And we stopped to go swimming off the boat to cool off. That was a lot of fun! But we did manage to connect up and transfer her in the dinghy.
It was late coming up the narrow channel and almost low tide. We managed fine until we got halfway into our slip. And then we stopped, stuck in the mud. We managed to pull the boat over far enough to jump on and off with some difficulty.
Mollie and Piper met us and we said our goodbyes quickly as Sean and James needed to join them and drive back to Washington. Thoughtful Piper had bought us a new toaster! What a sweetheart!
Next morning at high tide we moved over to the slip way for the haulout and the next day they moved us on to the hard. "Scott Free" will stay here until we return in September. Till then, fare well!

A beautiful marsh has been incorporated into the landscaping around the marina.

Our First Full Days in Washington D.C.

We tied up at the Capital Yacht Club in Washington at 12 Noon on Friday. They have a combination of floating and fixed docks. Most slips are permanently assigned to long term guests. They have only a few transient berths. We were assigned to a space temporarily vacated by someone on a few weeks vacation cruising. So all of the people on our dock were residents and working in Washington. Everyone was so friendly and interesting.

Not long after docking we talked to our second son James about that night's plans. We were going to meet his girlfriend Morgen and her parents that evening. I suggested they come over to the boat for dinner and as soon as I hung up, realized we had a LOT to do before they arrived. Naturally the boat was not clean and there wasn't much in the refrigerator so it was a busy afternoon cleaning, shopping and then cooking. Luckily the excellent supermarket is only a few blocks away and I'm as good as Rachel Ray with quick but tasty meals (I couldn't talk like she does doing it though!).

James and Morgen arrived at 6:30 and her parents a bit later. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed getting to know Morgen, Chris and Carl. I'd met Morgen in January but Scott was in Trinidad then. Days are really hot in Washington but the evenings are very pleasant. Our air conditioning units, both of them, are broken so we really felt the heat in the middle of the day. Everyone else in the Marina lives below decks, even in the evening. They were amazed to see us in the cockpit!

The next day was a full and busy one. We left the boat at 6:45 AM to meet our third and last son Sean and his friends Piper and Molly in Georgetown at the Lawyers Have Heart 10 kilometer race. That's Sean with us, then in the line up to start (in grey Tshirt), next looking at the course from the starting line after the start, then first Sean almost at the finish and Piper and Molly finishing together and last the three runners after the finish. They all did very well. Sean came in 51st. with an average of 6 minute 13 second a mile and Piper and Molly finished in under an hour, just over a 9 minute average.

Everyone was starved so we took the Metro up to the Eastern Market Bakery and stuffed ourselves with fabulous bread and breakfast specialties. Scott's showing off the bread basket here (we had several of them!). The nearby Eastern Market is a combination of farmer's market and antique & craft show. We strolled around looking at everything and buying a few vegetables. Scott bought a painting for his brother Brent. Washington is such a lively young place! We are so impressed with the residential areas around the Capital. The homes and gardens are really nice, even in the less expensive areas.

Showers were more than in order at this point so we returned to the kids' apartment and waited while they cleaned up. Three of them share a small town house not far away from the Market. Today was the World Cup Soccer Match between the U.S. and England. Piper was varsity soccer goalie at Amherst so they were all excited about the game. We too are more aware of soccer than most Americans as we spend a good deal of time in the Caribbean and South America! Washington was crowded with fans. Dupont Circle was a mass of people jockeying for seats in front of the huge outdoor screens set up for the match. We finally found a bar with standing room and then even some seats. James managed to find us in the crowd. Everywhere was packed! But our seats had difficult views and were apart so at the half time we raced back to their apartment in ONE taxi (there were four of us in the back) and watched the rest of the game comfortably in their living room. Of course it was an exciting game and we pulled off a tie, amazing many Europeans we're sure.

AND there was more to do this Saturday! This was Gay Pride weekend and the parade was this very evening. So somehow we managed to pull ourselves out of the comfortable seats and return to Dupont Circle to watch the parade. And it was lots of fun! Every D.C. politician and candidate was there along with an amazing variety of groups (that's AARP in one shot), bands and individuals. The floats were wild - our favorites were the Cowboys (several shots) and a local gym's which featured a wild group going acrobatics and exercises of all kinds. Thousands of people marched and many more thousands lined the streets along the parade. Many of the buildings were decorated with rainbow flags and banners. It was great! We were glad we came but exhaustion hit on the subway back to the boat and we collapsed in bed.

We had been living a very sheltered existence on the boat compared to this. We've entered the fast zone now!

Happily for us Sunday was a a little quieter and less hectic day for us, although still plenty busy. After an early breakfast we took a long walk around the reflecting pool to FDR's wonderful monument and the Jefferson Memorial. We had never been to the former and really loved the quiet outdoor rooms with great quotes from both he and Elanor throughout their lives. The water elements and landscaping really fit the site and we liked both statues. We'd been to the Jefferson Memorial but years ago and were struck by how apt his writings were to today, especially regarding change being necessary for growth, even with the Constitution.

Right next to the Yacht Club are a number of seafood stalls/restaurants - all take out, cooked and uncooked. We vowed to get back there for a meal. But not today, Sean and his friends, Molly, Piper and Will were coming for lunch and a cruise on the river. As the time for them to appear grew closer storm clouds appeared. The weather prediction was possible thunder storms so we changed the plan to staying at the dock.

Happily after our big lunch the sky brightened and the kids took out our dinghy for a spin on the river. It was another hot day so it was a relief to buzz around. (Molly had left to catch a plane - that's her in the pretty dress below).

Next was a birthday dinner out for Morgen with both James and she, her parents and her sister Clare and boyfriend Bill. Sean also joined us. The fashionable Lebanese restaurant they took us to was wonderful - a tapas middle eastern place. Everything we ordered was great. We all shared the dishes family style.

Afterwards we drove back to James and Morgen's new apartment, not far from Sean's. It's in a very nice neighborhood with a beautiful nearby park and a little yard in front with a table and two chairs. The old town house has been renovated and their apartment has a two story living room with a fireplace and kitchen on the first floor and the bedroom on the second. They just moved in the week before! Carl had made a delicious birthday cake and that's Morgen blowing out the candles!

Up the Potomac to Washington DC

We left St. Mary's after a leisurely breakfast. It was only 35 miles to the Colonial Beach Marina where we decided to go after checking the weather. There are very few anchorages or Marinas on the way up the Potomac that are deep enough for us. One anchorage was across from Colonial Beach but was exposed in south through west winds. We were supposed to be having gusty weather from the SW so we chose the marina. The channel was well marked and had just enough water for us. The very nice dockmaster Bruce met us and helped us tie up.
Like Bel Haven this is a sleepy little town that development and time seem to have forgotten. Mostly small cottages with a few larger Victorians line the river front and the harbor). The downtown is neat and pretty empty. Doc's Motel didn't have a car in the parking lot. The beach is wide and well maintained but didn't contain a soul. We assume this changes on the weekends!
We took long walks both that afternoon and again the next morning. I was fascinated by some of the kitschy sights of this sweet town (see the happy fishing couple and lighthouse set up in this front lawn tableau top left). The Happy Clam provided take out soft shell crabs for Scott and shrimp for me. We saved them to cook for the next night as the restaurant in the marina was well recommended and it was good. We had the fisherman's platter - big, tasty and of course, fried. We saved our baked potatoes as we had no room for them!
The military has Danger Zones on the river in several places which they use for testing munitions. We called them in the morning and checked when we could safely proceed. So at 11 AM we were off again. This time it was calm and so we were headed for Mattawoman Creek 40 miles away. Much to my dismay we could hear munitions going off as we passed through the "Danger Zone", but not at us happily.
Beautiful homes line the sides of the river and it's a lovely trip. The channel is deep and well marked. Once we left it however it shallows quickly. The narrow channel up the creek was tricky but our electronc chart were spot on so we followed it.
The creek looked so peaceful and lovely. We anchored fairly close to the center several miles up and had a great dinner. The peace ended quickly however as the high tech fishing boats began racing up and down - until the sun set. The first one the next morning passed by at 5:30 AM and at 7 AM a policeman in a motor boat approached to tell us we were in the channel. The boat had shifted around 180 degrees during the night and he was right. Happily our plans to leave in a half hour solved the problem. The coves he pointed out as "better" alternatives had less than six feet of water so if we stayed here again, we'd put out a second anchor.
More beautiful homes lined the river as we drew closer to Washington. Suddenly one stately home looked familiar - George Washington's Mt. Vernon. As you can see from the close up, hundreds of people crowded the lawn over looking the river. As we took in this sight we were startled by a long loud horn. A sightseeing boat was heading towards us. I steered the boat to the edge of the channel thinking to leave him lots of room but he continued to blow his horn. Suddenly we realized that we were in the entrance to the side channel leading to Mt. Vernon and quickly dashed to the other side of the river. Woops!
Next we admired the historic and very renovated waterfront of Alexandria, Virginia. New condo townhouses lined the banks looking authentic and the downtown has a fun mix of the old and new. We decided to visit here later in our stay as it is accessible by Metro. The last section of the channel into Washington was quite narrow and tricky. We hit bottom once when we strayed too far off the center line. And now ahead we could see the Washington Monument in the distance and soon our goal, the Capital Yacht Club right near the mall.
During my visit to Washington in January I visited the club and talked to the Dockmaster. Since then we'd been in touch with him and the General Manager by email updating them on our arrival plans. They changed so many times due to unexpected delays on the journey up that they couldn't promise us a spot in advance. But when we approached the club they were very welcoming and had a spot for us. Steve, the General Manager, met us and helped us settle in. We ended up having a long delightful talk and we feel he has become a good friend. Unfortunately we were weeks later than we planned and could only stay for a week. It's worth a much longer visit! More on our stay there in our next blog entry.