..."to the vagrant gypsy's life"... WHERED THE SUMMER GO?

Are you being had up a stick?

Well, sometime this PM we will take a small shakedown to Grand Manaan, a small island at the mouth of Fundy. They are reporting sitings of several whale pods, mostly finbacks and Minkes. Id love to see a humpback . The weather looks iffy but we can handle a blow i9n the BAy, its out at sea where we get these unexpected waves that can be frightening . Too mutch fetch breeds big waves, several miles of headlands refracts them and keeps them smaller. Up to about 10 feet were pretty good. When they get in the range of 15 to 20, they can be startling. Anything bigger is downright deadly for our little boat.
If we aint back by Tuesday, start worrying for us.

casting off in an hour (#PM edt)

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

SHAKEDOWN are over, Now were ready for a longer trip. We decided to leave on Thurs PM (maybe)
MCT Its a deepV and twin Yanmar diesels. All the electronics and a weather fax and a multiple frequency radar.
(Dont much matter how good the GPS is if you cant see another boat 100 ft ahead in the fog).
Well we did see a lotta fog and on Sunday we towed another boat to Lords Cove on Deer Island. The guy got a length of wire leader tangled up in his prop and wasm=nt able to free it through the packing box.
We were invited for aupper and we met some really nice people . The guy is what wed call a waterman (a Maryland term) and he fishes and lobsters and scallops, and urchin dives. His family is in a comfy place overlooking the Head Harbor Passage and the East Quoddy Light. Id kill to live in plce like that.

We were told a story of how his brother , during a scallop dragging trip, lost power on his dragger and was smashed against the rocks.Apparently they couldnt get a fix on the rocks and the wave action can be very strong. The man and a crew of two were drowned and his boat was all smashed up. All this less than two naut mile from their docks.
The sea can claim even the most careful sailor.