Fairhaven, MA

On the morning of Friday, September 6 we took one more walk around the pretty town of Mattapoisett stopping for coffee at a little shack along the waterfront.

This next photo show how high the water rose during the hurricane of 1938!

We pulled up anchor by 11:05 bound for Fairhaven, MA and passed this large barge carrying what appeared to be a windmill lying on its side.  We weren’t really sure what it was until we got confirmation of it when we arrived at our port.

As we neared New Bedford we passed Butler Flats Light. It has a spark plug design jutting right out of the water. The lighthouse  is four stories high including living space.  I can’t imagine living there since it has no land surrounding it.

We entered New Bedford’s large, well-protected harbor by 12:40 going through the rather narrow opening of the formidable breakwater.  The gates of the breakwater are only closed when there is a very significant storm.  

Once inside the harbor we went by Palmer’s Island Light. Here’s an amazing story I read about the lighthouse.  During New England’s worst ever hurricane of 1938, the lighthouse keeper attempted to walk the 350 feet to light the lamp in the lighthouse, leaving his wife in the oil house on the highest point of the island. He was struck by a wave and managed to survive, but when he looked back he saw his wife getting ready to launch a row boat  to come out to help him.  He saw the boathouse struck by a wave and he lost sight of her. He was found inside the lighthouse the next day by neighbors but she did not survive and her body was washed up to shore in Fairhaven the next day.  The lighthouse was determined to be unnecessary once the huge breakwater was built in 1963.

Arriving at the Acushnet River Safe Boating Club and home of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla, we tied up at our assigned berth on the face dock.  Jeannie, one of the staff there, came by with a bag full of goodies.  This is the first welcome bag we’ve received on this trip.  Apparently, marinas are going through some cost cutting and not providing these anymore.  Even more surprising (but maybe not) is that this marina is more like a coop.  The members all have to fulfill certain functions and that is why the cost of membership and dockage is quite a bit lower than average.  We stayed here a few years ago and met a wonderful couple named Jim and Dottie Mello who were very helpful to us when Jonny had a significant health issue causing him to be hospitalized.  They gave us lots of good counsel, many rides back and forth to the hospital and were so helpful to us.  We had originally connected with them through our friends Joe and Pat Apicella and the next day we were all going to spend the day together.

In the meantime we spent the rest of the day taking advantage of being at a marina with running water and electricity.  Jonny cleaned Zendo on the outside while I cleaned the inside.

The next day Dottie and Jim came by to welcome us back and to lay out the plan for the day.  That included meeting Joe and Pat at one of Joe’s favorite haunts called Knucklehead’s, a biker bar in New Bedford with great food.  Joe had been extolling the merits of the fish and chips at Knucklehead’s for good reason. They were delicious.  Jim and Dottie wanted to take us on a sightseeing tour of the area followed by dinner at an Italian restaurant.  And that’s exactly what we did. 

We drove through some attractive parts of New Bedford and headed to nearby Dartmouth. Jonny’s brother Andy used to work in Dartmouth and he has always told us how beautiful it is.  We have to agree and we particularly enjoyed walking through the village of Pandanaram with its lovely shops and waterside ambiance. I was able to find an old-fashioned nutcracker used to crack open lobsters along with the accompanying picks.  We’ll keep it onboard for next season.

 On the way back to the marina Joe and Pat brought us to the incredible Market Basket grocery store which is popular in this area. The store has a huge selection of all the groceries one could need at amazingly low prices.  Of course we ended up buying more than we needed so we’ll be in good shape for a while.

That evening the six of us had cocktails on Dottie and Jim’s boat.  Afterwards, we all went to dinner at Bocca, a very popular Italian restaurant in New Bedford and a good time was had by all!  We encountered the last bit of a rainstorm as we left the restaurant and we were lucky to have missed it because apparently it poured for awhile.

The next day we debated leaving but finally decided to stay one more day.  It’s so easy and convenient staying at a marina where we have access to all the services (water, electric, etc.) and don’t have to use the dinghy three times a day to take Archie in to shore. We also love the town of Fairhaven. Historically, it was a shipbuilding center in the 1700’s as well as a whaling center along with New Bedford. And the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought off its shores. Interestingly, FDR is a descendant of the Delano family of Fairhaven and he visited often in his youth. Now Fairhaven mostly serves recreational and commercial boaters.  One of its most influential sons, Henry Huttleson Rogers, a Standard Oil millionaire, grew up here in this modest house just a couple of blocks from the marina.

He went on to fund the construction of some of the exquisite public buildings that Fairhaven is known for. They are all nestled within a few blocks of each other and just a short walk from the marina. The first photo is of the town hall that was financed by Rogers as a gift to the town from his first wife, Abbie.

This next photo is of the Millicent Library, named for Rogers’ daughter. I learned this little story from the Fairhaven Visitor’s Guide. Mark Twain, who was a friend of Rogers, was in town to dedicate the town hall across the street and afterwards visited the library. Later, he sent the library an autographed set of his books commenting “They are not instructive but I feel sure you will like the bindings.”

This amazing building was and continues to be the Fairhaven High School.  It sure doesn’t look anything like the high school I went to!

And finally, did you ever see a Unitarian Universalist Church as ornate as this one is?

After our walk and Archie’s chance to run off leash to chase squirrels, we had a mostly lazy Sunday afternoon. We invited Jim and Dottie for cocktails on this, our last evening in Fairhaven.  Afterwards, the four of us went out for a simple, but substantial,  dinner at Mike’s, a casual favorite of theirs.  We would be leaving early the next morning for an anchorage in Rhode Island. Once again, we had a wonderful time in the fair haven of Fairhaven!

Mattapoisett, MA

We are having fun on this trip returning to favorite places and visiting towns we’ve never been to before. Today, Thursday, September 5, we planned to cruise to nearby Mattapoisett. But because it’s so close we took the opportunity to spend a bit more time in Onset.  We took Archie in for a long walk through this attractive hamlet walking around the peninsula that is Onset.  Lining the waterfront was a narrow grassy park where Archie was gleefully able to run free.

We strolled the main drag with lots of lovely homes, many of them with gorgeous waterfront views. Onset is really a very pretty town.




  

Returning to Zendo, we pulled up anchor by noon passing these birds drying their wings.  

I brought our lunch up to the flybridge to eat while we were underway.   It was an outstanding day with sunny skies, calm seas and temperatures in the low seventies - perfect weather!  After a short 100 minute cruise we arrived in Mattapoisett’s large harbor that was filled with mostly sailboats. The harbor is exposed to the southeast which caused some fairly significant rocking and rolling.  Jonny had predicted that the wind would clock around to the east and northeast and indeed it did, calming the seas but not until 11 p.m.

Once we dropped the hook, the three of us climbed into the dinghy to explore Mattapoisett. This is a lovely historic town that profited from shipbuilding during its heyday. The shipbuilders here built the boat that Herman Melville sailed on that inspired him to write Moby Dick!

Andy’s daughter Samantha recommended that we have dinner at Turk’s Seafood Restaurant.  She had spent a lot of time in Mattapoisett because her maternal grandparents kept their sailboat here.  Turk’s is on the outskirts of town and we walked the mile and a half to be there for an early dinner. We were surprised to see how busy it was at 5:00 and we were pleased to see its extensive and creative menu offerings.  We ordered two appetizers (clams casino and a stuffed quahog)and shared a good sized entree  (Tuscan style haddock with escarole, cannellini  beans and cherry tomatoes). We were very satisfied with our meal. 

The walk home didn’t seem as long - as is usually the case and it was downhill! Plus we stopped for ice cream cones, the best ice cream we’ve had all summer!  We finished them just as we arrived at the dinghy dock.

Unfortunately, the dinghy ride back to Zendo was somewhat rough.  Since I was sitting on the windward side I got pretty wet. But Zendo was warm and cozy and we quickly settled in for the evening and tuned in to the new Netflix series with Nicole  Kidman called The Perfect Couple.  It immediately hooked us into watching three episodes of this Agatha Christie style murder mystery set among the ultra-rich on Nantucket. A real whodunit that I’m sure will keep us speculating until we finish the series. 

We head to Fairhaven next where we’ll be at a marina for two nights.  Joe and Pat Apicella will drive over from Falmouth and we’ll also visit with another couple who we met in Fairhaven a few years ago.

Onset, MA

We expected to have a long cruising day on Wednesday, September 4 as we traveled from Gloucester to Onset, MA.  As usual,  Jonny took Archie in to shore where he was able to stop at the local Walgreen’s.  We left Gloucester by 8:10 and traveled all day in wonderfully calm seas. It truly was a glorious day, sunny with temperatures in the low 70’s. For a good part of the day we were 10 miles off shore with only a few boats passing us by.

I was deeply into reading The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi which I highly recommend!

As we neared our destination we went through the 17 mile long Cape Cod Canal passing under several bridges. The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway that connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south.  It’s also a part of the Intracoastal Waterway, bits and pieces of which  extend all the way to Miami and through to Texas!

We finally reached Onset’s large harbor by 4:20 but it it had been such a beautiful day that the eight hour cruise was not at all arduous.

Onset is a village within the town of Wareham.  We have been here a couple of times before as it’s a very convenient and friendly place for boaters traveling in the area. It was developed in the 1880’s as a summer camp meeting place for spiritualists.  Many of the cottages were built as second homes for people from nearby Boston, Taunton and surrounding towns.  It’s now an attractive vacation destination for families because of its many protected beaches and small village vibe.

Shortly after we arrived, we dinghied in to the dinghy dock for a quick walk with Archie. But primarily we were interested to go to the nearby Quahog Republic for their stuffies (stuffed clams) and beers on their outdoor deck overlooking the harbor.  And that’s exactly what we did while discussing whether it was time to think about selling Zendo and perhaps looking for another boat. A fascination for Jonny and a little stressful for me!  This has been an ongoing discussion for us, so stay tuned to learn about the outcome, though I can assure you it isn’t imminent!

That evening we had the fresh corn on the cob we had purchased at a farm stand in Ipswich along with the leftover Portugese haddock and a tossed salad. We watched a very entertaining British movie called Dirty Little Letters with Olivia Coleman which was laugh out loud funny!

Tomorrow’s stop will be nearby Mattspoisett, MA.

Gloucester, MA return trip

Jonny took Archie for a quick walk on the rocky island of Isles of Shoals. He thought he might try one of the islands that prohibited dogs because it would be easier to land on them. But as he neared those alternative there were people about so he went to the only one that allowed dogs and clambered up the rocks so Archie could do his business.

We took off at 7:25 for Gloucester. It was a sunny day but the ocean was quite rough due to a strong north wind. I almost fell off the bench seat on the flybridge a couple of times because of the rocky seas.  So it was a big relief when we entered the large harbor in Gloucester and headed for our mooring there, the same mooring field we used on our way north earlier this season. Our plan was to spend the day with Scott and Mary Cole who had graciously offered to give us a tour of Cape Ann where they have lived for many years in Ipswich.  

They picked us up by 1:00 and we headed out to explore this beautiful, historic peninsula with its many small towns and villages.  Mary drove us by the famous blue lobster mural in Gloucester and the waterfront that we had walked along last time we were here.

She brought us to the amazing Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, a true castle built in the 1920’s by John Jay Hammond, Jr. who was an American inventor known for pioneering the development of the electronic remote control. We walked around the grounds which are just beautiful as is the exterior of the castle itself.

Mary drove us through Manchester by the Sea with its beautiful old homes and pretty little town center.  It was here that we stopped at the harbor and walked along the town docks.  The harbor was filled with small boats and we chatted with the harbormaster who described the improvements that the town is making to its harbor including extending the docks, installing power pedestals, etc. We will definitely add this to our stops in the future because it  is so attractive and protected and just a block from the town center with its array of restaurants and shops.

From there Mary drove us through Essex, another very attractive town, then through the larger town of Beverly. And when we arrived in Ipswich we stopped at the iconic Clam Box where we got an order of their delicious fried clams to share on the picnic table outside.

Ipswich is also where Mary and Scott have lived for many years. Scott told us that Ipswich has the greatest concentration of historic homes in the country, Throughout our day we saw so many colorful and very well maintained homes with plaques designating their age from the early 1600’s to the 1800’s.

We arrived at Scott and Mary’s lovely waterfront home by late afternoon.  The view of the Ipswich clam flats from their back yard was stunning and went on for miles.  Scott was rightly proud of the home that he designed and built. They are truly fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the country. They, like us, spend half the year living on their boat but they do so in the winter and in the Bahamas. In the summer they are at their home in Ipswich and a place they have in New Hampshire as well.

That evening we all went for dinner back in Gloucester at a popular restaurant called Lobsta Land. We couldn’t believe how busy it was on a Tuesday but we didn’t have to wait long for our table. We had a very good dinner of fish chowder, Portuguese style clams and a Portuguese style haddock. There are a lot of Portuguese people in this area! Everything was first rate!

By the time they drove us back to the pier, it was 8:30. What a wonderful day we had with Scott and Mary and we so appreciated their sharing their lovely corner of the world with us!

We headed back to Zendo in the dark, fed Archie a late dinner and made an early night of it.  Next stop, Onset, MA.