We arrived to Bristol on June 30th from Hampton after two stops. The first stop was at Cape May and the second at Block Island. We didn’t go ashore at either stop as we’d done both last year and the weather wasn’t great for going ashore so we continued on each morning.
Along the way we saw 50-100 sharks all around the boat while we were about 20 miles off the coast near Atlantic City. Not sure what they were feeding on, but I can tell you I would not be swimming in that water. It was churned up in patches for quite a distance.
We rigged the parasailor three times during the trip and left it up overnight once. That was a bit frustrating because the winds picked up for an hour or so in the middle of the night, causing Paul to lose nearly a full sleep shift as he helped me get it down in the dark. We knew we were tired when we let one of the lines fall into the water and it ended up under one of our keels. Luckily we managed to get it out from under the boat without having to go into the water. We kept the motor off and I just kept working it until it released. Whew!
We debated whether to put it up again or not after all the frustrations getting it down in the dark. But we decided to go for it and we sailed all the way into the Bristol Harbour with it up. It’s clearly pretty rare to see a parasailor, as we had a lot of gawkers as we sailed in.
Cape Judith welcomed us to Newport
This person is serious about the 4th! Beautiful.
Welcome to Newport
After arrival we readied the boat for house guests arriving on July 3rd for the 4th of July festivities. Leslie (our winter guest in the BVI) joined us for a couple evenings along with her 8 year old son, Jack, and on the evening of the 4th her friend Ben and his daughter Skylar joined us as well.
Leslie brought fresh lobsters along with a pot to cook them in. We had a feast on the evening of the 3rd with leftovers for a few sandwiches which we took to the parade with us on the 4th.
Jack with our delicious dinner to be.
Leslie and Jack in the water for a cool-off dip.
On Saturday we went to the parade (the longest running parade in the US, this was the 230th year). We adults enjoyed the marching bands and floats. Let’s just say Jack wasn’t himself and preferred to be on the boat. So about half way through the parade, P dinghy’d him and his mom back to Blue Sky then returned to me along with Charlie to watch the rest of the parade.
The beginnings of a country
Eerie, looked like statues but were real – great float!
The many marching bands were fantastic.
All kinds of characters in the parade
US, truly a melting pot country with many nationalities
Ethnic cultures were well represented.
Love the uniforms
Our kids are our future!
Color and fun were abundant
Not an easy bike to ride! He was great fun.
Later that evening we all headed to the Salty Dawg Rally clam boil event at Mary’s place (Mary is a lady in Bristol who has offered her place for these events for a few years now). After dinner Ben and Leslie took the kids to the carnival in town and we met up at the dinghy about 10 pm. A long and busy day.
On the 5th the kids helped to inflate the kayaks and took them for a paddle. Then they swam while we waited for enough wind to take them for a sail. After lunch the wind piped up and we had a lovely 3 hour sail down the bay towards Newport and back. It was perfect except for the fact that the electric winch we use to haul the mainsail up, wasn’t working. So we were happy for the extra help to crank it up by hand (thanks Ben).
We enjoyed beers after the sail and our guests packed up and left before dinner. It was lovely to have guests on board as it happens so rarely. Come on family, all you have to do is get yourself to the boat and we are happy to have you (hint, hint).
The following week we spent our days fixing things on board and doing some cleaning. We spent time with Bill and Linda (Sapphire) and their dog Zoe, who Charlie just adores. Many evenings we went over to Mary’s place and enjoyed her yard. Bill and Linda took us in their car to the market, the store, the vet, and pretty much anywhere we needed to go. Big thanks for all the rides and help hauling it back to the boat. It was so much fun having someone to hang out with. We also had a great time watching the races around our boat with racers from age 6 up!
Loved watching the many boats out racing
Around a mark it sometimes got busy
The little guys out every day. Heck if there’s not wind, practice turning the boat over or swimming.
So at last it was time to leave and we did it with mixed feelings. We tend to get comfortable in a place and have a hard time pulling up the anchor. But on the morning of July 19th we did just that and said our goodbyes to Bristol for now.
