Lost at Sea

Saturday Morning, July 23

Lynn decided we should do a post about loss.  Would you believe it if I told you that – since the trip began – we have lost 

• Two coolers 

• Three credit cards

• A sandwich

• And a cell phone

Fed Ex lost the first cooler and gave us a refund.  They then lost the second cooler.  Then they both showed up on the same day, so we got one for free.  One is at Lynn’s house, and the other one was delivered to Metedeconk.  It’s on board now, and it is great.

Our waitress in Rock Hall dropped the first credit card through the cracks in a wooden deck.  We left the second one in a bar in Cape May.  (We were out with Dana and Doug, and we were seriously overserved).  We cancelled that card, had a new one mailed to us and held for our arrival at Saybrook Point.  We used it for dinner at Saybrook Point and (wait for it…) left the card in the restaurant.  They are mailing it back to Lynn’s house.  Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Now…about that sandwich…Yesterday we had a spectacular day on Martha’s Vineyard.  For $5 apiece, we bought one-day passes and rode all over the island on their amazing bus system.  First stop: South Beach, where we sat on a huge driftwood log and ate our lunch, and watched some seriously heavy surf crash against the beach.  Serious rip tides as well.  They have lifeguardstations every 500 feet, and we watched one girl get rescued just after we arrived.  Beautiful lifeguards, by the way…it looked like an episode of Bay Watch.

Anyway, as we sit on our log, Lynn feels something smack into her head from behind, and suddenly her sandwich is gone.  As the gull flew away with her lunch, we realized what had happened: it smacked her with one of its wings as it made a dive for her sandwich.  And that’s how we lost the sandwich.

Back on the bus, we rode to visit the two other towns on the bus route: Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven.  Each is totally different from the other, and each is totally different from Edgartown.  Edgartown is posh and polished.  The houses all feature white clapboard or gray cedar shakes with white trim, and blue hydrangeas are a critical part of the color scheme.  The Edgartown Yacht Club members all wear full formal outfits on Friday night (white captain’s hat, blue blazer, white pants.  Almost a caricature – made me think of Caddyshack.

Oak Bluffs, in contrast, is Victorian – like Cape May but tacky.  Edgartown has boutiques; Oak Bluffs has T-shirt shops.  Yes, the waterfront is spectacular, and yes, they have restored the oldest carrousel in the US.  Just very interesting to see the distinct contrast with Edgartown.

Then, back on the bus, for a short trip to Vineyard Haven.  Again, a striking contrast: very small, relatively undeveloped, and home to a famous wooden boat repair firm.  Much more organic / authentic.  Also, the original home of the Black Dog Café’, the progenitor of all those wonderful Black Dog Boutiques.

Our reservation in Edgartown ends today, and we will move over to Vineyard Haven for one night.  It’s a good opportunity to clean the boat and reprovision before we jump to Nantucket Sunday morning.

Oh yes…the lost cellphone.  You thought I forgot, didn’t you?  

We were pulling into Edgartown on the bus, at the end of a long day, and Lynn realized she didn’t have her phone.  We had a large canvas bag with us that held our lunch, two sodas, two beach towels, etc.  But no phone.  So Lynn – clever girl that she is – checks in at the Edgartown Depot to inquire about Lost & Found.  No luck.  So then she says, “Let’s get back to the boat.  I’ll use your phone as a wi-fi hotspot, connect my iPad to the Internet, and use my ‘Find My Phone” app to locate the missing phone.”  And she did.

And it was moving!  We watched as it left Church Street, took a left onto Pease’s Point Way, and then slowly passed the cemetery.  We realized we were watching the bus we had taken to the beach, and that the phone was still on board.  One patient phone call later, and Lynn had the dispatcher contact the driver, and the phone came home.  Well done, Lynn!

It’s time to wrap up this post – we must get ready to move to Vineyard Haven.  It looks like a good day to be on the water.  Calm and sunny.  I wish this were our travel day for Nantucket.  That takes place tomorrow, and the Windy app warns that it will again be sloppy… Oh Well!

Leaving Edgartown

TTFN

R&L&G