Offshore Isles

[cmfos]

Saturday morning, Binks and I decided to head out to Isles of Shoals. I'd wanted to go out there all summer but I'd missed the trips that had been posted on the board. But since the weather was so good on Saturday, we decided to head out there from Rye Harbor in New Hampshire. The 7.5 mile trip out was quite pleasurable with little breeze and nice glassy water. We spied a seal right at the mouth of the harbor who took little notice of us (as usual). About halfway to the Isles, we went through schools of small fish who were just under the surface of the water. I was curious as to what these were but after reading Wendy's post, I figure they were probably mackerel. I never got see any of the little buggers though.

We landed on Star Island and had a nice leisurely lunch in the Gazebo overlooking the West. It's a neat place there! You can see as far as Cape Ann to the south, 25 miles away I'm told, and I thought I could make out one of the lighthouses on Thacher's although I wasn't sure. There were also numerous things to see on the island itself: a monument to Captain John Smith who was the first European to visit the islands in 1614 (he named them Smith Isles of course) and also a somewhat Washington Monumentesque obelisk that marks the resting place of a beloved pastor who preached on the island in the late 1700s.

the trip back was a little more interesting with a weak Northwest breeze that was just enough to play havoc with my Explorer and also some chop coming out of the Northeast. Made it more of a slog for the ride home but at least we got some exercise.

Back at Rye Harbor, Binks again tried to teach me how to do the sculling brace and I again was totally incompetent. I'll have to spend some time in the pool this winter to get that down. Oh, and since there have been some fashion posts on Wendy's thread, I'll just mention that Andrew was wearing an oh-so-chic Ravenspring Drysuit with the "please help me!" rear zipper on the back whilst I was wearing a wetsuit with a drytop that has recently lost the plastic lining on the inside, thus rendering it totally useless (the water comes right in). So I'll be in my drysuit next time.

J