Cruising Forums

JeanneP · 10-31-2006, 09:32 AM

We've been on the move, though nothing particularly ambitious. Here's the blog address: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/mvmelon/

Jim Wasko · 11-01-2006, 07:50 PM

very nice blog Jeanne

Sorry to hear about your Block Island disapointment. Seems to me that the politic-me-off antics have taken over the island by the people who live there that want a private city to their own and complain after the tourist season that they didn't make enough to live there anymore and wonder why. The good days are all but memories now.

On a side note, the island basically shuts down by the time october hits- hence no lobster, you probably can't even buy diesel there now without jerry canning it from the one gas station (maybe Champlins behind the office, they don't even buy power from the island, they generate their own).

JeanneP · 11-01-2006, 09:30 PM

Jim, sometimes the problem Peter and I have is we remember what a place like that was like 40 years ago. Block Island isn't the only place that surprises us with its changes, it just happened to be the most glaring, and I regret that we couldn't be there after Labor Day when all the vacationers have finally all gone home.

I grew up in a summer community, and although we knew that our property taxes were very low because of all the summer homes that didn't burden our school system, sometimes those pushy "outsiders" could be very wearing. I don't blame the locals most of the time. After the fifth person on a summer Saturday decides that they should be allowed to walk through your backyard to get to the lake to go swimming, or parks in front of your house because it's closer than the posted parking lot, you start wondering if it's really worth it. Not everybody has such a long memory to remember that property taxes, now over $6,000 a year since all those "summer people" decided to make it a year-round home and overwhelm the small country school system, were once $75.00 a year!

When you go cruising full-time, try to remember that in many countries of the world, where you anchor is somebody's back yard. A smile and a "thank you" goes a long way.

One of the pleasant surprises, that I sometimes forget to emphasize, was how nice people were most places we went. New Englanders have a reputation for being cold and unfriendly, which I think is unfair and untrue.

And I try to remember that cruising is as much a state of mind as a specific location or destination.

JeanneP · 02-06-2007, 12:24 AM

It's been a while, since we've been on land for the holidays, but we've back on the boat for a month now, and have started moving again, albeit very slowly. I've just posted a new entry to the blog, though our internet connection is so terrible that it probably could use some editing. For now, though, it's the best I can do.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/mvmelon/

Duane2312 · 02-09-2007, 08:36 AM

I enjoyed reading your blog.

JeanneP · 02-09-2007, 11:36 AM

Thank you. Sometimes it can be pretty boring. we should start moving again soon.

Spike_dawg · 02-09-2007, 05:26 PM

It is a nice blog. When are you installing the mast and sails?

Aloha Spike

JeanneP · 07-14-2007, 03:43 PM

Still no mast and sails, but a few new postings to the blog, our Baltic Adventure.

atavist · 07-14-2007, 04:27 PM

wait a minute... so you're turning your MV into a SV?? can you do that??? I wouldn't think a MV would be engineered to support the weight and pressure of a mast and sails.... what all is entailed in installing a mast and sails on a MV??