Provincetown, Cape Cod - Pirates, Witches and the Mayflower, Oh My!

 Any Port in a Storm - Even though Provincetown Harbor is considered one of the best harbors along the coast, Nor'easters can still break boats free from moorings and wash them up on the beach. This fishing boat is pretty well totalled. The Pilgrim Monument (1910) is in the background, modeled after the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy.

 Sailing Cape Cod Bay - There are lots of shallows, sandbars and whales to watch out for. Cape Cod ranks as one of the top 10 whale watching destinations in the world. Humpback, finback, Minke and right whales frequent the area, feeding on mackerel, herring, krill and schooling fish that breed in the nutrient rich waters. Prime months for whale watching run from April to October, as whales migrate north in the spring, and then back south to warmer waters in the fall to mate and give birth. 

 Located on the extreme end of Cape Cod, the area was originally settled by the Nauset tribe, who utilized the rich fishing grounds. In 1654 the Governor of Plymouth Colony purchased the land with axes, knives, kettles, coats and hoes from the chief of the Nausets. Oh, how property values have skyrocketed - average home price today, half a million. Ouch. 

 In 1620 the Mayflower arrived in Provincetown harbor, carrying Separatists fleeing religious persecution in England. While in the harbor they drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact, which in part stated that they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them . . .". I like their thinking. While the Mayflower was in the harbor, Peregrine White was born, the first white child (barring any Viking births) to be born in North America. 

 The architecture of Ptown is rich, ornate and storied. In 1825 there were no roads in town, and only a single horse, the parsons old white nag. A real one horse town. In 1827, due to deforestation, there were only three trees in town, all willows grown from cuttings brought by a whaling captain from Napoleon Bonaparte's grave at St Helena, where he was exiled during the final years of his life. So much for conquering the world. Even his fickle wife, Josephine, would not return his love letters. Maybe she would have sent him a text, but honestly, I think she was busy 'texting' other people. 

 A church that looks like a wedding cake! Who's hungry? A fall day in Provincetown is well spent eating seafood, drinking gin and tonics, gallery hopping, beach walking and gawking at the tourist wildlife. And the wildlife here is particularly wild and unusual. Please don't feed them, they may bite. Or more likely, they will slobber on your hand. 

 Piers over the water - Once used to build docks, fishing shanties and summer cottages. In 1835 the first wharf was constructed, and huge tree stumps had to be hauled from the water, evidence of the mature forests that once lined the shore. These forests were cleared by early settlers for building and pasture, and today there are only stunted forests - the dwarf forests of Ptown. Walking through them makes me feel like a giant!

 Getting into the Provincetown Spirit. What trip to Ptown would be complete without a bit of dressing up oddly? Those sunglasses are killer, and only $10. Probably the cheapest thing in town. I'll take 'em. The Captain needs some new shades. 

 The docks and piers of the fishing fleet. After the American Revolution, the town had a boom in fishing and whaling. Portuguese fishermen made up a good portion of the population, many having sailed in from the Azores. Year round residents may only number 3,000, but in the summer the population can sore to 60,000! Parking is scarce, unless you are on a boat, in which case the harbor has plenty of anchoring room. 

 Pirates and the Cape Cod National Seashore - 8,500 acres of the Cape are owned by the park service, encompassing dunes, long undeveloped beaches, stunted pine forests and small ponds. Local legend holds that in 1717 the pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy was sailing his ship Whydah for Provincetown, so that he could visit his love, Maria Hallett, the "Witch of Wellfleet". A pirate and a witch? What a colorful couple. Wouldn't you love to have them over for dinner? Fog and a gale force storm wrecked the ship, and 143 crew drowned, with only two survivors. The ship is thought to have held 4.1 tonnes of gold and silver, of which only a small portion has been recovered. So when you walk the beach, keep a lookout for the glint of precious metals in the sand. 

 By the 1890's the town's picturesque setting and end-of-the-road appeal started attracting artists, writers and tourists. Notable residents have included the playwright Tennessee Williams, writer Norman Mailer, and the painters Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning. The area continues to attract the seasonal influx of writers, painters and free spirits. Hopefully they have a couch to crash on (couchsurfing.org) or a sizable wallet. Axes are no longer taken in trade for housing. Sorry for the inconvenience. We DO accept bars of gold or silver, however. 

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

 Vineyard Haven Harbor, Martha's Vineyard. Sailboats on a calm day in the inner harbor. The Wampanoag called the island Noepe, which means "Land amid the Waters." Some historians believe that Norsemen sailed this far south around 1000 A.D., and stone relics lend this legend merit. In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold named the island after the local wild grapes and his eldest daughter.

 The Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse - first built in 1828 to aid the large number of sailing vessels that used the harbor during the whaling boom of the late 1700s and early 1800s. 

 Aquinnah - the sacred clay cliffs of the Wampanoag (People of the First Light) Tribe. "The streaks of red in the Cliff are from the blood of whales that Moshup would drag onto the Cliffs to cook. The discarded remains from his table are now fossilized deep in the clay. To the Wampanoag, the Aquinnah Cliffs are a sacred spot for the very reason that Moshup chose this special place as his home - they are a watchful place of great bounties."   ~ wampanoagtribe.net

 Sunset over the cliffs of Aquinnah. The early settlers learned whaling from the Wampanoag, who were known for their harpooning skills. It was even considered good luck to have an Aquinnah Wampanoag aboard a whaling ship. In the past the whales were so plentiful that they could be hunted from shore with canoes. 

 Menemsha Fishing Shanties - I could live here, ditch the boat, and still be on the sea. Generations of fishermen have called Menemsha home, and the harbor was the background for Steven Spielberg's film "Jaws."

 Cottage City, now Oak Bluffs. Row upon row of row of small gingerbread cottages fill this old Methodist summer campground, where open air Christian revivals were held as early as 1835. This is what summer homes should be - many of the cottages are under 500 square feet, as apposed to the 4,000 sq ft seasonal monsters that line the shoreline today. 

 Vineyard Haven at night - bright lights, big village, lots of seafood, history, beaches and ocean views. If you plan to stay awhile, bring lots of money. You'll need it. 

Sailing Cape Cod, Part Two - August 2012

 Sloops and schooners sailing out of Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. Even if you don't have a sailboat, there are plenty of opportunities to sign up for day sails and sunset cruises, on beautiful wooden boats like these.

 A Boat Birthday Party! Don't get drunk and fall in the water. And if you do, could you take this scrub brush with you and clean the barnacles off the hull? 

 Just another day, and sunset, on the water. Quiet evening at anchor are spent talking, reading, writing, fishing, cooking good food, having a glass of wine. No TV, no shows about the coming zombie apocalypse. If it does come, I just hope those zombies can't swim. 

 Three generations - Lilan, Sophia, Annie - in Cuttyhunk Harbor, Massachusetts. Sailing is a great way to spend time with family, because you can't escape them even if you wanted to! So you better get along. This was a short, happy cruise, but try this for a month (tight spaces, stressful situations, little privacy) and results may vary. 

 One of my favorite moments of the day. Sails are stowed, anchor is dug into the bottom, dinner is cooking on the grill, a salty breeze cools off the long sunny day. Time for a jump in the ocean, before the sharks get too active. Best to have a crewmember test the water first. 

 Family Time on Aquinnah - my cousin Treat and uncle David, out for a day sail from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. The sail was brisk, but against the tide the shoreline hardly moved at all. When Buzzards Bay empties, the current through Woods Hole can be 5-6 knots. 

 Stacey at the helm on the crossing to Martha's Vineyard. It's good to get crew involved in boat handling, for safety (in case I fall overboard), for their own enjoyment, and so the captain can take a nap. 

 On a sailboat, there is plenty of time to fool around and relax. Unless you enjoy constantly working on projects, in which case there is always plenty to do. I prefer spending my time sailing, exploring new cities, meeting the locals, walking deserted beaches, snorkeling coral reefs, rather than varnishing woodwork.  So my topside woodwork has gone 'natural' and native, as have I. 

 Smooth sailing across Nantucket Sound. The Sound is full of shifting sand shoals that have wrecked hundreds of boats over the centuries. Charted depths and actual depths can be very different, with disastrous results if you are not careful. 

                                  

 The sand shoals (Yellow) between Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Every storm can drastically change these shoals and depths. Cape Cod and the Islands were formed by the advance and retreat of the last ice age, some 23,000 years ago. 

"East of America, there stands in the open Atlantic the last fragment of an ancient and vanished land. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold." 

~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House