Welcome back Boatblog ® fans,
When we last left you, we were in Cuttyhunk about to set sail for Newport, Rhode Island, which is indeed what we did. And since then we’ve been all over Long Island Sound, up as far as Boston, Massachusetts and finally returned to Newport – just in time for the legendary jazz festival.
Cuttyhunk is Delightful, it’s Deserted, it’s De-lovely. (I feel a jazz theme coming on.) And it’s hard to believe we’re still so close to New York, New York.
CUTTYHUNK
It was still as part of The Ocean Cruising Club’s New England Cruise that we headed northwards up to Bristol to see the famous July 4th Parade, which it didn’t rain on. And it really was spectacular. Very different from the pomp and ceremony we get in England. We’ve never seen so many marching bands in one place. And they were playing show tunes rather than the stirring military marches we love so much back home.
And when the Milkmen Came Marching In, we wanted to be there…
As Fats Waller said, “You Feets Too Big.”
These chaps are auditioning for “The Producers.”
Such a lot of fuss over a little bit of tax on a cup of tea.
Alas, as well as marking the end of British rule, July 4th also marked the end of the OCC cruise, so we bid a fond farewell to all our NBF’s (New Best Friends for those of you not up with the least textspeak) and it was Anchors Aweigh as we began to head north towards Boston.
We had to go through the Cape Cod Canal, which was just Too Marvellous For Words (ok, that’s enough jazz jokes – Ed.)
This is the start of the canal. That bridge drops down to let the train across, hopefully not while you’re going underneath it.
There’s about 4 knot current running through the canal, so you have to time when you go through pretty carefully otherwise if it was against you, we’d be motoring along at full speed, and going nowhere. As it was we raced through at about 9 – 10 knots all the way.
That’s Time Bandit you can see off the starboard bow in their usual position. Just ahead of us.
Then, once we were through the canal we stopped for a few days at Provincetown.
PROVINCETOWN TOWNHOUSE from the sunny side of the street.
Then a night at Scituate, before finally arriving in Boston.
It’s My Kinda Town, Boston is. (Enough! – Ed) We managed to get a mooring right in the centre of town. It was pretty noisy, and the good ship Domini was rocking and rolling whenever a ferry or a ship went past, but that’s the price you pay for being right at the heart of things.
It’s a town with a very strong maritime tradition, so there are lots of the old square riggers sailing through, and at every possible opportunity, the fireboat likes to show off.
When the Queen Mary came to town, it was a cue for some serious celebration.
Rory and Zoe came up to see us, and we spent a few days with them. Including going to Harvard, if only because Ju wants to be able to say, “I went to Harvard University.”
TRYING TO LOOK INTELLIGENT
A very pretty city, with a lot of Olde Worlde charm.
But alas – we couldn’t stay in Boston for ever. We had a deadline to meet – The Newport Jazz Festival. So we began to head back south, this time stopping at Plymouth. As in the place where the Pilgrim Fathers founded America.
And this is the actual rock that the Pilgrim Fathers landed on.
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Well, actually it isn’t. It’s another rock that’s very like the one that they probably landed on that was put there by some bloke a couple of hundred years later. But Americans are very proud of it, and come from all over to see it. And so what if it does’t represent the true birth of modern American history? It does at least represent the true birth of modern American marketing.
This is the actual MAYFLOWER that the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from England in.
Well, actually it isn’t. It’s a replica, based on another boat that was probably very similar to the actual Mayflower that they sailed across in. But no records exist of what it actually looked like, so no one’s very sure, but it’s as good a guess as any.
Very nice all the same.
And just like the Plymouth in Devon, there are very nice beaches nearby with proper seagulls, which is probably why the Pilgrim Fathers felt so much at home when they got here.
But enough of this messing about in Plymouth. We’ve got a jazz festival to get to.
So back through the Cape Cod Canal, quick stop for fuel and water at Onset, pleasant night in Hadley Harbour, over to Martha’s Vineyard for some provisions, and then back to Newport RI, with just a day to spare before the festival begins.
And well worth the trip it is too.
It’s a fabulous setting for a festival, overlooking Newport harbour.
There are three main stages, with all types of jazz going on all day.
Nice.
Unfortunately, the modern jazz (the sort that Lyn calls “the tooty toot stuff,”) isn’t that well attended.
It’s wrong to generalise, but we found that if a band’s set list for an hours gig consists of one tune, it’s going to have a rather small fan base of beardy types. But at least you can always get a seat.
The blues tent on the other hand, is standing room only.
Which reminds me of the old joke about the difference between a bluesman, and a jazzman. The bluesman plays three chords for a thousand people. The jazzman plays a thousand chords for…
Well you get the idea.
But the three days were absolutely fantastic, and we won’t bore you here with all the photos that we could. Just a select few.
JAZZ – NEW ORLEANS STYLE
The weather was hot, the music was hot, and the jazz junkies were hotter still.
So that’s all for now Boatbloggers ® .
But of course it wouldn’t be a proper Boatblog ® without some arty farty pictures. And this month’s entries are both from Lyn.
HORSESHOE CRAB
and finally….
STONED.
And this month’s winner is……
Lyn.
One last gratuitous sunset photo….
Till next time.
Ju & Lyn
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Domini 