A note from Ann in Hadley Harbor

Ahoy there!! Well, we’re now off the coast of Mass. in Hadley Harbor which is located near Martha’s Vineyard. We left Block Island yesterday in fog as thick as New England Clam Chowder (not quite as thick as pea soup but getting there) and headed to Newport, RI. Newport was not one of our planned places to go but our water pump broke and if we wanted to have any semblance of sanity and clean dishes/clean bodies, we needed to get a new one. The most logical place was Newport since they have a great chandlery so off we went. It was a rough trip but we made it in a few hours and got a mooring right in town from a guy who actually grew up in Northport! It was fun talking to him. Bob then went off on a mission and, after going to 3 places and catching rides with people (yeah, that chandlery went touristy and doesn’t carry much in the way of marine supplies), he finally was able to get a new water pump and installed it so now we’re doing great. We then went out to dinner without the kids, which was a nice treat, and walked around town a bit. This morning (Sunday) we left by 8 and headed off to Hadley Harbor, off the coast of Mass. It was a nice sail east and by 3 we FINALLY anchored in the harbor after trying multiple times. It’s beautiful here and so quiet – and the girls and I even had the treat of seeing 2 horses up on the hill! Tomorrow we’re hoping to make it to either Vineyard Haven or Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard – we’ll see what the wind and weather bring us. We’re going to try to do Martha’s Vineyard on the cheap – in other words, at anchor so we stay there for free. We’ve been anchoring pretty much most of the trip so far and hope to find a good spot to set the hook for a couple of days. We’ll update again as soon as we can. Fortunately, all has gone pretty well and everyone is healthy so it’s been a great trip so far!