RUNNING BEFORE THE COLD
October 8, 2012
The preview of things to come has descended upon us. At 0600 this morning two things happened: Scurv needed shore leave and I noticed that a hat would be a good thing on our walk. The temperature was 47 degrees with light mist in the air. With his mission completed, we started back to the boat and we saw the navigation lights of a boat leaving the harbor. It was not a waterman boat but a very stately schooner that took anchorage late yesterday. She is a large wooden double ender of about 55 feet in length. She had no visible deck house and certainly no dodger or bimini. She looked of the 19th century with a beautiful exaggerated sheer fore and aft and flush deck. Her bowsprit must be 12 feet or so. Usually, leaving harbor at that hour means the crew is mindset on warmer weather. Who knows where? One can easily imagine her in the Keys or some remote Caribbean island tucked into a hole to protect her from the trade winds. The hour of departure says that she may be needing to get south quickly; that the crew has few cold weather clothes; that they crave conch more than crab and that their dive gear is just waiting for the time when the waters are 85 degrees, crystal clear and full of lobster. Farewell. Perhaps we will see her next spring---or not.