Maritime Trip

This blog is a bit late. I picked up a cold after the trip that caused me to sleep through half a week. I’m still catching up on my things-to-do after the trip and the cold. Anyhow…

This trip has been planned for almost 2 years. A bunch of college friends picked out a Road Scholar trip so we could hold a reunion while being fed and entertained. This trip was maritime themed. It wasn’t something I’d necessarily pick on my own, but was quite interesting. We were in Rockport, Gloucester, Salem, and Essex Massachusetts. This area was big with the fishing industry including building boats. They are still fishing, but it’s a greatly reduced business now.

The “Perfect Storm” ship Andrea Gail sailed from Gloucester. That crew’s names are on a nearby memorial along the 5,368 fishermen from the area who have died at sea since 1716. In some years there were hundreds of fishermen lost.

During the week we sailed on 5 different boats. The first was a schooner with full sails. Cindy (one of the ONU ladies) and I lifted the main sail. It was heavier than I expected and we needed help by the end! The 2^nd picture is by Angie.

Boat 2 was a whale watching boat. It took quite awhile to get to the whales, but we were much closer than I expected. The boat also rocked more than I expected when we stopped. Several people were sick, but luckily I didn’t have a problem. We saw a few whales breaching along our boat as we followed them around.

Road Scholar took us to Salem for another boat sailing the harbor.

We got to stop for lunch across from the Bewitched statue. A random tourist got this shot for me.

Our next boat took us down Essex River and through a marsh.

Lunch was fried clams at the restaurant that originated fried clams in 1916. The afternoon was a visit to a ship building museum. I’ve included this picture of Lignum Vitae. It’s considered one of the heaviest and hardest woods around, resistant to rot and insects, and even self-lubricated making it ideal for bearings and other maritime uses but very expensive. It was heavy!

The 5^th and last boat was a lobster boat. They only pulled a few example lobster traps. This one had crabs instead of lobsters. But still a fun trip.