Count Down to Maiden Voyage

We left Mystic Seaport Sunday afternoon to give the brothers and offsprings a chance to experience Alizée on the water. "Mystic Drawbridge, Mystic Drawbridge. Outbound sailing vessel Alizée for your 2:40 opening. Over..." and up went the bridge, stopping traffic downtown Mystic for several boats itching to sail. Alizée is certified for 6 passengers (with life jacket for each.. not like Titanic). I was #7 that day so I got to see her on the water from afar.

After the 45 min down river under motor to Fisher's Sound, the wind was perfect for a family outing and our 17 year old niece Olivia took her up to 8 knots. Sweeetttt.... Last dinner with the bros before they extended their trip to visit Martha's Vineyard while we drove Alizée's empty trailer and truck to Belfast, ME where they will be waiting for us until we arrive mid-to-late July. Bill got a kick out of passing trucks this time as the trailer is much lighter empty.

We did not spend much time in Belfast as it will be our home port for most of the summer - once we get there that is ;)

Driving back with a one way car rental, we took the opportunity to swing by Freeport, ME, Portland, ME and Marblehead, MA to enjoy some of the land lubber places we wanted to visit but will likely moor or anchor on our way to Belfast.

Freeport is home of the LL Bean headquarters. While we did not stop to shop or even see the store, we did catch their branded car. Downtown Freeport looked very upscale with designer stores galore. Wish Shelby would have been around for a 'girls stroll in town' moment but we had to get to Portland before the stomach rumbles hit. Maybe next time on our way to Portland to pick up our summer visitors in August.

Portland and its cobblestone streets is very quaint and quite a walkable city. Looks like the summer has not hit there yet - and as our waiter said 'no cruise ship in town means no crowd'. We liked it that way.

It even has a piece of the Berlin Wall displayed on one of its piers.

A couple hours south, Marblehead is as cute as can be and only 18 miles from Boston - you can see downtown Boston from here, a bit like downtown Sydney from Mandalay Bay (wink to Cath & John). The harbor has 2,000 moorings with boats, quite a sight.

Today we are getting ready for departure to Block Island with the usual large provisioning and laundry for Spencer and I, and boat "list of stuff" for Bill. It is usually best not to stick around when Captain is getting the boat ready and likely encountering boat anomalies. Spence and I learned that a long time ago, and opted to skiddadle quickly;) For now, the only raised concerns is a small oil leak out of the engine, and exploded Dale Pale's ale in the bilge.

We should get to Block Island tomorrow early afternoon to pick up our first mooring and official start Alizée's maiden voyage.

We absolutely loved Mystic but are ready to sail !!!!!


PS - we did address the issue where family and friends without a gmail address could not post comments on the blog, so hoping to hear from y'all soon!