Newport to Vineyard Haven

   Finally have a decent internet connection!  After Chris wrapped up work in Portland, Navigator departed the Newport Naval Base on Saturday the 14th. After running around town taking care of last minute items (such as bike bags, tacos, and ice), we motored over to Mackerel Cove for the night. It is just around the corner from Newport but enabled us to get off the dock and on our way, a huge psychological hurdle.  On Sunday, we sailed off the anchor and had a downwind sail to Cuttyhunk Island, where we ghosted into our anchorage on the last of the southwest wind under mainsail alone. Overnight there was a huge lightning and rain storm that gave us a free deck washing.
   We did a quick sightseeing trip of Cuttyhunk Island, walking to the western end, and then the eastern end. That took about an hour, so we spent some time messing around with the dinghy and swimming.  In the afternoon we sailed off the anchor and through Quick's Hole for another downwind sail to Vineyard Haven.  We finally had to turn the engine on to get into our anchorage spot on the Vineyard, but it was a good couple days of engine-free sailing.
    On the Vineyard, we racked up some miles on our new folding bikes, biking about 22 miles on Monday from Vineyard Haven to Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, and the southeast Atlantic shore (and back). On Tuesday we went west, biking another 15 miles to Menemsha to visit an old shipmate and thence on to Gay Head.  Due to an impeding thunderstorm, we took the bus back.
  Today, since the sun is hidden, we are having a logistics day - internet at the public library, grocery shopping in Vineyard Haven, and showers with real soap and water. The little pleasures.
   Our short term plans are to remain in Vineyard Haven overnight and then head east, eventually to Nantucket next week.  The winds are contrary for the next several days, so we may either wait it out or just have a longish sail tacking our way through Nantucket Sound.   Longer term we may try and visit Chatham and Woods Hole before arriving in Westport later this month.
   Some observations so far:
      - Yes we still like each other.
      - Simple boat systems are the way to go...solar panels have kept up with our power needs just fine.
      - Folding bikes should be rank ordered just above sliced-bread in the hierarchy of awesome things.
      - Solar shower devices make a huge difference, though they draw strange looks from neighbors.
      - Our reading rate is higher than anticipated; we should have brought more books.
 That's all for now, we'll try and post some pictures on Flickr as bandwidth allows.

 A visitor at sea (Don) on our way from Narragansett Bay to Cuttyhunk.

   The bike ferry from Menemsha to Aquina. These are our folding bikes.