Come Sail Away

This week I got to go on a cruise on the Schooner Ardelle. Geoff recently joined the Sea Scouts and got to go on as crew. The captain has made the ship available to the boys (and girls, if they join) to learn how to sail a ship like this. Which is pretty cool.

The Schooner fits about 30 people, and only 12 seats were sold so the Captain invited us me and Jess to come with.

I thought the offer of a free sail was nice, but also realized that the Ardelle is a ship that needs maintenance and costs money to run and the tickets support Maritime Gloucester, which in turn supports the Sea Scouts. I decided we'd buy our tickets to go. It was expensive and I almost regretted it, but ... I paid for it.

Read more after the break



The day was gorgeous, a type of gorgeousness that if I had passed on going I would have missed. Captain Burnham has a great, dry and wry sense of humor which shot right over the heads of some people but had Jess and me in total stitches.

We were near Hammond Castle and I asked him which rock nearby was Norman's Woe. He was pleased I knew what that was, the site of Longfellow's "The Wreck of the Hesperus..." He pointed the rock out to me and then launched into the poem, and recited it in full, much to the delight of everyone on board. They hung on every word as his son steered us past the rock, back into the harbor by the jetty at Eastern Point.

It was a great day.

Here are some pictures.

 

after reciting "The Wreck of the Hesperus," Captain Burnham smiles at the applause from the passengers...