Tag: boats

The most famous boat in town

Ever since the big nor’easter we had earlier this month, there has been a new tourist attraction of sorts along the coastal road between Revere and Winthrop.  A sailboat washed ashore, dragging its mooring line with it.  The storm washed it almost all the way up onto the sea wall.  I can’t imagine that the boat was not damaged in the process.  What a shame.

I wonder when someone will finally come claim it.

Anyway, it seems as if at any given moment, someone has stopped to look at the erstwhile shipwreck and take pictures of it.  The first day after the storm, there was a whole row of cars.  And every single time I have driven along that coastal road, no matter what time of day, there was someone looking at the boat.  Seriously, every single time, including today, when I finally stopped and got a picture or two myself.

I hope it is not too badly damaged.

-Geoff

A quick note on wine in ASOIAF/GoT

I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to make for my planned Dornish meal to honor the late Prince Oberyn Martell.  I haven’t tried doing any Dornish stuff yet, and I wanted to try since it all sounds so tasty.  Originally I wanted to do something before the big showdown with the Mountain.  The perfect time has passed,  I know, but I just didn’t have time to do it last weekend with all the server surgery.

The Red Viper also got me thinking about wine.  Especially those magnificent Dornish wines that get mentioned so frequently in the books.

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Trip to Newport, RI

My Uncle Paul and Aunt Pauline had their 50th Anniversary party this past weekend at the same place where they were married all those years ago.  The name of the venue has changed, but the place is still there: OceanCliff.

It was the first time that I had been to Newport since high school, I think.  And Kelly had not been there herself in at least a dozen years.  So we both managed to get the day off in advance so we could go.

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There be WHALES here!

Or at least dolphins. Cetaceans of some kind for sure.

Yeah, I love me some whales.  Cetaceans of any kind, really, because porpoises and dolphins are also pretty cool.  On the rare occasions that I get out on the water, especially someplace like the Stellwagen Bank, I usually see at least a few.  Nothing spectacular, but still pretty cool to see stuff in the wild.  But I have never in my life seen anything like this mega-pod of dolphins spotted near San Diego.  It stretched across seven miles of ocean.  They think there may have been as many as 100,000 altogether.  Can you imagine?

Makes me want to go whale watching.  Or fishing.  Or both.  Just to be out on the water.

-Geoff

Just don’t look like a seal, buddy

Every summer one of the rituals we go through here in the Greater Boston area is the appearance of everyone’s favorite apex predator, carcharadon carcharius,  or the Great White shark, off Cape Cod.  I was just a kid when they filmed Jaws on Martha’s Vineyard but I do remember seeing all the references to the movie the next time my family went to the island.  And apparently there are a lot of people (besides me) who still think about the movie and its relationship to the island, including the author of this new book that I very much would like to acquire.

Continue reading “Just don’t look like a seal, buddy”

Deep-sea fishing, anyone?

A guy that Kelly and I know from church has a friend who owns a charter fishing boat.  I had been thinking that I would much rather do some deep-sea fishing for my bachelor party event than the usual debauchery of some combination of gambling and strippers.  That is just not my thing, and so I thought getting out on the water (in November, no less) might be more adventurous and yet less likely to get any of us in trouble with family and/or the law.  So I finally had a chance to talk to the captain in question, and he has a magnificent new (2009) 37 foot boat that can handle up to six people fishing at the same time.  Feel free to check out his website and see what you think.  I am thinking that for the time of year (and the captain agrees with me) that our best bet would be cod and/or haddock, but at that time of year tuna are also in season.  So it would sort of depend.   Anyway, if we do this it will be on Thursday, November 10 (that’s the Marine Corps birthday for any jarheads out there) so we will have plenty of time to recover before the rehearsal dinner Friday.

-Geoff

So, no boat

The Rapture didn’t happen, so I did not get to assume ownership of any gorgeous new Boston Whaler cuddy cruisers that previously belonged to wealthy Raptured fishermen.  Oh, well.

One interesting side note: around the time that the Rapture was supposed to have taken place, I couldn’t find Scratch.  In fact, I could not find him for a while.  Later on he appeared in the hallway, meowing to be let back inside.  My theory is that he was the only being raptured, but then after he spent a few hours running amok in Heaven breaking things, God changed His mind and sent him back.

-Geoff

Another ordinary Saturday*

*Unless of course, you count that whole Rapture thing.

For those of you who haven’t heard (and I imagine that by this point there are not many of you) today, May 21, 2011, is supposed to be the day of the Rapture.  I figured that this concept has reached a saturation point in our society when even Boston.com is talking about it at length.  So the big day is supposed to be today according to one group of very determined fundamentalist Christians.  Sunday is Rogation Day, and Kelly and I are planning to bring the dogs with us.  We do not anticipate any theological or metaphysical issues with our plans.  And speaking of pets, it turns out that there is a group who is fulfilling the dual purpose of taking care of animals and forcing the people who actually believe this stuff to put their money where their mouth is.  They are called Eternal Earth-bound Pets and they have a website.

I am thinking that there has got to be someone, somewhere, who is a really wealthy fundamentalist Christian and who is concerned about the state of their earthly affairs after today.  They are wondering what is going to happen to their beloved boat.   I wish I had thought of it.  I could have volunteered to take care of their boat while they are gone.  How else am I ever going to get one of these anytime soon?  Hopefully I will not have to compete with any of the 800,000 (so far) people who signed up on Facebook to participate in the post-Rapture looting.

-Geoff