Happy New Year! No big tree aloft on the schooner this time. I gave the balsam firs up near the house a break and resorted to the easy "don't leave the deck approach" to brightening up the holidays. The lights will be up until January 6th.
With the prospect of widely available vaccine by spring I'm expecting a busy summer, finally getting back on those blue waters along the coast of Maine. Aboard we'll need to be all on the same page observing CDC safeguards then in effect.
Most aspects of a 2021 sailing vacation on the American Eagle will be fondly familiar: the cozy cabins, the whiff of woodsmoke from the galley promising tasty meals ahead, a ninety-two-foot pristine historic vessel with sixteen shipmates on average, and the fun and memories of new and old friends. It's the real deal without question.
Cruise News
Where we go and what we did/do.......
Puffins in late spring and early summere
T A humpback whale under the bow
We see them in half a dozen trips a season.
Jumping off the bowsprit in warm weather.. and cold water.
The only killer whale we've ever had aboard
A very rare sight in the Gulf of Maine... a right whale!
And a mermaid. Thought you'd seen enough whales for a while.o
Crew's News
No pictures of Matthew, Wilson, or Asher this month.
Christa's been spearfishing in St. Croix. She says it's a black barred soldierfish but it looks like a goldfish to me.
Those American Eagle mugs do get around. Tyler has one in his shop in Gloucester resting on a big drill press.
And here's the shop he shares with his Dad
And that's Tyler with the guitar
And here's my new shop up at the house. I drew it up and swept up after the carpenters who were building it. The lights are on but there's nobody home, so to speak. It's empty now but not for long.
Articles, notes, and cards from away
A first for these newsletters; a whale picture that was not taken from the schooner.
The Norwegian steamer Hekla, 1883-1910. Named after Iceland's largest volcano, she was built in Greenock, Scotland and spent most of her life in the transatlantic run from Oslo to New York. In addition to passengers her cargo generally included herring, fish oil, horseshoes, and steel. This painting by Antonio Jacobsen is in the Mariners Museum.
After the volcano's eruption in 1104 Cistercian monks spread the story in Europe that Hekla was the gates of hell.
I put this in for our son Sam.
He should be getting one of these cards this coming Father's Day!
And from Nova Scotia in the mail yesterday, but from much further away. Captain Morland of the Picton Castle had this carved in Bali. He says it's ebony or bungabunga wood or something very hard.
