Fort Cronin & Jerusalem Pics

Had the day off to work around the house, but my wrist was bothering me (sprain?) enough to need a brace. So I decided to go get my annual half dozen clam cakes at Iggy's and play with my camera at Fort Cronin and later Jerusalem (looking towards Gailee).

Nice catch of the wave...could've gotten fewer people though.

Point Judith Light...note the red house to the left

I zoomed in on the flag (sitting, but no tripod)...underexposed but I'm impressed it came out that sharp.

More wave catching

Off to Jerusalem and played around, amongst other things, with slightly shallow focus so not all the photo is in focus.

Amazing Fish!

Tonight's feature was Baked Cod with Mushrooms & Onions...seriously best fish I have ever made.

Sautee mushrooms & onions in ample amount of butter and a few healthy splashes of Worcestershire sauce. Olive oiled the baking dish, plopped in a piece of fresh cod from Big Y, put some cinnamon and oregano on top of it, and when the 'shrooms were ready put them in the dish too and put it in the oven for 12 minutes @ 425.

Cut up some Kerry Irish cheddar cheese into very small pieces, put that over the top and finish for 5 minutes in the oven. The fish came out absolutely amazing. Like the best fish I've ever baked from the fish itself, to cooking it just right, to the flavor being off the charts.

(Plus running around like this was a professional kitchen or something, while the fish was baking I sautéed the rest of the mushrooms and onions and grilled meat for this week's lunches and dinners.)

Ash Morgan / Never Tear Us Apart

Labor Day Weekend Sailing

So 'bout 12:30 on Friday Sam pings me if I'd like to go sailing some weekend...and about 1:30 Eric texts me he's going that weekend. I book out of work, run home to grab some stuff, and back up to Eric's for the drive to Salem.

Sunsetting over the new Salem gas-powered electric station under construction. The old coal powered station has been torn down on the right.


Misery Island a/k/a Cocktail Cove, where we spent Friday night.

Cap'n Sam

And Deckhand Eric





Coming into Salem Harbor


Got to enjoy a boat parade of lights: Light Parade Movie

And Fireworks!

Lucked out / splurged on a dock spot for the evening...the dock master just happened to be there at 8:30 and called the guy who had the spot rented for the weekend and he said he wasn't going to use it that evening. Gave us access to a regular bathroom and shower, front row seats for the light parade, and right across from the State Fishing Pier.

That's a million and a half dollar Shannon yacht built down in Bristol, RI -- my pic doesn't do it justice.

As we're motoring out, Sam says, "There's an awful lot of schooners here, like there should not be this many in one place unless something is going on..."

I quickly Google, it's schoonerfest weekend in Gloucester and the parade starts in a half hour going by the beach before they head out to a race.

Schooners have two masts, either of equal height or the forward one being lower.

We're in a Ketch (a half-cat rigged ketch to be specific), which also has two masts but the rear one is always lower.

Almost time to raise the sails...


So we crashed their Schooner Parade with our Ketch :D



Crashing the Parade Video


So much meta about a selfie with your camera reflecting in your sun glasses, going by the beach where the Slippery Pole is.




The Schooner Columbia...Holy Moses! Owned by the owner of a major commercial shipyard down in Florida that normally builds tugs and oil platforms, but they built this one in secret from the outside world knowing until it launched.




Coming back into Salem. Sam's boat is moored at Winter Island, which was a USCG Seaplane base until the Coast Guard relocated air operations to Otis circa 1970. It's now a town park / dock / campground.

And that's the boat (Island Girl) going back to moor after dropping me and our gear off at the docks.

We might have stayed out another day and/or sailed another port north except there was the remains of a hurricane coming up the coast so it was a good idea to get to a sheltered harbor and moored down by mid-afternoon.

And while Eric is away, the kids will play o_O