Boston Boating Blog

Stardate May 2nd / 3rd 2009

After my trip to Fan Pier I took a ride over to our marina and the whole gang is back in town.

The black boat on the left is The Donna Julie II (ours) the one in the middle is About Time, Frank and Dale’s boat and the one on the right is Reel Pursuit – Betty Ann and Paul’s boat from Reel Pursuit Fishing Charters (and a link on the right hand side of my blog) and I encourage you, if your looking for a GREAT fishing charter to give Paul a call.  He and his first mate Scott (fisherman on the weekends and a local fire fighter during the week) will give you the best fishing trip in Boston Harbor.

And across from us, not shown in the above photo is Pipe Dream II, Tony and Kathy’s boat.  We are all very much looking forward to a very fun summer.

Stay tuned, there is much more to come, and check out some entries from some guest contributors to the blog.  Ryan Chmiel added a contribution just the other day.

Stay safe.

Posted by Captain SteveK

Captain’s Blog – Stardate 4/24 – 4/27 2009

Let me set it up for you – here was the outlook on the water for this weekend so lets just say we were very excited to be on the water this weekend.  The weather was to be summer like all weekend and it was.  First, we spent the evening on the boat on Friday getting ready for a nice weekend.  It was great to see everyone and we had Donna’s friend Catlin and her new boyfriend out for a lovely evening cruise.  It was great.  Seeing Boston Harbor in the evening from the water is beautiful.  We spent the night and then the next day Donna and I took a ride up to Danversport Yacht club to see the new Cobalt 37 (that is for sale by our friends at East Coast Flight Craft) in the water.  I was supposed to test drive it on Friday, however a few technical difficulties, as well as  time, didn’t give me the chance to take it for a spin.  That is okay, when it is time to upgrade, that will be the vessel.  Here is a shot of what she looks

like in the water.  It truly is a beautiful boat.  It was a great day for a ride too.  First things first, we needed to fuel up at our favorite fuel dock, Mystic Fuel (I mention them because they are really great – friendly and fair, good service and the place is very clean), so 125 gallons later (at $2.60 a gallon, and they aren’t taking my $.20/gallon discount card this year) we shoved off.  It was warm and it was nice to take a long ride from Boston to Danversport.  We even went though the bridge in Salem that needs to swing open.  The boat also ran fantastic.  We are starting the summer with 290 hours on the boat and we shall see what we get for time on the boat this summer.

Here is a photo of me, proud as the day is long on our journey.  After our trip north, we came back and hit another one of our favorite spots which is an inlet near Peddock Island in Boston Harbor.  We anchored and had some lunch and read some magazines.  Very relaxing.   That night we felt like we had sun stroke so we had dinner at the 99 restaurant in Charlestown and then hit Target for some snacks and supplies – like a nice movie to watch that evening.  I have to say we fell asleep right away.

The next morning we hung out with our friends at the marina for a bit – they are called out below and affectionately called, the “Cast of Characters” (see below).  There were a bunch of people saying that the boats from the Volvo Ocean Race would be coming in that day around noon.  Donna and I didn’t know what that was but after a few questions, we were told that some big sailing race boats were coming into the harbor.  Well, they didn’t make it at noon, but some friends of ours did.   We got a call from our friends Paul and Betty Ann (Paul runs Reel Pursuit Charter Fishing and is docked next to us) and they had come to the marina for a visit – as Paul’s boat isn’t in the water yet.  Donna and I picked up Paul and Betty Ann and we then ventured back into a nice leisurely trip around Boston Harbor and Spectacle Island.  On the way back, around 4PM we saw the Ericsson 4 Sailboat come into the

harbor near Deer Island Light, which marked the end of the journey to Boston for these guys after a month or so at sea.  It was pretty amazing, they had 2 ‘protector’ boats around them, 2 Coast Guard boats and the MA State Police.  Once the boat got into Boston Harbor near Logan Airport the Boston Fire Boat lit off it’s hoses and gave them a real parade through the harbor.  There must have been 30 other boat around them as you can see in the photos.

We then headed back to the marina to call it a weekend after a tremendous day on the water.  We got back and for the 3rd straight time, I have been able to easily dock the boat, I think I am finally getting the hang of it.  We cleaned the boat down and sure enough it became a cast of characters evening.  We started out having a couple of cocktails and before you knew it, 2, became 3, became 4 and we were laughing and having a grand old time.  We even laid out a secret plan to ‘Jack Rabbit’

people that miss behave at the marina this year – more on that later, but don’t get caught miss behaving.  The other strange thing was it went from 88 degrees while the sun was up to about 40 degrees, it was freezing and here you can see Mike and I bundled up, float coats and blanket.  It finally got too cold and the next day was a work day so we buttoned up the boat, said good bye to our friends and we are looking forward to perhaps a nice Thursday evening cruise and another fun weekend next weekend.  That is all for now.

Posted by Captain SteveK

The ‘Cast of Characters’ from E Dock

Stevie - Dive In - NICE!

Ryan - Life Less Ordinary

Mike - no name - Working hard!

There will be more photo’s of the cast of characters as the summer rolls along so stay tuned, and thanks for all your comments and feedback.

Captain’s Blog – Stardate April 19, 2009

(Late post) – After not heading to the boat all day on Saturday for fear of rain, Donna and I went down and spent the day at the boat and marina on Sunday.  We cleaned her up – spic and span and she is REALLY ready for a great season.  We also spent some time getting caught up with some of our pals; Steve from Dive In and Ryan from Life Less Ordinary.  We had some drinks, dinner and spent the night on the boat.  The new mattress pad worked out super well so I thank the folks at Portland Boat Mattress.  I watched Miracle (for the 40th time) and fell asleep.  We woke up to a cold Monday – Patriots day but we had a nice time walking around Boston and going to the IMAX at the aquarium.

This weekend is supposed to be ROCKEN… 75 to 90 degrees all weekend.  Time for some boating.  Also, all the folks from the slips around us will be in so I am sure there will be some fun times.  Donna and I are also going to take the 37′ Cobalt out for a drive, just for fun and to dream…

Catch up with me after the weekend for an update on what happened and follow CaptainSteveK on Twitter for real time updates.

Posted by Captain SteveK

It is time and I am very excited. Dad is coming down from Maine on the early train and we are driving to Salem and launching the Donna Julie II. We will be brining the boat from Danvers to Boston into Constitution Marina.

Some times they say, an uneventful trip is a good trip and in this case it certainly was. We left the Danvers river at approximately 12:20 and made it to the slip at Constitution Marina by 2:30 – then it took me another 20 minutes to park – ha ha – I still need to get my parking act together. It was a good day on the water.

We did see one dive boat but other than that. Just a simple good day.

Looking forward to blogging all summer long about our adventures.

Okay, so I have gotten a lot of crap for not rounding out the end of our boating year. A lot of people have asked, “Where is the boat?”, “Did you take it out of the water?”… etc

The answer is yes, but not before one of the GREATEST boat rides ever of the summer. My sister, my wife and I made one last run to Stellwagon and let me tell you we saw some of the greatest marine life ever, including this HUGE Ocean Sunfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish). Here is Donna getting friendly with “Fred” as my sister affectionately named her / him / it…

As we got further out, we also saw a bunch of whales. In fact, my sister actually saw one jump out of the water and make the big splash while Donna and I were facing forward and missing the show. According to my sister anyway, the show was fantastic. We got pretty close to them as you can tell.
Donna also spotted a huge school of Tuna fish jumping which we weren’t as lucky to get so close too but it was amazing none the same.

We knew heading home that day, that we had one of the best days ever.

The next day Donna and I refueled the boat and headed North to Beverly where we would dock the boat one last time and our very good friends from East Coast Flight Craft would pick up the boat and store it for us over the winter.

Here is us getting ready to head North.

At least this is one guy I won’t miss this winter…

So that was our summer… It was OUTSTANDING. This winter we are really missing the boat.

Hence the title of this blog, Year End, Year Begin. What is it they say every “new year” “Out with the old, in with the new”? Well, you know what time it is? It is New England Boat Show time. That is right, January 12, to the 20th, the place where it all started a year ago is happening again.

My dad came up on Saturday and he and Donna and I walked around the show looking for that perfect vessel. We saw some interesting boats I will tell you.

Well, if you get a chance to make it to the show, maybe I will see you there. If not, I am sure I will see you in Boston Harbor – in April you can look for us, we can’t wait to get out there.

Oh, I also had a comment on one of my blogs from a guy in Florida who also owns a Cobalt. Thanks for the note. I will keep posting and hopefully people will keep reading.

Now it is time to sign up for my captains license…

Today I went out on the open seas with my friend Steve. I did not know this until today, however Steve is very famous. Steve has just been awarded a very prestigious award, from the Boston judges of news papers on his outstanding skills as a “witty dude”. Now, I have always known Steve to be witty, however, in this recent scare around identity theft, Steve came up with a very crafty title, in stead of “What’s in your wallet” (clever slogan from Capital One) Steve came up with “Who’s in your wallet!” I like that… but I digress…

Steve and I took a nice tour of the harbor of Boston and today I did something I had never done before. I went into Marina Bay, asked for a slip for lunch, parked and went to the restaurant and had a nice meal. I know, doesn’t sound like much but since my increase in driving confidence after my classes with Jim, I have a lot less fear about parking and going into places.

After our lunch, we toured around George’s Island and then back to the dock. Pretty easy trip today.

Tomorrow the weather looks fantastic! Updates to follow.

Okay, okay, I have no excuses – I have been severely slacking in my blogging duties. So here is the news.

Donna and I spent a few evenings on the “old” Donna Julie a few weeks ago and then a week ago Thursday, my dad came back down to Boston and we took the old Donna Julie to Beverly and upgraded to the new Cobalt 323 – the Donna Julie II. We had a GREAT day for the ride to and fro. We filled up the gas tanks when we got back – OUCH!

That Friday my family and Donna’s family went to Maine to pay our respects to my grandma who passed earlier this year. I think Nana would have loved this new boat. It is very comfortable for her to ride on.

On Saturday we took the boat for a real ride. It was a beautiful day and we went to Beverly to Cocktail Cove – a little place where a bunch of people hang out in their boats. We then headed even further north to Rockport where we got married and checked out our honeymoon house again. We brought my sister for a ride. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

On Sunday we took a bunch of Donna’s family out. Her Uncle Manny came, and her cousins Monica, Ryan and Ana all came out for a ride. It was rainy in the afternoon but cleared up just as we got out to the #2 Buoy. We had another great day.

The following weekend my mom came down on Friday and a good friend of mine and work colleague and I all went for a nice ride around Boston harbor. The next day Donna decided to do a yard sale so she missed a nice ride on the boat that my mom and I took again just out to the #2 buoy and hung out.

On Sunday it was rainy and we went to my ?great cousin’s? graduation party. It was a lot of fun. My cousin Eric informed me that I had dropped the ball on my blogging. Eric is also going in to the hospital to have some back surgery. I want to say here that I wish you all the best Eric and the minute you can hit the water – I am taking you for a day on the sea – anywhere you want to go. Get well soon cousin. And I will keep up the blogging.

Anywho – no sneaky trips down to the boat this week, I have been on the road all week. Four cities in 4 days. Looking forward to some nice boating this weekend. I will get pictures for the next one.

Happy reading everyone.
We will chat soon!

Great conditions as you can see.

Air Temperature: 78 Degrees
Water Temperature: 51 Degrees – wish I had my suit.

Donna and I took the day off and did some power lounging on our power boat. We had a great day – again!

We took a ride up to Gloucester and saw some more of the sites in the harbor. We also say some big fishing trawlers heading out to drag the ocean.

We also saw various other sites while in Gloucester – a nice old wooden boat being restored, the lobsterman coming in with a flock of sea gulls and a good samaritan towing someone in.

As we headed back to Boston Donna drove. She is really getting the hang of this whole captain thing and I am really getting used to relaxing.

We took some time and floated out in the open ocean and saw the sites. The Environmental Police came out and said “hi”. Two trips two boardings. We have some safe waters here in Boston.

I figured out how to use the GPS to tell me which course to follow. I knew I would figure it out.

During our ride, we confirmed the new arrival of the Donna Julie II. We are very excited for that.

We pulled into our slip at around 6:30, and again, we did a good job parking. Now that I am used to it, I am going to throw everything off with a bigger boat. Oh well. Practice, practice, practice.

Another great day on the water.

Tonight our house is being shown so Donna and I decided to go for a boat ride tonight. I asked Sebastian (dock master at Constitution Marina) when the fuel docs close, as we need some fuel now. He said basically they all close at 4:30 and it’s now 5:00. We decided to stay on the dock and have some dinner.

I walked up to the hotel and on the ground floor they have a sandwich shop. I got Donna and I a couple of sandwiches, some chips and some beverages. Donna met some new friends – the ducks. She decided to name them David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez (from the Red Sox because the ducks seem to follow each other everywhere).

We hung out on the boat, did a little cleaning, had some dinner and then took a walk around the docks and checked out the other boats. We met some new friends (people this time) on A-Dock. They were just hanging out like we were, having some food and drink and just loved being on the water. Their boat is called the “Bad Puppy II” and they have two very nice looking Boxers.

Donna and I went back to the boat, shut it up and then headed for home.

Tomorrow Captain Mike is coming down to do the 30 hour service and Friday we are heading up to East Coast Flightcraft to look at the 323 – I am very excited about this. I am also looking forward to going for a boat ride soon.

Until next time.