Its been one of those summers. A lot of activity going on, a new puppy and the weather not always cooperating, there haven’t been a ton of days on the boat this summer. Kind of a bummer really. The 4th of July was fun, nice 4 days on

the boat but I think we could tell that after 4 days, little Diver couldn’t wait to get back on land.

We have also gone to dinner at the new harbor side restaurants, anchored at Peddock and relaxed some and gone out with family.

There has been some interesting sailing activity in the harbor this summer with all of the newness of South Boston.  This year we have also taken a few fishing trips on the Reel Pursuit which has been a ton of fun.  Our friends Brian and Jenny have had their twins Isaac and Phoebe and everyone is doing well.

The Dive Inn went on the Martha’s Vinyard shark tournament this year and they caught 3 dog fish and a 200lb Maco.  I am sure that was a great trip.  Wish I was there but while I thought I would have a lot of free time this summer, I haven’t had that yet.

Good news is we have been doing a lot of video.  We will be putting together some sort of compilation to show toward the end of the summer.

Good news is, Donna and I are on vacation this week so we are off to the boat today for a day or so, then the weekend, at least as long as the weather holds out.

The rain here in Boston has given us a slow start to the boating season this year.  However, this weekend should be good enough to kick it off with all of our friends down a the marina.  Also, this year we have a new addition to the family – Diver Dog!  She is AWESOME and we really hope she loves hangin on the boat.

We should also point out that as of right now the Boston Bruins are 1 game away from “winning” (need to say that like Charlie Sheen) their conference and going on to the Stanly Cup finals.  This year has been a good year as a ticket holder and we have seen some great games.  I do think they can take out Tampa but the next round will be hard.  This will be their fist trip to the big show in at least 20 years.  Lets hope they don’t disappoint.  Go B’s!

Every year we have a “theme party”.  This year was come as your favorite Gilligan’s Island cast away.  We had some great costumes.  Check em out.

Wow – What can I say?  I hate those guys who take forever to update their blogs but this season was a bit crazy.  I had a new job this boating season for a startup company and well, needless to say, seven trips to Israel later and it was tough to stay on top of the blog.  I used the time to be on the boat instead of write.  (The good news is we sold the company so I’ll be more up to date on the blog this season.)

Speaking of time on the boat, this summer was great.  Good weather and Donna’s family came to Boston for 2 weeks and we spend some great time on the boat. We also took the family fishing on Reel Pursuit charters with our good friend Captain Paul and the man of the hour was Donna’s cousin Cesar who caught a 36″ stripped bass.  We cooked it up and ate it and it was delicious!

We also did a lot of relaxing on the boat with the family.  Afternoons on the water, anchored and swimming.  It was all good fun.

With his anchor line now tangled and causing havoc, the guy in the 50′ SeaRay decided to cut his anchor line and high tail it out of dodge – only to leave the 3 rafted boats, now floating, uncontrollably, toward a number of other anchored boats.

It was at that moment Donna came up to the helm, turned on the blower switch and said “We are out of here!”.

Guys (and Gals), its ALL ABOUT BOATING SAFETY out there on the water.  Its not just you in your 50′ boat trying to show off, there are 100′s of other folks out just trying to have a good time.  Be cognizant of what is going on around you.  Just because you have a little $ doesn’t entitle you to anything out there on the water.  Think!  When traveling around a bunch of boats in an anchorage, it is obviously a no wake zone, so treat it as such.

This brings up another great story my dad sent to me which comes from Cape Town So. Africa.  I learned most all of my water skills from my Dad.  He is always making sure that you understand mother nature when your out on the water and be especially careful of marine wild life.  Donna and I love to go to Stellwagen and see the whales and sometimes, before you know it they can be pretty close.  This guy obviously got too close.

Now, I have to think that the whale did more than $5,000 worth of damage, but do you think this guy will ever get that close to marine wild life again?

My dad is actually coming to visit me tomorrow and we are going for a nice boat ride and I am looking forward to it.

Safe boating all you captains!

Captain Steve

It was a great day on the water.  We motored back to the dock and relaxed until the fireworks.  This year, just across from Constitution Marina there were a lot of fire works and very impressive.  Here is to another great 4th.

Captain Steve

]]> http://www.bostonboatingblog.com/another-great-july-4th/feed/ 0 http://www.bostonboatingblog.com/ss-massachusetts-ss-minnow/ http://www.bostonboatingblog.com/ss-massachusetts-ss-minnow/#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:14:19 +0000 Captain Steve http://www.bostonboatingblog.com/?p=525

The Massachusetts Whale Boat Strikes Ground

On July 3rd, Donna and I were headed out of the harbor for a wonderful boat ride.  The sea was flat, it was really hot and I couldn’t wait to get off shore.  It is usually about 10 to 15 degrees cooler off shore.  As we were headed out of the harbor there was a great deal of chatter on the VHF radio, by the Coast Guard, about boats needing to go slow out by Deer Island and the South Channel.  It seemed that a boat had run aground.  Now this isn’t new – a lot of sail boats, not familiar with the area run aground – Donna and I have seen it a few times.

However, this time, as we came around the corner to head out to sea we saw the whale watching boat The Massachusetts.

The boat had run around and ripped open a gash in the hull with 170+ people on board.  A number of people came over to the boat and helped all of the passengers off the boat.  From what I understand there were only a few injuries and everyone made it off.  Sea Tow also showed up and was able to keep the boat from completely sinking and help salvage the boat.

It is very bizarre that this happened.  This is a very well marked channel and even buoys all around that show there are rocks everywhere.  I also have to believe that a Capitan of  a whale watching boat who has been doing this for a while would know this.  I am looking forward to the story that comes out after this.

On our way it it definitely looked like the Massachusetts was going to make it into dry dock and not to the bottom of the ocean.

Capitan Steve

It has been an interesting season at the marina so far.  I believe I had mentioned that Tony and Kathy upgraded their boat at the end of last season.  Now I am not sure I’d call them empty nesters but their girls are out of the house and they love the water.  They spent the winter visiting their boat in NC and then brought the boat up to Boston this spring.  It is beautiful as you can see on one of our trips to Peddock Island this spring.  The boat is a Meridan and has a great deal of living space on it.

Additionally, not that I may have mentioned it, but our good friend Steve has also been telling us for YEARS he is going to upgrade his boat a Carver.  He has had his eye on a Post for some time now.

Also, Frank, in About Time also wants to do an upgrade.  We too are thinking about it.  We are spending some much time on it in the summer that it just makes more sense to have a bit more living space on the boat.

Frank has had some bites on his boat and has also found a boat that he likes so that may happen.

Steve showed up at the Marina the other night in his new 46 Post – Congrats! and was able to sell his Carver.  Also, Donna and I have been speaking with Dan (who we bought our first boat from) and he has a leftover 37 Colbalt that could be a good fit for Donna and I.

The next trick is – can we all still be near each other on E dock at the marina?  Stay tuned to find out more!

Toward the end of May the whole gang was finally back at the Marina and the season was shaping up to be a great one.  The weather forecasts for the summer weekends were looking good and it is going to be a fun relaxing summer.  We launched the boat in April just before I was scheduled to take a trip to London (canceled due to a silly volcano in Iceland) and then to Tel-Aviv.  As many of you may know I have a new job this summer (with not nearly all the perks = time off – as I had last summer).  I am working for a company called Storwize - they do real-time data compression and I am with my good friend there Ed Walsh (the guy in the bottom left hand picture) who is our CEO.  I digress.  Needless to say I have been doing  a bit more working this summer than boating but I am sure the end of the summer will see some catching up.  Donna’s family from Peru is coming this summer and we are very excited to take them for some boat rides.

In the spirit of getting caught up, I’ll have a few short posts here just to get us back on track.  Stay tuned!

Captain Steve