Vomit

P-Town (Provincetown) was the perfect place to settle for three days while we prepared for our first overnight ocean passage as cruisers.  We hit the ‘everything’ store three times, the grocery store twice, the beach twice, the post office, and the beautiful winding bike path aptly named, “Provinceland.”  The laundromat was rated poorly so I just washed a few things onboard in our awesome Yeti bag.  Michael set up tracking on our website under ‘location,’ and our Iridium GO satellite phone is officially up and running.  As recommended by all the books, I pre-cooked meals and packaged them into easy grab and go portions.  I even made blueberry muffins.

Then we checked the weather for the zillionth time, readied the life jackets and tethers, deflated the paddleboards, readied the fishing gear, and stowed away everything.

We said a heartfelt good-bye to our seal friends and unhooked the anchor.

Little did I know neither of us would be able to eat at all until the twentieth hour of our twenty-four hour passage. Almost everybody gets seasick, including us.  I had been more susceptible which led me to try a Scopolamine patch.  It worked very well, but I still puked.  Michael did not fare as well.  He turned such an odd shade of green around 8 pm that it was a good thing we had planned for me to have the first night watch.   So what went wrong? Well, nothing did really.  The wind was perfect, steady on the beam at 18 to 27 knots SSE and Gerty was happy.  The ocean swells were quite big, but we think it was the confused seas that made us seasick. Current against wind likely was a contributing factor.  Of Course, we checked the currents before departure but didn’t focus on open ocean currents so much. Admittedly, this was probably my fault because my highest priority was to sail over Stellwagen Bank, increasing our chances of seeing a whale up close. 

We didn’t see a whale.  It was cold and grey and utterly nauseating the entire way, but boy was it an adventure!  Nothing broke and no-one got seriously hurt – so a total sucess.

We made it safely to Little Cranberry Island. The sun came out, the hazards were less serious, and the scenery was spectacular. We made it to Maine.

This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Loved your newsy blog. Impressed most by blueberry muffins sneakers photos signs (you’re both too skinny). Father’s Day dinner with Bonnie at Shores tonight. Dinner with Curtis for Nancy’s 80th on Thursday at Mason Blanche. Sea Wall done… now repairing landscape. Kayla’s virtual graduation was fun. Boys got their junk food. Keep those cards and letters coming. Love, M&J

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  2. Congrats on your first offshore overnight passage! Thanks for the multi-purpose yeti bag aka washing machine tip.

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  5. Congratulations on your first overnight ocean passage- you guys look happy. In addition to your smiles, I love seeing the quaint signs and the flowering lupine.

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  7. At least you don’t have black flies and mosquitoes at sea, right? Looks like you’re in a nice spot now. Get some lobster and steamers. Good for the tummy.

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  8. Wait a second, you puked on the first night of a year long trip at sea???? Am I missing something? This doesn’t seem right. Well, at least you look fabulous. :). Pigtails are adorable and those signs are hysterical! Like your mom, have to say, I am glad I wasn’t on board but if there is a way to ship some of those muffins to Atlanta I will take 4…please. Miss you already. Please stay safe. Oh, and I love you.

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