Living La Vida Loca

I admit it…Andrew and I have a touch of “ants in our pants” when it comes to travel. After a few weeks at home we both get a little twitchy and start looking for the next big adventure. We usually plan our excursions with some at-home time in between but somehow September and October this year is a travel blur we hadn’t really expected. We have ended up with a crazy patchwork of activities that – to the casual observer – might seem mismatched and a little strange, if not exhausting. A sailing trip on a schooner, an exploration of New England’s quaint seaboard, a Philadelphia conference speaking gig, and a South American home exchange in Columbia that will include some scuba diving. We’d planned some of these activities well in advance – and some just sort of “came up” to create a chain of events we are now calling our “planes, trains and automobiles” mish-mash with some time on the water thrown in! So I will try to capture the highlights here as this all unfolds.

Ship Ahoy! The Lovely Schooner Ladona

About a year ago, Andrew and I took a brief road trip through parts of New England ahead of a speaking engagement I had in Boston. We spent a few days in Rockland, Maine and found out about a sailing ship that cruises Penobscot Bay each summer – it sounded so great we booked it as soon as we got home. This bay is home to many small islands and tributaries and we planned our sail when the fall colors were supposed to be at their best. Well, the colors this year are a bit tardy, but our sailing experience was terrific!

The Schooner Ladona was christened in 1922. Elegantly designed by William Hand, she was originally commissioned as a private yacht, cruised the eastern seaboard, raced occasionally, and was much beloved by the Loring family that owned her. In the 1923 Bermuda Cup, she proved to be a great ocean racer and took first place in her class. During World War II, she served as a submarine patrol vessel with the U.S. Navy out of New York Harbor. In 1971, she was renovated as a sail-training vessel, then eventually entered the Maine Windjammer fleet and carried vacationing passengers up and down the coast of Maine. Forty years later and in need of repair, her exquisite design captured the hearts of Captain Noah and Jane Barnes. Over the course of two years and under their loving stewardship, Ladona was fully restored to her original yachting glory and name. And now, Captain Noah and his expanded crew sail the Ladona and another companion ship every summer and fall through the scenic Maine waters.

• 

• 

The ship carries up to 17 passengers, and handful of crew, the Captain, and a wonderful chef. Our cabin was small but very cozy, and aside from one bit of time when the weather was a little stormy, sleeping was great as the bay was calm and rocking was gentle.

Each morning after a hearty breakfast served in the galley by Chef Ana, all of us helped hoist the sails to work off the umpteen calories consumed…this was quite a spectacle and a fun team-building exercise!

• 

Each day we sailed for a few hours, had lunch on the deck, sailed for a few more hours, and then dropped anchor in a different small harbor. We were very lucky that the weather cooperated most days and we were able to sun, read, get to know our shipmates, nap some, and take in the beautiful scenery. Some of the guests even tried their hand at steering the ship (not me). There was one afternoon when it looked like we’d end up in the midst of a pretty nasty storm…Our captain – called “JR” – took this possibility very seriously (good thing) and I managed to capture a great picture of him ready for a wet onslaught…luckily we were able to dodge it thanks to his long history and expertise at sailing!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Once we dropped anchor each evening we gathered for a “sailing happy hour”, followed by a really nice plated dinner under a canopy that the crew set up so we could sit and gab as long as we had the energy. Conversations ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime…only once did a few people late one evening stray into the political realm – Andrew and I opted out of that quagmire and retired early.

The small harbors we stopped at each were a gateway to a quaint and very small village that we walked through for a little sightseeing and to stretch our legs. We visited a couple of lighthouses, stopped by a neighborhood farmer’s market, and watched the incredible amount of lobster “traffic” coming into an island operation.

• 

• 

• 

The last night of our trip was by far the most memorable. We spotted a lobster trap floating near our ship in the afternoon and learned that it contained our dinner!

We were brought by motorboat to a lovely beach where the crew built a fire and cooked a pot full of fresh lobster and corn – topped with seaweed to keep the critters from crawling out (sorry to the vegans in our midst who may find this a bit creepy)…and what a feast it was! We got a lesson on how to crack and eat a whole lobster – quite a messy affair – but the drawn butter made it all worthwhile. Dessert was a New England version of s’mores – a soft wafer (baked beachside) slathered with peanut butter, filled with a chocolate slab and toasted marshmellow…Yummmmmm!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Overall, this sailing adventure was a lot of fun – very different than anything we’d ever done before. We met some really nice people from very different parts of the country, saw a maritime way of life that we might not otherwise have experienced, and – most of all – saw some beautiful sunsets as the backdrop to the special gem of the sea we got to spend time on.

Until next time…

Esther