OJO ROJO
CHANGES our bunk and immediately fall asleep. My poor hubby Keith wasn't as lucky. . tied the pillowcase shut and left He .had it on deck — but kept thinking that the snake would somehow be able to squirm out of the case. So after an hour, he got up and put the pillowcase inside a garbage bag, tied it tight, and hung it off the side of Ojo Rojo. But snakebites play on your Keith's little biting bud- mind. After mulldy refused to hold still ing over that solufor a clear portrait. tion for an hour, the obviously freaked Keith still wasn't confident his captive snake couldn't escape. So he got back up and wired the bag shut! We were keeping the snake in hopes that a local could identify it in the morning. Alas, by the time I rolled out of bed the next day, Keith had already sent the snake to the bottom by adding a heavy wrench to the bag and dropping it in the drink. Keith didn't really want to kill the snake (not!), but he realized that if he let it go and it climbed up someone else's anchor chain, we would be blackballed from every anchorage on the coast. Word about the snakebite traveled quickly, so everybody asked about it on the morning net. I hadn't planned to say anything about it so as not to scare the wives, but there was no containing the story. Looking back at the incident, it was pretty funny. And I'm sure it was a rare occurrence. But it sure was nice to have the great support of all the wonderful people in the cruising community. — terry 01/15/13 Readers — If we're not mistaken, Bob
EARL CROCKER
The other kind of diapsids in Tenacatita Bay are crocodiles. Oddly enough, they don't seem too interested in biting humans.
Willmann, then of the Islander 37 Viva!, opened a sail bag in Mexico one morning and had a snake slither out. But it was many years ago. Interlude — Deerfoot 74 Kurt and Katie Braun New England Summer (Alameda) This year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary onboard Interlude. Despite our marriage, we joke that Katie is the ‘owner’, who tells the ‘captain’ where she wants to go. Capt Kurt decides if the proposed itinerary is feasible. If it is, he tells Katie, the only crew on the 74-ft boat, what to do. This year, the premenopausal ‘owner’ decided that she wanted to avoid the tropical heat of the Bahamas by heading up the Eastern seaboard of the United States to Maine, where she could feast on lobster. The captain had his own reasons for wanting to cruise New England. First, we had just completed a nine-month refit in Fort Lauderdale, so a good shakedown near repair facilities in the U.S. seemed prudent. Second, hurricane season was upon us, and the cooler waters north of Cape Cod tend to be safer during the summer than do the warmer waters to the south. Leaving the Bahamas in early June gave us a head start on the summer crowds of New England, and heading north as directly as weather permitted allowed us to avoid the dreadful heat of the East Coast summers. Weather detoured us to Charlestown, South Carolina, where we had an easy Customs clearance and pleasant one-week visit. Upon leaving, we headed offshore for the 2-4 knot Gulf Stream boost around Cape Hatteras and up the coast to Martha's Vineyard, which is just south of Cape Cod. It was explorer Bart Gosnold who, in 1602, reportedly named the island Martha's Vineyard after his eldest daughter and the wild grapes that grew on the island. Great Harbour, where the first white settlement was established in 1642, was renamed Edgartown to honor the new Royal heir apparent — who nonetheless died at the tender age of four. Under the leadership of Pastor Thomas Mayhew, the settlers dealt fairly with and respected the indigenous Wampanoag. In fact, it was after
the Wampanoags taught the settlers how to kill and render whales that the Vineyard became the global epicenter of the whaling industry. Whale oil and blubber lubed and fueled the early Industrial Revolution — until petroleum was discovered — and prompted surplus whaling ships to make a one-way trip to San Francisco hauling (18)49ers. The subsequent whale industry depression led to a halt on Martha Vineyard construction and renovation. The 'Vineyard' was eventually rediscovered by summer holiday makers — including several presidents — and preservationists. Cape Cod-style colonial architecture dominates, with showy structures sporting Greek Revival elements having been commissioned by whaling captains. The seafaring tradition is still strong on the island, with junior sailing camps in full swing using Optiand 420-class dinghies. The adults are into classic Shields, Herreshoff 12.5s and all manner of gaff-rigged catboats, as well as modern racing sloops. Club