Back on Solid Ground

What I first mistook for a castle turned out to be
a giant grain elevator across the river from Ogdensburg.

After our eleven-day voyage up the eastern seaboard around the tip of Nova Scotia and into the St. Lawrence, our sleepy vessel pulled into Ogdensburg, NY.

Yes, there were adventures. An emergency stop in Gaspe Bay, Quebec, and an illicit greeting of a friend in Montreal; high seas, bitter cold and a whole boat-full of sick crewmembers. But we made it.

I've rarely been so glad to see land. Even Ogdensburg, this town of 11,000 inhabitants, is a welcome refuge from the relentless days of transit. I was asleep below but apparently there were crowds to greet us.

Just before dinner Captain Flash headed off on her two-week hiatus, leaving us in the command of Captain Dashing. I've been at a low point mentally in terms of my experience on the Marlin. This will be obvious in the back-posts.

I threw together a pot pie with the leftover chicken and an onion tart for Eve, because we were invited to a reception at the local marina. We were quite a sight, dragging ourselves, bone-tired, bedraggled, unshowered, up to the marina and hob-nobbing with the locals.

On Sunday I will have the day off. I'm hoping for sun - and plan to find a park to just lay down in the grass and read Moby Dick. I'll be back-posting a few notes from our days at sea over the next few days - this is just to pop my head up and say that we're all alive and back on solid ground... Well, part of the time anyway.



Thursday's Menu
Breakfast
Red pepper frittata, and date nut bread leftover from the night before
Lunch
Wraps with hummous and ham-n-cheese-n-roasted bell pepper spread; curried egg salad
Dinner
Chicken pot pie
Alsatian onion tart