I remember it well.
Halloween, 1991, the date of the Perfect Storm.
My Grandmother had a house on the bay in Beach Haven West on the Jersey Shore, and to me, the weather at the shore was more important than the weather at home.
Cleaning up after a “Big One” was always a challenge. And besides, my boat, Daydream Believer, (I love The Monkees!) was innocently wintering on the side of the house, hopefully high enough to prevent her from floating down the street!
All ended ok, just the usual post-storm clean and fix-up needed.
Fast forward nine years to June of 2000.
Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book, The Perfect Storm, was made into a movie and released.
I was there on Opening Day and even got the movie poster from the lobby! I guess that there was something about both the story and my connection to storms along the East Coast that drew me in. I was not disappointed and promptly fell in love with Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was the home port of the Andrea Gail, the sword fishing boat that was the main storyline in the book.
I really wanted to visit there and see for myself the place where her trip began.
Fast-forward another twenty-one years and here we are, just a stone’s throw away from the port of Gloucester, the oldest fishing port in the United States. The fishing industry started here in the 1600’s and has been a mainstay of the area ever since. I can still taste the Gorton’s of Gloucester Fish Sticks that my mom made us every Friday when we were kids!
We are here at the Cape Ann Campsites for about a week visiting with my son Donny and his family. Donny, Hilary, Augustus, Adelaide and Eleanor, along with Mali the dog, and eight new baby chickens have been living here for about two weeks now, having just purchased their first home in Manchester-by-the Sea, one of the three main towns on Cape Ann. The other two are the aforementioned Gloucester, and the other is Rockport, which is situated out on the easternmost tip of Cape Ann.
The connection to the sea in these environs is so strong that you can taste it! Which we did on our first night here. Donny brought us to Woodman’s, a water-side seafood eatery that has been run by the same family for over a hundred years and is still thriving. USA Today has named it the “Best Seafood Shack in America”. A taste of their fare is all that is needed to see why. From the ubiquitous lobster rolls to the incredible battered and fried sea scallops, we were not disappointed and are eagerly awaiting a return voyage to them, but this time we may order smaller portions because there was no way to finish all of it!
The shipbuilding industry, while not as thriving as it once was back in the day, is still present here on Cape Ann. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will be sailing on the Ardelle, a schooner built here on the Cape by her owner and Captain, Harold Burnham. Harold is a Master Shipwright, and his family has been building classic Cape Ann ships for generations. It will be only us on the boat. Augustus, Adelaide, and Eleanor are starting three weeks of sailing lessons on Monday and my plan is to give them an exciting introduction to this sport.
We shall see!
