A Look at Provincetown    In the previous posting we had a lot of background in regard to Provincetown and Cape Cod, including views of the town itself. Here we'll take an additional look at what there is to see. The odd thing about a place like this is that there's actually "little to see", and I mean that in terms of attractions. In Newport, you have a selection of mansions, and could go to one a day if you wanted to. You have the colonial center, with a number of stops you can make. And you have the fort. Provincetown has none of that. The only specific attraction here would be the Pilgrim Monument, with its museum. Otherwise, the draw of Provincetown is the ensemble, the entirety of the experience, and the more one knows about its unique background the more one will enjoy it. On the other hand, probably most visitors don't know about its unique background and manage to enjoy it on that level as well.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Provincetown_map.png

As we take another look around town, our usual Provincetown map will be helpful, despite it covering just the center of town. We know that (1) the former Lewis Wharf (Provincetown Players, Eugene O'Neill) and the former Tennessee Williams house are WAY out in the East End of town; (2) that the Pilgrims' First Landing Park and the access to Long Point are WAY out in the West End of town; and (3) that Conwell Street is one of two roads that lead out into the CCNS, including the Province Lands Visitor Center, the airport, and to the Atlantic beaches, all of which we can confirm on the below link to what we're calling the Greater Provincetown map:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/NPS_cape-cod-map.pdf

Pilgrim Monument    Tho we've seen a number of views of town, let's see a few more. We've seen how its most visible landmark, the tower of the Pilgrim Monument, can be seen from all directions, even over the dunes. Here's a view of the Pilgrim Monument (Photo by Argos'Dad) from within the town, just to the west of Cabral (and also MacMillan) Pier. It totally overwhelms the town, even if it does offer good views. Click to note that the beaches continue all along the town's edge.

The Pilgrim Monument was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate both the first landfall and the signing of the Mayflower Compact. The tower is a campanile (tho without a bell), that was derided at the time as being not Yankee enough and too Italian. A Boston architect said in the Boston Daily Globe in 1907 "If all they want is an architectural curiosity, then why not select the Leaning Tower of Pisa and be done with it?" But it's now an accepted part of town. It's the tallest all-granite structure in the US at 77 m (253 ft) and stands on top of High Pole Hill (click; also, see map), which adds 26 m (85 ft). This is the interior of the tower (Photo by Groov3) showing some of the 60 ramps used to climb most of the way up. There are, in addition, 116 steps at the bottom and at the top. I've climbed the tower twice, and walking up ramps is easier than just climbing steps, believe me. I find it interesting how the warm woodwork is counterbalanced by the cold granite walls, both of which follow you all the way up--and all the way down.

We also have an excellent aerial view (Photo by CucombreLibre) of the tower and its neighborhood. Virtually the whole town is within the Provincetown Historic District. Click to inspect more closely the tower and High Pole Hill. We saw pictures in the last posting of the former Rail Depot, one taken down from the hill, and one including it in the background. The station would have been in that open area in shadow on the center left of the picture. You get a good sense of the look of the town from here, but the eye is immediately drawn to the harbor. The tower is mostly blocking Cabral Pier, the one with the Portuguese-American women's pictures. You see the huge parking lot on the water between the piers—compare it with the town map. And you see how busy MacMillan Pier is.

MacMillan Pier    On any given day, MacMillan Pier accommodates 11 ferry trips carrying over 5,000 passengers, five whale-watch vessels each running up to three trips a day with a total capacity of 3,600 passengers, the town's commercial fishing fleet of 55 vessels, and many other excursion and visiting vessels such as cruise ships like ours.

On the far right is a blue-roofed round pavilion, used as a waiting room for the two ferries to Boston (there is also a ferry across the Bay to Plymouth). The pier has a perpendicular area at the far end shaped like a T, where, on the current trip, the American Constitution is docked. You also see the breakwater that protects the harbor. Don't forget to realize a spectacular thing you also see here, which I like to call the Great Spiral: Long Point with its lighthouse is on the right, and the land spirals around to where we are, then continues down the peninsula on the left, certainly to Truro, and possibly as far as Wellfleet. Fantastic geography here. Where else can you be in the midst of a natural spiral?

This similar view from the tower includes both piers (Photo by RoySmith), with the addition of the coast guard pier on the far right, which can also be seen on the Greater Provincetown map. Click to see the white ferry arriving at the pavilion on MacMillan Pier.

We also have a closeup of MacMillan Pier (or Wharf) and its breakwater (Photo by ToddC4176). Click to see that the left side is for traffic, and the right is a pedestrian walkway. The two are separated by a number of booths. Some sell tickets, but may are craft booths, and it shortens the long walk to peek into them and see what they're selling. This picture was taken in 2005, and evidently the blue-roofed round pavilion for the ferries was not yet built then.

The Pier stretches a lengthy 442 m (1,450 ft), which is as long as the Empire State Building is high. In many ways it's the real heart of town, and is certainly its chief gateway. Donald MacMillan was an Arctic explorer who made numerous trips to the Arctic. He was born in Provincetown, retired there, and is buried there.

Orient yourself on that previous picture to where those cars are parked on the Pier, with the gray building in the distance, and you'll directly understand where we are in this picture (Photo by Giorgio Galeotti). Click here to see that we're looking outward, and that those ticket booths are on the right, tho I see no craft booths in this stretch. Finally, we have this unusual panorama (Photo by Brian Snelson), also on the east side of MacMillan Pier. It consists of eight photos stitched together to yield this surreal view, looking both up and down the length of the Pier (click and pan). The left view will look familiar, since we saw something similar on the last posting. The second building from the left is the Lobster Pot, and the blue-and-white building is Pepe's Wharf. But between them on Commercial Street is a huge building, which surely has to be a church, right? Well, not any more.

Commercial Street    That building, visible from all directions, was indeed once a church. On our map, find its location on the north side of Commercial between Center and Johnson, not that far from the Pier.

Named after Center Street, it was once the Center Methodist Episcopal Church. When it was built in 1860, it was supposedly the largest Methodist Church in the US and could seat 900 people in its 128 pews. But times change, people move on, and in 1958 the Methodist congregation sold the building. After living several other lives, in 2005 it became the stately home of the Provincetown Public Library (Photo by Kenenth [sic] C Zirkel). Since the Library and my B&B were on the same block, I would usually pass it every day, unusually set back as it is from Commercial by its lawn.

We've seen pictures of all sorts on Commercial Street. Now let's look at some of its buildings, which—no surprise—are mostly commercial. They are mostly of Yankee heritage. Some merchants keep them pretty much looking that way, while other merchants prefer a psychedelic look. We'll move from east to west. Like the library at #356, all the following buildings are on the north side of Commercial—it just worked out that way.

It's also quite unusual that I happened to come across this next picture. On the east "point" of my block, that is, the corner of Johnson and Commercial, are these buildings sporting a traditional look (Photo by Andreas Faessler). Not shown to the right is the corner building, the Kobalt Gallery, one of the many art galleries in town. #364 houses a gift shop and another art gallery; the next miniscule building is a convenience store; and Mad as a Hatter sells hats. The garden on the left belongs to a residence, unusual on Commercial Street, and following is the lawn of the Library. This cluster is architecturally about as typically Yankee as you'll get.

Now on our map, let's move two blocks west to Standish, the extension of the Pier. About a half-block west of Standish is this somewhat funkier scene (Photo by Andreas Faessler). #294 on the right is sedate enough, but then the bright, garish colors take over. I call it the "now" overlaid on the "then". About three-quarters into the block is this scene, at #286, which couldn't be funkier (Photo by Elmschrat Coaching38).

Finally, there are a number of stately historic houses, some of which belonged to sea captains, which have been converted into B&Bs. The one I found a picture of is the White Wind Inn (Photo by Elisa.rolle) at #174 Commercial at Winthrop (see map). With that Mansard roof, it's definitely Second Empire. My B&B is also historic (1858), was a ship captain's house, and has a Mansard roof, but I cannot confirm that it's Second Empire—it might be.

Earlier Visits    My four visits to Provincetown have been in 1969, 1975, 2009, and 2019. The first two were the quickie visits I've mentioned in passing, the last two instead savored the ensemble of the town much more. Here's our MA map again to follow the routes described:

http://www.vidiani.com/maps/maps_of_north_america/maps_of_usa/massachusetts_state/large_detailed_roads_and_highways_map_of_massachusetts_state_with_all_cities.jpg

1969    This was the first of our big, all-summer VW Camper trips, a tour of the entire East, so visits tended to be short. On July 2, coming off the ferry from Martha's Vineyard, we drove to Hyannis, where we saw the Kennedy Memorial, and overnighted. On July 3 we stopped at the First Encounter Beach on the way to Provincetown, for a fleeting in-town visit of a few hours. We saw at the Provincetown Players site, climbed the Pilgrim Monument and visited its museum, and saw at the Pilgrims' First Landing Park. We then stopped at the CCNS, for the Visitor Center in Eastham and the Marconi Station, then visited Sandwich on the way to Plymouth, where we overnighted. On July 4 we saw Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower replica, and other sites, then visited Plimoth Plantation, then moved up to Quincy MA. We really moved along then.

1975    Six years later, we move from an extended trip to a very brief trip, probably the shortest we ever took. This was the only time in memory that, while we were still teaching, we took a weekend getaway; it was for the three-day Columbus Day weekend that year, October 3-4-5, and I remember it fondly. I mentioned this in the last posting when I said we stopped at the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River coming back from a weekend getaway to Cape Cod; this will fill in that time period. We left right after work on Friday and were in Hyannis in four hours, where we stayed both nights. One unique point about this short trip was that it was off-season, with cooler weather, fewer visitors, and fewer accommodation and dining possibilities. In the last posting I said: I have very fond memories of walking a lonely seaside trail in the National Seashore, and collecting fresh cranberries at the side of the road, which Beverly later made into cranberry muffins. These memories remain with me.

On Saturday, we stopped at the Kennedy Memorial again, and also visited the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. It was fun to stop at a cranberry bog to watch where they were doing a, "dry" harvest of cranberries. We went on to Chatham, Eastham, and the CCNS for that walk on the lonely trail. All we did in Provincetown was to drive down Commercial Street, and past the Provincetown Playhouse site again.

On Sunday we drove along the Bay in West Barnstable which is where we furtively picked a handful of cranberries in a roadside cranberry bog. That the berries were not store-bought made the muffins special. We made several stops in Sandwich, including the Sandwich Glass Museum.

2009    We then jump a huge 34 years to my first solo trip to the area, this time directly to Provincetown, where I stayed for seven nights starting September 15. It was the trip that the present one was modeled after, except the present one had the addition of the cruise.

On the 15th I took the Acela to Boston, but out of South Station, walked instead south to South Boston where I took the Bay State Cruise Company ferry to Provincetown. I stayed at what was then Dexter's Inn at 6 Conwell Street, just above Railroad Avenue, and a block north of my present B&B, but times change, and it's now the Salt House Inn. I had dinner at Sal's Place in the West End near the Coast Guard Pier. It was so-so, and now I see it's permanently closed, so it's not a big loss.

On the 16th, friends Art & Jeannine, a couple I knew from Florida who were staying in Chatham came for lunch. It was, I believe, the only time I'd ever gotten together with friends where we'd both come from out of town to a common location. Later I climbed the Pilgrim Monument—tho I knew it was familiar, I didn't remember having done it earlier. It's what happens when one has climbed numerous lighthouses, and other towers like the Bunker Hill Monument—they all become a blur in one's memory. I had dinner at Napi's, including some Portuguese food, but I didn't specify what in the travel diary.

I did something "backwards" on the 17th. When visitors drive to the Cape, they always enter at the Upper Cape and cross the canal. They then go downcape, possibly all the way to Provincetown. I reversed that. I rented a car and started out by going upcape—actually, all the way to Plymouth. What I was doing was what the exploration party of the Plymouth settlers did, except they did it by water around the edge of the Bay, and I did it on land.

Provincetown is small, and to my surprise, there is—still--no car rental agency in town. The good news is that there's one at the airport, and the better news, it's Enterprise, which I've always liked because they'll pick you up and drop you off. Ideal! But the bad news is that this one is so small that they don't include a pick-up service. I had to take a taxi to get the car, and, when I returned it at the end of the same day, needed a taxi to get back to the inn. It's only six minutes, especially since the inn was right on Conwell Street, the road that leads to the airport, but it seems odd that, you'd think that the hoards of carless people coming in by ferry would trump the few flying in and that the agency would be in town. But maybe it's a parking problem. Or, the fact that those flying in might have deeper pockets to rent a car than those coming by ferry, including backpackers.

It was an exhilarating contrast first being carless, then having one for the day. I zipped out to the Herring Cove Beach area just to experience the West End. But then I made the usual short stops in the Outer Cape before visiting Chatham (Photo by Ahodges7) to see the landmarked former rail station on the Chatham branch of the Old Colony Line (Photo by Thomas Kelley). The museum was, however, not open at the time. This was the Chatham Station c1910, with appropriate horse-and-buggy and automobile (!) transportation, as well as the outfits people are wearing. It has the usual garish colorized post-card colors.

This was the time I rode along the sides of the Cape Cod Canal to experience it, since I never thought I'd ever be on a ship going thru it. I then went on to Plymouth, where I saw the Rock and Mayflower replica, which I thought then was possibly for the first time. Provincetown to Plymouth is about a 90-minute drive without the stops and with good traffic, which I had. It's 122 km (76 mi) by car, and, as the crow flies—or by boat, as the explorer party did back in the day when it returned--42 km (26 mi).

From the 18-21, I "vacationed", writing and reading. I had dinner four times at The Mews, obviously a real favorite. On the 22nd I took the ferry back to South Boston, and Acela back to NYC.

Travel versus Vacationing    I've made this distinction before, and have had some feedback from a friend that it's not a valid distinction, but I feel strongly that it is. Other than for business trips, or visiting family or friends, when many people go on a trip, they call it a "vacation" no matter what they're doing. But most of the time when I leave home to do elective travel (I like that term), I'm doing "academic" travel, and only sometimes do I vacation. This to me is a kind of academic work-study in the most enjoyable sense, learning and studying history, geography, art, architecture, and much more. It's intense, and fills the day. On the other hand, vacationing to me involves doing little or nothing. It's a period of indolence, sitting on a beach or around a pool. For some (not me), it includes sports. (Of course, it's possible to blend travel for work, family/friends, intellectual stimulation, and indolence, but let's keep this simple for the sake of discussion.)

I see traveling as a drawing to a destination--you're forced to leave home in order to experience another location. I see vacationing as the exact opposite—you "vacate" your home and workplace just to get away.

Take the recent Paris trip as an example. It was pure academic travel, and also hard (but fun) work, getting up early every day to run around Paris to get the maximum benefit. Even the canal boat trip on the Luciole was filled every day with interesting excursions. On the other hand, when I've gone to Fire Island for a few days, it's a vacation, sitting around the pool, socializing, essentially getting little accomplished (tho I keep writing every day, anyway).

On the above 2009 trip, the Cape drive was a travel day. The day before was half-and-half, with climbing the tower being part of traveling. But those last several days were pure indolent vacationing.

So now we come to the current 2019 trip to Provincetown. The cruise before was traveling—just think of Boston, Portland, finding out about that fire that destroyed much of Bar Harbor, the Rockland museum and shore dinner, the non-stop in Gloucester but that included the background of art and Captains Courageous, the Cape Cod Canal, Newport. Then it came to decide on Provincetown.

The day there was the last scheduled stop on the ship, which then went back to Boston. But afterward, I planned to come back to replicate the 2009 trip ten years earlier, just relaxing for four additional nights, and this became a period of vacationing. I researched carefully and found a B&B that seemed outstanding, tho a bit pricey, yet it had a lot to offer. When I told other passengers on the ship after our day in town that I was coming for four more nights, they asked why I just didn't stay and not go back to Boston. Other than the fact that I did want to finish my cruise with the one additional day's room and board I'd paid for, I'm sure it wouldn't have been possible. I'm sure the ferry companies have exclusive rights for intercity transport, and that a cruise company has only visiting rights, not ferrying rights. Anyway, the time difference between the 1 day plus the 4 days in Provincetown becoming 5 days was just a matter of hours, most of which was sleep time. And then I didn't want to miss that spectacular arrival by ferry where you get to spot the tower over Long Point. So, from the point the American Constitution that had docked in the middle of the night at the end of MacMillan Pier, a great travel experience morphed into a great vacation experience.

Visiting Provincetown, 2019    We left off the narrative in the dark of night, leaving Newport and then having crossed back thru the Cape Cod Canal and sailing across Cape Cod Bay in blackness (I'm so glad that outbound we did both during the day). Also in the dark, we docked sometime in the wee hours at the top of that T perpendicular to the end of MacMillan Pier.

Day 11 – Su Ju 16 - Provincetown I    My first day in town was still as a ship passenger, after which I'd be free and on my own. But announced as taking place at 9:30, after breakfast, was a complimentary "Provincetown Trolley Tour" of town.

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I gritted my teeth, but went along with it, fully knowing they meant we'd be on a trolley-replica bus (first link), with the usual hard wooden seats (second link) that cause Sitzfleisch, as tho they were trying to make passengers suffer as the Victorians had. Beyond that, I was wary. What could they possibly show people, since there was "nothing to see"? Not the Pilgrim Monument, First Landing Park, Provincetown Players site (they showed none of those). What could they show, Commercial Street? You get to see that right off MacMillan Pier, and it's best to walk that area, anyway. What I visualized, given that Commercial is one-way, is that they'd drive down the west part of Commercial, come back on Bradford, then drive the east part of Commercial (see Greater Provincetown map). It would be a short trip, especially, since I'm positive they're not allowed to stop on Commercial. So I gave it a try. It turned out to be the only irksome experience I'd have in town.

At least the buses had pulled up onto MacMillan Pier and right next to the ship. As opposed to where I'd sat in Portland, this time I sat directly behind the driver with the guide next to him, to make sure I followed what he had to say above the noise. We started as expected, making a left onto Commercial (Photo by Harvey Barrison). This picture is in the first block after the turn. You can see here why Commercial is one-way--the No Parking sign states the obvious.

It's SO much more beneficial to walk down Commercial. All the guide could do was point out a few odd things. At the end of Commercial, he talked a little about the beach, but he didn't turn back down Bradford as I'd expected. Instead, we continued into the woods of the CCNS on Province Lands Road (see Greater Provincetown map). Here, one tree looked like the next. We pulled into a parking lot and to my astonishment, the guide announced we'd be here for a half hour, and could walk down the hill to the Visitors' Center. This is the "fat" they were adding to fill out the time in our tour of what was supposed to be Provincetown, where they couldn't make any stops. I was livid that he was stealing a half-hour from my life that I'd never get back. I stood up and asked him "You mean we're going to SIT here for a half-hour?" and he nodded dumbly. Sure enough, as it turned out, about a third of those on the bus just sat there for the half-hour as I did, building up more Sitzfleisch. We then worked our way down on Race Point Road to Conwell, then made a left onto Commercial again to see a bit—not all--of the East End before pulling back up to the ship.

But that was only half of what bothered me. Earlier, as we'd driven in the woods past Herring Cove Beach, we passed some bicycles left at the start of a side trail down to the beach. This is the point where the guide, sounding like a lascivious lecher, pointed out that people go down to that beach to be . . . NAKED!!! When we got back to the ship, I went up to him and said that if he'd ever gone to a clothing-optional beach to enjoy himself, he wouldn't have presented it the negative way he did. But I doubt that my point registered with him.

After that bus ride, it was lunch time on the ship, and in the afternoon, I was finally on my own to do what I'd been planning for months.

https://www.carpediemguesthouse.com/sites/default/files/map.png

I'd looked up potential accommodations in town very carefully, and to my mind, one venue stood out, the Carpe Diem Guesthouse and Spa (CDGH), located as we've said and as the above detailed map shows, on Johnson at Bradford, one block up from Commercial, and on the same block as the Library. I'm always interested in cozy places to stay during a trip, and for one that's a laze-around vacation-type trip, the venue is even more important. I'd written months earlier to confirm that the spa area was indeed clothing-optional, which was very important to me, and had additional questions, including about massages, which I was also interested in, and so via email I got to know Eddy, who'd been the manager for over ten years.

Even tho I'd be checking in tomorrow on my return by ferry, I wanted to do a pre-visit with Eddy today, since I had plenty of time and wanted to be familiar with my surroundings. He'd said in earlier emails that one of the two buildings that, with the spa, form the Guesthouse compound was historic, and as a history buff, he was interested in the fact that I was interested. I wasn't sure if he'd gotten the most recent email I'd sent saying I was stopping in early, but when I got there, he was happy to show me around, and gave me a complete tour of the compound in advance.

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I'll wait until we check in tomorrow to give many more details about Carpe Diem, but for now, I just want to show one room. Above is the scene on entering the CDGH via the regular, non-historic building. The website refers to it as the Walt Whitman common room, that serves as the lobby. Every guest room at CDGH is named after a gay icon, most of them literary. I suppose they ran out of rooms when they wanted to name something after Walt Whitman, but there's no sign, and I suspect many people don't realize who the room is dedicated to, more's the pity. To the left of the camera is a fine fireplace, which must be nice in cooler weather. Behind the camera is the reception desk and office, but one thing I find most important is over on the right, the complimentary port and sherry. Here's a detailed view:

https://www.carpediemguesthouse.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/ww2photo.jpg?itok=3qcCGw9O

It's the little things that count. I can tell you just which B&Bs I've stayed in that have a plate of complimentary warm cookies available, and those that have complimentary liqueurs or port-and-sherry. It's a nice touch. I had to wait a bit until Eddy was ready for the tour, so I indulged in some port, which I love, and also took some sherry, because it was there (the mountain climbers' excuse). Later Eddy confided that they get both fortified wines on special order. Quality will out.

After the tour, I strolled for a while along Commercial Street, both east and west of Standish Street, which is the one that extends from MacMillan Pier at the main intersection in town. I've said I rarely shop when traveling, but did buy three T-shirts on this trip. Well in Provincetown, I saw a fourth one that just screamed "Buy me", and so I did. It's my favorite. It's pale blue, and has a black map of Cape Cod across the chest—and I love maps. But the whole Provincetown/Truro end of the cape is multicolored, and above the map it says: JUST THE TIP – PROVINCETOWN. I wore it regularly over the next days (as well as at home later), and repeatedly got comments about it, more than any other T-shirt. As I recall, someone even stopped me on the street to say how they admired it. What fun.

The Captain    But quite frankly, there was nothing much else to do in town, which is why I consider it a vacation town, lacking few specific travel attractions, so I went back on the ship. And that afternoon I finally met the Captain! Listed on the morning bulletin as scheduled for the afternoon were two sessions of a visit to the pilot house, and I'd signed up for the first, right after lunch. He was very nice and personable, and the hour flew by. He explained about the pods below the ship that propel it, and most memorably for me, indicated the duplication of how the ship is run. On the front desk and console, everything was doubled, the lever controlling motion, the readout screens, and anything else. He explained if one set of controls failed, the other can be used, and as a further backup, there were piles of nautical charts nearby to do old-school navigation. He never did explain the changes in itinerary (Rockland, Gloucester, New Bedford), and I didn't take it upon myself to ask. Altogether a very pleasant interlude.

But I do get suspicious. Why was this being held today, the very last day on the ship? There were plenty of other afternoons in ports when it could have been done. And there was more. Later in the afternoon, I went as usual to the happy hour at one of the two lounges where it was held, and then went to dinner. Only when I looked at the bulletin board after dinner did I see that, all of a sudden, the happy hour was being referred to as the "Captain's Reception" and dinner as the "Captain's Farewell Dinner", neither of which had been on the morning bulletin. Apparently he did show up at a happy hour, and did show his face in the dining room, tho I didn't see him either time. Why was there all this suspicious Captain-related activity on the very last day? Had he been pressured to be more hands-on with the passengers before it was too late? We'll never know.

Gig Economy    I came across one other disappointing thing about the ship. The staff was very good and efficient, in the dining room, at happy hours in the lounges, in the rooms, and were pretty-much uniformly twenty-somethings. I enjoyed talking to one in particular, Ike (Isaac), and, as time passed, always sat at one of his tables for meals. He was the one who came up to our table in Newport and cracked the lobsters if we wanted him to, and he was the one I was sure to say goodbye to after the last breakfast.

At dinner one time, maybe this last day, maybe a day or two earlier, I asked him about himself and if he was planning on making a career with food service with American Cruise Lines. And that's when I found out about their hiring practices. I'd heard about the gig economy, but didn't expect to come across it here. He said the staff was considered independent contractors, and hired for a limited time only. That way, of course, the company doesn't have to provide benefits. He said with ACL, workers used to be limited to 16 weeks, but that had been raised to 28 weeks of employment, after which they were forbidden—he used the word "forbidden"--to apply for the same job again. (Maybe a different job?) It was easier for ACL to hire new people and train them after not rehiring the previous staff. How are these young people to build a career after staying on is verboten? Perhaps with another line, but then they get bounced around again and again without benefits and without building up any equity. I know international cruise lines hire foreign nationals who'll accept lower pay, but lines serving the US are required to hire Americans, who expect American pay rates. ACL saves money and doesn't have to charge passengers as much as they would have otherwise. But is it really worth it?

Just as we'd arrived in Provincetown from Newport via the Canal in the dark, like thieves in the night, we departed the same way, stealthily at midnight while we were sleeping, not being able to enjoy seeing the harbor views. But I lie. We didn't sail at midnight, but at 11:59 PM, also known as 23:59. And that wasn't an accident. Tho parts of the schedule had been altered, this last stop before Boston had been scheduled for 11:59 from the beginning. Why?

I'm sure it's because our daily dockage fee must have run to that time, and we'd wanted to sail at, say, 3:00, since Boston isn't that far, as of midnight we'd have had to pay dockage for another day, so we should admire ACL for sensible frugality in this case.

Day 12 - M Ju 17 - Charlestown/Boston - Provincetown II    They must have "dragged their feet" to get to Boston, since Provincetown was already at the north exit to Cape Cod Bay, so we just had to cross Massachusetts Bay, plus Boston Harbor. Which means we woke up already docked back in Charlestown, not having enjoyed a "triumphal" entrance into Boston. But we had had a stupendous harbor experience when we left Boston in the beginning, so no harm, no foul. And anyway, I'd be having my own additional exit and entrance to Boston harbor again on the ferry.

I successfully altered my plan. The ferry leaves Boston at 9 AM and again at 2 PM. When I booked online and printed out my ticket, I was cautious and booked the afternoon trip, thinking the morning trip would be cutting it too close. But could I change it to avoid sitting around on Long Wharf for hours?

We were told we'd docked at 6:00, and final breakfast was from 6:30 to 8:00. I'd gotten up and had had breakfast very early—unusual for me--and walked off the ship at 7:15. Would I make it to exchange my ticket for the morning sailing? That golf cart came back at the bottom of the gangway by 7:30, and took me two piers away, and I walked the third pier, as earlier. I got the 7:45 ferry, joining only a handful of commuters, arriving promptly at 7:55. As I showed in the first Boston posting, the incoming ferry from Charlestown looks like this (Photo by Chris Wood), as it pulls up to its dock (Photo by Eric Salard) with those ramps, just in front of Legal Sea Foods (click).

I dashed up to the Boston Harbor Cruises ticket booth at 8:00 and exchanged my ticket for the 9:00 sailing with no trouble at all. Whew! I then walked out to the far end of Long Wharf where the ferry leaves from, and had time to sit down and wait.

I particularly remember one thing. Among those waiting was a woman from California with her girl. We started chatting, and it was obvious she was totally unfamiliar with Cape Cod. Apparently some people were coming up from Chatham to pick them up in Provincetown—how wonderful to arrive on the Cape the first time by ferry!--so I took the opportunity to fill her in. I was wearing my blue Provincetown T-shirt. I showed her the map of the Cape, and pointed to my lower-right chest, saying this is Falmouth, at the shoulder. I then pointed to my lower-left chest, saying this is Chatham, at the elbow, where they'd be staying. Finally I pointed to my upper-left chest, with the colors, saying this is Provincetown, where the ferry arrives. She seemed to find the T-shirt geography lesson helpful!

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This is how the ferry looks after it arrives at the end of Long Wharf, with the Custom House Tower in the distance. It has two levels, with plenty of seating. Note that they like to call it the Provincetown Fast Ferry, because it's a catamaran. For those not familiar with the form, it's a boat on "water skis", most clearly visible in this picture of a catamaran ferry in Salem MA (Photo by Fletcher6), which can make the run to Boston in 45 minutes. Ours takes 90 minutes to Provincetown. Compare the two runs on the MA map.

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This is our ferry en route (click). Usually, when at rest, a catamaran sits entirely in the water. Once it starts moving, the skiing action causes the hull in the center to rise out of the water, reducing friction considerably (it's a bit harder to see in this picture). Most passengers are usually unaware of the change, but if you know what's going on, you can perceive a slight rising on departure and a slight settling down on arrival.

I haven't mentioned the name of the ferry yet, but you can see that it's the Salacia (sa.LÉ.sha), which the company calls the largest and fastest catamaran of its kind in North America. Since our ride is 90 minutes, we have time to ponder that name.

When I first saw the name, my mind went right into the gutter. It looks like "salacious" might be derived from it, which we can define as "unduly sexual" with synonyms like "lewd, lascivious", as in "salacious headlines" or "salacious lyrics". Well, we can climb up out of the gutter, because that's wrong.

It turns out that the real Salacia story is much more benign, and really quite appropriate. In Roman mythology, Salacia was the goddess of the sea, the consort of Neptune. She was the goddess of salt water (sal is "salt") and denotes the personification of the calm, sunlit aspect of the wide, open sea. With our pleasant crossing of Massachusetts Bay and Provincetown Harbor, the name Salacia made a lot of sense.

I'll quote the following now from the last posting, since it's appropriate:

Arrival    Crossing the harbor and rounding the breakwater, we docked at that round blue-roofed pavilion at the end of MacMillan Pier at 10:30. Dividing my five days in Provincetown into 1 + 4, that means that I was away from town from midnight to 10:30 AM, just 10 ½ hours, most of which was sleep time. No great loss at all. And I was finally totally on my own, the first time since arriving in Boston that first day, and this was not so much the academic travel I enjoy, but vacation time. I walked down MacMillan Pier and peered in some of those little booths. That route becomes Standish Street (see map), and for just this one and only time, I decided to go the "back way" to Carpe Diem, connecting from Standish to Bradford for two blocks to Johnson, better seen on this detailed map:

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Carpe Diem Guesthouse & Spa    As we come around the corner from Bradford onto Johnson Street, we find the two houses that form the compound for Carpe Diem at #12-14:

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We're on Johnson, Commercial is down the hill to the left, and we've just come from Bradford off to the right. This corner building, #14, is the main entrance, and leads right into the Walt Whitman common room. #12 on the left is the historic sea captain's house dating back to 1858, and which is on the local historic registry.

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We move down Johnson a bit to get this better view (altho in the evening) of the historic house. The splendid Mansard makes it look larger than its two stories. The room I ended up in is upstairs in the front left corner, so we're seeing my two windows. I don't think I've ever been inside a Mansard before, let along living right in one. The front door of this house is now disused. Instead, a side door from the dining room, right behind the bay window, leads into the parking area and is the one I used on an everyday basis to go to dinner. In the distance you can see the Pilgrim Monument.

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This map makes it clearer how the compound consists of these two buildings surrounding an internal courtyard that includes a Zen Garden; adjacent is the spa area. At this point, Eddy took me on a complete tour. I'd like to lead my own tour now, from my point of view. Just like the Walt Whitman common room, all 18 rooms are named after gay and lesbian literary icons, including a few lesser known, if not unknown, ones. We've seen exterior views, now let's find out about the rooms inside. Follow along on the map.

Above the office and common room are James Baldwin and Stanley Kunitz (American poet);
Downstairs in the adjacent blue area facing Bradford Street are Ruan Ji (3C Chinese poet & musician) and R. Raj Rao (contemporary Indian poet and gay rights activist).
Next to the spa, freestanding, is the Henry David Thoreau cottage.
The "Outdoor Wine Tasting" area is the Garden Patio, but was not being used when I was there.
Next to the Garden Patio, in that extension to the historic house, are Marcel Proust & Jean Cocteau downstairs and Robert Frost & Oscar Wilde upstairs.
Above the dining room is William Shakespeare; outdoor stairs provide access to these last five rooms.
On the lower level of the main part of the historic house, forward of the dining room, are Tennessee Williams on the left corner of the former main entrance & Eugene O'Neill on the right, with George Sand just behind O'Neill.
Right above them upstairs are Heinrich Heine in the left corner followed by Dorothy Parker and Harry Kemp (a Provincetown poet). On the right front are Rainer Maria Rilke followed by Emily Dickinson.

Only the slightly smaller Harry Kemp room was a single, at a lower price, which I had booked many months in advance to make sure I got it. As Eddy was giving me the tour, he said he had a surprise for me. He was upgrading me from Harry Kemp to Heinrich Heine, the room marked in dark blue, at the same price as Kemp, which was very kind of him. I assume my interest in Carpe Diem and our common interest in history was the reason. Heine has a 10% higher rate than Kemp, a nice saving over four nights. And I particularly loved living right in a Mansard.

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This is the Heinrich Heine room, with the bath behind the camera. You can't tell here, but it was easily perceivable in the room, that at floor level, the wall was further away from the feet of the bead than it was from the top of the bedstead. In other words, the rounded slope of two of the walls was visible, and I really appreciated the feeling of living inside a Mansard, since I'd never even seen one before from inside.

While we're still in the 1858 building, check where the building plan indicates the dining room, and we'll look at that.

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There's the main dining room near the kitchen in the first link, with a sturdy country table, and also a second room behind it. With flexible breakfast hours, I came down later and preferred a small table in the back room at the bay window, so I never saw this table set, nor with a crowd of people at it having breakfast. The second link shows the back room with smaller tables. The furniture seems to have been adjusted over time, as it varies in the two pictures. The sideboard in the back holds cold breakfast items. I usually sat in that bay window area on the right, and during the day I'd occasionally come down again with my laptop to write, as the room had no actual desk.

Some B&Bs serve breakfast on a schedule most convenient to the owners—the choice is virtually be there at eight or begone. There is an advantage to that, inasmuch as you get to meet all the other guests at once. But Carpe Diem had nicely flexible breakfast hours, starting at 8:00, but lasting until 9:45. Since this was vacation (!) time, and I had nowhere else to be, I came down regularly at 9:00 for a leisurely meal, with only a few others dining. In addition to the cold items on the sideboard, you could order the hot special or other items, such as eggs, cooked to order, and the food was very good.

But the dining room had an alter ego. Every day in season from 5:00 to 6:30 there was what was nominally called a wine-and-cheese happy hour, but which had much more than that:

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The main table was filled with a rotating selection of wines--I was delighted to find a Portuguese Vinho Verde--and cheeses, charcuterie, dips, and whatever else you see above. Click on the first picture to see the Caviar sign. The selection varies day-to-day, as the second picture shows. You also see the location of the dining room looking out to the courtyard (click), where you could go to chat.

I cannot criticize an embarras de richesses such as this happy hour, but it does pose a dilemma. Tho I went to it as early as possible, 5:00, it still filled one up for dinner, with dinners being high points of my entire visit. I might have been ready to go to dinner by 6-7, but because of the noshing—and I cannot hold back when the food and wine are good—I went to dinner at 7:30. Now Provincetown is not NYC, where later service is common. Provincetown restaurants start pulling in the sidewalks at nine-ish. If perhaps the happy hour started a little earlier, it would ease the dining pressure.

Thank goodness I never eat lunch when I travel. On the Amtrak trip, having been served lunch on the train made it impossible to finish the cioppino at Legal Sea Foods that evening, to my consternation. In Provincetown, I had to consider the 5:00 happy hour to be a very late lunch, but the 7:30 dinner did work out every day and I wasn't too full.

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Speaking of the Courtyard, let's step outside with our glass of wine and take a look. The first view is the coziest area, in the center, the space that group had its chat. The narrow door at top center leads to the Walt Whitman common room. The middle view shows one of the numerous water features in the garden. The third view shows the central entrance (see map) that leads right into the garden, which I never had occasion to use, but which lends a pleasant atmospheric backdrop to the area.

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The final area of our tour is the spa. The above view, oddly at night, shows the spa courtyard where one enters thru those impressive wooden doors from the courtyard beyond (see map). It's perhaps an earlier iteration, since it's been changed, and the trees are no longer there The spa building is ahead left, the side of the Henry David Thoreau Cottage behind us, and the hot tub out of sight to the left. Perhaps because June was the shoulder season, the spa was largely deserted and I never saw anyone on these chaise longues. This is within the clothing-optional area, which I highly prize.

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The first view looks straight into the spa courtyard and my favorite spot, the hot tub. The two Asian statues on either side of the entrance to the spa building is how it looks now. Beyond the further statue is the outdoor shower, something I really like, as one always showers before entering a hot tub. The second link shows the hot tub itself, with the lid folded back. The two steps are needed to enter the tub; I would also have appreciated some sort of hand grip, since one is wet on entering and leaving and it's a bit slippery. The third view is from the tub and its swirling waters, looking back to the entry.

Other than the lacking hand grip, I'll declare this to be the BEST hot tub I've ever been in, which includes those in resorts in Tampa, the Dominican Republic, Cherry Grove on Fire Island, and the one built for two that we built into our apartment in NYC. Instead of sitting on an underwater bench, the fiberglass interior sides of the hot tub are shaped like form-fitting easy-chairs, with foot rests in the center, that are extremely comfortable, and the jets are very well-placed, including at the foot rests.

I've had no better relaxation than in this hot tub. However, a hot tub is a conversation pit, and as often as I used this tub, 1-2 times a day, only twice was there ever someone else in it, one guy each time, who didn't stay long. 'Tis a pity.

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The spa building has a number of facilities. I tried each, but decided I preferred the hot tub. The first view is of the Moroccan Hammam, a steam room. It was my very first time in a steam room—for just a moment or two, and alone--and I found that the heavily moist air made it a bit harder to breathe. You also could hardly see the art work, through the fogginess of the steam. An interesting experience, but not for me.

The second view shows both the large showering area, which I did use, and one of the two saunas. I've always enjoyed saunas. As a matter of fact, when we built our house in Purchase NY in the 70s, we included a small, two-level bunk-bed sauna adjoining the master bath. On cold winter nights--for some reason, often Sunday evenings--Beverly and I would heat it up and let the heat relax our muscles for a while. But here, in the warm weather, I just poked my head in for a moment or two—again, by myself--to remind myself of what it's like, and then opted for the hot tub.

Upstairs in the spa building are several massage rooms, as in the third picture. I'd arranged long in advance for two massages (see below), and enjoyed them. Note that in the last two pictures, the towels are for (1) the unduly modest and (2) public photography. However, in the small changing area near the spa entrance, I did get to chat with several people who weren't guests, but there mostly on day passes. A couple wore towels, but the rest of us did not feel the need to do so in a clothing-optional ambience.

Well, it's still Day 12, M Ju 17, so after Eddy's tour, I settled in for vacation time. It was now that I toured the interior of the spa on my own, and enjoyed the hot tub for the first of many times. At 5:00 I went to my first happy hour, then waited sufficiently to go out to dinner as late as reasonably possible. With my four remaining dinners, I decided that three would be at repeat venues, and one a new venue. This night I decided on going back to Napi's, as I did ten years ago.

I should say now that, for the four full days at Carpe, the only time I left the property was to go out to dinner in the evening, with the added possibility of some browsing on Commercial Street on the way and back. There was nothing "travel-oriented" I wanted to do. It was all indolent "vacation time".

I've been holding off showing this picture from the Pilgrim Monument looking down-Cape until now, when it's more appropriate (Photo by Rolf Müller). In the distance (click) it shows both Atlantic (left) and Bay beach areas and the narrow width of Provincetown. Bradford Street is straight ahead, coming down toward us in the center. Standish Street, the former rail route, leads to MacMillan Pier at the right. The former rail station would have been where the white commercial building with the blue roof is, center bottom. That parking lot that leads to the left of the ex-station was the rail route out of town. On the beach you can still see the blue-and-white stripes of Pepe's Wharf Restaurant, where we'll go in two days. Actually, it's at the foot of Johnson Street, on the south side of Commercial. Line it up with the huge Library building and continue by eye to Bradford, and you'll estimate where Carpe Diem is. Follow Bradford one short block to Center, then one long block to the gas station. To the right of the gas station—but off Standish—is Freeman Street (not named on our town map), where you'll find Napi's, with the blue T-shaped roof.

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I've seen Napi's described as a "funky eatery", and I agree. These two links show different aspects of the interior, from intimate to garish. Here for a starter I ordered the "Portuguese Soup", which doesn't say much about it, but I like the local connection. This is it:

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Napi's brags that its Portuguese Soup won First Prize at the Portuguese Festival. It can be described as a Portuguese kale soup. It includes lingüiça (lin.GWI.sa), onions, potatoes, kidney beans, and fresh kale.

The main course was a very interesting "Thai chicken & shrimp" with a peanut sauce. I always make a bee-line for peanut sauce. The menu describes it as a boneless chicken breast and shrimp in Thai peanut sauce, garnished with coconut, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds, with Apple Chutney garnish, and served on rice.

Day 13 - T Ju 18 - Provincetown III    The bulk of the next day was as usual for a vacation day, with little to report: breakfast, writing, happy hour. Expecting this lack of activity is why I'd arranged for two massages, and today was the first, at 3:00, which I chose to be for 90 minutes. Eddy had recommended Jay, and he was very good. He met me downstairs in the spa building and led me upstairs to one of the rooms. It was a very pleasant interlude. I'd wanted the standard Swedish massage, which involves long strokes, but in particular, I wanted what I understand is called Reflexology. It pays especial attention to feet, hands, face, and head, and it's the best. I was half asleep as he worked, and just before he ended, as I was face up, he put a scented hot towel over my head and shoulders, which was a great way to end.

For dinner I decided this would be the time to go back to The Mews, my favorite from last time that I went to several times. On our town map, go down Johnson and turn left toward the East End. The second unnamed street after Dyer is Lovetts Court, which the restaurant faces on the harbor side of Commercial. On this slightly longer walk, I passed several art galleries, and enjoyed stopping in a few some coming, others when going.

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On the outside (first picture--click), I find its garden makes it the prettiest restaurant in town. The stairs (and elevator) lead to the entrance on the upper level. The interior is rather upscale, and the second link shows the windows on the water. The happy hour having delayed my dinner time, I never came early enough to get a table close to the windows, not here, nor for the next two days of other restaurants on the water. The third link faces back toward the entrance, and shows the long bar. I sat at a table in this area.

The Mews really knows how to put together a menu. As a starter, I had baked oysters with smoked bacon, garlic, jalapeños, and Panko bread crumbs. This was the main course I chose:

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When I have Indian food, I always like a nice spicy vindaloo, usually with lamb. Here they varied that, calling it a Mews Vindaloo with either lobster (my choice), chicken, or tofu. It included eggplant, chick peas, and zucchini, with a side of tomato chutney, naan (bread) and basmati rice in a "spicy/tangy curry sauce". Very good.

Day 14 – W Ju 19 - Provincetown IV    Hot tub, writing, happy hour. It's a "vacation", what do you expect? But this is the day I finally went to a new restaurant, the one we've been mentioning, Pepe's Wharf. As I said, it's the closest, just the one block down on Johnson and across Commercial. But this is one building where it's completely obvious that it has its back to Commercial and had originally been built facing the harbor, and to boot, on a wharf. You can enter via a quiet lounge area near commercial, or halfway down the side of the building, or at the far end, but the restaurant's at the far end, by the water.

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The first picture is a night view of the point where you finally reach the restaurant at the end. I don't think the upstairs was open in June, just the main level. The second picture shows it all, now in a daytime view. We're a full block south of Commercial, on the beach and on what obviously was a wharf, hence the name. The glassed-in dining room faces the water, but once again, I arrived too late to be seated too close to the water. Not a problem. The third picture, in daylight again (tho in reality it was dusk) shows about where I sat.

For starters I ordered a favorite, Oysters Rockefeller, using Wellfleet oysters flavored with Pernod, the French anise-flavored cordial (Photo by Erik Anestad). [This is a generic view, not from Pepe's Wharf.] It consists of baked or broiled oysters (whole or diced) on the half-shell, topped with spinach, bread crumbs, butter, parsley, and often bacon, served with a lemon wedge.

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For the main course, we went locally ethnic again, ordering a Portuguese Cataplana, something I've frequently had in a favorite NYC Portuguese restaurant, now gone. The name superficially refers to the typical clamshell-shaped, hooded cooking-and-serving dish, but de facto also refers to the meal inside. As usual, it consisted of littleneck clams, lingüiça, spices, and homemade fish broth.

Day 15 – Th Ju 20 - Provincetown V    For the last full day in town, in addition to the usual, including two dips in the hot tub, at 3:30 I had my second massage by Jay, this time just for 60 minutes, and it was just as enjoyable. In the evening I was down to Commercial again, but this time making a right turn for just under three blocks, to the homey, more bar-like, Lobster Pot, where I'd also been before.

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This picture shows in particular how one is entering in what used to be the back door of a very narrow building, whose front faces the harbor on a former wharf over the beach. One first walks thru a room of fish tanks filled with lobsters, then enters a corridor with pass-thrus on the left opening to a very busy kitchen, and finally reaches the podium. There are two levels, and I was asked if it would be OK if I sat upstairs, and that was fine. Again I was put away from the water, but it was getting dark, anyway.

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I had found out in advance that the Lobster Pot served cioppino (above), was looking forward to it, and so I ordered it again, minus the calamari that the menu said was included, but which I disavow, and the kitchen complied with my wishes. It had littleneck clams, mussels, shrimp, fish (not further defined), and pasta, all in a spicy tomato broth, which was excellent. I also saw someone getting a side order of corn on the cob, and after recently having been reminded at the two shore dinners (now also at home) how good corn on the cob can be, I ordered one as well.

I don't often find cioppino on a menu, but I've been lucking out lately. I had it at Chez Piggy the last night in Kingston ON, and then literally on both the first (at Legal Sea Foods on Long Wharf) and last nights of this trip. I referred to this in 2019/12 as having cioppino "bookends" on this trip. But unlike at Long Wharf, I was easily able to enjoy the entire cioppino this time—plus the extra corn on the cob.

Day 16 - F Ju 21 – Travel    The last day was a travel day. There was a mild drizzle as I looked outside the bay window at breakfast. Tho I had ample time, I decided to leave promptly afterward. Wheeling my bag down Johnson Street to Commercial to Standish, I popped in the occasional doorway to pause and to evade a few misty drops, and avoid the chill. At the end of MacMillan Pier I was the first to reach the round pavilion, so I people-watched. The first ferry to arrive was a Bay State Cruise Company boat going to South Boston, but the Salacia from Boston Harbor Cruises came in at 10:30 for my 11:00 departure, which was no surprise, since that was the same sailing I'd arrived on on Monday.

It was still misty as we passed the breakwater and then sailed in a large arc around the spiral at Long Point, but it cleared up about halfway on the 90-minute trip back to Long Wharf. That made for a splendid arrival in Boston Harbor to replace the one we missed when the cruise ship came in so very early. This is a panoramic view of the Boston Skyline (Photo by rokker), this time from the lower part of the harbor. Charlestown would be beyond this view further to the right, at the head of the harbor. Click on the far right of this picture to inspect the sloped red roof of the Marriott Long Wharf, along with the historic buildings further to the right on the Wharf. The tall, slender tower slightly to the left is again the stately Custom House Tower, about two blocks inland from the present start of the Long Wharf—just to judge distances. On Long Wharf, the outermost white ship would be the Salacia, which is how it will look once we dock, that is, like this (Photo by Chris Wood). We used this picture on departure, but it's more appropriate as we arrive. The "water-ski" catamaran structure of the Salacia is particularly visible here.

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The 11:00 ferry gets us in at 12:30, and once again we have our walk (above) down the length of Long Wharf (our great hub!) and Atlantic Avenue, by now in pleasant, sunny weather. It's about a quarter-hour to South Station on its familiar corner location (Photo by ArnoldReinhold). We've got plenty of time, since I allowed a lot of "fat" in this schedule to allow for possible delays. Tho I usually don't have lunch when traveling, it seems sensible to have an extremely early dinner today, and only a snack when I'm home in the evening. Therefore, in the food court I find a nice Chinese cafeteria/takeout, and settle in to dine at an adjacent table. This is a view of the South Station departure board (Photo by Fletcher6) from roughly where I was seated. Tracks are accessed thru the glass doors with track numbers above them.

I'd chosen a regular Northeast Regional train running 4h16, from 3:10 to 7:26. Tho it was great fun inbound in Acela First Class, today is a Friday and both cash and point rates soar for weekend departures. Anyway, I didn't have enough points even at more normal point rates, so I chose the Northeast Regional, but did have enough points for Business Class. This view beyond the glass doors to the tracks (Photo by Joseph Barillari) shows an Acela on the left, and a regular Northeast Regional train on the right, behind the advertising panels, which will be just fine.

In a mere 41 minutes we'll stop in Providence RI, again showing that adjacent symbiosis between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Then we cross Connecticut, later traverse the Hell Gate Bridge over New York's East River, and arrive at Penn Station to conclude this trip.

Cape May Canal    This is the first of two add-ons. I find I've been making more lists lately beyond just adding to the total number of voyages. In 2019/16 there was a list the 21 capes I find I've visited and another is in 2019/14, the summation of the six "sea canals". I now find I've visited one sea canal I didn't mention, bringing the total to seven. When Beverly and I drove down to visit the Victorian town of Cape May at the very southern tip of NJ, we crossed the Cape May Canal:

https://www.tideschart.com/maps/en/Cape-May-Canal-east-end-United-States-tides-map.png

The 5.4 km (3.3 mi) canal connects Delaware Bay on the west with Cape May Harbor on the east, which then connects to inland bays and to the Atlantic.

https://www.tide-forecast.com/tidelocationmaps/Cape-May-Harbor-New-Jersey.10.gif

And when we left Cape May to take the ferry across the mouth of Delaware Bay (above) to Lewes DE (say "Lewis") on Cape Henlopen, the car ferry actually left from the west end of the Cape May Canal, meaning I've sailed just the tiniest bit on that canal. A canal had long been planned there to avoid the rougher waters around Cape May itself, but it was finally built as a wartime measure during WWII, to allow shipping to avoid Cape May itself where German submarines were prowling. It then became part of the Intracoastal Waterway, now used mostly for pleasure craft.

Coastal Summary    The cruise part of the current trip having been coastal got me thinking about that subject again. You'll recall I've written how coastal ships used to connect, among many other places, Lower Manhattan near me with Long Wharf in Boston. I wanted to summarize past coastal shipping, and decided to see how much I've sailed along the East Coast of North America, on cruises like the current one, on overnight ferries, and on day ferries. At first I'd discovered quite a bit of coverage, albeit with two large gaps. Below is the best map I could find for the reader to follow the connections, tho not all ports I mention are shown:

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1) Jacksonville FL to Charleston SC: Voyage 17 in 1988 on the old iteration of American Cruise Lines
2) Charleston SC to Baltimore MD: Voyage 54 in 2016 on the new ACL; met lecturer Harold Cones

3) Highlands NJ to the East Side of Manhattan (dotted route shown on Sandy Hook map) on the Seastreak day ferry in early 2011 – (the return trip of a visit to Highlands)
4) East Side of Manhattan via Long Island Sound to Martha's Vineyard on the Seastreak day ferry later in 2011
5) Martha's Vineyard (and New Bedford, Newport) to Boston on the last part of the current 2019 trip
6) Boston to Portland and Bar Harbor on the first part of the current 2019 trip
7) Portland to Yarmouth NS: Voyage 13 in 1984 on the overnight car ferry (day ferry return to Bar Harbor)

8) North Sydney NS to Argentia NL (Map by Yug): Voyage 14 in 1984 via overnight car ferry (return from Port aux Basques via day car ferry)

Thus, I was pleased to find that, despite the two large gaps, I'd actually traveled the coastline between northern Florida at Jacksonville and southern Newfoundland at Argentia quite extensively. But then there were those two gaps.

Ocean Liners    Then I had an epiphany. I'd been thinking too small, only of small to medium ships and small ferries. I'd forgotten to include two large ocean liners that actually did coastal cruising!

In 2000 we returned from Europe (Voyage 21) on the Deutschland, where I got to know friend Jürgen from Germany. I now see that trip in three segments. First we went coastal from Cuxhaven, Germany via the English Channel to Plymouth, England (where we saw those Mayflower Steps) to Waterford, Ireland. The middle of the cruise was transatlantic, in only three days (!) because Ireland and Newfoundland are much closer together than the usual routes. The third part of the trip is where we pick up coastal cruising in North America.

A) We started in Saint John's (Map by Geo Swan, planiglobe), across the Avalon Peninsula from Argentia and on the east coast of Newfoundland, setting one of our end points further east. We then went coastal, stopping in NS at Sydney (next to North Sydney), then moved over to Charlottetown PE, then back to Halifax NS (see NS map above), before continuing down the coast to New York. I would say this took care of the NS Gap.

The other ocean liner I referred back to was Cunard's Queen Victoria, Voyage 45 in 2009, the one that sailed from Midtown Manhattan down the Hudson five days before that plane landed in the Hudson. On this trip I met friends Joe & Neil from California. I called that trip Circumnavigating Lower North America and in my mind, it sort of duplicated travel to California before any transcontinental railroad. You'll recall it was then a three-seat trip, taking a boat to Panama, then a stagecoach ride (later on, a train ride) across the isthmus, then taking another boat up to California. The Queen Victoria, tho, was a similar one-seat trip via the Canal.

B) Anyway, when the Queen Victoria left New York, it skirted the coast from NJ all the way south on its way to docking in Fort Lauderdale FL. It then continued along the FL coast into the Caribbean. I now see that this trip cancels out the NJ Gap (tho I'd still like to cross the C&D Canal).

In sum, I can say I've quite thoroughly traveled the East Coast of North America from eastern Newfoundland to southern Florida. But then, another thought took hold. The Queen Victoria stopped at Curaçao (as mentioned recently) and the Canal, but then it made stops on the way to California. So I suppose I have to tally the West Coast of North America.

C) From Panama, we stopped at Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Cabo San Lucas on Baja California, Mexico, before ending in Long Beach/Los Angeles.
Panama to Long Beach/Los Angeles is quite a stretch of the West Coast of North America that we did cover.

D) But at Prince Rupert, we have Voyage 6 in 1970 on Alaska's Marine Highway system, that brought us to Juneau AK (see above map) in the Inland Passage, from where we took local boats as far north as Skagway at the upper end. In 2005, I flew to Juneau and repeated some local boat trips, including again up to Skagway. So Prince Rupert to Skagway is covered.