Thansgiving

This morning we went down to the docks. Parking was limited to the $4 per hour lot. Lots of people speaking foreign languages. We were attracted to s tall sailing ship at the museum. When we got close, we could see staff had started winterizing it. Looking along the docks we found a sitghtseeing sailing experience on a schooner. We signed up for the 4:30pm sailing time. And went to have lunch at a restaurant over looking the harbor. Next we went back to the motorhome, picked up our laundry and headed to the only laundry in town. When we got there, the posted hours said they should be open, but the door was locked. Someone saw our confusion and informed us that today is a holiday, Thanksgiving! Well that was a surprise. So back to the motorhome to rest and wait for our ship to sail.
The cruise was on the two masted schooner, the Eastern Star. We were two of 10 passengers and two crew. We motored away from the docks and put up the sails to head out past the lighthouse on the jetty. Passing the jetty, the calm bay was replaced with lightly white capped waves. We got a little sea spray, but not bad. Les shot photos. As the motion of the boat increases, he changed to Auto and finally to Burst mode, shooting over 2000 images snd 25 videos(not all shown here). They asked for volunteers to help with the sails snd on the way back in they offered to let volunteers steer the boat. Jill did that! The captain pointed out various interesting sights and then told the history of the Eastern Star. It was built in Sweden for a member of the royal family. After being sold several time, a crew brought the boat across the Atlantic. Near Nova Scotia, they had steering issues and were towed into a small harbor for repairs by a Coast Guard vessel. The boat left port as soon as the Coast Guard vessel was out of sight. The local lighthouse keeper seeing the departure contacted the Coast Guard and let them know the boat left without repairs and heading into a storm. The Coast Guard found the boat again, but as they approached, the crew set the boat on fire and jumped overboard. They were retrieved from the sea and the flames extinguished. That is where The Coast Guard found the interior of the boat had been stripped out to make room for 8 tons of hash. The crew was arrested and the boat impounded, to be later auctioned off. The next owner went bankrupt and the boat was auctioned off again. Finally the boat has purchased and rebuilt to do sightseeing out of Ludenburg. Quite the storied past.
Upon returning to port, we decided to get dinner at a local BBQ place, but they were closing in 20 minutes so we hot the meat to go.Les mer