The Unexpected Splash

Saturday afternoon my x-inlaws arrived from Manhattan for a short visit. We did a brief walking tour of the Borough and were enjoying oysters and cocktails at Skipper's Dock when I received a phone message inviting me to take photos aboard the Anne, the 1884 built Oyster Boat of the launching of the Charles W. Morgan at the Mystic Seaport.

We meandered up to Milagro for dinner and talked about the plans for our Sunday to see if we could fit this adventure in. We had tickets to see Martin Sexton at the Jonathan Edwards Winery Sunday evening and we had a little dog that required attention. I had planned on avoiding the crowds in Mystic, but if we could be home by 5, we could grab our picnic supplies, the dog and go. Now all I needed to check on was if I could include 2 guests.

As we sat in the patio sipping on margaritas, I checked on the details and got the go ahead. Sunday morning we nabbed coffees at the Yellow House, had a hearty breakfast at Noah's, and headed towards the Schooner Wharf.

Anne was already in position, anchored near the whaler so we took a small boat out and settled in to watch the crowded Mystic River. Kayaks and rafts huddled around Anne, canoes tied up to her as well as other boats. We watched the police boats and fire boat patrol the area and heard the announcement that the fireboat would be spraying water.

Finally the official ceremony began with music. After over an hour of speeches, off in the distance, a group of impatient boaters began to chant, "launch the boat, launch the boat!" The streets  and river shores were lined with people, the river was blanketed with boats and the crowd was getting fidgety. At long last the bottle filled with water from the seas that the Charles W. Morgan has sailed was soundly broken across her bow and then the announcement was made that this would be, in fact, a slow launch.

What happened was that the whaler was gently lowered into the river as if she was on an elevator and her position remained the same though she went from up high in the air to down into the river. I think we all expected that she would slide into the river with a splash like we've seen in old films.

Still, the river was filled with boat horns and fireworks, clapping and cheering and the fireboat began to trickle water from the nozzle at the front of the boat. There was joking that the water spray was a bit disappointing until suddenly that fireboat created the unexpected splash. They fired up every nozzle and the water streamed in giant arcs. We could see the mist heading in our direction and we grabbed our camera gear when suddenly we were drenched and the water arced onto the Anne. Happily, we were able to get the gear in the captain's cabin and managed to shoot through the windows as soon the water streams were coloured with red and blue dyes.

Smoke began to billow from the back of the fireboat and the water show halted as the crews aboard the Anne and the yacht tied up to her hurried to wash off the dye. Eventually we made our way back home, with enough time to take quick showers to wash off the dried salt water and head to the Jonathan Edwards Winery for the concert.

The evening ended with perfect weather, the heat wave had finally broken. As the full moon rose and the sun set, the sky coloured in reds and blues and the white glow of the moon as the amazing music created by Martin Sexton filled the air. All in all, an amazing weekend, one I and my Manhattan friends will treasure.