Back and Forth

While I’ve been visiting the island for over 20 years, and my husband since before he can even remember, we’re still refining how we travel back and forth. With the kids in college and/or grown, we’ve been able to be on island most weekends, over Friday night and back Sunday night, a fairly common pattern.

But one Sunday this past winter, inspiration hit…  Why not stay Sunday night and head back on an early Monday morning boat instead?  Now the 6AM ferry would get me in the office by 9, but given that I am not even a close approximation to a morning person, I would likely not be functional.  Far better to take the 7AM, get in just before 10, and work a little longer that day, with a brain that is functioning.  Travelling an hour later also lessens the traffic headed up 495.

A weekend where we are driving back on Sunday night feels like it ends once we start packing up, and in some ways as soon as we get up.  There’s always a countdown on your last day on the island…  Counting backwards from the ferry time, always watching the clock, the day of leaving the island always seems shorter, already gone in many ways.  A weekend where we are leaving Monday morning definitely feels longer and more relaxed – Sunday is just Sunday, and we aren’t preparing to leave all day.

So we’ve joined the commuters on the 7AM Monday boat.  As we wait to board the boat, we see all the arrivals as the 6AM from Woods Hole unloads – many people appear to be arriving for the day’s work and lots of freight trucks roll off the ferry to supply the island.  We finally board, me clutching my Diet Coke for dear life and my husband clutching his coffee (this is still frightfully early from our perspective!!)

I see some familiar faces, so this must be a common routine for many people.  Kids are headed to school on the mainland, all clustered behind the snack bar near the purser’s office.  There seem to be others like us, heading back for the work week, and still others appear to be doing a more routine daily commute to work on the cape or mainland somewhere.  A few in suit and tie, and some in programmer casual, like us.  Very few tourists on this boat, though to be fair, on any boat this time of year.

As I write this on the 7AM back to Woods Hole, my thoughts consider other experiments.  Would it be feasible to do this daily?  A commute that starts out with ocean views is enticing, but I sadly dismiss this idea fairly quickly.  My office is an hour and a half up 495, so even if I don’t count the ferry ride, this commute on a daily basis would be bad for both the environment and my head.

For now, I’ll need to be content with the gift of Sunday evenings.  Full time island residency is still a longer term goal, but it’s not yet time for it.  But I am left wondering – how far do the people on this boat with me commute?  Do they do it daily?  What are the stories behind each person on this ferry?

“All walk off passengers exit through exit number four, at the rear of the vessel, port, that is left, side…”  Time to end this blog post!