Today has been the sunniest day we have had on Nantucket. But, there was still a wind keeping it cool.
This morning we walked down to town and got a cab up to the Shipwreck and Life Saving Museum. We had a volunteer give us a tour and then we looked around ourselves.
In the 1800s, there were over 700 ships wrecked on the sandbars around Nantucket. The ships didn't have sophisticated navigational instruments and the island is often shrouded in fog. The townsfolk decided they needed to do something to stop the loss of life. They formed the Massachusetts Human Society which became the United States Life Saving Service and then the United States Coastguard. While it started with volunteers, they became professional not long after.
The museum houses lots of objects from the early days of life saving to things recovered from shipwrecks. The first lifesavers used a small cannon to fire a hook onto the stricken boat. Instructions on how to attach it were attached for the crew. Once it was secured, the lifesavers would send over the 'breeches buoy' which was a life ring with legs attached. The sailors would step into the life ring and come across to the rescue boat on something similar to a zip line.
The museum has the only remaining cart and zip line.
We also watched 4 short films about different aspects of lifesaving. The first life vests had squares of cork attached to them. They had 2 of them in the museum.
We ended up spending a couple of hours in the museum - it was very interesting. Then we called the same cab driver who came & picked us up. On the way back to town he took us on a bit of a tour of the island.
Back in town we did a bit of shopping and then went to the tavern for a late lunch and some mojitos. We were lucky to get a table which had a bit of sun on it as the wind was still keeping it cool.
It was after 4pm when we left the tavern to go back to the hotel. We dropped off our shopping and put a few extra layers on for the sunset cruise.
We were allowed to bring anything we wanted to eat & drink on the boat. We still had half a bottle of Bacardi so we stopped and bought some plastic cups and coke on the way to the dock.
By the time we boarded, the wind had died down but it was still cold on the water. The boat was completely open around the sides which was good for seeing out but we were glad we had bought scarves in Ottawa.
There were only 8 of us on the boat. The driver took us around the harbour and out along the coast of the island. He pointed out the houses of rich and famous along the coastline - Johnson & Johnson, Jerry Stiller, Tommy Hilfiger (his property is on the market for $28mil) and Theresa Heinz & US Secretary of State John Kerry. He also showed us the boat the secret service sat in while John Kerry was in the house.
There were some beautiful boats in the harbour. He said a lot of the really big ones had gone for the winter - Biily Joel left recently.
He took us out to where we could watch the sunset and kept the boat there while it set. It was absolutely beautiful.
We leave Nantucket in the morning and head for New York. I hope the water is calmer than when we arrived!