Portsmouth, New Hampshire

We departed Kennebunkport the next morning and headed to Portsmouth for a one nighter. It was a 3 hour cruise south and the seas were flat as could be. It's been a great time for summer cruising with flat seas everywhere we've been. Thank goodness!

Wendy napped en route on the fly bridge cocoon style. Ha! She's under that blanket somewhere. 

Portsmouth is a tranquil town where the laid back lumberjack style is prevalent. 

Once we arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we were at the dock for less than 5 minutes and we watched someone accidentally hit their tender on a concrete piling of the bridge across from us.

The husband fell in the water, but got back in his boat in 20 seconds. The woman started screaming bloody murder and someone yelled out...call 911!! 

So I did. She was sitting on the bow of their tender and must have taken it to the head. A nice family with 3 little kids (who were completely freaked out and crying) towed them back in their Whaler to our dock quickly and she had blood all over her face & arms. She had a blunt trauma wound to her head & was balling & screaming like you can't imagine. Scared to death. Holy crap! Her husband & another guy got her out & laid down on the dock. The awesome "other guy" who towed them back held her head in his lap and I thought that was her hub. Nope. Her hubs was either in shock or just incredibly lame. I'm hoping it was just shock. They got a towel of ours under her head and we all tried calming her down. She was beyond terrified. Blood was everywhere down her face, her chest, her arms & legs. Brad held an umbrella the whole time over her (shade expert extraordinaire!) so the sun wouldn't be in her face and we blanketed her as well. I rubbed her legs and told her to keep calm, breathe slowly (she was about to hyperventilate) and that she'd be ok. A doc from another boat appeared who was an anesthesiologist and he did a good job of keeping her calm too. We offered up our onboard medical kits and oxygen tank for the docs use, but he preferred to wait for the paramedics. Help finally arrived (it seemed like 15 minutes which is an eternity when you're in an emergency situation.) and off to the ER she went on a flat board to keep her head & body mobilized.

Neither Brad or I could stomach looking at her head when paramedics showed up and removed the towel to assess the wound...in case either of us got faint. So we aren't sure how bad it was. She remained conscious and was able to talk through her sobs, so that was a good sign even though she said she was in immense pain. We heard afterward that she was stitched up and awaiting CTscan results at the hospital. When we got back to the boat after a trip into town, the marina police were at our dock and towing their dingy away. Ruh ro.

They had previously taken photos of the boat and the blood on it right after the incident. This couple had a larger boat in the marina a few docks down, but I have a feeling hubs may have been allegedly  boozin' it up and they removed their dingy for evidence. Dun dun dun. Brad was asked by the police to fill out a report since he saw the accident. 

        That's today's excitement! At least it wasn't this kind of an emergency.

The marina had a heated pool and the boys ditched us once the excitement 

was over and we were ready to head into town. 

Then we walked into the Wentworth Hotel...

We were greeted by George their host. 
He gladly offered to drive us into town and was a total character! George pretended that he owned the hotel which was hilarious. He took us on a great scenic drive and showed us all around... Filling us with factoids of history and local lore. I used my little Greek on him since he was fluent, but I was out of lingo after a few words. ha!

George was busy extolling the virtues of his great city by the bay...

This beautiful old building was a former prison if you can believe. Sad they used such a historic monument for that purpose and not a hotel or something more exciting along the waterfront.

Lobster boats lined the waterfront.

A great old mansion in town. The stories it could tell!

Heaps of beautiful architecture abounded.

An African burial ground was discovered back in 2003 when some construction was being done in town. After archaeologists unearthed over a dozen skeletons, the city planned a beautiful monument to them. It was very well done & truly honored these souls.

The old South Church.

This bridge we cruised under...one of the many where you call ahead to be granted passage.

A local wine shop had this great outdoor signage which was über clever.

The local tugboat service in this port was in high demand. 

They were a local icon and important as can be.

This was a maritime shop whose owner had gone to lunch. 

I loved the small town charm with the "out to lunch" sign.

Downtown Portsmouth was picture perfect...especially that 70's VW van jazzin' my photo up. 

How charming this toy store was..the name couldn't be cuter!

Main Street

The city was bustling and it was high season for tourists. So hard to fathom that these residents have about 4 months of good weather a year and spent their outdoor time during these months. 

My sister Wendy & I posing along the waterfront in downtown Portsmouth.

There were hordes of bikers downtown.

And no wonder...the weather was glorious.

Brad & Wendy sprinting down the sidewalk to catch a cab.

A bridge view from the backseat of our Uber ride... home sweet home in view.