Experiencing Sensory Overload… and Loving It!

Except for college, I’ve lived my entire life in Washington, DC or in the suburbs of DC or New York City. I traveled to cities all the time with work. I’m used to cities. I love cities. But that didn’t stop me from experiencing sensory overload in Boston. That’s partly because we just spent a month in Maine, mostly in small towns and out of the way anchorages. But we also had the craziest mooring in Boston.

We were on a Boston Waterboat Marina mooring ball right off the Marriott Long Wharf. The Boston ferries came and went from the docks on either side of us, and they’d often blow their horn on departure or return. So did the Boston water taxis and various tourist boats, many of them with tour guides on loud speakers giving tourists a history lesson. Boundless was forever rolling after being hit by wakes from the boats coming and going. And I’m sure we can all now faithfully retell the Boston tea party story by heart!

We were also right across the river from Logan airport. Depending on the wind, planes took off or landed overhead. And being 100 feet from the heart of Boston, add in circling helicopters throughout the day.

And then there’s the T (subway) that apparently runs right below us. I say apparently because I didn’t actually take the T on this trip, but we had the joy of hearing it rumble below every 8 to 10 minutes starting around 5:30am. And it’s loud – it’s like Boundless was actually in the subway tunnel. Scared the heck out of us the first time we heard it. When you live on a boat, you become very sensitized to noises as a first sign of something going awry. The first time we heard the subway, we all stopped in our tracks, listened, then frantically looked out the windows and companionway to see what was making the noise. Was another boat about to hit us? Was our anchor chain mysteriously deploying on its own? Nope, just the subway!

But as much as our Boston home was loud, kept us from sleeping in, and gave us sensory overload, we loved it. The view was beautiful and it was a great launching point to explore the city – an afternoon game at Fenway, the JFK Library, and eating in the North End were our favorites. And a great home base to catch up with so many friends and family in Boston.

We are now south of Boston in Hingham, MA. We had planned a quick stay to catch up with family before heading to Nantucket. But hurricane Jose had other plans. We’re now hunkered down in a well protected marina waiting for Jose to pass. Jose is expected to stay offshore, so we should be fine here. But Nantucket looks like it will get more wind and waves than we want to be around.