Gotta Take a Ferry
 

I just found out a site listing for my Saturday games was erroneous. As it turns out, to get where we're going, my partner and I have an hour drive, plus a 20-minute (three mile) ferry ride to the island school. (There are three island high schools in Maine.) The school has my tickets waiting on the mainland.

This is a first for me, and I grew up in a little fishing village not far from these islands. Anyone else of shoreline locales get to do this?

Iditarod Trail Guy
 

The guy you gotta get with is ShishmarefRef, formerly a regular contributor on this forum, though absent this year. He did games for the schools in the Bering Strait School District which meant flying to all the games outside his community. Google that school district and you'll find it interesting all the places he had to go. His uncle, I think it was, was the famous Herbie Nayukpuk ("The Shishmaref Cannonball"), veteran Iditarod musher from a generation ago.

Yes,
Here in Southeast Alaska its one of our main modes of transportation. The teams are transported by ferry or jet or jet boat or small plane in some cases! Some officials travel right with the teams, makes it real cozy for some of the "unstable" coaches.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.

The Referee was a mighty vet-ter-an,
The Umpire brave and sure.
Four passengers set sail that day
For a three mile tour, a three mile tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ferry tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The refs would be lost, the refs would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With bainsey
His Umpire too,
Their Fox 40s and their stripes,
The table crew,
CHSeagle and his Missus,
Here on bainsey's Isle.

I have been trying to get a game on Martha's Vineyard for the last couple of years...but have only had the team on the road, not at home. I work with guys that get assignments on Block Island, R.I.

Those are long days....and if you miss the last boat back, you are stuck on the island overnight (although I hear they have been known to hold the ferry if the game goes into overtime.)

Bravo, Juggling!

Robert Service would be more fitting.

Awesome!

Nicely Done JugglingReferee! :) :) :) :) :)

Encore!
 

Juggler - the Eagle and spouse have a heck of a drive first, wow!

LMAO...that's GREAT Juggling!:D

Tribute to Styx and the Juggler . . .
 

And I thought I had "T-T-T-Too Much Time on My Hands" at work! :)

Have fun. While you're on the ferry, keep an eye out for a blarge.

Especially In Greater Boston ...
 

At least you can get there. For most places in New England the story is, "You can't get there from here".

Also. Well done JugglingReferee.

Vinalhaven? North Haven? Or Islesboro?

That would be C. Bonus point if you can name the town in which I catch the ferry. (No Googling.)

My Guess
 

Is it near the mouth of the river where they were hiding the submarine in the ending scene of the movie "Hunt for Red October"?

Such a great film.

I am of no use to you, Freddy. I still haven't seen that film. (Ducking from the incoming disbelief.)

I aimed the bonus question at Gap, who is from these parts. I want to see if he remembered (or even knew in the first place).

I know there is a ferry out of Rockland, but not sure if it goes to Islesboro or not. There may be one that goes to Vinalhaven and one to Islesboro out of Rockland.

Vinalhaven and North Haven are served by Rockland; Islesboro is served by Lincolnville. (I had to look it up myself to be sure.)

Had the games today, back on the mainland safely. No Gilligan moments to speak of.

The school pays for our ferry rides, which we take with the visiting teams and their contingents. At the island's terminal, awaits a school bus for us all, with the front seats reserved for the officials. (Funny, when I was a kid, those seats were reserved for the troublemakers.) It was a four-mile trek to the school.

We had snow flurries and a pretty gray day. The little island school serves 92 students -- that's K-12 -- so there are varsity and middle school teams, no JV. Eighth graders can play on varsity. The new gym is only two years old, with five-deep bleachers on one side, and some more seats on a low stage behind the end line. The school itself is impressive, to say the least. It's a renovated 25-room stone "cottage" (here's a picture), which has four buses.

Sounds like quite the experience. Thanks for sharing.

Our association covers the San Juan Islands. Ferry to all of them

Rita

Official Overboard ...
 

After making some tough calls against the visitors, you had better wear a life jacket on the trip back to the mainland.

Yet you didn't want ME to google it?

That's very cool. Not too many ferrys (boats, that is :) ) in the Atlanta area.

Yeah, I wanted you to be the better man. :D