We All Need To Stay On Board Until The Ferry Docks

A few years back, I worked as a sub-contractor for a delivery company. Myself and another technician would deliver fitness equipment, furniture, sporting goods to homes and businesses from Connecticut to Rhode Island to Massachusetts, even as far north as Maine. One of our service areas was Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. To get to Nantucket, you need to board a ferry (I boarded in Hyannis, MA) with yourself, your cargo, and take the ride across Nantucket Sound. The Nantucket ferry ride from Hyannis, MA is over 2 hours long with no stops on deserted islands or mid-sound tropical bars or pit stops on floating hot dog stands. Once you are on the ferry, you must ride it out all the way to Nantucket.

During your trip from Hyannis to Nantucket, you may experience some tension or anxiety about being out of control. You have to ride the ferry all the way until it is docked. Jumping off the ferry at any point during the ferry ride is not advisable and there are signs posted throughout the ferry stating so. You simply need to stay on the ferry, listen to the Captain and ferry staff, ride it out, and try to lessen your anxiety about getting off earlier than you are told to. While you are on the ferry, you may have decreased cell phone service. You may have little or no internet service. The ferry may have WiFi on board, but even that may be limited due to bandwidth and accessibility. You may need to just sit, read a magazine or book, write a story, draw a picture, take a nap, go up on deck and look for whales, or simply go and take photos of the sound while taking a gigantic deep breath from your hectic daily life.

Now what if you decided to jump off the ferry and swim ashore. I traveled to Nantucket in January of 2018 and I can honestly tell you that the water temperature was at or about the air temperature that day. Freezing is not cold enough of a description to describe how cold the air, the water, the wind, and that ferry ride was. So, let's say you jump off the ferry midway and want to swim ashore. You can't take it anymore, you are bored, you are sick of sitting on that ferry just stewing, you need action, you need activity, you need to do something other than just sitting and waiting for this slow ferry to get to where you need to go. You jump overboard into the freezing cold waters. Now comes the ripple effect. The ferry slows down to a halt. Staff are now engaged to jump in after you. You have now disrupted the process of the ferry ride for yourself and others. You have endangered the lives of crew members. Your selfish act is now causing a very negative ripple effect that may cost people time, money, and perhaps their health. You have allowed your thirst for control to take over your ability to think rationally and now you have negatively affected others in the process. Not good.

During this time of control - governments shutting down businesses, kids being ordered to stay home, recreational facilities closing, gyms closing, barbershops closing - I know that there is a gigantic level of anxiety over control of your daily activities. You are being asked to stay on board the ferry of life and not to jump overboard. You are being asked to ride this out for as long as it takes to get to a safe harbor, in this case the end of the pandemic as we know it. You are being asked to stop being selfish and going out into public in large gatherings and potentially endangering the lives of others. You can sense more and more closings and delays and obstacles that will be presented by state, local, and federal employees that will limit your sense of normalcy. It is a very frustrating time to have to ride this ferry of an uncertain time frame to get to a safe harbor. But you must learn how to control your anxiety and give in to the reality that this ferry ride will take as long as it needs to get to safety.

The Nantucket Ferry from Hyannis has an estimated travel time of about 2 hours. Weather can be a factor in pushing that travel time plus or minus the estimates. If you listen to the Captain, stay on board, don't give in to your anxiety about being out of control, you will ride the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket safely and disembark onto a beautiful, historic New England treasure with so much to offer all of your senses. If you choose to jump overboard during the ferry ride, you will be endangering yourself, the other passengers, the crew, and your family in a very selfish gesture that will cause a ton of negative ripple effects. Let's all listen to our local, state, and federal Captains. Heed the warnings - stay home, no public gatherings over a designated number, wash your hands, be on board with the recommendations of doctors. Ride this ferry of life the proper way and we will all land in a safe harbor sooner than later.

Be safe everyone,
Noel P. Roby