We waved goodbye to Portland as we passed the Portland
Head Lighthouse. Thanks to Wanderer II and Gene, we had a wonderful
experience there. A remarkable city. Now we are on way to Gloucester
by way of Isle of Shoals. The seas are calm and the wind is barely on
the nose. Relaxing day.
We arrived at Isle of Shoals about 1500 yesterday.
The protocol is to pick up one of the yacht clubs' mooring balls and
hope the owner doesn't come wanting to use it. Legend has it that
weekdays are pretty safe while weekends are not. Yesterday was a weekday
and we were safe. Pretty place! The Maine side was mostly undeveloped
except for a couple of really old historical home. The New Hampshire
side had this big religious school teeming with people of all ages.
We left the Shoals around 0800 with same sea and wind
conditions. Nothing remarkable until we arrived at the Gloucester city
moorings. The moorings are a bit tight so Jim provided some assistance
so that we did not scare the heck out of the boat that would be in front of
us. No worries until we landed on the dinghy dock. Ann went first and
headed for shore. The floating docks were not attached to each other so
one went down, the other up, and Ann fell and skidded on the dock where
she tore the heck out of her shin. No permanent damage but she was
hurting for several weeks.
The crews explored Gloucester for the next couple of days.
We went to museums, checked out some of the restaurants, visited the
Crows Nest Bar where some of the Perfect Storm was filmed (there is a
Bobby story here). Gloucester is a working town so there is not too
much touristy stuff here. That is a good thing for us. We had a great
time with Jim and Karen. They were our tour guides. Gloucester is on
our list to visit again.
But now it is time to go. We have a plan that will get
us through the Cape Cod canal and then to Onset via a stopover at
Plymouth. So we said farewell to Glocester as we passed the historical
paint building on the north side of the harbor. Our trip and anchorage
at Plymouth was uneventful. We anchored near the bight that guards the
harbors from the Atlantic as the wind and seas were calm. Different
conditions could have made this place quite uncomfortable.
We left Plymouth at 0700 so we could enter the
canal with a favorable tide. Worked out prefectly. We saw 11 knots at
times as we were zipping through the canal. We saw more patrol boats
than before (of course it was foggy last time) and not sure why. As we
approached the railroad bridge, we figured out the 'why'. Jule III and
two other boats passed the bridge but the other boats behind us had to
wait for the bridge closure Lucky us.
We arrived in Onset around 1000. We were quite surprised
that no one else was anchored here. We thought it would be mobbed. We
love this place. People are friendly, inexpensive bus service
(especially for us old folks), helpful folks at Point Independence Yacht
Club (PIYC), great local bar, and good pizza at Marc Anthony's (another
Bobby story that contradicts that) but we will never go again.
Today is Sunday we headed for St Mary's
Star of the Sea church. It is a neighborhood church whose congregation
reflects the local diversity. Great folks and great priest. The PIYC
was kind enough to offer their dinghy dock so that we could more easily
go to church. Tomorrow we head for Newport via way of Cuttyhunk
;
