Thursday 8/30
We took a quick detour behind Bassett"s Island in Pocassett on Cape Cod. I have a lot of history here from my years on the Cape. The family 16' sailboat, Imp, lived on a mooring at Barlow's Landing for 5 seasons, and I initiated countless day sails around Buzzards Bay from here.
In addition, i lived aboard my 25-footer, Snizort, for 2 summers at Kingman Marine, pictured here. It's nice to see that things haven't changed much in my old stomping grounds.
Wednesday 8/29
It seems that marine mammals have bookmarked our trip. A dolphin swam by the boat on the first morning of our outbound trip. This morning, I saw my first gray seals on the first day of our invoice trip trip near the dinghy dock, and later saw my first ever right whale! It was an easy identification because most harbors around here have an informational poster with closeups of their fins, tail, and spout. They estimate there are only 450 left so they are critically endangered.
We first spotted this one at a distance of about 600' and thought it was a right based on the time spout. We'd been motoring through Provincetown harbor, so we immediately throttled down and took the engine out of gear while we waited for it to surface again. In the next 5 minutes, we were the only souls in the area, so we scanned the waters continually hoping to see it again. As usual this time of year, there was a feeding frenzy going on with stripers feeding on a school of bait fish about 100' away. These are easy to spot because flocks of gulls and terns will also dive into the frenzy to pick out the scraps.
Evidently the whale honed in on the meal too. It surfaced on its side with its mouth open and baleen clearly visible, chomping down on the whole swarm! Seeing the pectoral fin confirmed it was a right, maybe 30' long our so. The feeding behavior mimicked that of a blue whale that was filmed in the Pacific during the Volvo Sailboat Race last winter--one of my favorite drone shots from the race.
We saw the whale surface one more time about 5 minutes later, headed away from us, of before a couple power boats moved into the area. I suspect he/she knows enough to avoid harbor traffic and was laying low.
This was a total thrill for me, and something I'd really hoped we'd get to experience in Provincetown. After re-learning about whaling at a couple museums, which was such a historic component of coastal New England, and the damage it did to whale populations, it's been great to see that whale watching and conservation is thriving and is more profitable than killing them.
Sorry, no photo--i didn't want to miss the experience by trying to capture it.
Tuesday 8/28
Today we were due to start the return journey home. Conveniently, Kate came down with a cold and fever that has kept us in harbor another day in Provincetown. Metaphorically, we've raised the yellow Q flag on Elf to make sure nobody comes aboard and gets infected.
To allow Kate to rest and recover, I walked down to First Landing Park at the west end of Commerce Street, then across the stone breakwater to the beach. It was nice to stretch the legs a bit and do some rock hopping.
Monday 8/26
Here's the view to the southeast from the top of the pilgrim Monument. Can you spot elf?
I've driven over this bridge dozens of times and ridden my bikes along the canal path hundreds of times in the 4 years I lived on the Cape. But this was the first time sailing under the bridge and transiting the canal. The was all pretty routine--we didn't even need to contend with any"heavy metal". (Meaing a large barge, tanker, or container ship.). I was disappointed about that, but Kate was pleased. Maybe we'll encounter something big on the return trip.
Friday 8/24
We grabbed a mooring yesterday just outside the West end of the Cape Cod Canal. It's a good stop to catch up with friends and family while we wait for wind and our canal transit.
We can heartily endorse Marc Anthony's restaurant for their excellent pizza. Thanks for the suggestion, Tamara, and it was great to catch up!
Wednesday 8/22
We grabbed a mooring ball in Oak Bluffs Harbor to escape the high winds and do some provisioning. It's a very convenient port with fuel, laundry, and a good sized grocery store a short walk from the dock.
We also hopped a bus to Vineyard Haven to buy more stove alcohol at the mini west marine. It was fun to see the town where Dad built his summer house back in the 90's, although we didn't actually walk by the house. (I'd rather leave those memories intact in my head.). Of course, we grabbed some Mad Martha's ice cream while we were in town!
The photo is a golden hour shot of the ginger bread cottages in the 1800's Methodist community, which is one of my favorite parts of town.
Sunday 8/19
Last night, a nor'easter blew into our anchorage with gusts probably around 25 knots. This after gusts of similar strength from the opposite direction the previous night and day. Luckily, the breeze changed direction right after Sunday so we could easily reset our storm anchor to suit the new wind direction. Given the trouble we had with the working anchor not holding in the weedy bottom, I was really happy to get this done before going to sleep.
The prudence of resetting the anchor was driven home around midnight when Kate spotted a sailboat, maybe 35' long, dragging anchor. It passed between us and our neighbor, shown in the picture, being blown sideways at about one knot. (I'd guess there is about a 75' lane between the two boats that the dragging boat navigated cleanly.)
I tried to wake up the passing Captain and crew by shouting and blowing the air horn, but that didn't seem to work. No one seemed to be listening to our hails on channel 16. Surprisingly, the harbor launch seemed to be out patrolling after their usual last run. He responded to my horn, and I sent him after the draggers.
By this time, they were broadly a quarter mile to Leeward, but I saw lights on in the cabin and running lights lit. Soon they were obviously under power and in control of their boat. I couldn't tell if they had hit any other craft, but in the light of day, a couple vacant mooring balls lay in their path. Hopefully they bumped over one of those and woke up before hitting anything valuable or damaging their own boat.
There are too many lessons to learn vicariously from this experience to list here. Let's just say that it was better to see someone else dragging than to be dragging ourselves. (We had enough of that the one time it happened on the Florida sailbbatical.) Whew!
Friday 8/17
I tried to snap a photo of this gorgeous wooden sloop as we were entering the channel into the main harbor. Alas, it took 5 attempts to get this poor photo because of the waves and my inability to see the screen of my phone while in bright sunshine. Trust me, it was a head turner! The eye candy nside the harbor is equally fulfilling for a classic boat enthusiast like me. Can't wait to row around and ogle the oldies.
Thursday 8/16
Because Dad built a summer house on Martha's Vineyard, in seen most of the island by ferry, sailboat, car, bus, bike and canoe. Today marked a new perspective as we sailed to Edgartown in the southeast part of the island. I've visited the town by road, but never by boat. Tomorrow we'll see the other side of Cape Poge as we embark for Nantucket--a part of the island that will be totally new for me.
Sunset over the anchorage was notable for the lack of distinct clouds but an abundance of humidity to color the light a neon red.
Tuesday 8/14
Since we decided to wait out the rainy Monday at Cutty Hunk, we thought we'd splurge on breakfast on the islands this morning. As far as we can tell, the only option is the fisherman's club on the south side of the island. And heck, there's no reason to go anywhere else! Superb food, good prices, and a view of Vineyard sounds that can't be beat. We voted it best breakfast of the trip, and we still have a month of sailing left!
Monday 8/13
I had almost this same view last time I visited CH Island in 2001. That was the first cruise I took in the 25' sailboat that I lived aboard at the time. Visiting 17 years later, we happened to anchor in the same spot.
The island hasn't changed much, thankfully, and is still a great place to do almost nothing. The summer population is about 500, there are only two restaurants and a couple clam shacks, a general store, and a little museum. I still dig the place!
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol Rhode Island. Definitely worth stopping in next time you're in or near Newport. We even came away with a few cool ideas to incorporate into some of the designs I've been working on during the cruise.
There we're a couple times growing up when we stopped in Newport while the Americas Cup was underway. I remember seeing the Twelve Meters being towed in and out of harbor, but we never attempted to watch the actual races, which were well offshore. I have a clear memory of seeing Australia II hauled out of the water with the infamous shroud hiding her innovative winged keel. Days later, she took the Cup from Stars and Stripes
35 years later, the 12 meters are still sailing as excursion boats. This one is older than me, so I didn't see her during her heyday. Nevertheless, it was great to be welcomed this way as w we approached the harbor.
Wednesday 8/8
Back in approximately 1986, my Dad sketched this light house on Block Island from the trailhead at Mohegan Bluffs. So why can i only see the top of the roof and the lantern? I was there when he made the sketch. Did the vegetation grow higher?
That's what I thought until I remembered hearing that they moved the light house back from the eroding bluff! Sure enough, in the lighthouse museum, they had a poster detailing the 1993 relocation. There was also a historic photo of the structure in its old location, very nearly matching the perspective of Dad's sketch.
Wednesday 8/8
We arrived at the Great Salt Pond yesterday afternoon with 20-25 knots of gusty wind. It took three attempts and two locations to get the anchor set. It was so windy that we didn't want to leave the boat in case we dragged anchor, or someone else dragged into us. Luckily it calmed down as the sun set so we could relax and sleep.
This morning, we awoke to a near calm, and soon there were calls from some sort of harbor boat vendor. Should we call them over? Well how often down this opportunity present itself? Yes, of course we'll see what they offer! I snapped this picture of them heading off to their next customer, one croissant, one muffin, and a bottle of fresh squeezed OJ lighter.
YUM!
Monday 8/6.
Light wind and a foul current made for a slow hop from Pine Island to Watch Hill. As the breeze died, we motored the final hour past Latimer's Reef lighthouse and into Little Narragansett Bay, behind Napatree Point. Finally, we found a destination with plenty of space to anchor. It seems like many of the harbors that I remember from the 80's have taken over by moorings, leaving no place to drop the hook.
Saturday 8/4
We took a three day break from the sailbbatical to attend the raft race, which has been an annual tradition for me since 1980. This pic shows the beginning of next year's raft, which should be more suitable to the smaller crew sizes we've had this decade. It will be great to have a boat that can be moved and assembled with only two people!
This year, the weather was the worst ever in the 44 year history of the race, with some level of rain throughout the race. At least the severe downpours moved through well before the start, and the forecast thunderstorms never materialized.
Todd and I took the simple approach and did the race in kayaks, finishing soaking wet but well in advance of the fleet of rafts.
Thursday 8/2
Did a quick flyby on New London Harbor, which is where Dad used to keep the sailboat when I was growing up. Noted some changes (Pfizer buildings) and some things look the same (General Electric and considerable ferry traffic).
I'm not too nostalgic--it was a very lumpy anchorage because of the southern exposure and considerable commercial traffic.
Thursday 8/2
Did a quick flyby on New London Harbor, which is where Dad used to keep the sailboat when I was growing up. Noted some changes (Pfizer buildings) and some things look the same (General Electric and considerable ferry traffic).
I'm not too nostalgic--it was a very lumpy anchorage because of the southern exposure and considerable commercial traffic.
We took a three day break from the sailbbatical to attend the raft race, which has been an annual tradition for me since 1980. This pic shows the beginning of next year's raft, which should be more suitable to the smaller crew sizes we've had this decade. It will be great to have a boat that can be moved and assembled with only two people!
This year, the weather was the worst ever in the 44 year history of the race, with some level of rain throughout the race. At least the severe downpours moved through well before the start, and the forecast thunderstorms never materialized.
Todd and I took the simple approach and did the race in kayaks, finishing soaking wet but well in advance of the fleet of rafts.
Thursday 8/2
We found a perfect little cove off the very crowded Mystic River to spend the night. We were sheltered from the wind and current in 4 feet of water, with just a little slow-moving evening traffic to and from a nearby Marina. It was a much more comfortable night than it would have been in the more exposed anchorage in Noank.
