After a rather stressful zero visibility trip to Halifax, we took a few days to enjoy a bit of relaxation there. The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (actually not all that royal, but rather a pretty blue collar, friendly place) hosted us again for our stay in the area. We did the usual stocking up on fresh stuff, which was FINALLY actually fresh and tasty, unlike most of the stuff found in Newfoundland.
Once we had a decent shift in the wind, we took off for a fairly short trip to Lunenburg. This is the home of Bluenose II, a nice museum, and some really excellent restaurants. We anchored off on our own in the NW corner of the harbor, and wound up spending 3 enjoyable days there. One bit of weather had us shift anchorages for a night, but all in all it was a pleasant stop.
Our next stop was Shelburne, where we spent another few days, really doing nothing in particular, which suited our mood perfectly. The bracket for our big alternator had broken and was being held together in a rather tenuous way, so I did manage to find a machine shop to weld it for me, and they also fabricated a spare.
Shelburne was our last Canadian stop, and we sailed from there directly to Portland, Maine. We had intended to visit Rockland again, but the wind angle wasn’t right for making it that far up the coast, so we didn’t try to force the issue and instead had a really pleasant crossing.
Our arrival there was painless. USCIS was there to meet us at the dock, the check-in took just a few minutes. Jenny for once just got a few cursory questions about her visa and such rather than the more common interrogation, so that was also a relief for both of us. One never knows just how that’s going to go when arriving by yacht.
We had previously been in Portland in April, and we found the harbor to be a very nice, quiet place to hang out. A few days before labor day it is a completely different story. We first spent a night at the dock at Portland Yacht Services. The wakes from an endless stream of pleasure and commercial boats going by was simply outrageous. Boat after boat would go by, some of them in the 60′ range, most of them doing about 12 knots. This happens to be the speed at which most powerboats make the largest wake possible. We couldn’t believe it. So, there we were, on the dock, with no protection and waves actually washing over the floats. The last straw for me was when we actually had one of these waves come right over the transom and flood the cockpit. Mind you, we have now sailed this boat many thousands of miles, and have NEVER had a sea come into the cockpit. To have it happen at the dock is pretty much unacceptable. So, after just a few hours there, was asked to move to a mooring, but it really wasn’t any better. We managed 2 nights out there, and moved to DeMillos marina for a night just so we could get some sleep. Yuck.
We then sailed to Kittery, Maine. Where we took a mooring for a couple of nights. I managed to be a dutiful husband for a few hours and tagged along with Jenny to the outlet mall that was nearby. I think she was quite proud of my patience that day.
The next day was a fairly long run to the Cape Cod canal. We got there right about dusk with a reservation at the Sandwich marina. At the last minute, they decided to try to stuff us into a super tight little corner with 25 knots of wind blowing directly off the dock. I had no choice but to come in hard and try to stuff the boat in while making a hard turn. I didn’t get the bow all the way through the wind, and took a pretty good scratch out of the new paint on the bow. We were pretty pissed. The 70′ slip that we were supposed to take with a proper approach was being occupied by a 28′ boat. Grr. We chewed on the marina staff just a little for that one, but ultimately it was our choice to come in rather than just keep going after being told about the switch of slips. Oh well, it’s just paint and a little bruise to the ego. I still have an adequate amount of ego remaining….
In other news, while I was on the phone with the marina trying to figure out how the heck I was going to get into our new assigned slip our 8 year veteran of a sailor dog (with a perfect safety record) managed to fall off the back of the boat right into the canal. I didn’t even see him go over. I just happened to look back and see a head which I actually thought was a seal. Then I realized it was the damn mutt. I backed up, Jenny heaved him out of the water like a pro halibut fisherwoman, and we went on our way. The dog was making some serious strokes to get back to the boat as well. It was sort of like those cartoons when somebody sees a shark and starts running on water. Oh well, no harm done, but I’m sure glad I spotted him. The current runs really hard through the canal, and that might have been the end of our little buddy if we hadn’t seen him.
Next up was Newport, RI. If there was any question about whether we were firmly back in the mainstream cruising lane, it was certainly answered there. The place was jam-packed with boats, as always. We’re not rich enough to spend the night at a dock there, and the anchorage is dicey, thanks to poorly anchored boats dragging into other boats, mostly. The best scenario is to get a mooring, but none were available on night one. We found a decent spot to anchor up, and spent a quiet first night.
Steve, one of the harbormasters there, remembered us from last year. Well, he remembered Baxter, whom he had taken to shore for a pee against the regulations when we arrived from Annapolis. We had a nice chat, and he did his best to help us find a mooring. Finally, Old Port had one free up, and we were on a good secure buoy. We rented a car for a couple of days and did a bit of running around. We also caught up with an old buddy of mine who also skippers a boat in Alaska, in addition to owning a very nice Vagabond 47 currently in Panama.
Finally, we caught a pretty good forecast. Upwind, but not too strong, so we took off on a Tuesday morning, destination Chesapeake bay. The trip down was pretty fast for the first 24 hours, then it turned flat calm and wound up being a motoring trip for us. We got tied up in our marina and will now set out on preparing the boat for the passage to the Eastern Caribbean at the end of hurricane season.
