Wednesday, September 12 – Saturday, September 29, 2018
After last-minute preparations, I did some laundry at Ginny’s and left our car in her driveway. Lucky for us, Ginny is within an easy walk to the marina! We didn’t depart from the pony dock at Yankee Marina until 3:45, as we were only going as far as Portland Harbor. Karen offered us guest space at Chandler’s Wharf where she and her cat live aboard m/v JUNIATA, the Consolidated Industries cruiser I think I’ve mentioned before. She also offered her mooring #178 across the channel.
We opted for the dock space so we could more easily visit Karen and walk Annie around town. We found ourselves behind M5, the largest sloop (single masted) in the world. At 277′ long and 54′ wide, she was berthed on the facing dock at DiMillo’s Marina. [Not many weeks later a storm came up and M5 was blown off the pier, taking much of the facing dock with her!].
The head was beginning to get a bit smelly, so Hugh cleaned it thoroughly and put ____ in the holding tank to “break up the solids”. We then planned to add a tablet down the head after each pumpout.
It looked as if we had a “weather window” for our trip south, from today through Sunday or Monday, so despite the drizzle, we departed Portland, and made our way to Biddeford Pool by way of a quick trip up the Saco River to check things out. We had intended to pumpout at Marston’s Marina, but they were already on winter hours. Good to know! This reinforced our happiness that we decided last November not to risk bringing KATIE MACK down to the Vineyard so late in the season with all the potential “what ifs” along an unfamiliar route. Whew! Back to Biddeford Pool, we once again picked up BPYC’s mooring #89 for the night.
So much for our weather window! We woke up to thick fog, decided to stay put for the day, and hoped for better weather the next day. Ha! This is why we don’t make plans or keep to a schedule. More fog the next day meant we stayed a third night in Biddeford Pool. I baked an apple crisp and made pesto with fresh-picked basil from Leslie Oh Hell No’s garden. She and I went on a long walk around Biddeford Pool, and she showed me all the paths to avoid walking along the roads.
We got an early start on Sunday morning. The sky was blue, and there was barely a ripple of breeze over the gentle swell. Just off Ogunquit, we saw a sunfish, and had to find the youtube video of the guy with the wicked Boston accent seeing one for the first time: “Holy shit, Jay, it’s a baby whale . . . .” We also came across another dead baby seal. Apparently Asian flu and distemper are a problem in the seal population.
We continued past Portsmouth, NH and decided to stop at Newburyport, MA. We crossed the bar into the Merrimac River near half tide. This bar is known to be treacherous, and if the wind and tide hadn’t been cooperating, we would have kept going. We proceeded up the river to the City of Newburyport Public Docks for a pumpout, and then picked up a Newburyport Marina mooring (cone-shaped with a blue stripe. $50 and no wifi, but nice showers). There was a swift current in this channel, and lots of “Sunday drivers” whizzing up and down the river.
Monday dawned with gray skies. After topping off the water tank and walking Annie, we were on our way down river by 9:15. We safely and easily crossed the bar, and made our way across Bigelow Bight into Ipswich Bay to the Annisquam River.
It was low tide, which made for a lazy cruise past mud flats full of shore birds, lovely old wooden boats, and lots of funny-looking houseboats. Once we made it through the two bascule bridges into Gloucester’s Western Harbor, we hailed Karen’s friend, Viking, who owns the Gloucester Marine Railway at the mouth of Smith Cove.
Route 1 bascule bridge 
RR lift bridge
She directed us to a 40′ float near the travel-lift. We were so happy to be tucked in here, snug and secure for the torrential rains expected the next day — remnants of Hurricane Florence that devastated so much of North and South Carolina a few days earlier.
Due to the high winds outside the harbor, we stayed at the Maine Railway ($25/night) for 4 nights and then moved onto a Harbor mooring for another 2 nights ($40/night). We only had one rolly night with a gale blowing.
Since it wasn’t raining all day every day, we had a chance to do a lot of walking all over East Gloucester and Gloucester . There is quite an artist’s colony here on Rocky Neck with adorable houses and gardens nestled all side by each, and good provisioning “up to the Shaw’s” within walking distance of the town wharf. Don of f/v SCOTIA GIRL, loaned Hugh his truck so he could drive up to the fishermans outfitters for lures to catch stripers. We never did make it to the Market Store, a little place similar to Rosemont — maybe next time! Dinner at Halibut recommended by Amelia, and another dinner at Maria’s recommended by Zach for its great chicken parm, which lived up to its billing. At one point we got a phone call that Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard didn’t have any room for KATIE MACK. More phone calls and recommendations needed.
Finally the storm passed and we were able to depart Gloucester under blue skies with very little breeze. We made it across Massachusetts Bay to the Town Landing in Cohasset Cove, where we met Kate, a college friend of Hugh’s, for lunch. We continued on down to Plymouth Harbor, where some locals encouraged us to follow them to pick up a free mooring near the anchorage but a little less exposed.
The next day, Monday, the winds picked up. We checked in with the harbormaster who suggested we move into the inner harbor anchorage inside the breakwater on a HUGE mooring normally used by a fishing vessel. No charge! We walked around town and found the British Store which has Sherbet Dabs and Turkish Delight. Woohoo!
On Tuesday, my college roommate’s parents, Harvey and Mary, took us for a delicious lunch at the Lobster Pot in Bourne, followed by a tour of the Plymouth area. So much to get caught up on with the doings of their kids and grandkids. What a treat to have the time for a good long visit, which was topped off with an invitation to do a load of laundry before they dropped us at the town wharf. Fun day, followed by more wind and rain the next day. At some point, we lost our ensign — the ONE night we forgot to bring it in at nightfall.
Because of the high winds (when the fishermen stay put, we stay put!), we didn’t leave Plymouth until Thursday morning under grey skies with a moderate breeze out of the north. We had a comfortable run down to the Cape Cod Canal, made it through without incident, and continued our smooth run all the way across Buzzards Bay to Woods Hole. We picked up a Woods Hole Marine mooring while we called around, and finally a cheerful young woman from the Woods Hole Yacht Club offered us one of their transient moorings ($30).
It was great fun to watch all the harbor activity with ferries, fishing boats, and research vessels coming in and out of the harbor. There are also quite a few houseboats in the western side of the harbor. It was quite rolly that evening, so Hugh devised a “flopper-stopper” with the drogue before we retired for the night. Worked like a charm!
The next morning it was rainy, so we decided to wait until things cleared a bit before leaving Woods Hole. We didn’t make it very far out of the channel before the waves kicked up, so we turned around and eventually picked up the WHYC mooring for another night. I took the bus into Falmouth to West Marine to buy a new rainjacket, and then ended up walking the 4 miles back to Woods Hole as the bus never came by — 16,557 steps that day!
Finally, on Saturday the 29th, we woke to clear skies. By 10 AM we were headed out Great Harbor and decided to check out MacDougall’s Boatyard in Falmouth as a possible winter haulout. After speaking with them — nice folks! — and topping up fuel and water and pumping out, we crossed Vineyard Sound to the R “2” gong off West Chop and followed the marks into Vineyard Haven. Just before reaching the harbor, we noticed a “squeaking” sound. Hugh discovered there was water seeping in from the saltwater gasket which Yankee Marina had removed this spring to change the zincs. The other side had leaked a bit, too, before self-plugging with salt. Luckily we were only minutes from the breakwater and were assigned mooring E-5. We picked up the mooring just before 1:00 and (thought) we were home for the winter.
While we only needed four days to travel from Vineyard Haven to Portland in the spring, it took us 16 days to return from Portland to Vineyard Haven, due to the weather kicked up by hurricanes passing far to the south. This is why we allow plenty of time to get to places we “NEED” to be. We clearly understand why the most dangerous item one can carry aboard a vessel is a schedule.
1,390 miles and 40 harbors (30 unique harbors) since June 9th. What an adventure we have had!