Making tracks

We are under way southbound across Massachusetts Bay, bound for the Cape Cod Canal. I am reminded today that Vector, with her stalwart crew of two, is exactly the same size (length, beam, draft, and displacement) as the Pinta, the smallest and fastest of Columbus's ships, which had a crew of 26.  We could perhaps stuff another 24 people in here in a pinch, but the mind boggles.

This morning's sunrise over Eastern Point light station, Cape Ann, as we left Gloucester.

We arrived to Portland Harbor Friday on a flood tide, and were approaching the Casco Bay bridge by 5pm. Just under the bridge is a city dock that is free for four hours, or $1.50 per foot overnight, first come, first served. We had contemplated perhaps spending the night there, or else anchoring in the harbor and tendering in on Saturday morning to pick up the part from the sewing place, just a half mile walk.

With the possibility that the dock might be unavailable and the further possibility that the anchorage where we often stay could be rolly all night from the ocean swell, I had called the South Port Marina right next door, also just a half mile walk, while we were still offshore to see if they had room. They had just switched to their winter rate of $2/ft, and with the delta being just 50 cents plus the ability to have power overnight when the forecast said it was going to drop into the 40s, I booked it. We'd arrive after closing, so checking out either the city dock or the anchorage first was not an option.

Departing Portland we spotted the brand new, ice-class pocket cruise ship Ocean Explorer.

We arrived at dead low tide, carefully navigating the entrance channel with just a foot under the keel, and were tied alongside (map) by 5:20. As soon as the boat was secured we made the short walk over to Foul Mouthed Brewing for good burgers with some excellent house-made drafts. I enjoyed the brown so much that I purchased a four-pack of pint cans to take home.

As usual, Louise took advantage of having unlimited water and power to do some laundry, and even though I tend not to start projects after dinner, I could not pass up the chance to change the oil while the engine was still warm from the passage. Doing it at the dock rather than waiting a day to the next anchorage also meant I had the brighter AC-powered engine room lights for the task. I also tore the sewing machine back down in anticipation of having the part first thing in the morning.

Moonrise over the Atlantic from our anchorage at Stage Island.

The sewing place opened at 9:30 and we walked over together to grab the part. The two-day shipping from Juki in Miami, at $30, was more than the part, $21. We stopped in at the Hanaford supermarket next door for provisions, and had nice bagel sandwiches for breakfast at the Cia Cafe on our way home. South Portland is a nice little town, with a very different vibe than its big sister across the river.

I installed the new speed sensor first thing upon returning to the boat, and I was quite relieved that it immediately solved the problem. I still don't understand what happened to the old one while I was replacing the motor -- it's just an LED and a photocell, after all -- but all's well that ends well. I'm sure we disappointed the sewing shop, who was hoping to sell a whole new machine, which they had in stock, for $999. That's exactly what would have happened had I not been able to fix it before they closed at 2pm.

This morning Enchanted Princess crossed in front of us on her way to Boston.

We were all fed, watered, and walked, just like pets, before noon, and we dropped lines to make whatever progress we could in another day of great passage conditions. We left Portland Harbor without ever even stopping in the eponymous city. As a harbinger of our good passage ahead, I spotted a fluke just before it disappeared under water, just off Willard Beach.

Outside conditions were excellent, but with a mid-day start Cape Porpoise was as far as we could reasonably get in the daylight. We pulled into a familiar cove called Stage Island Harbor and dropped the hook (map). I grilled up some chicken for dinner.

At dinner last night, somebody (not I) tipped the restaurant that Louise's birthday is this week.

Conditions had also been forecast to be good yesterday, but winds were much higher than forecast, blowing 25 knots out of the west rather than the forecast 5-10. That made for rough water as soon as we left the protection of Cape Porpoise, putting our intended goal of Gloucester, some nine hours away, in jeopardy. That, in turn, would ace us out of the canal today, with the ultimate effect of being pinned down by this incoming system in a less than ideal place.

That's not a big deal, but still we'd like to take as much advantage of this good window as we can. We figured we could still make good progress if we hugged the coast instead of taking the direct route, and so we angled in toward the coast at Bald Head until the seas diminished, and ran just a couple of miles offshore all the way past New Hampshire.

Our planned route (blue) and our actual track (thick black) from Cape Porpoise to Cape Ann.

On the near-shore route the sensible way in to Gloucester Harbor is via the Anisquam River and Blynman Canal, a route we've used previously. But the river has some shallow sections of just seven feet, and we'd be arriving at a low tide of -0.65 (yes, that's a below-zero tide). Navigating that with a couple of knots of following current would be a recipe for running aground and waiting hours for the tide to lift us off. Instead we angled back out and around Cape Ann, once we were in its protection from the southerly swell. In all it added an hour to the trip, and we had the hook down in a familiar spot in Gloucester Harbor (map) a full ten hours after weighing anchor.

Scrambling to make tracks during this relatively short window of good passage weather meant whizzing right past Porstmouth, NH and Newburyport, MA, the two closest harbors to my cousins in New Hampshire. Usually we stop for a couple of days to get in a family visit. When they learned we'd be stopping in Gloucester they opted to make the hour-plus drive down to meet us for dinner. We met them ashore at the 1606 Restaurant in the Beauport Hotel, where I scored the very last table when I made the reservation in the afternoon. We had a great time catching up over good food and lots of drinks.

Post-prandial family selfie at the restaurant.

This morning we weighed anchor at 0630 in order to arrive at the Cape Cod Canal on a favorable tide. At this writing it looks like we will just make it, with a favorable current all the way to Onset, our destination for today. We could get further, but they have a good price on diesel fuel, or at least they did yesterday, and we're hoping to bunker there before moving on. With any luck, we will get all the way to Newport before we have to hunker down for weather.