Another weather delay

I got up early this morning to confirm what the forecast had indicated the night before...today was not going to be a good day to head to Boothbay Harbor. There were big and very steep waves.

After a slow morning and then a quick trip in for Diane and Carol to shop at a consignment shop, we went to Rocky Neck across the harbor for lunch. We had another delicious meal with a beautiful view at the Studio Restaurant.

Mural in Gloucester 

Though not great, tomorrow looked like an okay day to head for Boothbay Harbor so we left our mooring in the inner harbor and moved out to a mooring at the Eastern Point Yacht Club behind Dog Bar breakwater at the outer harbor entrance.  On our trip out there,  we had clear confirmation that today was not a good day to venture beyond the breakwater..

The club restaurant was closed, but we did make use of their nice showers and then explored the area.

Eastern Point Lighthouse 

Neil and I walked out to the end of Dog Bar breakwater after our showers.

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View of the mooring field with Owl Moon of to the left.

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Back at the boat,  we had had a light dinner and reviewed the forecast data one more time before turning in early.

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Exploring Gloucester

With bad weather forecast for Sunday,  we didn't set an alarm. It was nice to sleep in.  I made blueberry pancakes and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Our plan was to stay in Gloucester for the day.

The weather didn't turn out as bad as forecast so we called the launch to go ashore and explore Gloucester. We enjoyed a delicious late lunch at Passport and then walked down to the harborside where there is a rocky beach.

The fishemen's memorial faces out to sea from the harbor. There is a wall at the memorial with the names of all the Gloucester fishermen lost at sea.

The Blynman Bridge crosses the Blynman Canal at Gloucester Harbor.  The canal connects Gloucester Harbot to the Annisquam River creating a north/south passage that bisects the cape. Much smaller than the Cape Cod Canal!

Across the bridge is a fishermen's wives memorial...also looking out on the harbor.

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Beautiful and well maintained gardens along the harbor walk.

We decided to check out the Crows Nest pub, featured in “The Perfect Storm” so we walked back to the other end of town.  The bar lived up to its reputation as a dive bar where locals hang out.  There was a bumper sticker over the bulletin board that read, “New England Fishery Management Council...ruining fishermen's lives.” We decided not to stay for a drink.

It seemed like a good time for a movie. We had seen a  small theater at the other end of town and headed back that way. “Leave No Trace" was playing at 6:30 pm, perfect timing.

This is the movie theater,  not a sofa showroom.

We came out of the movie theater about 8:45 and called the launch phone number and didn't get an answer. We walked to the nearby public landing...no launch.  Called again...still no answer. Decided to walk the short distance to the harbormaster’s office and saw the launch tied up there with cover on. Called again and still no answer.  The launch was supposed to run until 10 pm! I asked a group of 4 who had just come on the dock to board their dinghy if they had a radio. They did not, but offered us a ride to our boat. We were lucky that they happened to be there just then! Sailors helping sailors.

On to Gloucester

I woke up at first light and figured we might as well get an early start to allow more time to sail. Neil heard me and got up to join me. We were off the mooring at 5:30 with a beautiful sunrise.

As we came out of Provincetown Harbor we saw the lead boats in the Beringer Overnight Race race just arriving. I think they were becalmed a while overnight.  They had left Boston at 7 pm yesterday.

We followed the curve of the hook at the end of Cape Cod around to Race Point Light.  Ahead were a lot of fishing boats on our course at the south edge of Stellwagon Bank, just NW of the end of Cape Cod. As we neared the fishing fleet,  I thought I saw a bit of smoke appear just above the water between two fishing boats. When a dark shape appeared under the “smoke” I realized I had seen a whale blow.

There turned out to be several whales in the area. We rolled in the big jib and out the little jib to have maneuverability as we spent some time whale watching from Owl Moon. They put on quite a show.  A couple of times one rolled onto its side and waved with its flipper.

It was another beautiful day on the water.  We sailed all the way to Gloucester. First on a close reach and then the wind shifted SE and we went dead downwind wing and wing, with the little jib out as well.

We arrived Gloucester at 3:30 pm where we had a mooring reserved in the inner harbor. I called the harbor harbor launch to find out where our mooring was and he led us to a mooring where a power boat was towed and I could see him having a conversation with those aboard. Uh oh! He soon radioed to tell us that the boat was on our mooring and would be leaving soon.

After an afternoon nap and happy hour appetizers aboard, we called the launch to go ashore. Fortunately for us, we called early to go in and walk around a bit before our 7pm dinner reservation at Rudder Restaurant. The launch took 30 minutes to get to us and then we made a couple of stops before arriving the dock of the restaurant just before 7.  There are moorings and an anchorage in the outer harbor, about 2 nm from us that the single launch also serves and he was delayed serving requests from out there.

The restaurant was packed and noisy, food was good.

On to Provincetown, MA

We wanted an early start today to make Provincetown for dinner ashore. We also needed to time our entry into the Cape Cod Canal for favorable current. That would be about 10:30 am.

I was awake as usual with the light of the sunrise and Neil was up to join me. We weighed anchor at 6 am. It was soon obvious we were going to be early to the canal by motor sailing,  so we cut  the motor and sailed for a while.

Heading out of Cuddyhunk. 

Sailing was great, but it was going to delay our arrival to P’town if we sailed all the way to the Canal in the relatively light wind. So, we motorsailed the last bit of Buzzards Bay to time our arrival to the canal.

Nearing the railroad bridge at the west end of the Cape Cod Canal.

Interesting boat we passed on our way through the canal.

Once through the canal, we set course for Provincetown and had a great sail much of the way. We had a mooring reserved with Flyers Boat Rentals.  It is great to have a mooring with launch service in a busy harbor so that we don't have to use our dinghy.

After a nap and appetizers aboard, we called the launch to go in for dinner and exploring P’town.  We ate at Bayside Betsy's in a room overlooking the harbor...food was delicious with big portions (leftovers were packaged to bring back to the boat).

Kalmar Nyckel leaving P'town for a sail

After dinner, Diane suggested we take in one of the shows. The 8:30 pm show at the Crown & Anchor with Dina Martina that was just starting would finish in time to catch the launch back to Owl Moon, so we bought tickets for it. The show was entertaining, though I was a bit tired to really enjoy it.

Photo op with Dina Martina

Before boarding the launch,  we walked to the end if the pier where Kalmar Nyckel, the Tall Ship of Delaware, was tied.  She was an impressive sight with a lion for her figurehead. Guy  We were amazed at how many lines there were to pull.

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Underway again

We hoped to get our dinghy back sometime this morning,  but weren't sure when.  It seemed a good morning to have breakfast ashore.  I wanted to try a breakfast/lunch place up Narragansett Ave. I had seen on our way to yoga.  So, we called the launch soon after 8 and went in. We walked up to A Slice of Heaven where all 4 of us had  blueberry pancakes.

It was an enjoyable, leisurely breakfast outdoors until Diane discovered her phone wasn't working. I spent the next bit of time trying to get it working.  I did not want to add an Uber ride to the nearest Sprint store. That would result in a significant delay to our planned departure from Jamestown. I eventually did a factory reset on the phone and got it working again.

While sitting outside the marina office working on Diane's phone, I looked up to see someone unloading our outboard from a pickup truck. Yea, we may actually get underway again.

We showered at the marina and then caught a ride on the marina courtesy shuttle to the grocery store.

Provisions stowed, dinghy on davits, we were off the mooring just before 1 pm and underway again. As we came out into Rhode Island Sound, there was enough of a south breeze to sail. However,  since we wanted to get to Cuddyhunk to sail, we motorsailed. The New York Yacht Club race week fleet was off to our south having some great conditions for racing.

As we approached Cuddyhunk, we could see a lot of masts in the inner harbor sticking up above the low lying land between us and them. Diane called the harbormaster and learned that all the inner moorings might already be occupied. There was plenty of room to anchor outside and with the light south winds forecast, we decided to anchor.

Diane and Carol packed a picnic appetizer picnic bag to bring with us while Neil and I launched the dinghy.  We took off for the 0.75 NM dinghy ride into the inner harbor, counting on the outboard service being successful.

After exploring a bit of the beautiful island and enjoying wine and cheese at the high point of the island, we returned to Owl Moon for dinner aboard. The dinghy worked great, yea!

Sitting aboard Owl Moon for a sunset dinner, we all agreed that we were lucky not to be able to get a mooring inside. It was a beautiful evening to be out where the sunset was much more visible and no boats crowded around us (they are packed close together in the inner harbor).

A day to enjoy Block Island

We decided to stay another day in Block Island since we did not get to see much of it yesterday evening.  We had to move to a town mooring since the private moorings can only be used overnight (they give out private moorings after 3 pm if they are not being used by their owners).

We found a town mooring close to the Block Island Boat Basin. That was a great location because we planned on rowing the dinghy in to the basin to see if Pete Mott could look at our outboard. He is an auto mechanic with a shop next to the Boat Basin and we heard he was the only guy on Block Island who might be able get our outboard running.

I didn't mention that our refrigerator has stopped working (or is barely working and running continuously). Turns out there is nobody on Block Island who can help with that!

We decided to rent bikes to explore a bit of BI. We rode to a pub for lunch and then to the lighthouse. After a very interesting tour of the lighthouse,  we continued a short loop back to town.

I thought I had fixed the issue with the motor by using some spray starter/carburetor cleaner and it ran fine getting us back to Owl Moon. We had decided not to take it to Pete. However, when we went to take the dinghy to Block Island Oyster Bar and Grill, it wouldn't run.  Very frustrating!

So, we called the launch to go in for dinner. After dinner, we took a taxi to the Yellow Kitten for a comedy show. There are no Uber or Lyft drivers on BI. The comedy show helped take mind off the issues we had to deal with. Nothing to do about them until tomorrow anyway.

On to Block Island

We got to sleep in this morning...didn't get up until 5:30 am. As we prepared to depart, Neil couldn't find his sunglasses. He figured he had left them in the shower. We did a touch and go and the fuel dock for Neil to hop off and he retrieved his sunglasses from the bathroom.  Another touch and go to pick up Neil and we were on our way.

Sunrise at Mt. Sinai

We had about 40 miles to go to Plum Gut where we would exit the Sound with favorable current and then another 30 to Block Island. Motorsailing at first, we made good time, but eventually the wind speed dropped and the adverse current built. I watched our Plum Gut ETA stay fairly constant at 3 hours for about 45 minutes during this transition.  We had gone from over 7 knots to about 4.5 knots of boat speed. 

The current started to shift back in our favor as we neared the Gut and it was quite strong in the Gut. The wind also returned, strong from the south.

Mototsailing into Plum Gut

We motorsailed through the Gut to point high enough to clear the southern tip of Plum Island. A stones throw from the beach, the water depth was 120 feet.

Once past Plum Island,  we put the centerboard down, turned off the motor and cracked off a bit on a course for Block Island. We close reached most of the afternoon between 7.5 and 8.4 knots, getting a boost from the favorable current.

Sailing to Block Island

7 nm from the entrance to Block Island we began motorsailing again, figuring we should get in by 5 pm and try to get a private mooring from the harbormaster. We had called earlier,  but they wouldn't give us a mooring until we arrived. 

Coming into the Great Salt Pond at 4:45 pm, I called the Harbor Master and he had a private mooring for us. We didn't expect this on a Saturday evening and were pleasantly surprised. 

After dinner aboard, we launched the dinghy to go to The Oar and get mudslides. One third of the way there,  the motor stalled and I couldn't get it to run at low speed...an old problem that I thought I had fixed. Someone came by in their dinghy and gave us a tow back to Owl Moon. We called the launch, because we didn't want Neil and Carol to miss Saturday night at the Oar.

We may have a dinghy engine that won't run, but at least we got our mudslides at The Oar.

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Decorated oars hang from the rafters in The Oar.