Salem to Boston, marina

Even though the trip was only 3 hours, we knew the weather was going to get snotty as the day went on. The winds, which had been so placid for the last week, kicked up over night. Small craft advisories surrounded the area. So, we left as the sun came up.

That said it wasn't a bad ride at all. A little lumpy on the nose but nothing worth fretting over.

We're back in Boston, and back at Charlesgate Yacht club.. Given our early start we did have to wait for "commute times" to end (which is 9:10 am) before the train bridge would open. We floated around the little bay between the lock and Tower A for about 20 minutes. They opened the bridge at the stroke of 9:10, which was quite punctual.

Foggy morning while in Salem. Thankfully, clear the day we left.

That's a skunk. While walking at sunset in Salem we noticed this
critter in someone's garden.

On the water at dawn, heading to Boston

Sharing the tiny lock with Highwind.

The yacht club is allowing us to stay through the holiday weekend. We're thrilled. Good to be back in Boston.

Rockport to Salem, ball

The weather continued to be awesome for our small ride west to Salem, Massachusetts. We started around 7:30 in the morning and arrived around 9:45.

Two years ago we came to the area but didn't stay in Salem but rather Beverly, the town nearby. To get to Salem we needed to take a short train ride. This time we were able to get a ball in Salem Harbor. The marina provides a launch, to getting to town is easy. We plan on exploring it a bit since we'll be here for a couple of nights.

But let me tell you about Rockport! This was only our second visit (we anchored in the same bay just a couple of weeks ago on our way up). But we didn't get to shore. Fellow boaters, the crew of No Rush, mentioned it was a cute town. We made an effort to explore it.

Dinghy dock at low tide. Get on the floating dock,
then climb the slippery 15 foot ladder!
At high tide it's only 4 feet.

Our first night there, however, we noticed a large Victorian looking home with blue neon lights on it. Curious I looked through binoculars to see what it was. To my surprise, it was some kind of music venue -- I could see the orchestra seats. After a quick google search, we bought tickets to hear a string quartet the following evening.

So, we enjoyed some cinnamon donuts at the Brother's Brew coffee shop. For lunch/dinner we ate lobster rolls at Rob Moore Lobster Company followed by ice cream (which was amazing) at The Ice Cream Store. From there, we walked to the Rockport Music Shalin Liu Performance Center and listened to some Bach, Mozart, and Brahms. Awesome day.

inQuest in the Rockport anchorage.

Main street in Rockport.

The performance center. Beautiful venue. We heard a string
quartet perform Bach, a quintet perform Mozart...

...and a piano quartet perform Brahms. You can see how
we saw inside the venue. In fact, if you zoom, you can see inQuest from here.

The view after music and heading back to the boat.

Awesome sunset in Salem.

Falmouth to Rockport, anchor

By the map's travel line you can tell it was a bit of indecision. First we thought we'd go to Kittery. Then we decided, since the day was awesome, we'd go all the way to Rockport. Then we decided that would make for an unnecessarily long day and there's no reason to rush so we'd go to Isle of Shoals. But they were full, given the absolutely glorious weather and water (and it was Saturday, so everyone could be out and about on a boat). So we just made it a long day and headed to Rockport.

We had no real plans to jam south but it wasn't hard at all to spend 8 hours on the Atlantic. Rare, indeed.

That makes us a little ahead of schedule. We have plans to spend Labor Day weekend in Boston. So we'll stay here for a couple of nights. 

Early start to the morning, up before dawn in Falmough

Waving goodbye to Portland as we pass it and the old fort.

Lighthouse marking the Portland entrance. Everything is so pretty in morning light.

How good was the weather? The wind speed is 0.1 knots.

Love the Atlantic when it looks like this.

Morning in Rockport. Calm now, but it will bustle with boaters once the day gets going. We plan on getting one last lobster roll here, even though we're  not in Maine anymore. Hello, Massachusetts.

Maddock to Falmouth, anchor

After staying 3 nights in a quiet (albeit gloomy) anchorage the weather allowed us to make an earnest effort to start heading south. We begin unwinding our travels. First stop, back to Portland, or Falmouth which was close by.

The trip was amazing, one of the best "open water" journeys. We were underway for 3.5 hours, most of that was on the Atlantic.

There's a huge mooring field in Falmouth called Handy Boat. Alas, they only had a ball for Highwind, so we anchored off an island nearby. We had a very quiet night, so that was awesome.

Gloomy but gorgeous anchorage in Maddock.
Had it been nicer we'd have canoed and swum.

Today we DO have a ball reservation at Handy, so we'll move this afternoon. We'll stay for a couple of nights, try to do one last round of lobster here in Maine before leaving on Saturday.

Lovely day for an ocean cruise.

One of the more interesting lighthouses we've seen.
We've passed this one 4 times now. Finally got a good pic.

Boothbay to Maddock Cove, anchor

We checked out one cove first, before moving.
to our final anchorage.

When we woke Sunday morning the rough seas from yet another hurricane were seeping their way into our harbor, giving us a steady and substantial rock. We decided not to linger. Everyone got pumped out (there's a boat for that, so very handy), weighed anchor, and headed back into the islands to seek some quiet.

That make for a very short day. And a very quiet night.

The lobster place at Boothbay. HOPPIN'!

Quiet and lovely. Not sure if we'll see the sun while here.

Bath to Hockomock Bay, anchor

Of the Hell Gate's we've been through
this one is worth watching tides for.

While it would be easy to get to Booth Bay from here, our ultimate destination, we're slow boating, taking the days in tiny chunks. This is the most beautiful section of Maine so why rush it? Besides that way we break up going through Hell Gate and Little Hell Gate. Seem logical.

We spent 2 nights on the Bath Town dock which was thoroughly enjoyable. The town is right there, with a number of eateries, a brewery, and a damn fine bakery -- better than any we found in Portland. Just sayin'.

Given Hannah and David had to work in the morning we all made sure the hook was down by 9 am. 

Boats on the Bath Town Dock.
No cleats, but a hefty dock around 200 feet.

Nothing left to do but enjoy the view and the day.

Note, this anchorage was described as having a "100% perfect sunset guarantee by the Main Board of Tourism." Something to look forward too.

Bath continues to be where military boats are made, the Bath Iron Works.
Nearby is the site of the Percy and Small boat yard, now a museum, 
famed for building 4, 5, and 6 masted schooners. This "art" shows the
size and shape of such a vessel. Until you're here you don't get just
 how massive it is. A must see if you're in the area. 

Admittedly, that's a pretty nice sunset.

Portland to Bath, wall

While still hiding from the Atlantic as much as we could we skittered about the islands until we absolutely had to go outside. Thankfully, it was a little roll-y but mostly harmless (still settling from the hurricane). We only had to bear that for about an hour and, with the exception of having to steer around crab and lobster traps (I still call them "prop traps"), it was dandy.

Navionics, the mapping tool we use, took us on a small cutoff off the ocean, rather than continue a bit further to get into the main channel. It looked good on paper. But we told Highwind not to try it. Due to the tide/current/winds colliding it created some standing waves that were around 4 or 5 feet. We struggled against the current and it wasn't particularly deep there. At one point I saw 3.5 feet beneath us. It ended fine, but created a needless amount of fret.

Maine is glorious cruising.

Two years ago we'd been to Bath. That time we came from Booth Bay and went through Hell Gate to get to Bath. The plan is to do that in reverse when we leave; head to Booth Bay from here. That will be our northernmost point this year. We'll basically turn around and head back to Baltimore.

Also, last time we moored on a ball outside a boating museum. It was one of the more harrowing moors we've ever been on, with and out going current around 5 knots and a sketchy mooring ball. This year we're staying at the town dock, which is free. But we noticed the museum no longer has balls, and built a dock wall as well. Good thing! It seriously was terrifying. Our plan B was to stay there if this pier was full.

Lovely boating day.

French Island to Portland, marina

Easy and short day to a new marina (for us) in Portland, Sunset Marina.

On the plus side, despite the coming hurricane remnant concern, the weekend was quite lovely. It wasn't as violent, and didn't last as long. So, yay! As a result we were able to take advantage of the weather and do stuff outside, like attend the Guster concert. Big yay! Totally awesome.

On the minus side (BIG minus, too) we were rocked horribly in the marina. Never, ever, going back there.

Guster, or Toad the Wet Sprocket (who opened).
Great night to see some live music, and GREAT music.

I call this the Guster Sunset.

We did crush it. Set the best of the month record with 28 minutes to go.

Diamond Isle -> Portland -> Basin -> French Island (whew!)

We've had a guest onboard during this time so I'm a bit behind in my blogging.

We got to stay at the Maine Yacht Center for a couple of days to pick up Sara, a friend of a friend. We met her in Key West. She lives there, but is on a long driving tour headed north for the summer this year, and timing just worked out.

From Portland we headed to The Basin, a hurricane hole nestled in the islands nearby. There we did some canoeing and hiking, enjoying the lovely afternoon and morning we had. When the clouds came up, around 3 in the afternoon, we headed to French Island to spend a rainy night.

Canoeing around The Basin

Sara taking us on a quick hike. inQuest is 
out there, somewhere.

Today the remnants of hurricane Debby are headed our way. We have a reservation back in Portland for 3 nights, but we'll only need one. It was looking like a multi-day event up here, but now (at least on the weather apps) looks like Friday night/Saturday morning will be the brunt, and the rest of the weekend should be decent.

Rainy French Island

Some of us hope to go to a concert this weekend, and it was scheduled for outdoors. So that's a "yay!"