Dutch Harbor to Five Islands


Although the weather was grey and cool we still had a lot of fun on Block Island. We were able to socialize with our new friends , some of the crew from “Block Island Bound”. We celebrated Annette’s birthday from Magnolia aboard Exuberant (Burt and Pru) a boat that we have met once before and hear often on Cruiseheimers. Cocktails were enjoyed aboard Braveheart and Chanticleer. I guess you can see the pattern here. Cocktails, dinner, parties…what can I say its FUN.

After three days of grey with spots of sun and then rain, rain, rain we left Block Island on a beautiful morning with real sun! We arrived at Dutch Harbor about noon, anchored and waited for our friends from Simple Life, Michelle and Joe, to arrive. Our plan was to spend a few days cruising with them and then start on our way to Onset and the Cape Cod Canal to be in Boston on the 23rd of July. What a lovely anchorage and quiet New England town. We walked and had our ice cream and just relaxed, then had dinner ashore with Joe and Michele. The next day we took off for Cuttyhunk. Now the thing about Cuttyhunk is that it’s a lovely little island, with a small town with few amenities and one of the most beautiful views of the marvelous waters here. We all walked up to the top of the hill to see the view. Being in Cuttyhunk is like being on a remote island, except that the mooring field is very very tight. After two nights on Cuttyhunk we bid farewell to Michele and Joe and headed towards Onset and the Cape Cod Canal. About ½ the way there Bob and I realized that the tide was just about perfect to transit the canal, so transit the canal we did going about 8 knots with hardly any rpm”s. We continued on to Plymouth MA. We filled our diesel tank and then anchored for the night as Plymouth is not very sailboat friendly with no moorings for sailboats or anchoring in the harbor. We ended up anchoring just off the channel for the night. At first light, well almost, we picked up anchor and motor sailed to Scituate Harbor. Scituate is a real sailboat friendly harbor! It also is one of the most beautiful harbors and towns that we have been to so far on this trip. We stayed for two nights and thoroughly enjoyed the town and ourselves.

The next morning we were off to Boston and the Constitution Marina for a week. Boston is a great city, smaller than NY, with a good subway system. We walked all over the city exploring for almost two days. On Friday we left Chanticleer and flew to Tallahassee to go to our niece Amy’s wedding. The wedding and bride were beautiful. We had a great time with family for two days and then on Sunday evening we were back in Boston aboard Chanticleer. The next day our daughter Caren and her family arrived in Boston for two nights. We were so excited to be able to hang with them in this great city. We walked and visited and ate some great food. We went to the Aquarium, got to see the Red Sox in Fenway Park (they got slaughtered by the Blue Jays), and toured the USS Constitution. We walked their little butts off but we had a great time.

We had a whale sighting on our way from Boston to Rockport MA! We were motor sailing along when I heard the whale spout and there it was about 4 boat lengths away. It went under the water and came up again, I believe it was a Minky whale. Its always a thrill to see them. As we motored along we also started to see dolphins and a few seals.

We left Boston on Wednesday, July 30th and motored to Rockland MA where we took in some of the seemingly dozens of art galleries. The next day, we motorsailed to the Isles of Shoals, a group of nine islands about 7 miles off the coast from Portsmouth, NH. We took a mooring in Gosport Harbor and hiked around Star Island. It’s very beautiful. You feel as if you are on an island in the middle of the ocean, oh wait you are! Maine is very close, we can almost taste the lobsters!!!!!

Friday, August 1st. We have officially arrived in Maine. We anchored in one of the four Seals Coves in Maine. One of the fun things about cruising is discovering new places and one of our goals is to try to visit new harbors and ports. After reading the Maine guide we decided to stop at Five Islands off the Sheepscot River. It is a quintessential Maine harbor, with a beautiful picturesque little town off the water and a wonderful and popular lobster pound. It had it all, water, rocks, trees and boats plus a free mooring from the local yacht club and of course lobster. We had our first fresh lobster, directly off the boat to the kitchen to the plate. Bob and I were able to get a nice walk in before dinner. Reluctantly we left the next morning but plan on going back to Casco Bay on the way home. Traveling through Muscle Ridge Channel was very interesting. Pots, pots everywhere but not a single lobster to eat. It was completely dotted with different colored bouysand we had to pick our way carefully through them. All went well and we arrived in Rockland Maine on Sunday afternoon.

More adventures to come…..