On a beautiful Monday morning we left Block Island to start our trip towards the Cape Cod Canal. Our initial plan was to go to Mattapoisett and stay overnight, then in the morning transit the canal. The current would be in our favor about 9:45am. But as sailors do we changed our minds, we were making good time and decided to go straight through to Onset where we could fuel up and fill our water tanks. An added incentive was that the diesel prices were 65cents a gallon cheaper....a no brainer. Once on the other side we headed straight to Scituate, which is a lovely harbor, with supermarket and laundry within easy walking distance. The winds were due to pick up for several days, which worked out great for us as we needed to get our laundry done.

On Thursday morning we woke about 5am to calm conditions, no 25 knot winds blowing through the mooring field. The decision was made to leave ASAP to move to Salem MA which was only 25 miles away, and if we left early could get there around 930am well before the next set of high winds arrived. At 5:40 am we were on our way. It was a beautiful morning SW winds 10-15, and as we expected were snug as a bug in a rug by 930am. The winds arrived around noon as promised.

Having never been to Salem Bob and I were anxious to walk around and get the lay of the land. Our good friends Jeff and Terry would not be joining us until tomorrow, We went ashore to scope out stuff to do. We took a tour of the House of Seven Gables which was memorialized in the novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorn. Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, was fabulous. We spend a whole afternoon wandering around and enjoying all the exhibits. Because we are members of the VMFA we were able to visit the Childe Hassam exhibit the day before the official opening. He was an impressionist artist who had spent over 40 years living and painting on The Isles of Shoals. The exhibit was beautiful. We had stopped there the last time we were in Maine so it made it more special to us.

After a few days in Salem and a terrific visit with our friends we moved on to Maine!! Our first stop was Seal Cove, which is just about 7 miles south of Portland. It was a long day, 12 hours, of motoring but worth it to finally be here. From Seal Cove we moved on to Pots Harbor, on Harpswell Island. It was one of our favorite stops during our last visit in 2014, and it's still very special. Imagine having the launch crew actually hand you the mooring pennant as you arrive! We took a nice long walk and had another fabulous dinner there at the Dolphin Restaurant. The next morning we sailed and motorsailed (the wind died of course) to the New Meadows River and up to The Basin, an idyllic and totally protected anchorage. The full moon shone over the water and created a beautiful reflection just past an anchored sailboat. We both stood on our deck and gazed quietly at the spectacle and thought of Betsy, its been a year since she left us. Later this morning we plan to head out to the Sheepscot River and visit Five Islands where we will get our first taste of Maine Lobster.