Day 1 - Sun 29 May 2016
Anchored – Plymouth Harbor, MA

[no photos - it was a gray, low visibility day]

We made a big deal about the very unseasonably warm weather the last few days up here and knew it would change for the worse soon - and it did. Last night it got chilly and never warmed up all day. We were able to cast off with only one problem. I had remembered to center the rudders once I fired up the instruments, but then had the thought that we should balance them before starting. With that procedure done, the rudders were left hard over to port. I failed to realize that and wondered for a bit why the boat was not behaving as expected.

The weather forecast for light winds out of the WSW was totally wrong and we got moderate winds out of the NE. I expected some choppy seas as we exited the Merrimack River but it was pretty bad. It was not as bad as a few other places and times, but enough that it will be remembered.

Once we turned more SE towards the Annisquam Canal that cuts through the neck of Cape Ann, we had the waves quartering astern, making it easier. I then found that running at our high speed setting of 13 kts allowed us even more comfort. At the cost of some reduced fuel economy, we minimized our discomfort so it was a worthwhile trade.

Entering the canal with rocks close aboard on both sides, steep following seas, and reduced visibility in fog gave us both that dreaded ‘pucker factor’ but once inside the canal, it was pretty and very serene. I should have recorded the name of the draw bridge on the S end so I could hail the tender, but I had not. So, I had to get pretty close with a following current until I could read the name with the binoculars. Getting through that very narrow space with current pushing you along was a bit challenging, too. I must admit that we are taking a little time to re-accustom ourselves to handling the boat and cruising.

As I predicted, once S of Cape Ann, the seas were only half that we had experienced up in Ipswich Bay. I resumed our high speed setting and we decided to press on a little farther S than our intended destination of Scituate. The winds are supposed to switch to the S tonight and that will make travel to the S less comfortable. By getting closer to the Cape Cod Canal, we will be better off tomorrow.

The run into Plymouth Bay was pretty, despite the gray sky, as you could see miles of sandy beaches. With a tidal range of 10 feet, a lot of that sand is under water at high tide. I chose an anchorage behind Clarks Island, but the wind and current were opposed at the time so we sat and rocked all afternoon.

Using the chain for the first time of the season knocks off some minor rust scale, so I looked for our bucket to hose it off the deck. It was not to be found, so I had to press a different type of bucket into service. We need a real bucket at the next opportunity, though.

The wind opposed the tidal current in our anchorage for quite a few hours and that made for a rocky, uncomfortable motion. By 1700, the wind was dying a bit and the current was switching, so it got quite nice. The fog rolled in by 1900 and we expect showers tonight. Tomorrow, it is almost surely going to rain for a number of hours, but probably after we transit the Cape Cod Canal and are in Buzzard’s Bay.