It's been a while....
But then I managed to kill my iPhone in a torrential tsunami in Kennebunkport and didn't get it replaced until Boston. You can read all about the Kennebunkport craziness HERE

I had some fun in Kennebunkport visiting the Seashore Trolley Museum, the largest collection of antique electric equipment anywhere. I got to poke around the storage barns as well as ride two restored trolleys on their 2-mile track.

Before K'port we stopped in Pottland, Maine. This former railway port is undergoing a real renaissance, we finally got a replacement for the d-ring we blew on the dinghy back in the St. Lawrence, we bought fresh veggies, bread from the bakery and awesome fresh fish literally right off the dock. I also perfected my oyster-shucking skills now that Heather has acquired the taste. The only thing lacking was a decent, affordable marina. There were a couple of decent marinas, but they were expensive. We opted for a mooring at Portland Yacht Services, a great price but very exposed to weather and wake.

We had intended to go further down the coast from Portland, but conditions were becoming rough and the forecast for the next day was such that we sought shelter in Kennebunkport, summer home of the Bush gang. We lucked out with a $25 town mooring, but there are no real public dinghy landings and the mooring was too close to another boat which led to the iPhone drowning incident.

From K'port we headed down the coast to Anisquam at the mouth of the Cape Ann canal. Again we lucked out with a mooring ball in the midst of the weekend craziness right opposite the Anisquam Yacht club (whose mooring it was). The price was $50, but included launch service. Nice place, good people, great sunset.

We waited until low tide before heading up the Anisquam River to the Blynman Canal. Even so, we touched the mud on a couple of occasions, and we had to do donuts for 15 minutes in a very tight channel waiting for the MBTA train to go through so we could pass the Gloucester drawbridge. Once through that and the road draw at Gloucester we were through to Massachusetts Bay and on our way to Boston. There was enough wind for a real sail through Salem and Marblehead but by the time we approached Boston Harbour we were motoring again.

Boston Harbor is nuts.
High speed ferries mixed with sportfisherman and large power cruisers, tour boats and the occasional freighter combine with strong tides to produce an incredibly confused chop. We had opted for Boston Shipyard Marine is East Boston opposite the city because of its proximity to Logan Airport and its $2 /ft rate (other inner harbour marinas were charging $4.50/ft). There is quite a surge in the marina at times and the barges serving as breakwaters don't do much, but it was quiet and good enough for sleeping at night and a short walk from the Blue Line at Maverick. We fuelled-up, pumped-out, settled in, did some laundry and got Cara packed for her trip to the UK. For dinner we went to a funky little place in the shipyard complex specializing in, of all things, Australian cuisine. Good local beer too.

Up bright and early to get Cara to Logan by 6:45, then Heather and I headed for the Apple Store on Boyleston St. for the painful job of purchasing a new iPhone. The off to lunch with a colleague, Steve Pierce, who works for the Diocese of Massachusetts. We then hopped on the train back to East Boston to hit the supermarket and replenish our sadly depleted larder. Amongst our purchases were some nice oysters for Happy Hour, after a quick stop at the local liquor store for some beer, we loaded up scab and headed back to the boat.

Next day we slept in, sweet!
Then after brunch on board we again hopped the blue line in where I had another meeting with a colleague from the Diocese of Massachussets, Bud Cedarholm. Then a quick trip to Southie to get a new bilge pump. for such a maritime town, Beantown's boating services such. most chandleries are miles from the water in the burbs. After that Heather and I wandered down to the Quincy Market for Lobstah Rolls and Chowdah.... Next stop was the Long Pier where we bought tickets for a hop on and off trolley tour of Boston. It was worth it, though the only stop we got off at was to see the USS Constitution.

The Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat, which the tour guides take great pains to point out. HMS Victory is older, still in commission, but she's permanently dry docked. They actually take the Constitution out for a spy every Fourth of July in order to maintain her active status. The tour is free and it's worth doing, she's pretty complete, for a vessel well past her 209th birthday, and some of the anachronisms are worth it (for example, all of the 24-pounder long guns on the main gun deck have broad arrows and the Royal Arms cast in them clearly indicating their British origin). They will tell you an interesting version of her victory over HMS Guerriere on 1812, which neglects to mention how unevenly matched the two protagonists were or the fact that most of the Constitution's sisters were captured or destroyed by the Royal Navy....

We finished the trolley tour and headed to the Bell in Hand, America's oldest tavern (1795) where we sampled some good local brew then off to the north end for a tramp around that area, a primarily Italian neighbourhood. We found an awesome Italian restaurant and had amazing calamari and pizzas and then we headed home to crash.

Wednesday we planned to head to Cape Cod, but the weather had other ideas. 25/30 knot winds kept us in Boston. We slept in, lazed about and did boat chores. I installed the new bilge pump, installed the new d-ring in the dinghy, tightened the leaking chain plate covers... Heather did laundry, we had a prolonged happy hour then burgers and salad, showers and bed.

Up and at em bright and early on Thursday, we stopped at the service dock for a pump out and ice and the lit out for Cape Cod.....