Entering Boston from the sea was an interesting experience for Mark, who had been to Boston numerous times but hadn't understood how it was laid out. While Boston harbor is on the sea, the city itself is set pretty far back from the ocean. The Boston seafront is actually a place called Goat Island that is occupied by a large waste water treatment plant, which seems a poor choice for such a scenic location. Also, Logan Airport is interestingly located right adjacent to the city and takes up alot of space that you would think might have had better uses. All-in-all, Boston has a pretty strange layout when you think about it and is likely one you could only arrive at in 200 years of evolution from a small town to a major city.

When we finally got to the Boston Waterboat Marina (where our reserved mooring was) about an hour before dark, we found our mooring already occupied and took one of the adjacent ones. It was a great location, right near the Boston Market, the North End, and a metro stop. However, the water was very choppy from the ferries that came by and when the north wind blew hard it created quite a bit of wave action. Also, we were to find out that the trains on the subway tunnel running underground underneath us made a surprisingly large amount of noise when you were trying to sleep. We were exhausted after a long day of sailing and not so much sleep the night before, so we wandered to the North End and found a small Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a surprisingly good meal.

The next day we took the Northfork off the mooring and tied alongside one of the outer docks of the marina. It had been some time since her last washdown so we wanted to get her clean again. Also, we had a lot of clothes that needed washing and being on the dock for a few hours made it easier to use the marina's washing machine so we could get all caught up. The harbor nicely offered to let us remain tied up to the dock rather than heading back to the mooring, which turned out be quite a convenience during our stay.

It was Mark's 39th birthday and he can honestly say he spent most of that day "swabbing the deck." So much for the joy of living on a boat. Dana focussed on getting the inside of the boat ready for our visitors and working on an overdue project of cleaning and oiling the teak shower grilles, that had gotten somewhat moldy from lack of attention.

That afternoon we went to the airport (2 subway stops from us) to pick up Laura. We dropped her stuff off at the boat and headed to dinner at another Italian restaurant, having been very pleased the night before. We ordered a bottle of wine and waited for Dana's Aunt Dorothy and cousin Sandy to show up, after their long drive from Buffalo. Mark wasn't sure who to be more concerned about sinking the Northfork, Laura or Dorothy.

The rest of our visitors finally showed up and we had a very enjoyable dinner, especially in finding out from Sandy about how her recently grand-daughter was doing.

Mark caught a flight out the day later, trusting Northfork to the hands of an unruly mob of women from Buffalo.