As some will quickly conclude from the juxtaposition of the anchored sailboat and the GIANT cruise ship with the bridge in the background, we're not in Woods Hole anymore! We had a good couple of days there and found it to be a terrific place to wait out the gale but, despite the evidence of our slow progress, we are trying to press south....no, really!

The weather has always driven the movements of mariners and we make progress, or not, as it dictates. When cruising unprotected coasts, passages are made in weather "windows", periods of favorable conditions that are often bracketed by unfavorable conditions. As we sat in Woods Hole, for example, we watched the weather carefully, hoping for a window that would allow us to sail to New York. For a while, it looked like the gales would move off and we'd have a window Sunday and Monday, allowing us to make an overnight passage. Then it looked like the window would be Saturday night through Sunday night, and we prepared to depart at first light Sunday. By Saturday morning, the window was even earlier and narrower: Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning and we decided that we should depart Saturday evening rather than waiting until morning. But, as we made a final weather check just before leaving, the strong winds expected to build back in were now expected after midnight...The window had become a slit.

Not being thrilled with the prospects of solo watches at night in 25-knot winds and building seas, and noting that every revised forecast had made the window sooner and narrower, we revised our plan: Rather than aim to sail all night, we could sail for half the night and reach Newport around midnight. That would let us make progress and give us a new place to hang out while we wait for the next set of gales to blow through. Good call: It was actually only about 10:30pm when the wind shifted and jumped to 15 knots. A half-hour later, we were in steady 20-25 knot winds with an occasional gust to 30: It was indeed a VERY narrow window.

Newport is a very dense harbor and not the easiest place to navigate in the dark in the middle of the night so we just crept into the anchorage and dropped our anchor. When we woke up, we noticed the the boat right behind us was a steel cutter that we saw in Northeast Harbor, ME while we waited out Earl. We also found the HUGE cruise ship anchored in the harbor entry! I swear it wasn't there at 1am! Things can be strange on the water in the dark and you *can* miss things, but between the radar, the AIS, the lighting that cruise ships usually have at night, and the fact that Anne and I were both looking intently for any and all vessels, I have to conclude that it came in and anchored after we arrived. Still, it was a bit of a shock to get up this morning see it!

The new forecast has gale warning posted again: There is a persistent low-pressure stalled for a few days so it may be several days before our progress south and west resumes. For now, we're back to watching the windows...