Anne
16 June 2011, Gloucester, MA

On the day of our anniversary, we left Cape Cod and had a quiet day motor sailing to Gloucester on Massachusetts' other cape: Cape Ann. As we were passing Boston, there was a distinct mirage to the east. The mirage land looked more real than the buildings of Boston off in the haze. In Gloucester, Colin and I had dinner at a dive with good food, but lacking in atmosphere.

The three churches of Gloucester remind me very much of the three churches of Mahone Bay in Nova Scotia.

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Anne
15 June 2011, Sandwich, MA

We left Point Judith and had, in turns, a lovely sail, an exhilarating sail, and a bash, motoring into wind and waves up Buzzard's Bay. Having timed it right, however, we whipped through the Cape Cod Canal at 10 knots over ground and docked in the Sandwich Marina.

My aunt, uncle, and cousin drove an hour to meet us for a delicious celebratory dinner at the restaurant next to the marina. We were celebrating our wedding anniversaries: their 52nd (I think) and our 27th.

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Anne
13 June 2011, Point Judith, RI

The sail from Mystic, CT to Point Judith, RI was the nicest we've had in ages. Most of it was on a beam reach with winds of 7-12 knots. We had a bit of trouble hoisting the main sail because the past few times it was up it was double reefed. Once we released the reef lines and encouraged them to slide through where they were resisting, the sail went up just fine.

We were joined by Timi and Lydia, which made it extra special.

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Anne
12 June 2011, Mystic, CT

We had several days to enjoy the magic of Mystic. As usual, Colin stayed aboard working, but also this time resting and icing his thigh. We think it is an old muscle tear that got slightly re-injured. A few days of rest, ice, and ibuprofen seems to have improved it greatly.

While he was recuperating, the rest of us spent a day at the Mystic Aquarium, which is more like a zoo with a focus on marine life than many aquariums. Much of it is outdoors, including some larger marine mammals (beluga whales and sea lions) as well as a marsh trail and a seasonal aviary. The birds are quite accustomed to people and being fed from the little sticks of millet, which is lots of fun.

We spent another day at Mystic Seaport, a historic recreation of Mystic's boat-building past. I enjoyed the small, friendly planetarium show. Unlike the glitzy large planetariums, this has three rows of seats around the central projector. The woman presenting the show told us to just call out questions, because there's no point in raising your hand in the dark. After the show, I got to try out a sextant they have set up for that purpose.

Evelyn and Leslie reported that the blacksmith was a bit disappointing, and they learned that when the US Navy banned tattoos of naked women the tattoo artists were swamped with men having their tattoos clothed!

Sunday we had lovely visits from friends from Hartford, CT in the morning and early afternoon and friends from Wickford, RI in the afternoon and evening.

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