The original plan was to stay in Rockland for 2 days before continuing to work our way towards the Cape Cod Canal. Once we caught up on our sleep we had a great visit with our sailing friends on Sunday afternoon. One of the bonuses of cruising life is having the opportunity to visit with friends in various ports of call; as we bid them good bye the seed was planted for a reunion next summer in Nova Scotia. I don't know if it was Monday morning blues or what but we just didn't feel like leaving, so the second cup of coffee was poured and I decided it was a good day to tinker on the boat. There are always numerous little jobs that need attention and that was my focus for the day.

We finally headed out Tuesday morning with the intention of getting as far down the coast as possible over the next few days as we kept on eye on hurricane Debra. By day's end we found a beautiful quiet anchorage near Booth Bay and settled in for the evening. As we poured over charts and weather forecast we decided the best course of action was to head straight to the Cape Cod canal on Wednesday, a distance of 120 miles. According to the tide tables we couldn't transit the canal before 1 p.m. Thursday allowing us to sleep in on Wednesday as we didn't have to depart until noon.

The 20 hour trip was fairly uneventful as we motor sailed in very light winds the whole way. However, I did see 3 shooting stars and we spotted a whale that surfaced twice about a mile away. Despite our planning we arrived off the canal entrance 3 hour early, luckily the seas were fairly calm as we anchored off the lee shore of Cape Cod for a well deserved rest. After a 2 hour snooze and a leisurely lunch we upped anchor and rode the 3+ knot current through the canal. Pocasset was our destination for the night and we were glad to have the hook down and settled for the evening by 4:30.

Today’s picture is of one of the many lighthouses that dot the Maine coast