....but not quite out of Maine, but almost. We stopped tonight in Kittery just across the border from Portsmouth at Kittery Point where the town maintains 7 moorings that they will rent out for a very reasonable rate.

More technical battles which have nothing to do with the boat, more to do with getting documents off the Pi in a format that I can use to post to the blog. As of this writing we are three days behind. I am trying to write the docs out to the Pi and use a specialized memory stick called Leef to transfer them to the phone. I can get them to the memory stick, but until just this moment I was banging my head against a wall. Now I can get them to the phone but I need to have them in a format that I can use. Fortunately, by mid morning between Barb and I we figured it out. It’s a multi step process but do-able so I am back in business. I just have to re-establish a rhythm,

As far as the radio was concerned, I checked everything at our end with no obvious issues and all the while I was doing that I could hear other boats calling in to the launch and sometimes I could hear the launch and sometimes I couldn’t. Then I had a thought while we were underway. The power supply to all our hardwired radios – VHF, 2M, SSB is drawn from the house bank fed through a device that I bought that steps it down from 24V to 12. What if that wasn’t doing what it needed. That is, what if it isn't giving the radio enough power? That could explain a whole lot.

On a much more positive note, as a foreign flagged vessel we have to check in with every port that we arrive at. This used to involve Barb sending some time on the telephone trying to reach the right agent in the right district, giving him or her our cruising permit info and then getting their identification to go into our log. Apparently someone in Homeland Security figured out that the CBP Roam Ap that we have on our cell phone will do just as well, so now we can open that ap, tell them where we are and 20 minutes later we get a note telling us that we are good little Candians and can carry on as if we were normal.

Whew. Good thing that we got our phone working.

Last night was a real rip-snorter in the mooring field back at Falmouth. Around about eight a squall front blew through with everything but the kitchen sink. I had some worries about the mooring dragging but only because we aren’t familiar with it and it was the end of their season so I wasn’t sure how the ground tackle and rodes would hold up. What I could see looks great and, as it turns out, since we didn’t move and we are still here, it must be. It only lasted 20 minutes which is the normal lifespan of a squall and all I could do was sit there and wait. Much better than being at sea.

Hurricane Ian continues its approach to the west coast of Florida and we have our fingers tightly crossed for the safety and well being of our friends Bob and Louis in Fort Myers.

The trip here from Falmouth was pleasant but once again we had to do what we really didn’t want to. At best we were motor sailing and at worst which was most of the time we were simply motoring. Still the seas were less than 2’ so we were able to maintain an average of 5.5-6 knots over the ground.

We are planning our way forward. Right now the deciding factor to to arrive at Sandwich Point at the east end of the Canal at slack tide just before the start of the ebb so wee can ride the current through. That has our itinerary something like here-Gloucester-Cuhasset-Sandwich Point and through. A bit involved and weather will have an impact but as it is we have decided to hang out here in Kittery until I can confirm that the radio will work.