25 September, 2010

Today was truly a lay day even for Bill. He decided not to do any boat work and almost made it through the day without doing any. He read a book but later in the afternoon he was up on deck treating some of the stainless steel. But I have to give him credit he almost made it through the day.

I read as well and it was really quite nice not to be doing boat stuff - whether cleaning or research or planning or what ever.

In the evening Wayne and Pattie from Mirthin and Garth who owns Cyanara (sp) went to the Loyalist Inn for a final restaurant meal before we all head out on Sunday for Cape Cod and beyond.

Wayne and Pattie are going to Cape Cod - hopefully all the way to the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. Garth and his crew of 3 men are hoping to get all the way to Newport. Garth is then going to put the boat on a boat and have it sent to the Bahamas, I think. He is still working and just doesn't have time to get it all the way down there. He and his three daughters are going to spend Christmas holidays in the Caribbean. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

26 September, 2010

We were up and off the dock by 0800 heading to Provincetown, MA. We were very lucky and caught the tide going out of Shelburne and never really had a time during the whole crossing when the tides or currents were a big issue. The sky was overcast, the wind was on our stern as were the seas. For most of the day we motor sailed with just the jib and were making sometimes 9-10+ knots. What a ride!

We had a school of porpoises or dolphins swimming and playing around us for about 20 minutes. What a marvelous thing to watch. I got one picture and felt lucky to get that one. They are so very fast and agile in the water.

Later in the evening, we decided to just motor and not have to worry about the head sail filling and emptying and then snapping full again while it was dark out. The moon came up on the horizon but was quickly gone behind the cloud cover. It did give us some cloud defused light during the night which was good.

Bill napped before supper and then took the evening and early night watch until 0200. I got up and took the watch from then until 0700. We both got several hours of sleep that way.

27 September, 2010

After the sun came up - we didn't see it but we knew it was there - we simply motored along for the rest of the day. There wasn't enough wind to keep any of the sails filled. We were motoring along with the sea boost from behind though and made amazing time.

I kept figuring along the way and was convinced if we kept up the speed we had we could get to Provincetown by just after sunset. And we did it! The last several hours were in fog but between the AIS receiver and the radar we kept track of all of the other boats and ships we saw along the way.

As we came to the hook on Cape Cod the fog lifted some so we could see the hills and the beaches. Then when we turned into the channel leading to Provincetown it lifted more and because of that and the after sunset skylight and then the lights in the harbor we had no problem getting docked at the marina. It was 1900. We had made the crossing in 35 hours! I figured that we averaged 7.5 knots for the trip. As I said what a ride!

We discovered that our I-68 pre-customs approval doesn't work on the East Coast - only in the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence and Provincetown is not a Port of Entry for the US. So we had to remain on the boat supposedly after we docked (we did go up to the office to pay for our slip and pick up mail and packages) and then we will have to go across the bay to Plymouth to check in.

We were very tired, of course, but happy to have had a fast and uneventful crossing. And we were sad at having finished the Canadian part of our journey. We saw some great places, met some lovely people and have made some new cruising friends. What more could a couple of sailors ask?