We are in Rhode Island, sort of. Actually Fall River Massachusetts.
We left Rockland with a clean bottom and fully provisioned. It was foggy in the morning but when it cleared we motored out and continued motoring to Allen Island, which is right next to Burnt Island. The appeal was that there is a protected cut with free moorings available. The island is owned by the Wyeth family and is private so no going ashore. We planned to continue on the next day but the fog was thick and didn't clear until late in the day. It still surprises us when we have a combination of fog and wind. We are accustomed to the wind clearing the fog quickly, but that doesn't happen in Maine. From there we motored to Seguin Island and again picked up a free mooring, anchoring is not allowed. There is a very pretty lighthouse here and the foundation that runs it provides the moorings. Cori took the kayak to shore to check out the lighthouse. With light winds again, we motored to the Saco River, bypassing Portland this time. Again, we picked up one of the free moorings that the city provides. The next day we left early, the winds were forecast to die out in the afternoon and we wanted to sail as long as we could. We made our way to Isle of Shoals and picked up a mooring. The forecast is for high winds in the next couple of days and we felt we would be protected here. We spent the next three days here waiting out the weather. The first day it was calm but overnight the winds kicked up and blew all of the next day 30-40 knots. We stayed an extra day to let the seas calm down, there is no sense getting beat-up if it's not necessary. We were now officially out of Maine, the Maine-New Hampshire border runs through Isle of Shoals and depending on which mooring ball you are on you are in one state or the other.
We had looked foreword to going to Maine all winter and we were not disappointed. It is an unbelievably beautiful area. There were some places we had wanted to go but due to the pandemic we made other plans. We stayed out on the less populated islands and limited out interaction with other cruisers and the locals. This often meant that when hiking we would have the trails to ourselves and never ran into any crowded anchorages, usually having them to ourselves also. We have plans to return next year to revisit some sites and to explore many more.
On Friday, Oct. 9th, we left Isle of Shoals planning to stop at Gloucester to wait out another blow. We left early and caught favorable winds and were able to sail ant a consistent 7-8 knots until late in the afternoon. This meant that we were going to arrive in the early afternoon. We chose to continue on to a harbor just past Boston Harbor. We arrived in the late afternoon and set the anchor to settle in. This anchorage would protect us from the winds that were forecast until they shifted from the northwest, when it would get rough. On the way we had two little birds stop and ride with us to rest against flying into the 20 knot headwind. After several hours they took off in the direction of Gloucester. Saturday the winds kicked up as a front went through so we sat out the day in Cohasset Harbor. In the morning the winds had died somewhat but were now coming from the northwest making our anchorage very rough. Just after sunrise we pulled anchor and headed off. We planed to stop in Plymouth to stage for the Cape Cod Canal but with the early start and favorable sailing we headed instead to the canal. There is a very strong current running through the canal and it is important to time it so you are riding with the current instead of fighting it. With our change in plans we arrived several hours before the tide change and had to motor against the current. We had about two knots against us as we motored along at about three and a half knots. We could have gone faster but it would have burned a lot more fuel. The canal is about seven miles long but it took us a couple of hours to transit it. There are walking and cycling paths on both sides and it became routine to see the bicycles passing us. At one point a power walker also passed us. It is a good thing we don't have a schedule. Once out of the canal we moved over to a mooring we used on the way up and settled down for the night, it had been a nine hour day.
We awoke the next day to overcast and light rain. We motored down the channel and raised the mizzen and the headsail for a trip down Buzzards Bay. We had considered stopping at Cuttyhunk Island but with the favorable winds, 20-25 knots we continued on, we turned the corner and continued to the Saconett River. Once turning the corner we felt the 4-5 foot seas we had been running with but we were soon in the calmer waters of the river. We stopped at Fogland Point for the night and were surprised in the morning when it was foggy and raining. Who would have thought? The fog thinned out and we made a run up the river to Fall River MA. We were back in Massachusetts. Fall river is know for a number of things, including a lot of former mills being converted to new uses, the home of Lizzy Borden who it is said killed her parents with a hatchet (the home is now the Lizzy Borden B&B), and for Battleship Cove. We picked up a mooring ball in Battleship Cove and had the largest World War II ship museum as our neighbors. Included is the battleship Massachusetts, a submarine, a destroyer and several other smaller ships. Unfortunately we arrived in the off season and they are only open on weekends.
We had now not been off the boat for two weeks. We had a lot of things to take care of so we didn't check them out. We will next year. There were two reasons to stop here, our generator was not running and Cori has relatives here. Mike and Marietta loaned us a car so we could get around. We ran the Honda generator to a service shop hopping to get it back by the weekend. We also did a lot of running around restocking provisions, sorting out phone issues and restocking some other supplies. Mike and Marietta also had us over for dinner several days and included us in a clambake at the Ragged Island Brewery. That was a fun day!
The shop was able to get the generator running, taking care of some other issues and we had it back on the boat Friday evening. Saturday we hooked it up and ran it, for about an hour and it quit. After that we could start it and run it for five to ten minutes and it would die again. With lots of phone calls we tried diagnosing it and finally gave up and returned it to the shop Monday morning. The next day they called us and reported it fixed. They were nice enough to deliver it to the boat since we had given the car back. The first time they had it they replaced the fuel pump. The second time they found the pump was putting out very little fuel, not enough to keep it running. On checking the fuel filter, I didn't know it had one, they found it clogged. It seems that when I topped it off I put in dirty fuel. This is the first time we have had a fuel problem and now we have to filter all of the gasoline we have on board to clean it out.
Now that we have the lockers full and the generator running we are preparing to move on. Our plan is to move down to Newport tomorrow and get ready for the next leg. We need to decide whether to make an offshore passage to Cape May or Norfolk or to make the run up Long Island Sound and go through New York. It will depend on that the weather does.
Just a final not to give Mike and Marietta a big Thank You for your hospitality. The use of your car, your showers, your laundry machine and your outstanding hospitality is greatly appreciated.
