We made the decision to anchor in Hadley Harbor, which is across the channel from Woods Hole. When w

We ran into fog as we came off Delaware Bay rounding Cape May and heading for the harbor. Again, day tours from london I am so grateful that we added radar. It sure gives you peace of mind if you can know that there are contacts out there and their relative course and speed to our boat. We got into the inlet without any problems and the visibility was at least a mile when we got into the harbor. There were a number day tours from london of boats anchored off the Coast Guard station, but there was plenty of room for us and we spent a good night in the anchorage.
Yesterday morning we headed toward the Marina. I had called ahead and made a reservation at Utsch’s Marina. The entrance is a bit tricky, pretty much a hard starboard turn from the unmarked channel, but there was at least 7 foot of water, so we had no problems. We decided to fill up with diesel and the dockmaster and a hand assisted us in getting up to the fuel dock. Once we were full of fuel, we went into our slip. Again, there were two folks from the marina staff ready to assist us in getting into the slip. They are so nice there.
When we registered, they gave us great directions and to top it off we were given a goody bag with maps, information, a sample of a coconut bar soap, biscotti, a float for a key, and even a wonderful bottle of red wine. What a warm welcome.
We found that there was a place to fill propane tanks just over the canal bridge, right next to West Marine. So, we started with a trip that way. Then it was about a mile walk in the opposite direction into the City of Cape May to an Acme Grocery store which was well stocked. We bought so much that we splurged on an $8 cab ride back to the marina.
Next found Tom changing fuel filters and me off to the laundry. Utsch’s Laundry facilities are great and in about an hour and a half I had washed all our laundry. Tom was finished with his work when I got back, so we took a cocktail out onto the dock cabana and visited with other boaters before having dinner.
This morning found us completing some banking online, filling the water tank, with a quick hose off of the boat, and then heading back to the anchorage to spend the night. I know it is going to be a bumpy, busy, noisy day and evening, but what can you expect for a holiday weekend. We will head off shore and see if we can make Block Island by Sunday night. What a great way to celebrate our Nation’s birth.
Well, this is my first entry written in the cockpit under way on a night watch. We got around early and were underway by 5:30 a.m. We have been making pretty good time. We were able to sail for the first few hours with a beautiful beam wind and we were averaging 6.8 knots. Then the wind died and we doused the sails and started the engine. We probably motored for four or five hours. Now, though we are motor-sailing with about 11 knots of breeze with a broad reach and low rpms on the engine. Not exactly without fuel, but very low consumption. It is a beautiful 4 th of July night off shore about 50 miles off Sandy :Hook New York. I can actually see fire works going off at multiple shore locations. Fortunately, there is very little ship traffic, so far tonight. I hate worrying about where they are going and whether we will have to alter course to allow for them to pass.
Tom and I are trying day tours from london a new watch schedule, so Tom is down resting and my watch will run from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m. Adding day tours from london an extra hour to the watches means that there will be only one night watch apiece. And, with a five hour break, hopefully a more restful sleep. I worry about Tom getting rest. He doesn’t sleep very well when we are under way. I will report the results of our experiment, tomorrow.
We were infested with flies that started bothering us around 4 p.m. today. day tours from london All of a sudden, 100’s of common house flies were all over the boat. And, they were biting. Tom wore out one of our fly swatters. Unfortunately that left me defenseless and so I cleaned up as Tom killed flies. We actually spent almost 3 solid hours in the quest to rid ourselves of flies. I know that I will be back at it in the morning, as I don’t think they are all gone, yet.
Well we did out 5 hour shifts and I do think that worked out much better. Tom actually over slept and didn’t come on watch until around 1:30 a.m. At the time I was motor sailing because it was just such a perfect combination. We had somewhere between 11 and 15 knots of wind from just behind the beam and the boat was very comfortable doing 6.8 to 7.0 knots. When Tom came on, he decided day tours from london to turn off the engine and for the next 4.5 hours we just sailed. The wind picked up a bit more and we were averaging 6.8 knots. Beautiful night. I slept waking only about every hour then dozing right back off.
As the day wore on, the winds steadily and slowly increased and by the time we reach Block Sound, were running between 15-20 knots with higher gusts. We were still going pretty much with it so it was a nice point of sail. But, when we dropped the sail to go into the New Anchorage on Block Island, it was very uncomfortable as we pulled down the sail and worked our way into the inlet.
Block Island was very crowded, but there is pleanty of room so we anchored with the thousand other boats here. The wind was howling and the anchorage is deep, so we put 120 feet of chain out with the anchor. That allowed this tired crew to put the boat away and collaps down below to catch an early meal and then drift into a sound sleep.
This morning finds the winds down and many of the weekend boats picking up their anchors after the holiday weekend to head back home. Tom and I are going to have to decide whether to sit out the rest of the day here, or head toward Buzzard’s Bay. My vote would be to go. We will see. Tom is still sleeping as I type this.
So, we got cleaned up, enjoyed watching the activity in the harbor, and finished up a couple of projects. Then, before dinner, we dropped the dingy in and toured the harbor. There really are close to 1000 boats here in the New Harbor on Block Island. Most are boats from NY, CN, RI, and MA, here for a few days. There were only a couple of boats that looked like they might be cruisers. We didn’t meet any.
This morning we were up by 5:30 a.m. but unfortunately there was a thick fog rolling around us, so we decided to give it a little while before we up anchor and headed out into it. Within a half hour, visibility had improved to over a mile, so we got ourselves underway. It is a beautiful morning, but there was still some patchy fog out there for the first few hours. I again am glad we have radar. It helps confirm day tours from london what our eyes can and cannot see. Otherwise we would still be anchored at Block Island.
We so over stocked the boat with some things when we set out for the Bahamas last fall, that I have been planning meals that would use up some of the stores. Today I pulled a bag of dried split peas out of the locker and we are going to have split pea soup for lunch.
Well shortly after my entry for July 7 th the fog rolled back in and even though we were sailing and there was lots of wind, we could not see any more than a quarter mile or less. Again, I do love the radar. Even with the radar, it is always tense in the fog. Eventually, we got to a point where we were back to about a mile visibility and could relax, again. We made such good time that we were into the Woods Hole cut by early afternoon.
We made the decision to anchor in Hadley Harbor, which is across the channel from Woods Hole. When we got into the inner harbor, there were several boats on moorings and the anchorage was very tight. We made our way all the way up the Harbor and had turned around to anchor on the outside of the inner harbor, when another cruiser aboard Misty Maiden day tours from london called to us and told us that the moorings day tours from london were free so we picked on up.
Wednesday dawned bright and clear, so we decided to go by dingy across the channel and explore Woods Hole. We stopped on our way and introduced ourselves to John and Pat aboard Misty Maiden and to thank them for the information about the mooring. day tours from london We invited them to cocktails that afternoon.
Yesterday, with the wind howling out of the North, we opted to stay one more day in Hadley Harbor and take advantage of the next morning’s current situation to go through the Cape Cod Canal. It was a project day well spent.
This morning, we were underway before 5:30 a.m. and making our way down Buzzard’s Bay toward the Cape Cod Canal. An hour into the trip, with me at the helm, I spotted a aluminum row boat adrift. We called the Coast Guard and gave them the position of the boat and the condition. It appeared to have been pulled up on shore, as the painter day tours from london was draped in the boat. The oars were loosely inboard on the boat, there was no motor. I think there were life jackets on the floor. I certainly hope it gets back to whomever it belongs to.
Next we shot through the canal. And, I do mean shot through. We had a four knot current with us and most of the time we were moving between 9 and 10 knots. It is so fun to move that fast, aboard Footloose, as it happens only with a strong day tours from london current with us.
We wanted day tours from london to make it all the way to Gloucester across the Massachusetts day tours from london Bay, so we started shortly after 5 a.m. Boy am I glad we did. When we arrived in Gloucester, we found that there was really no place to anchor. The places that the cruising guide specified as anchorages were filled with moorings. So, we made a decision to go through day tours from london the Annisquam River canal. What a huge mistake! It was Saturday afternoon and there were 100’s of boats on the canal. Couple that with a strong current pushing us along, the railroad bridge with is normally open, closed for a train that had us trying not to run aground while holding our position for the bridge opening, and you have a huge amount of stress. It was unbelievable how clueless the small boater’s were around us, not understanding how un-maneuverable we are. But, we finally day tours from london made it to the Ipswich Bay and once we got out of the lobster pot maze, we