Cape Cod to Boston

ALICE'S ADVENTURES
ANDREW AND CELIA SHARPE
Wed 27 Jul 2011 12:41
When we went in to the harbour at Edgartown we were moored behind a British Moody 46 called  "Trust Me".  We were invited for gin and tonics with Melanie, her sister Karen and 3 of their children.   Melanie and her husband Jeff brought the boat over in 2002 with their 3 boys who were all under 10 at the time. 
 
On Friday the wind had calmed down but we decided to stay a bit longer in Martha's Vineyard.  Suzie Too had also come into the harbour and we had a lovely evening with them on board Alice.  The next night we joined them on board Suzie Too.  David wanted to christen his new barbeque and they had bought some enormous steaks to put on it.  Unfortunately the wind blew much too much and Suzanne cooked them below in the galley.  They were delicious!
 
On Sunday we sailed /motor sailed across to Nantucket which is an island on its own out into the Atlantic.  Arrived by lunchtime as we had 2 knots of current with us - makes a change!  We had a look round the town of Nantucket in the afternoon.  A very old town with a lot of brick buildings and cobbled streets.
 
On Monday we used the local buses again and went to both ends of the island.  It was blowing  over 25 knots so would not have been a day to go out to sea if we didnt have to.  Parts of the island are like the Isle of Wight.  Most of the houses are grey wooden shingles and many have "widows walks" on the roof.
 
Tuesday was much calmer and there was a mass exodus from the harbour.  We went over to Hyannis on Cape Cod where we met up again with Suzie Too.  It was a very hot day and Andrew was having back problems again.  We went into town and visited the JFK museum.  This was mainly full of photographs of the Kennedy family at their holiday "compound" in Hyannisport.  We then went to the Hyannis Yacht Club with Suzanne and David where we were given temporary membership and stayed for dinner.
 
The next morning David kindly gave Andrew a Reiki treatment.  This definitely helped him. After a short walk on the beach we set off for Woods Hole.  We encountered patchy dense fog and winds over 20 knots.  Motor sailed (as usual).  Woods Hole was a rocky passage with fierce currents.  Once across into Hadleys Harbour it was much calmer but very crowded.  We anchored for the night in the outer harbour and left the next morning to make the trip through the Cape Cod Canal.  The fog came in and we had a near miss with a tug which was towing a barge.  He was on the wrong side of the channel with no AIS on.  Andrew was keeping a good watch and we took avoiding action, we are convinced the tug captain didnt see us!  At the canal the fog cleared and we had a quick passage through doing nearly 10 knots SOG.  We had just gone under the railway bridge when it lowered behind us.  Once through the canal the wind was south westerly and we had the best sail in ages up to Plymouth Bay.  The wind gusted up to 36 knots on the way in and we were not helped by the fact that there were literally hundreds of lobster pots in the main channel.  We finally got in to Duxbury Bay and borrowed Melanie and Jeff's mooring round the back of Clarks Island.  It was a very blustery night but Friday was a beautiful, hot day with a nice breeze.  We spent the day doing laundry and chores.  Melanie and Jeff came out to see us and took us to Plymouth Yacht Club for a drink.  We saw the replica Mayflower on the way.  They had a party to go to and took as back to Alice.  It was a beautiful warm evening and we sat in the cockpit until well after dark.  People on the land were complaining about the heat but we had been fine on the boat in the breeze.
The folowing morning we set off to get up to Boston ready to meet Lizzie on Monday.  The weather forecast was for a hot day with 10 to 15 knot south west wind.  What we got was 5 to 16 knots north wind (on the nose) and a thunderstorm!!  Weather forecasters are wrong the world over!!
 
Anchored at South Boston Yacht Club, where Caduceus had stayed a few weeks ago.  It was the most welcoming club we have ever been to.  Brandon the Commodore was extremely hospitable and introduced us to many other members.  It was very difficult to buy a drink.  How different from the Commodore at CSC!!  We met many of the members who all wanted to stop and chat. Brandon gave us a club burgee which is now proudly flying on Alice.  The following night Rear Commodore George gave us a present of a club T shirt each.
 
We spent 2 days looking round Boston, provisioning and checking out the shops for Lizzie.  We then met her on Monday evening, by which time it was cool and raining!
We have now moved round to Boston Waterfront Marina where we are on a mooring buoy and very central to the city.  The transport system here is very good - underground and buses are very efficient and cheap.  Day one shopping has produced a dress and sunglasses - more to do today!