41.34.667N   070.56.777W

Up early at 0500 on Tuesday morning and we had dropped the mooring in Marblehead by 05.30 and we headed out, turning South with 60 miles to cover. A slight westerly breeze allowed us to motorsail at good speed but eventually it died to nothing in hot sunshine. No excitements other than a whale sounding nearby and at 1300 we entered the Cape Cod Canal with several other yachts and fishing boats to be whisked through with the current and out into Buzzards Bay.

Entrance to the Cape Cod Canal

We entered lovely Pocasset Harbour where once again we picked up a mooring about 14.30; a much quicker trip than anticipated with good speed and current the whole way.

A very sociable evening ensued with Toby, the OCC Port Officer introducing us to Sandy Weld who used to own the 72ft “Windigo” now skippered by Andy Rentoul. Also Andy and Marian arrived with “Alice of Penryn” whom we had met in Gloucester and when Toby arrived back the chatter never stopped! We briefly met up again with Dave and Sally Curtin but they got back from a short cruise later than anticipated. Pocasset’s natural harbour has many moorings so the locals want you to use a vacant mooring free of charge rather than risk anchoring in a tight space – an excellent arrangement!

We left Pocasset at 0900 and headed south for Woods Hole. Here the current shoots through a narrow gap and there is a well charted dog leg channel; just like Cuan I thought! However the current sets across the channel and makes holding a course very difficult- indeed we heard a 50ft yacht get stuck on the rocks the next day.

Having negotiated Woods Hole we planned to head for Nantucket Island but the wind was very fresh and right on the nose so we bore away for Martha’s Vineyard and entered the little harbour of “Oak Bluffs”.    www.oakbluffsharbor.com

The harbour is very pleasant but ashore there are the typical tourist shops and eateries. President ‘Obama’ had recently been there on holiday and several shops had posters in the windows ‘ Welcome the President and his Family’- although we did see a Bumper Sticker which just said “Obummer” !

The attractive part of the town is the old Methodist ‘Camp’ and there are perhaps 300 small ‘ cottages’ all beautifully maintained and with delicate gingerbread and filigree  work.

The forecast was unsettled and while I would have liked to visit “Vineyard Haven” the wind was blowing straight in as we left Oak Bluffs at 0700 and headed west down Vineyard Sound with a lovely reach and 2.5 knots of current with us. We caught the last of the current through ‘Quicks Hole’ and headed North, hard on the wind, to South Dartmouth Harbour and a mooring at the New Bedford Yacht Club.