41 27 N  70 36 W

Plans continue to change as we go….Bar Harbor to Gloucester on Tuesday and onward to Martha’s Vineyard today.

Yesterday was simply a gorgeous day to be on the water…even if it was a motor sailing cruise for the 150 nm.

Today quite the contrary…half the distance (80 nm)…sails only/no need for an engine…but TERRIBLE sea conditions even though the wind was as forecast…only 16 to 22 kts carrying us on a broad reach.….but the seas were so rough it was ridiculous…you just had to get through it. It reminds us of Bay of Biscay where the Atlantic Ocean is forced up from its depths to relatively shallow water in the Bay off western France giving a notoriety to sailing experiences in this region. Well, it seems that a “nor-easter” pushes the Atlantic similarly into Massachusetts Bay and, due to the quick change to relatively shallow depths, the seas just get backed up and roll violently towards the inshore areas….. for many miles distant from shore.

The weather reports here in the USA give credit for this strong weather to a “Canadian High” that rolled in and blanketed the northeast…..won’t be long before credit it once given to Canada for the dumps of snow that accompany this sort of nor-easter in the colder season not far away on the calendar.  We are definitely looking forward to warmer climates…..but we should add that the water temp improved by about 4 degrees C / 7 degrees F just by getting to Gloucester from Bar Hrbr (where it was the same temp as Bay of Fundy). That meant a move in one day of our sailing from  15 C / 59 F up to 19.5 C / 67 F. Now where we are anchored in Martha’s Vineyard, it has climbed further to 71.5 F 21.9 C……keeps going like this, we will be swimming before long…..>>”wishful thinking”.

We still intend to get to Nantucket but had to seek refuge this afternoon here in The Vineyard as it would have been 25 nm of slamming the 25 – 30 kts on the nose and those terrible seas continuing.