Martha’s Vineyard, But not a grape vine in sight.
20th –23rd September


After bidding Boston farewell our next destination was to be a an overnight stop at Woods Hole on the southern side of the Cape Cod Canal, and then on to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, around 75 miles south of Boston. We had timed our passage to reach the canal when the tide would be flowing the direction that we wanted and with the assistance of the current we rocketed through, hitting a top speed of 11 knots at one stage. Woods Hole proved to be a bit tight for us, though with the help of a local, we were directed to a suitable mooring ball for the night. Next morning we motored the final 30 miles to the port of Edgartown, which has a very protected harbour and  is one of the larger towns on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.
Edgartown, our first stop, bristled with up-market galleries, trendy boutiques, historic whaling captains’ homes, private yacht clubs, cafes, restaurants  and  couple of down to earth bars  that seemed to cater more to the local workers rather than  to those wearing polo shirts, golf trousers and immaculate deck shoes that had never seen a speck of salt water, it was certainly an interesting
Many years back, the town had also had the starring role in the epic movie, “Jaws” , though the town’s name had been  changed  to Amity for the movie. Scenes such as the one where the Mayor rode the car ferry while chatting to Chief Brody, the corner shop where the Chief bought his supplies to make the “beach closed” signs…and  of course  the bridge that the Great White glided under on his way to the pond where he munched up a helpless swimmer were all still  there. Clearly, there were no shark alerts while we were there, it was just business as usual.
               
  
We meandered along the pretty streets taking a look into many of the shops and generally soaking up what Edgartown had to offer, had a few drinks in  a couple different bars and also took a bus ride to nearby Vineyard Haven, a village a few miles to the west. It too, was a neat place and we stopped for lunch at the famous, well in these parts anyway, Black Dog Tavern. After spending a couple of nights in Edgartown we weighed anchor and took GWTW up to Vineyard Haven for a change of scenery.
                     
There wasn’t a lot of fascinating things to do in Martha’s Vineyard, it’s  more a place where beautiful beaches, sparkling waters and endless bike and walking trails dominate the landscape. A place where mainlanders come to relax and escape the pressures of modern day life. But even with the whiff of wealth in the air the folk were friendly, the towns were clean and we certainly felt welcome.
  
                                     $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Cruising Notes : Formalities: Call CBP on # 2075322131 for Martha’s Vineyard. Anchoring & dinghy dock : To be close to Edgartown anchor outside the breakwall or take a mooring ball in the harbour,$40 per night, or play dumb and just anchor in the harbour till someone tells you otherwise. Dinghy can be left at the dock next to the yacht club along the front of the Atlantic restaurant. Supermarkets: There are two. Catch the bus from the post office in Edgartown to Mariner’s Landing mall or a better bet is to continue on the bus to Vineyard Haven to the Stop & Shop across  the road from the bus terminal.the bus leaves every 1/2 hour and costs $3 each way. It’s about a 20min scenic ride. Entertainment : There  is a movie theatre in the main street in Edgartown.

Boston : Tea Parties, Irish Pubs and a place where everyone knows your name.
9th –19th September
Leaving the Isle of Shoals, our last stop in Maine, we had a magical sail under full main and screecher in a lively breeze for the 47 mile trip down to Boston. It wasn’t long before that big city feeling came creeping up on us again. Sports fishing boats roared past at high speeds with little regard for those who were hit by their wake, and the dull drone  of aircraft criss-crossing the skies could be heard overhead.                                                                                             

Sailing into Boston harbour was pretty neat. It was Sunday  and the approaches were busy with cruising and racing boats, all focused on the same narrow entrance to the harbour proper. Reaching along at 12 knots was fun as we passed everything sailing around us, but as the main channel looked a bit tricky we doused  the sails and  motored into the anchorage.

The route in took us directly beneath the flight path for Boston’s Logan airport, and being jet junkies, we thought this was pretty cool as a procession of aircraft buzzed overhead. We anchored alongside the Hyatt hotel, across the bay from downtown Boston, a brisk 5 minute dingy ride away.
  
    Knowing people who live in the city you are visiting always makes the experience just that little bit more special. Boston saw us  greeted with a reunion of past friends from both our cruising world and from our former working days. After a quick phone call to say hi, Gerry Colleary and his wife Linda were soon at the nearest dock and ferried aboard for some welcoming drinks, it was great to see them after around 9 years. Gerry was kind enough to offer the use of his car for a few days, and this proved to be a real boon as getting around some big cities is not always easy. And as an added bonus, we got to spend a wonderful night staying at Gerry and Linda’s beautiful home. What a treat that was.
  
Our arrival on the Sunday coincided with a couple of very significant events, one very sad and one quiet the opposite. Both were very emotional in their own way. It was the 10th anniversary of the 911 tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.The memorial services were very formal and extremely moving. We still have vivid memories of the incredible  television  footage of the twin towers on that fateful day and as we watched the services on our TV on the boat, it was impossible not get a tear in the eye as our thoughts went out to those family members who  lost loved ones.The contrast to those feelings was to see our Aussie girl Sam Stosur claim her first major title against Serena Williams in the US Women’s Open Tennis Championship in a tense and controversial match. Sam is the only Aussie woman to win this event after Margret Court won back in 1979. We cheered and yelled like crazy towards the end of the match and those in the anchorage must have thought we’d gone nuts! Sam did us proud that day and in the spirit of true Aussie sportsmanship we raised  our Boxing Kangaroo flag and flew it from high up on our mast.
  
Boston is a very historic American city, famous for the Boston Tea Party and the centre of rebellious activity with mother England over excessive taxes. What followed was a war with England that the poms ultimately lost, maybe they should have reconsidered the taxes and made a deal. In any event the geneses of a new nation was born that cherished independence and the freedom it brought, traits that are really entrenched in today’s American culture. Boston is very much a university town, there are lots of students everywhere and they come from all over the globe to gain a higher education. Both Harvard and MIT, amongst others, are located here.
We found that a  great way to see the city and take in the sights was by donning the joggers, hitting the pavements and strolling what is known as The Freedom Trail .The walk starts at the Boston Common, a beautiful leafy park and takes you past all the heritage sights, cemeteries and the gold domed State House as well as the winding back streets where any number of thirst quenching pubs can be found. Winding it’s way past Faneuil Hall, the Boston public market place since the colonial days, Paul Reveres’ home and the hunger inducing Italian restaurant district, you eventually cross the  busy bridge that brings you to the Naval shipyards at Charleston.
 
            
                  
 
The oldest US Navy warship still in commission, the USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” because of the thickness of her hull and being near impenetrable to the enemies cannonballs,  is stationed here along with quite a good museum. Wondering through the various decks and hearing the ships’ history from a very informative young naval lady was extremely interesting, and when you take in the size of the ship, the battles encountered and the fact she has does not have engine, you gain a level of respect for the seaman who served on her. In contrast to the 200 year old USS Constitutions, stands the relatively new age WW11 destroyer the Cassin Young, which served in the Central Pacific during the mid 1940’s. She was retired from the fleet in 1960 and has since then be restored to her former glory and open to the public since the 80’s.
                   
                                  
  
                            
Boston has a very Irish feel to it and a goodly number of Irish establishments attest to the volume of it’s early  immigrants. The footpaths are usually brick paved, not concrete, as are many of the buildings. So you get an impression of a really big town at times with an almost comfy feel to it. Along the foreshore there are many apartment developments using old warehouses, so it looks very authentic and has a ton of character. We were lucky enough to catch up with some cruising buddies from the Mediterranean, Chris and Erin off “Barefeet,” who live in one such apartment building. They invited us and some other cruising friends, Deb and Terry off  “Wings” over to watch a game of Monday night American football and eat take-out Chinese food. Now how American is that!  It was really fun, the game takes a while to get used to it, but it is quite entertaining at times, and sometimes actually very exciting. Chris and Erin also played tour guides for a day when we had Gerry’s car, it was terrific to have their local knowledge. Among the places we visited was  the town of Gloucester, home of the original Perfect Storm incident and catalyst for the Hollywood movie.
                
A pretty famous landmark and one that we just couldn’t miss was  the Cheers bar up on Beacon St, not to be confused with the imitation Cheers bar down by the waterfront. Remember the TV series with Sam Malone, Carla, Woody, Norm, Cliff and Frasier?  This  place really brought back some good memories. So there we were sitting around the famous bar where “everyone knows your name”, well sort of, shooting the breeze with whoever was nearby. We also bought a special  souvenir T- Shirt for our mate Steve back home in Oz who is a real Cheers fanatic. It was a great way to while away a couple of hours and we highly recommend it  if you have the opportunity.
                          


Another road trip we did while we had the use of Gerry’s car saw us heading over to the Cape Cod area. The Kennedy dynasty had their base not far away, in Hyannis Port, so we hopped in the car  and drove down there, nice place with lots of JFK memorabilia. He is still idolised in these parts. The JFK museum  there gave us a better insight into his character and achievements, it was good to take it all in.

                    
        
So after spending a week or so in the  funky little city  of Boston it was time to say goodbye to our friends and  this part of New England and hop on down the waterways back to Long Island Sound, where we would  pick up the places that we missed on our way north a few few months earlier.

                                                         ************************
Cruising Notes: Formalities: call CBP as per the Maine ph number. Anchorage & Dinghy docks. We anchored along side the Hyatt Hotel in 30ft mud. There is a water taxi service from the Hyatt dock across to town for $16 return. We however, used the “Waterside Marina” dinghy dock. The gate is unlocked during daylight hours, after hours the code was 1011, but that may change. The marina has mooring balls available for rent along with laundry and shower facilities. Supermarkets : Most are out of town and you will need a car, but Zip Cars and push bikes can be rented by the hour or half hour check with the tourist bureau.

Provincetown, Cape Cod

30th July-1st August

As we left Newport just before 8am the fog that had been hanging around each morning was just starting to lift. There was not a breath of wind so for the next 12 miles we had the iron sails pushing us along. Our plan was to head up towards the Cape Cod Canal  roughly 42 miles further north, find a good bay for the night and transit the canal the following day. The canal, which is about 10 miles long,  is a shortcut from Buzzards Bay at the north end of Long Island Sound through to the southern end of the New England area, and this means that you don’t have to go back out into the Atlantic Ocean and sail 80 miles out and around Cape Cod. About an hour out of Newport the breeze started to build and as an added bonus  it was from the right direction. We had a terrific sail for the rest of the day, arriving at the canal entrance at 3pm. Being earlier than we had planned we decided to push on through and try to make Provincetown before dark.Timing the tide to run with you is a big factor in any  canal transit and this one was no different. The tide rushes through here at about 6 knots and although, at the start of our transit we did have it against us, by the time we’d gone only a few miles the tide had turned to run north and we started to rocket along.

Gliding past the pine tree clad banks of the canal  we were suddenly enveloped in cool air. It was as if someone had opened the fridge door and left it open. At last we were leaving the oppressive  heat of the southern states and the change of temperature was most welcome. Nestled behind the trees along  the canal shores were huge RV parks where happy campers sat in their deck chairs and waved as we went past. A walkway on the waters edge saw cyclists , rollerbladers and dog walkers enjoying  what was left of this lovely summers afternoon.

  

  

Reaching the end of the canal the Cape Cod shoreline disappeared into the distance on our right while the state of Massachusetts stretched off  to our left. We still had about 20 miles to run across the bay to Provincetown and with the light starting to fade we were glad that we made it in just as the sun was setting  at 8pm.The bay was very crowded with the prime spots close to town being taken up by a mooring field, but we found a place  over towards the sandy beach and  dropped the anchor in 57ft. Having gotten very used to the shallow water depths all along the east coast from Florida the depth here was a bit of a shock and took our minds back to our days in Turkey, where anchoring in  60ft plus was pretty much norm. After the long days’ sail we decided to have a relaxing evening on board and  leave going ashore ‘till the following day.

The morning light brought with it a bright sunny day, perfect for a look around town.  Provincetown or P-town as the locals call it, is a haven for the Gay community with many holidayers coming across on the fast ferry from Boston, only 40 miles to the  northwest. P-town is situated  inside the hook at the very northern end of Cape Cod and is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore that was established by President J F Kennedy back in the 60’s. It has beautiful sandy  beaches and endless walking and bike paths making it a great spot to come and chill out. But before we could venture ashore, there were the usual boat chores to attend to and heading today's list was to check both of our Yanmar engines which lay under each of our aft beds. And just as the title of the Harrison Ford movie “What Lies Beneath” suggests, you  also never know what  nasties may be lurking beneath our mattresses. Well, we soon discovered that a shore excursion was to be put back a few hours as one of our hot water tanks had broken free from it’s supportive housing and was dangling procarresly by it’s water hoses. This was a major, major that needed Liam’s urgent and undivided  attention. Lucky for us Liam, or Joseph the carpenter as I call him, loves a challenge, so off to his tool shed in the bow he went and after a few solid hours of toiling he had fashioned a  lovely set of wooden legs and supports that anyone in the timber trade would be proud of. I always new that the big piece of timber that we’d been carrying around the planet since leaving Sydney back in 2006 would come in handy one day! And seeing as how one tank had broke free there was no use waiting for the other one to do likewise, so it also got a housing makeover and a new set of legs, to be sure , to be sure. See, it’s not always fun and games out here.

So our day ashore turned turned into an evening ashore instead. By the time we got in there P-town was in full swing, it  was alive and vibrant. The streets, cafes and bars were overflowing with revellers, some in varying degrees of attire. Buskers belted out tunes from the sidewalks and the whole place seemed to be in party mode. There were  lots of entertainment venues with posters advertising  live theatre shows and the promise of a good night. Free tickets were handed out to Annie, however the show  wasn’t due to start for a couple more hours and  given the tough day we’d, well Liam had just had, we figured a nice meal, a chilled glass of wine and some people watching would suit us down to the ground.    

   

So after a great evening ashore, once again we retired back to our floating home ready to take on whatever tomorrow might bring. One thing we knew for sure was that we’d  be doing an overnight passage to the place that we’d looked forward to going to for a very long time … Maine.

                           %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

CRUISING INFO: Formalities. Call CBP Holton Maine on 207 532 2131.You will need to call this number each time you change anchorages throughout the entire New England area, ie Massachusetts & Maine. Other: Sorry no other info for this stop, so just have fun in  P-town.