After several hectic weeks of trying to get the boat ready, our house ready for the winter, and Mum’s house ready to rent, we finally left the dock. It was sad waving goodbye to Mum and Bailey and looking back at them as Mum stood on the dock waving and Bailey sat patiently beside her.
The beginning of the trip was pleasantly not exiting. The wind speed was 0 to 5 knots. We put up the sails and pretended to motorsail, when in reality we were just motoring. Monhegan was beautiful as we passed by in the company of several groups of dolphins. As we were leaving the island behind we could hear a loon calling. The temperature was chilly during the day and predicted to be cold during the night. On one of my watches while the autopilot was steering I knit a neck warmer. Later I was glad to have it.
Southern Island Light, Tenants Harbor, ME
The moon rose among pink tinged clouds in the east while the sun went down in a fantastic orange sunset reflected off the mirror calm water. Later in the evening the wind started to increase. By midnight it was blowing 15-20 right on the nose. By that point we were halfway to the Cape in the middle of the gulf of Maine. The seas were very short and confused. All in all it was a very unpleasant night, especially since both of us were seasick. During the night a whale startled Bill when it surfaced and blew about 100 feet from the boat.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday morning was overcast with the wind still 20 knots on the nose and the very short confused seas were 4 to 6 feet. We realized around 8:00 a.m. that we would not be able to get to the entrance of the Cape Cod canal in time for the ebb tide so decided to go to Scituate Harbor instead.
Around 12:30 we pulled into Scituate tired and ill. We asked the first person we saw where we could find a mooring. Peter from PAULIE’S FOLLY told us to call EASY RIDER on channel 9 and that the mooring next to his was one of their rentals. After a nap we took the launch into town to walk around. The harbormaster printed out a copy of the weather report for us. The weather for Saturdy is unfavorable with wind SW 15 and gust to 25 so we will spend an extra day here. We had an early very simple dinner and went to bed at 6:30.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Scituate, MA
After a good nights sleep we both felt better. As usual on the boat I had my coffee in my bunk. We took the launch into town and took some much needed showers. We walked around Scituate; it is a very pretty little town and as Peter told us had everything available within walking distance: groceries, drug store, chandleries, banks, shops, even a bowling alley and a movie theater. Everyone we have met here has been very friendly and helpful. In the afternoon we took the boat in to get fuel and water then spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading books.
Scituate Swans
Sunday, September 26, 2010
We had a great run to the canal. We were averaging over 6 knots, which is fast for Rondo. In the canal we had to throttle back to avoid going over the 10 knot speed limit because the current is so strong. We anchored in Onset and had a very relaxing evening.
Monday, September 27, 2010
We got up early to a very gray and overcast day and headed out. The wind was NE 5 - 10 all day. We sailed downwind with a following sea through the fog. We were making good time, especially considering we were against the current, however, it was tiring to hand steer with no visual references as there was only about 1 to 2 miles of visibility in the fog. The autopilot does not do well with the following seas that well meaning people insist on wishing upon us. We spent about half the day keeping up with two Island Packets in the upper 30 to lower 40 foot range. Those boats decided to go into Newport or Point Judith. We passed Point Judith a little after three and decided to head on to Mystic because tomorrow is supposed to be very windy and nasty. We passed Watch Hill at 6:30 p.m. as it was starting to get dark the fog lifted. Watch Hill was beautiful and a little eerie looming out of the fog in the dusk. We made our way through Noank and up the very narrow twisty channel to Mystic in the dark. We tried to find a place to anchor but it is very tricky in here so we picked up a mooring for the night at 8:40. It was a long day, but we traveled 75.2 miles so we made a lot of distance.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Today was a very windy and rainy day. We stayed on the boat all day, except for a quick trip in to the fuel dock during a lull in the rain. Unfortunately, the lull ended before we returned to the mooring field.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
We had a great sail from Mystic to Old Lyme. We motored for a little while in the morning to charge the batteries, then had a very comfortable and fast sail as we had the current with us. The sun came out for a few hours and the visibility was good. The houses along the shore are amazing. Around 1:30 we pulled into the dock at the Old Lyme Dock Company. One of the Lyman Morse boats, WOMBAT, was on the dock. At first we didn’t recognize her as she has been painted a different color and has a new name, but Bill recognized the anchor roller he built.
Robin has very kindly offered us her hospitality for a few days since the weather is again supposed to be bad for the next few days so we are at her house in West Hartford.
