Maine and back again

We started our trip to Maine via the Cape Cod Canal, a seven mile artificial waterway which connects Buzzard’s Bay in the south to Cape Cod Bay in the north.  The canal took 5 years to build and was opened in 1914.  Prior to that heading north from Southern New England would have been a long and potentially harrowing journey.

What an amazing geographic landmark is the Cape Cod Penisula. Can't you just picture the currents and storms fashioning that glorious hook? 

The canal is tidal so we left Buzzard’s Bay on a north bound tide.  The southern entrance to the canal is mark for all to see for miles around by the Cape Cod Canal Railway Bridge.  It’s a vertical lifting bridge and is raised and lowered by filling or emptying two huge tanks, one on each side of the bridge.

The canal might have been built for the use of marine industry but not only are its shores are lined with people (and herons) fishing along the banks as well as walking, cycling or just sitting along the paths  that run the length of the canal. I’ve also read that on occasion whales and dolphins make use of the canal.

I love the way the railway bridge looks so majestic towering over the canal, very London Bridge-esque.

In the canal; Boat speed - 5.4 is the speed the boat would be making in still water and the 10.9 is our speed over the ground thanks to the current in the canal; Approaching the end of the canal.

Once out of the canal we headed north east for Provincetown, located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod.  Provincetown is known for many things but top of the list must be that it is where the Pilgrims on the Mayflower landed in 1620.  

The tower is the Mayflower Monument and Museum but they wanted 25 bucks a person to visit so we just admired it from afar.

Provincetown waterfront and the Pilgrim Monument; Provincetown Latitude and Longitude;  High Street; Beach; The Dinghy Dock; Moorings and in the far far distance the anchorage.

We left Provincetown the next morning for an over night passage to Rockland, Maine at the entrance of Penobscot Bay.    The subject line of the email I sent on our arrival at Rockland Harbour read – Trial by Lobster Pots.  We had never seen anything like it.  They were everywhere! Everywhere included the ‘channel’ marked on the chart where they really shouldn’t have been at all.

The pots, the culprits, more pots.

Rockland morning panorama, even makes having to wear a jacket and long trousers worthwhile. That good looking ketch in the photo was our neighbour for the night.

Tim using the deckwash to rinse the mud from the chain - we are so glad to have it.  'Money very well spent' we say all the time.  When the anchor comes up it is heavy with mud as well.

Tim also uses it to give the deck a saltwater rinse. 

Freshwater would be preferable but we wait for the rain or when we're in a marina and can use their water.

Camden is remembered for the steep walk up to the laundry and the nicest little charity shop on the way up there.  It is pretty, but very pricey and limited for provisioning.  With our laundry was washed and dried we headed for our final destination in Maine, Belfast Harbour.

Maine has a very different flavour to where we’ve spent so much of our time cruising.  It feels very much like Northern Ontario and I often felt that I was in Canada. 

We spend in week in Belfast, Maine with family and really had the best visit.

We had a great day sailing with Dad, Mom, Uncle Rick and Brenda.  We anchored near an island and had a lunch of cold meat, cheese, freshly baked bread, crudité, olives and hummus.  Although we had to motor there, by the late afternoon the sea breeze had come up and we had a good sail back to Belfast.

Uncle Rick and Brenda left us that evening and the next day Dad, Mom, Tim and I head for Rockland to pick up the new hatch for the foredeck that Tim had arranged to be delivered to the Yacht Club.

This was the building next to the Yacht Club where my Mom and I looked around while we waited for Dad and Tim to collect the hatch from the office.

The tides are much higher in New England than we've seen for a long time.

They use a lot of floating pontoons in the harbour.  They aren't attached to the shore, but secured to the sea bed, and you'd need a dinghy to get ashore.  Stay on one of those would cost more then a mooring but you wouldn't swing like you do on a mooring and you're nice and close to shore.

Larus at Town Dock, Belfast where we were well looked after by Katherine, the Belfast Harbour, and her team; We had quite a few days with fog but not often as thick as this; Our favourite way of seeing lobster pot bouys; The Lobster Pound Restaurant on the opposite side of the bay from Belfast; View of Belfast from the Lobster Pound deck where we had our last lunch with my parents.

The same day my parents started their long drive back to Ontario, Tim and I started heading south.

We day sailed down the coast to Boston, and stopped for the night in Portland, Maine and then Gloucester, Massachusetts.

       

Boston from the sea and Boston from the anchorage across the harbour.  The ship in the foreground is a Columbian Ship, which put on a bit of a show most days.

Twice a day, the sailors climbed up the masts and out onto the 'yards'.

Once there the Columbian anthem was played loud enough for us to hear it from across the bay.

They did this morning and evening and in sunshine and rain.

It was really quite impressive, as was Boston itself. 






We currently anchored in Chesapeake City, halfway along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and for the first time in weeks we have really good and fast wifi.  Hurrah!  So I've been blogging like mad but are due to leave in 15 minutes when the tide will be high enough for us to get out of this snuggle little anchorage to get back into the canal without getting stuck in the mud.  As we haven't posted anything for such a long time, we will stop here, post this, and carry on with our visit of Boston as soon as we get more good wifi.

Tim has just started to engine so hitting 'Publish' now!