Overnight passage and whale watching before Breakfast 16th / 17th August

Things looked different this morning - which is to say we weren't in the same place as when we went to bed! The storm the night before saw us drag our anchor yet again - but thankfully settled down with no intervention needed on our part. However, when we saw the amount of sea grass we pulled up in the morning we wonder if we were ever secure. We briefly picked up a mooring and headed into town for coffee and to get some internet access. We again bumped into Rob from Midland Texas who kindly gave us a couple of cruising guides to Maine - thanks Rob! Shortly after noon we headed out eastwards into Buzzards Bay and the Cape Cod Canal. The weather was hot and airless, and although we tried to sail we were forced to motor for much of the afternoon. We arrived at the western entrance to the canal in perfect time to pick up the eastern flood, only to be turned around by a police boat because the Bourne Rail Bridge was down. After 10 minutes or so of retreating our steps against the current, the bridge opened and we proceeded through, enjoying a lively passage that saw our GPS record speeds 10 knots. the temperature on the Cape Cod side seemed 10 degrees cooler, but the wind was still very light and we settled in to a long motor north off the coast and our first overnight passage. We feasted on freeze dried chicken and noodles that tasted surprisingly good considering we bought the package several years ago for a different sailing adventure! The only major excitement of the evening was meeting an enormous cargo ship coming out of Boston. We started tracking this ship by radar about 5 miles away and had to change course 90 degrees to avoid getting to close. It was a spooky site to see it steam by. Over night we needed lots of clothes to keep warm, which seemed strange after so many weeks of hot weather. Around 3am we were both feeling pretty weary, but when it started to get light we put up our sails in a freshening breeze and had a fantastic 3 hours sailing up to the Isle of Shoals. We saw all sorts of birds (Storm petrels, Shearwaters, gannets) and two whales! We arrived about 8am and spent the day resting and looking around the Isles which are  very beautiful. And as I write this - guess what? - it's just started to thunder again. At least tonight we are on a mooring!

Mike

Bourne rail bridge

 Dinghys on Smuttynose

Cottages on Isle of Shoals