Portsmouth, NH to Boston, MA, to Narragansett Bay

If you are keeping track of us on SPOT, you will see we have made some tracks!  Wentworth Marina in Portsmouth, NH was delightful and we pulled out of the dock around 7am last Tuesday to head back south.  It was a gorgeous day.  Our chart plotter (a boat's GPS) lays a track as we travel, so we followed it back to Boston.  Along the way we spotted a few whales, dolphins, more Northern Gannets and a couple seals.

Yes, that is a whale - there were three, just tough to capture with the camera

We decided to head back into Charlestown Marina and get one last fix of the North End before we departed for southern life.  The next morning, it was off the dock by 6:30am and more southing.  No wildlife to speak of except a lot of lobster boats and the traps to which they were making their way to haul.  This day, the wind piped up the closer we got to the Cape Cod Canal so we were able to sail almost all the way.  As we headed into the Canal, the chop was pretty interesting - strong current colliding with a narrowing waterway.  It was a sleigh ride through the Canal, hitting it at the fastest current, and we pretty much raced through at 11 knots over ground.  The shoreline sped by.  Just at the west end of the Canal, you can turn off into the west and there is a sweet harbor at Onset, Massachusetts.  Since we were there during the week and school has started, it was a quiet harbor.  We picked up a free mooring ball and enjoyed a quiet night.

Next morning, it was off for just a short hop to a place we had heard about from work friends.  Quisset Harbor is a quiet throwback to gentler times.  A small working boatyard sports an old marine railway that allows them to haul smaller boats out of the water to work on them.  A walk up the hill gets you to a main road where you can flag down a trolley to take you into Wood's Hole.  Wood's Hole is famous for the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute.  We took the opportunity to check out the Exhibit Center.  If you are in the area, this is well worth a visit.  We got to see and enter a replica of "Alvin" a deep submergence vehicle, and learn about some of the discoveries and research they do with this.  It is all quite fascinating and we encourage you to check out the website linked here and if you are in the area, visit. Evidently the US Navy owns Alvin and WHOI manages it. We learned that it just went through a $41 million refit! 

After a quick stop at the market in downtown Woods Hole (after waiting for the drawbridge to go back down), we hopped back on the trolley and headed home.  Another quiet night on a mooring was delightful and this is a place we hope to return to again.

Quisset Harbor

Friday morning dawned cool and damp with a North wind.  We decided to head out around 8:30, let out the big genoa and headed West.  When you head down Buzzards Bay towards Newport, it is always a surprise to look at the compass.  You feel certain you are heading South, but in fact, you are heading almost directly West.  Our course didn't divert much, except to assure we missed some rocky, shallow areas on the Western shore of Buzzard's Bay and we made our way nicely at about 6 knots toward Newport under our 130 genoa.  There was only one moment of panic when Sharon was at the helm, drawing a direct line to Seal Ledge buoy, and large white floats and flags loomed directly in front.  There are several areas along the coast that are set aside as "fish trap areas".  At the very last minute, she turned hard to port (that is left for you non-sailors), started the engine to gain ground and was thankful to only have the jib out, allowing her to skirt the area with no damage.  Whew!  (Greg had a rude awakening from his nap, spouting something like OMG!)

One of the beefiest tugboats we have seen

With the north wind, we decided to try a coveted anchorage that is not typically tenable with prevailing southwest winds in the summertime, and pulled into Mackerel Cove, on the island of Jamestown, Rhode Island.  This is a sweet spot with plenty of water and beautiful homes lining the Maine-like rocky shore.  A bit of roll through the early night finally gave way to quiet waters and we had a good sleep.  Up anchor the next morning, we took advantage of the east wind and sailed around Beaver Tail Point and up into Dutch Harbor, still part of Jamestown Island.  It was a lazy day, involving hanging out and enjoying the sunshine.  

As Greg's mom turned 91 on Labor Day, we decided to get to a place where we could rent a car and go spend the day with her.  That led us to Greenwich Bay - in the northwest corner of Narragansett Bay (but not quite to Providence).  There are several marinas and lots of boat traffic in this area (especially Labor Day weekend), but we found a quiet spot to anchor and, though a bit rolly with boat traffic, allowed a lovely night at anchor.  Distractions were the planes taking off from Providence's T F Green Airport, the Amtrak commuter train that runs right along the water, and the slight rush of traffic heard from I95 (we are not in the tropics anymore).

Monday, we used "Uber" to get us to the airport to get the rental car, and then headed to Massachusetts.  After a stop at the Lowe's, the grocery, and liquor store we descended on Greg's mom and enjoyed her backyard pool, a barbecue by the water and lots of family.  We forget how hot it can get on land.  There is usually a light breeze on the water and with cooler water, the air temps tend to be 10 degrees cooler as a result.  We were happy to have a refreshing pool to ease the heat.

We kept the rental car overnight and took the opportunity to shop at our favorite market in this area - Dave's.  There are six Dave's Markets, only in Rhode Island and only on the western side of Narragansett Bay. They are much like a Whole Foods or Fresh Market, but with their own local character (and not as expensive). We have missed shopping here!  When we were docked in Wickford, years ago, this was our favorite market.  Anyway - we drooled our way through our shopping, took the car back and dingied back to Dream Catcher to stow our finds.  After a quick run into a neighboring marina for water, we headed around the bend to Potter Cove on Prudence Island, another fav spot when we were weekending in the Narragansett Bay.  Often a very busy place on summer weekends, it was quiet enough for us during a September week.

Each dingy ride to and from shore, and even at anchor, we have seen  huge schools of fish very near the surface churning up the water and jumping out for what must be flies.  There are hundreds of them - most about 10-12" long.  After trying to see them clearly enough to identify we still are not sure what they are, but they are plentiful!

Prudence Island is one of two larger islands that sit in the middle of the Narragansett Bay.  This one is served only by ferry or private boat.  We have never stepped foot on land and decided to do so yesterday.  A very sleepy spot, it put us in mind of many Caribbean islands we have visited over the years; dirt roads, overgrown foliage, grassy paths, old vehicles, weather worn homes.  Except here we found an oyster farm run by Roger Williams University and a research weather station.  We didn't walk the entire road into "town", but did see modest homes lining the shore and wondered how life was for those who live here year-round.  We also spotted a Common Loon sitting on the beach.  It seemed that it may have been injured as it tried to walk into the water.  It was unusual to see a loon in these waters.

The camera has spent a lot of time in the bag these last few days.  We will try to do better next time.  Tonight is the Patriots season opener at home.  We wish we could be there, but will find a sports bar to check out the action.  This will help us stay awake for when our kids arrive around 11:30pm.  Courtney and boyfriend, Paolo will be spending the weekend with us.  We are looking forward to it.

'Til next time -