September 14, 2018 Gloucester, MA

We decided to leave early to make it to Gloucester, MA in the afternoon.  As we were getting ready, I could tell there were some awesome colors to the sunrise from the light coming through the windows.  WOW! Was it ever beautiful.  I took a few shots with the sailboat next to us in the pictures.  We tried calling them on the radio to see if we could give them the photos.  When they didn’t answer, we decided we shouldn’t wake up 4 kids and a dog.  We were able to look up their boat and got the name of the husband, but no way to contact them.  I belong to a Facebook group called Women Who Sail. I posted the picture and asked if anyone knew who they were.  It didn’t take long before we were connected.  I sent her the other 3 photos, too.  They were so appreciative. 

 
 
 
Today on our way to Gloucester, we saw whales!!!  We haven’t determined what kind, but pretty cool.  On the second half of the trip, we had fog.  At one time it seemed as though we were traveling right on the line between the sunshine and fog. 

morning sun on Provincetown

Dave sporting his new jacket

 
 
 

Once we reached the outer harbor of Gloucester, we were in a mine field of lobster pots.  They even put them in the shipping channels and anchorages!!  I sat out on the bow reading to redirect Dave, but he did pretty good.  You don’t want to wrap the lines around your prop.

 
 
 
 

We anchored in the inner harbor and decided to go explore the town.  This is where they filmed The Perfect Storm.  We found a nice working community with lovely parks all within walking distance of the dock.  There was a nice blend of tourist attractions and working fishing boats and shipyards. 

cool house on shore

 

g

local Coast Guard boat

Viking boat

We found a great place to have lobster.  A local had recommended the Gloucester House.  As we walked up, we were thinking “we’ll spend some bucks here”.  Then we noticed their outdoor venue called Blue Collar Lobster.  They had 3 lobsters for $30!!  We shared those along with some clam chowder.  Yummy!!

Afterwards, we walked around town and found the park with a sailor statue.  Gorton’s seafood is headquartered here.  The statue is what you see for their logo. 

ice house logo said "coolest guys in town"

 

September 19, 2018 Potts Harbor in Casco Bay Maine

We both woke up this morning about 5:30 to the boat rocking and rolling.  Once the fog cleared, we left to head further north.  It was windy today, so no fog.  But the wave action also made it difficult to see the lobster pots.  When I say pots, I mean the buoy that marks the lobster cage that it is tied to. 

It seemed like we traveled through lobster pots all day.   Dave figured out how to change the sensitivity on our radar to be able to pick up the pots.  That helped.  Looking at the charts, the islands and peninsulas reminded us of the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada. 

this buoy records the tide, current and wind speed

Our boat is in Potts Harbor center bottom. heading to the NW tomorrow almost where the green line runs, but navigating through the islands of course

 
We anchored by 2:30 in Ash Cove in Potts Harbor in Casco Bay north of Portland.  Since we hadn’t been off the boat since Friday, we decided to take the dinghy to a nearby marina for dinner.  The restaurant at the Dolphin Marina was recommended by many boaters on our Active Captain app, and it was excellent.  I had a fish chowder and Dave had the lobster stew.  They came with their homemade blueberry muffins that were unbelievable.  Dave had a seafood Alfredo and I had a seafood lasagna made with a béchamel sauce and served over a thick lobster bisque.  Both were very yummy.  Had to try local beers.  Dave had an Ein Stein Baxter beer and I had a Belfast Lobster red ale.

our boat is to the right of the flag pole, but way out in the distance

photo of the peninsula with the Dolphin Marina

September 16-18, 2018 Biddeford, Maine

Sunday
Today we sailed to Biddeford, Maine.  WE FINALLY MADE IT TO MAINE!!  We saw seals on our voyage here today.   

first lighthouse in Maine

We anchored near Stage Island that had a monument on it. There were a LOT of lobster pots in the anchorage.  We had a lobster man pull up a lobster cage close to our boat.  It looked like he had his son with him today. 

 
 
 
 After getting settled in, we listened to the exciting Vikings/Packers football game that ended in a tie. 

Monday
It was really foggy today.  We couldn’t imagine trying to move through the lobster pots in the fog.  So we decided to stay put for the day.  There is always boat stuff to do.  We spent some time researching marinas in Maine that would be located near a car rental.  Our son, Pete, is flying into Boston on the 23rd.  Rather than have the boat in Boston, we’ll just drive and pick him up.  And we don’t really want to be in Portland, ME.  We’re looking as Casco Bay, north of Portland.

 
 

Tuesday
We had rain and fog again, so decided to wait another day.  I spent the day baking bread and cookies.  Dave spent some time cleaning water out of the bilge from our trip here.  There wasn’t much.

September 15, 2018 Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire

We left this morning for Isles of Shoals.  It is a group of islands about 8 miles off the coast near Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  We continue to watch how hurricane Florence is going to move after it makes landfall.  Right now it looks like we’ll see some wind and rain, but not hurricane force.

checking lobster traps as we were leaving Gloucester

looks like Europe, less fog today

We're the blue dot

We had some great views of the shoreline as we rounded the Gloucester peninsula.  We saw dolphins on the way, but they are impossible to capture on film, at least with my phone.  We had pretty flat seas with fog part of the way.

Off of Cape Ann and Rockport

When we were close to the islands, Dave called the yacht club about using their mooring balls for the night.  The man on the phone said to just use one marked with the yacht club logo AND they never had this conversation. 

On Star Island, there is an old hotel that is used for retreats and conventions.  There was a group there at the time.  We were wanting to watch the Alabama football game, so we called the hotel to see if they had a lounge that was open to the public.  They didn’t have a bar, but we were welcome to use their lobby.  I explained that we were looking for wifi and would be happy to spend some money on their island.  They didn’t allow people to use wifi in their lobby, but they had a business center we could use.  In the end, I convinced her to give us their wifi password so we cold use our booster and get wifi on the boat.   Later we found out that the hotel was owned by the Unitarian church, hence no bar.

there is a covered walkway from the house to the light house

Hotel on Star Island

fun kites at the hotel

We were able to listen to Alabama win another football game while we had a nice dinner on the boat.