Dan’s (sort of) sister-in-law, Beth and her partner Andrew, who live near Boston, took the Boston-Provincetown fast ferry to join us for our last night on the Cape and for the sail up to Gloucester.
We enjoyed dinner together on Fregata at the mooring. The next morning, after a quick coffee run in town, we set off for Gloucester.
We followed several whale watching boats out, hoping to leverage their local knowledge to spot some whales, but they veered east as we continued our northwest course.
With only mild winds on the nose, we had to motor sail most of the way, so we weren’t able to give Beth and Andrew the full sailing experience, but it was a pleasant passage on a perfect day.
After a casual dinner ashore, they took an Uber back to their home near Boston. We were delighted to spend time together and get to know them better.
Gloucester is a blue-collar, hard-working fishing town. It was the home port to Andrea Gail, the swordfish boat featured in “The Perfect Storm” under the capable hands of Captain Billy Tyne (aka George Clooney).
We enjoyed wandering around, observing the constant coming and going of all sorts of fishing boats. Pleasure boats are welcome and coexist nicely with the professional fishing fleet. The town is making an effort to be more cruiser friendly and the local harbormaster and mooring launch captains are very nice and helpful.
The main reason we chose Gloucester as our next stop is that it was a rendez-vous point for Larry and Elizabeth aboard QEII. We met Larry and Elizabeth last year through the Great Lakes Cruising Club. They were planning the same trip from Lake Ontario to the North Atlantic via the St. Lawrence and Canadian Maritimes the following season. They came to Maine to scope things out and asked if we could meet to share best practices. We had a nice evening in Portland and agreed to meet again when we crossed paths. We followed each others’ progress, thanks to AIS and our respective blogs (The Voyages of QEII) Well, cross paths we did. We happened to be out in our dinghy when we spotted QEII entering Gloucester Harbor so we escorted them in. After visiting each others’ boats, and sharing tales of our respective adventures, we had a nice casual dinner ashore, overlooking the harbor. They are lovely, smart, kind people and we were delighted for this reunion and friendship. They’ll continue south to New York in order to take the Hudson and canals back to the Great Lakes. As much as we tried to convince them to stay “salty”, they are anxious to explore the North Channel off of Lake Huron next season, but we hope to see then again in Rochester where QEII will spend the winter.
Today, on to our 13th state… New Hampshire. That state’s motto is “Live Free or Die”. We plan on the prior if at all possible!
4 Responses
Wonderful stories and photos.
We are in Clayton docked next to a power boat that came up from Seneca Lake. They told us that parts of the Erie Canal are closed due to heavy rain and flooding in Upstate NY. Not sue for how long.
Jim, The canal and locks are frequently out for one thing or another. Best not to be on a tight schedule. D&S
It was so great to see you guys again. Thanks SO much for staying an extra day in Gloucester so we could meet up.
Catching up on all the awesome posts! What wonderful experiences.