Our last family picture before leaving northern New England

August 19-21, 2012

Onset, Massachusetts

We left Boston on Sunday morning, still unsure about our destination.  We wanted to stop in Plymouth, but the information we found on the harbor didn’t make it sound like an easy anchorage.  We hoped the weather predictions were correct and we would get perfect winds from the Northeast to make it through the Cape Cod Canal to Onset, MA.  The predictions were incorrect again, but we motorsailed, determined to get through the canal during the best possible currents.

Eating lunch underway

If you remember reading about our trip through the canal on the way North, it was rough, full of tug boat traffic, and had a heavy current.  Our trip back was like being in a completely different body of water.  The water was flat, we barely saw any boats, and we cruised easily at slack tide/slightly with us.  It was lovely and we enjoyed watching the runners and cyclists along the banks.  But it was also bittersweet.  No.  I’m not a big fan of that word.  It was just plain sad to be leaving the northern New England area.  The Cape Cod Canal felt like a symbolic separation between the familiar Long Island Sound area and everything North, which we had just explored, enjoyed, and will miss.

taking out the garbage is fun on a boat!

We sailed all day long, but it was very pleasant.  We got a mooring in Onset and dinghied in to the town.  We had pizza for dinner and bought some ice cream at a market to bring back to the boat.  Onset seemed like a little beach town that had seen better, quainter days.  The crowd was a little rough, so we didn’t mind that we were leaving first thing in the morning for the long ride to the Newport area. The water was weedy, so I didn’t even get to swim.

we had fun climbing the steep dinghy dock ladder

like mother, like daughter

Right Back Where We Started From

We got to Dutch Harbor, just off of Jamestown, Rhode Island, on August 20^th.  This is the Newport area, our maritime homebase.  We will be leaving the boat in nearby Wickford while we drive home to New Jersey to help celebrate our sister Carolyn’s wedding.  When we return to Rhode Island, we will be staying in the area for a few more weeks and then moving on to Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island in September.

reading books during our long sail from Onset to Dutch Harbor

It was a long ride from Onset, MA, but once we started seeing familiar sights on the shore, we had that feeling of “coming home”, and the last two hours flew by.  Instead of staying in Newport Harbor (at the lovely but very expensive New York Yacht Club), we decided to check out Dutch Harbor, which is popular with cruising boats.  We soon found out why.  While Newport is full of excitement, impressive yachts, shopping, bars, and dramatic tradition, Dutch Harbor was stately, quiet, and serene.  There were many boats, but they were all quietly swinging on their white ball moorings with plenty of room in between.  The land surrounding the harbor was a smooth crescent of trees, dotted with cottages (I am using the Newport definition of “cottage”, which is “Gigantic Mansion”).

Bryson and Chris out in the dinghy at sunset

We didn’t have any need to go on shore, but Bryson and Chris took the dinghy for a ride and noticed that the little town seemed a few blocks away from where you would land.  Back at the boat, Chris and I did a ¼ mile swim and we finished the last of the food in the freezer.  We wanted to keep things simple for when we left the boat for 5 days.

everything’s aglow

After a calm but somewhat overcast day, we were treated to one of those lovely Newport sunsets, where the whole world is lit up in tones of gold and the sky can’t decide which shade of purple is the loveliest.  We slept peacefully, knowing we were only an hour’s sail away from completing the first big leg of our journey.

Reesie-Teesie

Porter climbs the boom for the first time!