Gloucester, Mass.
Friday morning arrived with a bright orange glow at the horizon. It lasted just for a moment or two and then the sun hid behind the outstretched clouds over the horizon. It was the day of our departure from Portland and the sooner we leave the better chance we have to avoid the afternoon winds that usually come by. Today we have a 60 mile run to our destination of Gloucester, Mass and it should take us a good 6 hours to get there.

Some beautiful sights along the shores of Portland including several lighthouses and magnificent homes sitting upon these rocky shores are a delight to see. We also passed by a beautiful old schooner with all of its sails up gliding along the a bit choppy waters against a pretty horizon mixed with clouds and sunlight breaking through. Here and there we see a single sailboat or a lobster boat but mostly we are on our own. Big swells and somewhat choppy seas caused by a 10 KN SSW wind is our steady companion as we ride some 3 – 5 mile distance from shore. Our 60 NM run turned easily into a 80 NM run since our calculations initially did not include out and around reefs and then up the river, under a low draw bridge, through a very narrow but busy channel named Blynman Canal, up to a busy marina of Cape Ann’s Marina Resort. Here we were greeted and assisted by a lovely young woman named Ali and her boss Christian. Since we do have connection with the outer world, phone calls are made; arrangements for dockage throughout this holiday weekend are hard to come by and so one has to be persistent in making it all happen.

One thing I do have to mention that the mine fields of lobster pods are less and less to come by and if there are any they are a couple at a time. It has been a long day and most of it out on open water with big rolling swells and an increase in chop as the day progressed. Finally and after several peninsulas, and rocky shores we have turned the corner and almost reached our destination of Gloucester. It is a busy harbor and many boats are out and about and our small channel to the marina is nowhere in sight. Almost at the city beach is a rock pile which hides the entrance to this very, very narrow channel leading under a low bridge that needs to open up for us to pass. No to forget it is dead low tide as well making things look even more scary, small and shallow. Thank God we make it safely to the other side and find our way through the continuation of this narrow channel amongst numerous boats of all sizes and brands. Our dock is a face dock and easy to get to yet so much traffic is passing by us as if it was a highway on water.
The usual routine: secure the boat, wash and shimmy it down, fill the water tank and open all hatches to air out the boat. Ali, the young woman tending to our dockage helps us out and the boat is squared away before you know it. We also learn that Ali’s father recently lost his life while diving under a bridge over a river in New Hampshire which is considered the third fastest current in the world to retrieve his lobster pods that were cut by a large vessel passing by. He was a good diver but that day the river called his name and he never returned to his family. Ali was there in a boat looking for him, when his body surfaced a day later. God bless them all with the knowing that he has returned to a place we all call home.
We also learned from Ali that this area is the well known area where they film the”Wicked Tuna Catch” show at the Stellwagen Bank and they are actually filming today. We came to rest for the night and continue on our journey the following morning but we will remember Ali and her story for a long time to come.