It's all downhill from here

We left Boston Thursday morning in hazy conditions. It wasn't quite fog but it was patchy in some places. Harbor traffic was heavy with the cross-bay ferries and excursion boats coming and going. By the time we got away from the dock several hours of daylight had already been burned. But, we didn't have far to go so no rush to leave and there appeared to be some good wind that we could sail.

Fog blowing over one of the Boston Harbor islands.

We motored out of the harbor channels and around the many islands in the Harbor approach until we got to open water. We set sail and managed to have a very nice sail for several hours tacking because of course the wind was directly on the nose. Finally by mid-afternoon the wind died off tat we had to motor the last 10 miles to Plymouth Harbor and Duxbury Bay. We approached and followed the channel up the Bay when we were startled by a hot engine alarm. Quickly we shut down the engine and looked around to determine if we were in any danger before I went below to check the engine and found the alternator belt had blown off. I could fix it but we needed to get out of the channel.

Plymouth Light.

Being a sailboat I pulled out the sails and we sailed the last 2 miles to our mooring. Unsure of which ball was ours we sailed on to one which turned out not to be the right one. There were some folks in a small power boat talking with some folks on a sailboat on another mooring and they offered to tow us over to the other mooring and help us get on. Once on the mooring we got back to our schedule as replacing the fan belt would have to wait until the engine cooled.

Duxbury Pier Light just before the alternator belt blew.

We came to Duxbury to visit with some great friends, Dave Sikes and Cindy Wright. We spent most of the next several days with them sharing stories and doing some sightseeing in one of the oldest towns in New England.

Our friends Dave and Cindy standing by the Mayflower II. Lower picture is Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

But after the days of their great hospitality it was time to move on. Having replaced the fan belt and cleaned up the boat we could move on with some confidence. We had originally planned to go to Provincetown from Duxbury but fog delayed our departure so by the time we would get there we would need to move on so we took our time and sailed down to the Cape Cod Canal and on to our next destination of Martha's Vineyard.

While passing through the Canal it rained but at the other end of the canal was a rainbow.

Passing through the Cape Cod Canal requires timing the tide so that it is favorable. Unless we had made it to the canal at 6 in the morning we needed to wait for the tide to turn about 1600. So we sailed, albeit slowly, to the canal and hit it perfectly. We topped off our fuel in Sandwich Marina right along the canal as we had done on the way to Maine. For our evening I had made a reservation at Kingman Yacht Center in Red Brook Harbor.

The piano ensemble at the Chart Room at Kingman Yacht Center.

We made it there and spent a nice quiet night. The marina is well sheltered and there was little wind so after a nice dinner ashore we retired to peace and quiet a long way from Boston's hustle.