Onward to Cuttyhunk
Midday Monday we said farewell to our Newport guests and headed to Cuttyhunk. The wind had finally shifted to its normal SW direction and was swift as we initially motored out of Newport Harbor and then raised the sails and pointed to the southern tip of the Elizabeth Islands Cape Cod Massachusetts approximately 23 nm.
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| Entering Cuttyhunk |
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| Mackerel skies |
We have anchored in the majority of harbors this trip but for some reason passed up the opportunity to do so in Cuttyhunk. The harbor was predictably sparse given that it is now officially off season. We grabbed a mooring instead and parsed out the $45 to the very friendly harbormaster. Then Linda anxiously awaited 1730 when she could radio for oysters.
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| VHF 72 to call for oysters from the Cuttyhunk Raw Bar |
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| Linda has foregone oysters at every port during this trip waiting to be able to order from the Cuttyhunk Raw Bar. It was worth the wait. |
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| Bob strums and then some |
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| Its no Taylor but still sounds lovely (not bad for a plastic guitar sez Bob) |
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| Cuttyhunk at sunset |
Good Morning Cuttyhunk
We have been extremely fortunate to have had spectacular weather this entire vacation. Almost every day has been sunny, warm and breezy. Most evenings have been quite cool but Monday evening in Cuttyhunk was warm so we decided to lay out in the cockpit and watch the stars especially since there are no city lights anywhere nearby to dilute their brilliance. We both fell asleep in the cockpit (Bob way before Linda which is unusual) and awoke in the middle of the night to a layer of deep mist and heavy fog setting in. We were greeted Tuesday morning with a blanket of very thick fog.
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| Heavy fog the next morning as it is starting to lift. |
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| Leaving Cuttyhunk Harbor in what we thought was lifting fog only to be hit by a heavy wall a few minutes later. |
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| Sounding our one prolonged blast every couple of minutes as we motor carefully through the heavy fog keeping a good lookout as well as a close eye on the radar. Then, after we raise sails and kill the motor, we sound one prolonged and two short blasts as good Captains do. |
Fog Begins to Lift - Time to Rig the Spinnaker
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| Fog lifts and winds were out of the south at 7-10kts - perfect for flying the spinnaker up Buzzards Bay en route to Red Brook |
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| Poof! Starboard tack |
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| Port tack now (Bill - We keep the tack line shorter now) |
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| Narrow and shallow channel in to Red Brook Harbor in Pocasset MA |
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| An unexpected and welcome lunch with fellow sailor and dear friend, Greg. Check out Greg's adventures aboard his O'Day 23 Paio at Ruf Seas |
The Anchorage
The Anchorage at Red Brook is a strip that is parallel to Basset Island which is between 7 and 13 ft deep (Argon has a 6 foot draft). At low tide that night, we were swinging over a 7.1ft spot. On a full or new moon, this might have been a little tight and even resting on the bottom.
Leaving Red Brook
Low tide was at 08:00 and we wanted to hit the Canal for slack current at 10:30. So we planned our departure for 10:00. The depths were about the same as when we arrived the day before. We never saw anything lower than 8.5ft on the way out.
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| Examining the currents and tides |
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| A bit of work before pulling anchor. Not a bad office, eh? |
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| More beautiful skies |
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| Sailing with only the jib as we enter the Cape Cod Canal |
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| We let this rather sizeable rig pass us in the canal entrance channel |
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| Under the Cape Cod Canal RR Lift Bridge |
On to Provincetown
Our GRIB file readers showed that wind should have been north-west as we crossed the bay to Provincetown.We were expecting to be on a nice beam reach but instead were greeted with a north and pretty light wind that had us sailing as high as possible and still not
quite on the course we wanted. As the trip went on, the wind built a little and lifted us to a better course so for most of the 23 nm, we had a fantastic sail. Then about 3 miles out, we were seeing true wind speed of 3kt. Not enough, so we made more hot water and electricity (ran the diesel). We found a nice spot to Anchor in about 25ft of water near the Coast Guard Pier.
"Did You Just Get Off A Boat?"
Asked a girl named Suzan at the bar in 9 Ryder Restaurant when she looked at Linda's hair. "Why, yes we did as a matter of fact". Unfortunately we don't have any photos of this fashion faux pas. We had a nice dinner on land and walked around a relatively quiet (post-season/mid-week) Provincetown. Wind forecast was for zilch the next day so we planned to just stay put. The next morning, we did some work (as in Job) and also attacked some mail and backed up paperwork that we brought along from home. We ventured in to town at near low tide and tied up at Flyer's dinghy dock. At low tide, there is not enough room for the outboard to hang down as you reach the dock here. So someone has to get out and pull the boat in.
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| No sense in both of us getting our feet wet. Chivalry is dead. |
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| Low tide in Provincetown. (not even an especially low one either) |
The West End
Most people who visit Provincetown hang out in the busy town center. If you keep walking west to the wee numbers of Commercial Ave past the Coast Guard station, there is a whole nuther part that you shouldn't miss. There are some beautiful homes and a few Inns and Restaurants. But, there is also the huge salt marsh, jetty and you can begin to see the dunes. This is also the start of a great bike loop if you care to rent bikes for the day (and you should).
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| The Jetty and the salt marsh |
After an invigorating walk and an awesome slice of pizza (
Spiritus), we ventured back to Argon to swim in the warm waters and relax for the afternoon. We are trying very hard to not think too much about this being Thursday of our last week of vacation. Boy, has it been spectacular.
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| Linda's $5 floatie (and $2 gin and tonic) |
After a final evening in PTown, we will do an extra long arch to Manchester-by-the-Sea tomorrow to pass through Stellwagen Bank and try to catch glimpses of whales. We look forward to meeting up again with Josh and Sharon Friday night.
