Gloucester (which we have sinced learned is pronounced Gloster)

Up early for a run to Portsmouth, New Hampshire (pronounced Porthsmith) and can't tell you how badly we butchered the name of the river we stayed on - Piscataqua (Pis cat a qua) - and they think us Minnesotans speak funny - uff da, vell don't ya know.   While still in Gloucester, we met the people on the S/V Cruinneag III -  they make us look like we've never left the dock - visit www.cruinneag.com to see their amazing story and journey. Hope to cross paths with them in Maine - as they are heading to the William Fife (sailing vessels that are built in Scotland) get together.

The night before we left Gloucester - boats coming in with their catch.

Early morning - leaving Gloucester Harbor.

 The Tarr and Woson Paint Manufactory - It is here where Tarr and Woson began manufacturing America's first copper bottom paint in 1863.  This building is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Paint Factory has witnessed the departure of many generations of mariners and it signals a safe return home and a welcome to all who enter the Port of Gloucester. 

The lighthouse at Gloucester Harbor entrance.

 Thursday morning - leaving Gloucester - red sky in the morning - sailors take warning! Evidently we are not heeding that advice.

I am certain this has a name, but I call it Bird Crap Rock - trust me that is not snow.

Sorry, too tired to look up these two lighthouses.  All I can remember is one is abandoned and one is in use. There are too many - I need to start writing them down.

I know it's a bad picture -but a cute little seal in the harbor as we are approaching Portsmouth, NH.  

 Lighthouse Whaleback Rock on Maine side of the harbor - entrance to Portsmouth.

Lighthouse, Portsmouth, NH - Fort Constitution.

Our friends, Wayne & Carol on a Krogen Whaleback (Take Time) recently purchased 15 acres of land in Raymond, NH about 20 minute drive from the marina we ended up staying at (Great Bay Marine on the Piscataqua River). They are in the process of building (with their own blood, sweat and tears) a home on the property.  Shortly after getting Broulee secured to the dock, they showed up and whisked us off to see the sights of downtown Portsmouth.    

Walking downton Portsmouth.

The Oracle House built in 1702 is one of the oldest homes in New England.

Amazing gardens at Prospect Park - downtown on the waterfront, Portsmouth.

ok so now you know my weeknesses - it is flowers, sunsets, sunrises and lighthouses.

My new favorite fingerfood - fried pickles - at Fat Belly's restaurant.

The next day we arranged to meet with them again for a full day of provisioning and to see the progress at the homestead.  In the early morning we moved Broulee to the fuel dock ($3.45 for diesel - whoohoo!) and then got shopping lists ready and headed out for the day.  While grocery shopping, Wayne and Carol decided to load up on Lobster and Corn on the Cob for our evening meal.  A stop at West Marine, Napa, Lowe's and Tractor Supply and we headed to the mountains.

One of two driveways each at least a quarter mile long - this is the lower drive - they did the clearing, the leveling, the gravel, and the french drains - amazing.

Just some of Wayne's new toys.

Yesterday the two of them started pouring the foundation.

The upper drive - which will be the main driveway up to the house.  Again, can't believe the two of them did this all by themselves.

Normally they are living aboard their boat which is in Florida right now, but, this is their temporary digs while working on the project.

While the lobster's are steaming -  

Rick and Carol are down by the brook picking vegetables from Carol's garden - fresh tomatoes and cucumbers - nummy.

and look what was waiting for us when we got back.  The softshell lobster are running right now and over abundant - $3.99 a pound and were still alive and kicking - so much so, we thought one got loose in the van.

Bon apetite!

We can't thank Wayne and Carol enough for their generous hospitality and dragging us all over town for provisions - and Izzy cannot thank them enough for driving all over town in search of her favorite, doughnut holes!

Morning departure - waiting for current to go slack, so we can get off the dock and

waiting for the fog to lift.

Oh, no - there goes the dock.

Some pics of the Naval yard.

Submarine in the yard.

Still a little foggy when we got to the harbor - but, the captain is convinced it will burn off.

We traveled in pea soup fog for at least another 45 minutes.  As usual, I was a wreck, but the captain enjoyed the challenge - 

Bye, Bye New Hampshire - next stop Maine.

P.S.  this post is from Saturday - we are in Stonington in Penobscot Bay at a Krogen gathering - Verizon Hot Spot is iffy.  We will catch you up with our adventures in Maine - when we can.  IT'S AWESOME HERE.

Block Island, R.I. to Gloucester, MA - and some sights along the way.

We had a nice weather window for a couple of day runs, so on Sunday the 22nd we decided to start heading north.  Two problems - 1.  When Rick and Izzy went to shore for one last puppy pumpout they found a dinghy floating near Broulee and no sign of people looking for a lost dinghy.  Rick grabbed its lines and towed it back to our boat - now what?  Tried hailing the Harbormaster, but no one answered (well it is 5:30 in the morning).  We saw Towboat U.S. in the harbor so we hailed them and they came and relieved us of the task of locating the owner.  The Towboat guy laughingly said "They probably came back to the boat drunk and forgot to tie it up!"  I didn't want to tell him, we've come back to our boat cold stone sober and have forgotten to tie up the dink, not only once, but twice. "I thought you tied it up" - "I thought YOU tied it up!" Oh, well not our problem this time.    

Rick getting our dinghy ready to hoist and trying to figure out what to do with his catch of the day.

The 2nd problem was a little sailboat came in on Saturday afternoon while we were at the beach and we are pretty certain they are right over our anchor.

We slowly crept up on them (by now it's 6:30 a.m.).  Rick said there were bodies strewn all over the cockpit sleeping (sorry about all that chain racket).  Hopefully we will not wake up the little darlings when Broulee gently (like a bulldozer) nudges them out of our way.  Hmmm,  thier dingy seems to be missing. Again, not our problem.  

We had the anchor up and underway by 7:00, turns out no bulldozing was required.  We had a good run to Pocasset, MA and anchored on the eastside of Bassetts Island.  Nice quiet night and ready for an early morning run thru the Cape Cod Canal (again this needs to be done on a rising/flood tide).  

The canal is heavily traveled, well-marked and very pretty.  It has a 10 mph max speed limit, so with the swift 5 knot current we pretty much idled thru the entire run.  It is 10 miles long and travel must be completed within 2 1/2 hours - no stopping, anchoring, sailing, fishing or turning around.

 Wings Neck Lighthouse at Pocasset, MA - once a very important lighthouse was auctioned off in 1947 to a private couple who spent their retirement years here.  In 1999 it was sold, renovated and is now a vacation rental property.

At the entrance to the canal (traveling east) is Massachusetts Maritime Academy at Taylor Point.  The training ship Kennedy is docked here.  

West entrance of the canal.

Stopped early at Duxbury, MA and grabbed a mooring ball in the harbor - winds gusting to 30 mph are predicted.  Duxbury was founded by Miles Standish and is about 35 miles south of Boston.  Many affluent Bostonians live here - the median home price is $650,000.00.  Where we are moored is called Snug Harbor - definitely a good place to be.   They are overly friendly here - the harbormasters are incredible.  We had thought the weather would keep us another day, but proved not - plan is to head north to Gloucester,MA.

  

Duxbury Pier Lighthouse

The white cliffs on Cape Cod Bay

and dealing with these guys all day.

Every family has their own thing, just please do not hit one.

Shamrock - all in a days work.

So far so good, knock on wood or what ever you need to do - we have not accidentally or on purpose hit one - they are everywhere.  We started to notice clouds building and Rick calls the Coast Guard for local weather - however we are already picking up what appears to be serious weather on our cell phones.  They are telling us no problem not to worry about Gloucester - our destination.  Guess they were wrong.

Missed getting into our anchorage by twenty minutes - strong winds (predicted at 70 MPH and hail - we saw 37 and thank god no hail) - lots of lightning strikes - very frightening.This is my last picture of the storm - I am not a storm chaser ( I run to the basement when the sirens go off) - Rick is, but sorry he was steering the boat - I am somewhere between running below screaming "we are going to die" and then asking him " are YOU ok?"  Turns out he is fine and very calm - I think he is lying to stop my manic behavior - Really, are we OK?  He again tries to convince me that we are ok, even though at one point we cannot see anything because of the slamming  rain and 40 mph wind.   

In Gloucester Harbor - more storms brewing.

Calm after the storm?

Reflection of the beautiful sunset on the harbor.

The next morning was cool, crisp and looked like an opportunity to do some sightseeing and provisioning.  The harbor in a not so weathery day.

Of course, we had to see the memorial - can not believe how many men have lost their lives fishing these waters. 

Left half of sign.

Right half of the sign - 

They that go down to the sea in ships

1623  - 1923

The crew of the Andrea Gail - never returning from the Flemish Cap due to the perfect storm.  We Minnesotans remember it as the Halloween storm - 36 inches of snow in two days - burying our pumpkins until spring.

  Pretty House on the Harbor Walk - even their trash is pretty in cute purple bags.

The second memorial is the Widows memorial - very hard to understand this fishing way of life.  But once you get into this harbor you feel it - they are a different breed - it is all about the catch - got to luv them.

Looking out over the harbor

Looks like waiting for high tide to get the boat out of the boathouse.

On the harbor walk - this is a great boating town - everything is accessible by foot.   Lots of dinghy docks to tie up to leading to different parts of town.  Enough for now, more later.