Friday Sept 14-Saturday Sept 15: Through the Cape Cod Canal; whales; Rockport MA

It was a beautiful clear day in New Bedford on Friday morning.  I can't say I've only been there in the fog now.  We had planned a somewhat lazy day - taking our time before leaving, with Onset Harbor (thirteen nautical miles away) as the destination.  But the day was so pretty and the timing with currents and tides was right, so we passed by Onset and entered the Cape Cod Canal around two-thirty that afternoon. 

Entrance to the Cape Cod Canal

We decided to stop for the night in Sandwich MA instead, at the end of the Canal.  Yes, it meant yet another marina stay - we have stayed at a LOT of marinas on this trip - but it would get us ten miles closer to either Gloucester or Provincetown for Saturday night, making it a possible eight run on Saturday instead of a ten hour run, with time built in for some whale watching.

Sandwich Marina is a harbor of refuge - a man made basin stuffed with docks - just inside the East end of the Cape Cod  Canal.  It's not a harbor; there is no room for anchoring.  There isn't a lot of room for larger cruising vessels, either.  They assigned us to the dock that was right on the launch ramp channel.  It's a very busy launch ramp - for hours after we arrived, well into the night boats motored up to the launch ramp to be trailered away.  (Just before dawn they started being launched, one right after the other.  We had to interrupt their surprisingly smooth operations in order to leave our dock.)

We walked the mile or so into the Cape Cod town of Sandwich Friday evening, admiring the Cape Cod capes and the other buildings erected in the late 1600s.  There is a working grist mill in the center of town which still grinds corn (as a museum) and sells the meal to tourists.  On the way back to the marina we found a great food wagon that would have fit in well in the Bahamas, and we stopped for some pulled pork and blackened cod for supper.

Saturday we interrupted the steady stream of boats being launched (they'd started well before dawn) to pull away from the dock and set off.  The day couldn't have been much nicer for cruising Cape Cod Bay into Massachusetts Bay - the seas were glassy with a slight rolling swell and there was very little wind.  A bank of fog lined the shore, but out on the Bay we had at least ten miles visibility.  We set a course that would take us across the edge of Stellwagen Bank, hoping to see some whales.  It didn't take long for us to see the clump of boats that usually means there is whale activity.  We spent over an hour watching humpbacks move lazily around.  Some were even sleeping, their bodies barely breaking the surface, snorting occasionally to let everyone know where they were.

As we turned toward shore to find our spot for the night, we spotted an unusual black mound that we couldn't quite make out, so we headed toward it to see what it was.  It turned out to be a dead humpback whale floating on the water.  We don't know why it had died, but it was a sad, somber sight.

This whale is belly up, with one flipper off to the side.

We ended up in Rockport, MA for the night.  Rockport is a crowded little ancient village that has become quite the touristy attraction, with a very tiny harbor sporting the most photographed scene in the entire US.  They call it Motif #1.  We called the harbor master hoping for a mooring and were told they had just given away the last mooring, but we could dock at Motif #1.  As picturesque as it is, docking there is a stressful event.  There is a ten foot tide and you need fender boards the length of your vessel as well as extra fenders and very long spring lines to stay there.  And it's not always easy to get on an off the vessel.  

Stock photo.

We called some local friends of ours - Mark and Jenny - to come down for a visit, and we spent a nice evening with them at a local restaurant catching up.

Willie Dawes at Motif # 1