Provincetown-Onset Harbor

May 29-30 (Friday & Saturday)

     We left Gloucester early on Friday morning, heading straight across the bay to Provincetown.  It was a beautiful morning - light wind and almost no sea.  After an hour or so, Dan set up the autopilot and its zig-zagging across the compass heading earned it the nickname “Ziggy.”  Ziggy actually kept a pretty good course and it was darn nice to spend some time on the foredeck just watching out for the occasional buoys that Ziggy wouldn’t know to steer around.  Just after lunch we saw the local whale watch boats circling their wagons and we decided to head over to join them.  There must have been at least four pods of humpbacks frolicking about.  What a show!  We spent a good hour hovering around, watching them roll and dive before moving on to Provincetown.

     Provincetown provided a very entertaining walk as we strolled the main street in both directions, taking in the tourist shops and art galleries, and people-watching.  We had some local ice cream at Lewis Brothers’ right near the beach before returning to the boat for the night.  

     Saturday morning dawned with thick fog and howling winds and we almost decided to spend another day in P-Town, but around eight-thirty the sun came out and it seemed calm enough, so we set off for Sandwich and the Cape Cod canal.  We set Ziggy and brought seats out to the foredeck to keep a look out and enjoy the morning.

     About halfway across the bay the winds picked up and suddenly we were surrounded by white caps.  We were impressed that Ziggy could keep a steady course under increasing winds and seas, and let him handle it for a little while longer before Dan took the helm and piloted us the rest of the way to and through the canal.  The canal offered little respite; while the tide urged us along at eight knots, the wind was still pushing against us and the canal itself was choppy.  As soon as we were through, we made harbor in Onset Harbor, a snug little anchorage around the corner from Mass. Maritime Academy.  Here we’ll enjoy a big dinner of chicken on the grill, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.