We’re heading from Belfast ME again to the Bahamas and beyond. Someone asked for trip reports along the way and I’m happy to post here now and then.
The beginning of the trip was delayed by refrigeration problems. The engine driven mode of our Seafrost system was not working at all. With a freezer full of meats this was something that had to be fixed. Two refrigeration techs, one in Belfast and one in Yarmouth, diagnosed a problem, fixed it and thought everything was fine. It wasn’t. We found a guy in Portsmouth NH who had worked at Seafrost for 15 years and knew his stuff. He quickly determined that the problem was the valve in the freezer box, drove to Seafrost to pick up a new one, installed it and all was well again. If you have a Seafrost system and are in northern New England, let me know and I’ll give you contact information for him.
Along the way to Portsmouth we stopped at Goose Island and Gosport Harbor where we tied up to “destination moorings” as I’ve done for many years. I hope the campaign to do away with them is not soon successful. If someone is willing to provide a free mooring, nearly always available, to all visitors I’m all for it.
After Portsmouth we stopped, as always, in Gloucester. The construction work in the waters by the harbormaster’s office is nearly complete and a dinghy dock is once again available. The town mooring price has risen to $40 (first night, second night less) which should include more than it does but we love the own anyway. We took advantage of the Italian section of town for expressos and pastries at Caffe SIcilia, upscale grocery shopping at Virgilio’s and The Cave, and a haircut from Salvatore (Sal) Pallazzono.
We usually go from Gloucester to Provincetown on the east side of Massachusetts Bay. This trip the winds favored the west side so we anchored in Hull Bay instead. That gave us a nice beam reach to the Cape Cod Canal where we just barely caught the last of the ebb current and dropped anchor in Onset Bay. (Hi Dave!)
After a fast sail out Buzzards Bay we stopped in Newport to top off the fuel tanks. We were expecting to be motoring most of the way to Cape May with light winds and that proved to be the case. After a night anchored in Newport we motored through a flat calm to Block Island where we rowed to the beach and walked to town. We were back aboard early enough to sail across to Montauk thereby shortening the passage to Cape May.
The wind picked up enough for us to sail the last 40 miles of that overnight passage and we made it into Cape May by 2:00 this afternoon. Tomorrow’s forecast threatens showers, thunderstorms and 30 kt winds so we’ll rest up with a lay day.
The beginning of the trip was delayed by refrigeration problems. The engine driven mode of our Seafrost system was not working at all. With a freezer full of meats this was something that had to be fixed. Two refrigeration techs, one in Belfast and one in Yarmouth, diagnosed a problem, fixed it and thought everything was fine. It wasn’t. We found a guy in Portsmouth NH who had worked at Seafrost for 15 years and knew his stuff. He quickly determined that the problem was the valve in the freezer box, drove to Seafrost to pick up a new one, installed it and all was well again. If you have a Seafrost system and are in northern New England, let me know and I’ll give you contact information for him.
Along the way to Portsmouth we stopped at Goose Island and Gosport Harbor where we tied up to “destination moorings” as I’ve done for many years. I hope the campaign to do away with them is not soon successful. If someone is willing to provide a free mooring, nearly always available, to all visitors I’m all for it.
After Portsmouth we stopped, as always, in Gloucester. The construction work in the waters by the harbormaster’s office is nearly complete and a dinghy dock is once again available. The town mooring price has risen to $40 (first night, second night less) which should include more than it does but we love the own anyway. We took advantage of the Italian section of town for expressos and pastries at Caffe SIcilia, upscale grocery shopping at Virgilio’s and The Cave, and a haircut from Salvatore (Sal) Pallazzono.
We usually go from Gloucester to Provincetown on the east side of Massachusetts Bay. This trip the winds favored the west side so we anchored in Hull Bay instead. That gave us a nice beam reach to the Cape Cod Canal where we just barely caught the last of the ebb current and dropped anchor in Onset Bay. (Hi Dave!)
After a fast sail out Buzzards Bay we stopped in Newport to top off the fuel tanks. We were expecting to be motoring most of the way to Cape May with light winds and that proved to be the case. After a night anchored in Newport we motored through a flat calm to Block Island where we rowed to the beach and walked to town. We were back aboard early enough to sail across to Montauk thereby shortening the passage to Cape May.
The wind picked up enough for us to sail the last 40 miles of that overnight passage and we made it into Cape May by 2:00 this afternoon. Tomorrow’s forecast threatens showers, thunderstorms and 30 kt winds so we’ll rest up with a lay day.
