Portsmouth, Gloucester, Cape Cod

When we got back to the boat on Monday, we had a chance to look around at our surroundings. Fort McClary State Memorial, which has a picnic area, overlooks Pepperell Cove and was directly in line with our stern so I took a picture. Very pretty. The real Fort McClary is further in and we couldn’t see it. The entrance to Portsmouth Harbour is marked by a tower which I also took a picture of.

After supper (thanks to Michelle’s leftovers), we had a cocktail with the fellow next to us who reminded us of Alvah! Another cool dude! He’ll be traveling to the Florida Keys shortly, so I’m sure we’ll meet up with him again.

After a VERY rolly night at the anchorage, Tuesday morning we left for Gloucester. Wind and seas were calm. We went up to Smith’s Cove near the inner harbour to fuel up. There really wasn’t anywhere to anchor – very crowded – so we went back to the little anchorage at the entrance behind the breakwater. Guys were fishing off the breakwater and Albert kept watching, but nobody seemed to be catching anything. He wondered if they were after stripers.

Wednesday morning (after another VERY rolly night) at 6 am it was clear, but by 6:30 it was thick smoky fog. We couldn’t even see the breakwater behind us. Pete had already taken off, but we decided to wait until it burnt off. We set out at 8:00 am bound for the Cape Cod Canal. It normally would take us about 10 hours, but we did it in 9 thanks to favorable tides. We’re just inside the start of the Canal at a little marina for the night. Busy spot! But they’ve got showers and a large supermarket just down the road. We’ll be stocking up again.

Having engine problems again! Albert thinks he shouldn’t have read Silver Donald Cameron’s book, because he had “engine trolls” screwing with his engine the whole trip. Albert thinks they jumped ship and joined ours. Hahaha. The problem is, we are now leaking oil. It could be because when they replaced the water filter, they could only put back two bolts. The spot where the third one should go had a piece missing off our engine, so there was nothing to connect it to. This morning (Thursday) Pete and Albert will have a look at it, but Albert is going to call Brewer Marine because he thinks there’s another Brewer Marine near here (the other side of the Canal). We also spoke with a neighboring boat who gave us a number for a Volvo mechanic about 10 miles from here. Between the two, hopefully we will be fixed again.
We’re not giving up yet! The adventure continues…(maybe with a new engine?)