Charleston to Maine, day 10 – Boston

Thursday 5 July: leisure day in Boston
After yesterday’s 4th July day in Boston, we had a slow start this morning, not leaving the boat till noon. The wind picked up a bit and the sea is choppy, so instead of the 3nm dinghy trip to town, we choose to remain dry and dinghy to the nearby yacht club instead. We meet several very friendly members but unfortunately we don’t have much time to chat, as we are in a rush to get to town.
First stop is at Quincy Market where we wanted to get tickets for the trolley tours. To our surprise, they suspended the tickets sale due to trolleys being too busy with waiting times of 1h30’. Hm, a bit disappointing, and we walk away thinking trolley tour will be an activity for the next time we are here, if there will be a next time.
We then walk through the Italian area, as in the Italian version of China Town, where lots of Italian restaurants, cafes, butcher shops are gathered. The smells are divine. Too early to have lunch, so we stop for coffee and cakes instead, at Modern Pastry, which seems to be a very popular place.
Once the sugar dose kicks our blood stream, we venture back out into the heat and carry on walking to the USS Constitution, where we visit the ship and the museum in the old Charlestown Naval Yard, which was a key shipbuilding are repair center for the US Navy for hundreds of years. The USS Constitution itself is an awesome sailing frigate with lots of battle hardened history. But on a plaque that denoted those who died while serving on her, it shows that just as many died per year (up to 40 per year!) in peace time as in war! Glad Cloudy Bay is not such a dangerous ship to sail!
Too much museum time makes Oana sleepy and hungry. One short Uber trip later, we are in the Seaport area, and for lunch we try our luck at Barking Crab, which was recommended to us for serving good lobster. The place looks a bit hippyish, but very nice atmosphere and absolutely packed.
Luckily, we can squeeze at a table next to a very pleasant couple from Detroit, whom we chat to for a bit. They are on a restaurants tour in Boston for few days, wish we could hear their feedback on other places they have been to.
The menu is all tempting, and we settle for clam chowder, snowy crab and lobster which were served quickly. My oh my, delicious! Oana’s first North Atlantic cold water lobster. Ticked, and definitely to be repeated. On the table next to us a group are gorging on a 10lb lobster! What a monster, its claws are each bigger than Glen’s fist!
Seaport is a newly developed area (so we were told by our Uber driver), a mixture of tall glass office buildings and residential towers on the water front. Very nicely done, lots of green areas and on Seaport Boulevard plenty of cafes and restaurants with outdoors seating areas. All very pleasant.
We walk till evening, and as our energy was gradually decreasing, we head back towards Cloudy Bay. Back at the sailing club where we left the dinghy, we stop at their bar to get a cold drink and hoping to chat again to some members, but is quieter than in the morning and we don’t interact much.
The sea is very choppy, and the dinghy trip back to Cloudy Bay gets us quite wet. Glad we didn’t have to dinghy in from across the city like the night before! We spend a quiet evening onboard, with a bit of admin and videos editing. Crashed in bed just before midnight with no alarm for next morning.