Charleston to Maine, day 7 – Arriving Scituate

Monday 2 Jul: Plum Island to Scituate, Massachusetts
We carried on motoring into the moon lite night, on flat calm sea. Wind was dead on the nose. It is a cool night and we had the cockpit tent back, with all sides zipped on. Watching the sea temperature dropping to 19 Celsius made us feel autumn is coming, not the middle of summer.
It got light very early this morning. Dawn finds us level with Block Island and we are entering the Rhode Island Sound. Lots of fishing boats in the area, most without AIS, so we keep sharp lookout. And lots of speed boats running around. Just what are they doing out here at 5am?
As we approach Cape Cod Canal we see lots of lovely New England houses lining the shore among the trees. It’s midday as we enter the canal. Lots of traffic here and the current, as we have planned, is 4kts going with us, giving us 11.6kts through the water.
As we transit the canal it feels a bit like we are in Netherlands. Very green, with people rollerblading, walking and cycling along the tow paths. And again, lovely houses either side. Once we are through, we stop at Sandwitch Marina to fill with diesel. We have certainly used lots of it since leaving the Caribbean. Looks like it’s also time for another engine service.
Once out of the channel, we motor through a minefield of fishing floats. It better be some good lobster for all these traps. We are literally weaving a course with +10 and -10deg autohelm changes to avoid each one. It will be impossible to motor here in the dark! Mid afternoon a gentle wind comes and we have a peaceful lunch sailing dead downwind with genoa poled out. But it doesn’t last long and we are soon back to motoring.
As we approach Scituate Harbour there is a reasonable sea breeze. Glen declares its wonderfully fresh while Oana’s says it’s plain cold! The Harbour is absolutely chock-a-block with moored boats, small sailing dinghies and all sorts of activity. Our buoy is right at the entrance, which apparently it is the only place deep enough for us.
Soon we are heading ashore in the launch across this very pretty Harbour. Again reminding us of Netherlands or harbours in east Anglia, especially that the tide is low. We are dressed for the cold, but once ashore and out of the breeze, it’s very warm.
First stop is at a homemade ice cream shop then a walk around the small town. All extremely quaint. We meet 2 very friendly and pleasant locals. With George we chat about renting a motorcycle in the area, and with Michael we chat about sailing.
After a beer and a snack we head back on the last launch at 10pm and fall into bed for an early night. Tomorrow we plan to head into Boston by train.