Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The harbor in Portsmouth, NH has a very wide channel at the mouth, but becomes narrow and twisty with a strong tidal current as you approach the city.

The ‘rock’...I’m at the helm and this is our view.  Keith asks, “do you think we are over far enough for them to get past?”

The ‘hard place’...my response, “I hope so because that boat with machine guns mounted at the bow doesn’t want us coming any closer to the nuclear sub!”(the patrol boat isn’t in this picture, but it was there between us and that fence)

They have plenty of space!

Portsmouth was not our favorite place to visit.  It looks like a very nice city, but as with most cities they don’t have the space or services for transient boats unless, of course, you plan to stay at a marina at $3.50 per foot.  We were able to anchor outside a morning field near the mouth...it was not well protected, but doable. Our biggest shock came when we were looking for a place to leave the Whaler so we could walk around town and get dinner, and the Municipal Dock charged $8.00/hour...to dock a 10 ft boat...are you kidding?  I don’t want to sound cheap, but that is ridiculous!   This is why we love to visit small towns.  They are welcoming, offer town docks, and make it easy for you to spend hours exploring their town. Moving on to Gloucester!

This was probably the roughest water we have seen for several years.  There was a 6-8 foot rolling  swell hitting us on the port quarter the entire time. These waves weren’t dangerous or scary, just really rolly. There was a LOT of up/down side to side motion, which will make you instantly aware of any items improperly stowed...there will be a lot of sliding and crashing!  Keeping yourself upright is the ultimate body core workout, which is exhausting after a few hours! Luckily we learned about a ‘cut through’ that takes you from Annisquim Harbor to Gloucester. Not only did this route save us an hour+ of really rough seas, it was adorable!

It is nice to see sand beaches, and the sandbar was impressive!

It really doesn’t look like we should be going in here, but Ken and Barbara’s boat is bigger than ours and they told us it was a great route!

Clearly we are traveling through at low tide.

This place makes a great tiny house sanctuary!

Pay close attention to the channel markers!

Are you sure we’ll fit through there? “Ken’s boat is bigger than ours” we kept saying😊

Gloucester Harbor is on the other side of this bridge...we made it, and loved this route!!