Batten Down The Hatches

We are anchored safely just outside of Buzzard’s Bay on the southwest side of the Cape Cod Canal.  We arrived at this anchorage on Thursday, and had Friday to prepare for the storm.  Since the forecast was calling for possible wind gusts up to 50 mph we were maticulous in preparations.  We spent the better part of the morning preparing the boat for the storm, all loose items on the boat were either stowed in an enclosed area or tried down.  We knew the anchorage had good holding, because we experienced a severe storm here on our way north.  We let out 150 ft of 5/8 anchor chain and connected both the bridle (from the bow pulpit) and a snubber line (from a bow eye at the water line) to the chain.

Thursday night provided a beautiful sunset...we knew Friday night would not look like this.

 The best way to combat cold rainy weather is to make pumpkin donuts...yum! We have to find warmer weather before we gain 100 lbs! 

Tropical Storm Dorian passed off the coast of Massachusetts early Saturday morning.  It was raining and windy most of the night, however, we were awakened at 5:30 by very strong winds (30-40 mph). The boat was whipping from side to side as the wind would catch the bow and blow it over, then exposing the side of the boat to the full force of the wind, pushing the boat back to the straight line, and start the process on the other side.  This motion is called ‘Hobby Horsing’, and usually a bridle helps to dampen the motion, but with the wind that strong the motion was pretty extreme. The lesson learned from this experience is to sleep on your back.  Your back is the ‘flat’ side of your body and will slow down the tendency to roll.  I can pretty much sleep anywhere so on my back and back to sleep 😴.  We did get up to check our position and the positions of boats around us...the anchor was holding fine so back to sleep! 

We also have an anchor alarm, which shows the perfect arch created from our movement during the storm.  The winds started out of the east, and as the storm moved past our location winds changed to come from the north...that in turn pushed the boat to the southern portion of this alarm circle. If, at any time, the boat would have drifted outside the circle an alarm would have gone off to let us know our anchor was dragging.

 The strong winds lasted until early afternoon, by late afternoon the sun was out, the temperature warmed up and the winds were gone...fabulous!  

These ‘down times’ in travel provide an opportunity for us to work on boat projects.  Keith has been working on rebuilding some of the structural components inside one of the hanging lockers (closet) in the master stateroom.  Once he finishes with the structural carpentry, I will go in as the ‘finish’ carpenter and rebuild the interior of the locker.  I have been working on both sewing projects, and teak restoration.  I will admit that my sewing skills leave a lot to be desired, but I am able to create functional items.  This past week I was able to make covers for the foam cushions that will hold the Whaler on the upper deck in our new configuration.  Here’s a tip...if you ever visit our boat, don’t laugh at my sewing😉.

Before heading to Cape Cod, to hide from the storm, we spent a few days in Plymouth, MA. Plymouth was a wonderful place to visit. We anchored in Duxbury Bay, which was a few miles outside of Plymouth harbor but was a great place to anchor.  The bay is very large and open at high tide, but at low tide we were surrounded by mud flats.  This anchorage offers good protection from everything except strong winds from the south.

Low tide sunset in Duxbury Bay.

We did visit Plymouth to explore the history, and to find groceries.

Plymouth has a very protected man-made harbor...can you see the huge breakwater wall in this picture?

Now that is a functional dinghy dock!

We found the ‘Landing Place’ of the pilgrims, and had an interesting conversation with the man who snapped this picture.  He was telling us a little history, and expressed concern that some people in the town were fighting to change the crest/emblem at the top of this sign.  I don’t want to get political, but to be honest I can see how it can be interpreted in a negative light.

I told the man that as a newcomer (never having seen this before) it looks to me like an arm holding a cutlass in a posture that wants to attack the Native American Indian (or is bragging about cutting them down), even though the Indian is also depicted with weapons his posture is not threatening.  The man said, “I guess your right, the man was known for killing Indians...I guess I’m just a traditionalist and hate to see thing changed.”  We thanked him for his insight and he wished us a nice day!  From there we hiked 2.5 miles (round trip) to buy groceries. 

Yippeeee...we are restocked with fresh fruits and veggies, and completely exhausted...what a great day!