The way in to Boston harbor was marked by the Americas Vespucci. This tall ship was leaving as I was entering. It really was quite a welcoming comittee.

I was happy to get to Boston, I got to meet up with both my daughters. Lizzy joined me onboard and stayed until to New York, Ansby was just there staying for a couple of days. We played tourist in Boston and had a geat time, did the walking tour, the ghost tour, visited the aquarium, had dinner at some of the historic restaraunts. Then when Ansby went home we ended staying another day because the weather was just awful, poured down all day. Gave us the opportunity to visit the aquarium there and Harvard and the natural History museum, very impressive indeed.

We left Boston with the weather little improved, wind was better but the swell was still up and it made for a very bouncy ride. Still we made it to Plymouth and still had a chance to do sight-seeing there. Plymouth Rock was a disappointment but the town was nice.

I had decided against going around Cape Cod because of the lost day, so we took the Cape Cod canal. And here is where lack of sleep played more than a little role in what happened next. We entered the canal just like the cruising guide said, "enter at the onset of hight tide". However, what I failed to consider was that the cuising guide was written for people heading north, not sout like us. Now the current in the canal can exceed 6 knots and it did, and rather than helping us it stoppped us dead. At one point we were passed by a woman pushing a stroller. Yep that was real cockup. It took quite a while to get through that canal.

Then just to add insult to injury we come out od the canal and head in straight into a contrary wind. By the time we got to our destination it was dark and we failed completely. We grounded trying to follow the channel in to the marina and then made our own channel leaving. There was no good ground to anchor and we ended beam on to a nasty swell. It really was a miserable night.

The next day we were eventually rewarded by a glorious beam reach. We sailed with all canvas up and stopped at Newport. We had arrived during the Candy Store Regatta and really were lucky in getting a berth, even if it was pretty much in someone's back alley. Still the marina was clean, freindly and knew their boats. There were large sailing boats everywhere, and the place was hopping. Concerts going on, with anchorages being the best seats.

Newport really was a happening place that weekend and it is very tourist freindly. We decided to take the tram and visit some of the stately homes. On Rothgeb's reccomendation we went to see The Breakers, a Vanderbilt get away. Very impressive. Pictures of this can be seen here.

We spent a couple of days in Newport, played tourist and rested up. We originally planned on stopping on the New England coast a few times but opted instead to sail straight through to New York. We sailed through the night splitting watches. Wind got more than a little flukey the next morning so we motored into New York.

We were able to find a Marina in the Bronx. It wasn't quite what I've been used to, it was run by 2 guys, one rather lage and one skinny, they were both right of the Sopranos, they tookncash only , there was no shower. Well there was a shower, but it was used for storage. There was no pier for us so we moored but the water shuttle was available 24 hours a day and was very prompt. Not being tied to a pier was not a problem at all.

Unfortunately this was where Lizzy got off, but there again this was Dennis got to join me. The exchanges went off perfectly.