Storm over a Tea Party

We had missed out on visiting Damariscove so headed for the Isle of Shoals instead – our last stop in Maine.  These islands are about 6 miles off Portsmouth and save weary travellers heading inshore when transiting either north or south.  They too are remote and barren although have been in known service to mariners, fair or foul, for well over 400 years.  Captain John Smith chartered these islands in 1614.  (Didn’t that man just get about in his little shallop?).  Rock walls (or causeways) have been shaped to provide scant protection in Gosport Harbor from Atlantic swells and open sea breezes.  We hoped our rocna would hold in kelp beds in a small anchorage off Smuttynose Island we shared with one other boat – a German traveller.  The Americans wouldn’t be silly enough to be out here in this weather…

Catching a ride on Bruce

The weather report for our next destination read like a bad dream – gusts to 35kts, seas to 8 feet.  Damn.  We got up early and left Isle of Shoals (not the best place to be in a storm) at 6.30.  Yes, that’s AM, folks.  Unbelievable, but the early morning calm gave us a great start on our trip south.  Gloucester if it’s really bad, Boston if we have to, Scituate at best or even a little closer to Cape Cod, our favourite, Provincetown.  We made Scituate just as the winds started to get above 20kts and before it started to rain - giving us a little time to explore town.  Scituate (pronounced sit-u-it) is a hospitable little village with a huge supermarket, a coin-op laundry, easy access to a town dock and a great pub (TK O’Malley’s - more Irish).  You know – all those things a salty, weary traveller looks for.

On a mooring at Scituate

Storm predictions worsened and the harbour was full of gossip.  At midnight we were to expect gusts up to 60kts, rain and thunderstorms.  Our ever resourceful Cap’n again prepared our faithful WJ3 for another tussle with nature.  Thankfully we only experienced winds to 34kts – though it sounded worse from our locked-down beds as rain beat against the decks.  To make matters worse, our morning calm was interrupted by an unscheduled thunderstorm that quickly whisked across Massachusetts Bay.  So we spent another rainy day hanging off a SHYC mooring planning a quick get-away to make the right tide (according to Mr Eldridge’s yellow pilot) and a speedy exit through the Cape Cod Canal back into Buzzards Bay.  Seems like we were there only last week – hey, wait a minute!


From: Isle of Shoals, NH  Lat/Long: 42 58N  70 36W  Date/Time: 16/9/10: 0630
To: Scituate, MA  Lat/Long: 42 12N  70 43W  Date/Time: 16/9/10: 1430
Time Taken: 49nm (8hrs)  Distance (this year): 1078nm (199hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 4718nm (898hrs)   Fastest Speed: See Note**
Weather: Winds W 10-15kts G20kts; Seas 3-5ft; Evening Winds S 20-25kts G35; Seas 8-11ft; showers & TSM’s 
(**Motored with haste to beat the oncoming storm. (Ed. We later heard that tornadoes had flattened parts of Brooklyn, NY.)