Day 40: Salem to Boston – 22/08/12

Mike checks the oil in the sail drive and it’s not good news.  It is like mayonnaise again.  This means that there is salt water mixed in it – changing the oil and cleaning the connections did not fix the problem.  Luckily we have a spare seal but it means that we will have to beach Jeannius again while Victoria is here because once we reach Cape Cod the tide differences will not give us the clearance Jeannius needs to be completely out of the water.  Sigh.  There’s always something with boats!

I sit and plot today’s course – I’m getting good at this and wonder why I didn’t do it all the way around the world.  It would have been easier then too as you just started in one place and it was practically a straight line to the next – no wriggling around inlets, islands and shallow ground in most places.

Anyway, having plotted it I realise it is about 20 miles, not the 6 that Mike glibly announced yesterday.  Even as the crow flies it’s 10, but we have two huge bays to navigate our way around and in, so even before getting ourselves ready to leave, Mike slips the lines and we go.

We go a different route out, over sea that is glass-like again and little wind.  It’s amazing, you motor out of the bay into a seemingly huge area of open water yet I am giving Mike course instructions to guide us through a narrow channel across the sea bed.  Sometimes the water is only just over 1 metre deep but you just wouldn’t know it.

Once out into deep water it’s just the lobster pots again … oh and the lobster fisherman.  We meet one particularly charming individual who changes course and drives straight across the bow of our boat just 30 feet away, dropping his pots into the water.  Mike has to change course dramatically to  avoid the lines.  At least we are motoring so changing course doesn’t give us any problem.  Up in north Maine we saw one of these guys stop dead in front of a boat that was sailing, in order to pick up one of his pots.  The poor captain had to swerve frantically out of his way, sails flapping madly and barely missed him.  Bastards some of them!

Anyway, we can see Boston from miles away and watch the skyscrapers get nearer and nearer.  The main landing flight path looks, from our vantage point, to be right over the  rooftops but when we are very close we can see that it is actually out at sea.

Photos:  Jeannius, Mike and Boston Harbour

We find the Waterboat Marina easily – I have plotted the course right to her and there are a couple of guys ready to take our lines which makes it easy.  We hook up to the electricity and Jeannius has another new experience – she has never stood with a backdrop of skyscrapers – and we have the beautiful clock tower behind us.

Photos:  Boston Waterboat Marina

We decide to go out for a quick walk and orient ourselves with our surroundings, so leave the marina and head for Quincy Market literally just over the road.  We were here about 27 years ago and it’s changed a bit – much more crowded – but still lovely.  It reminds me of Covent Garden.

We grab a slice of pizza to eat on the go and make our way back to the boat.  We have people coming to see Jeannius who are interested in buying a larger Privilege than ours, but who want to see the general layout, design and workmanship without having to go to France to do it.

David and Toutou arrive bearing gifts of Sauvignon Blanc.  How nice!  We show them around the boat and answer many questions for them although our answer to their question of “galley up or galley down” (galley up from both Mike and I) might have scuppered their plans for buying the boat they have their eye on as it has the galley down in one of the hulls.  Oops, sorry folks but galley down does isolate the cook and add to the seasickness if you are prone, and although it leaves you with much more room in the salon area, when sailing in rough open water, this extra room is just space to be thrown across because there won’t be enough grab rails.

Having mentioned to Toutou that Thai food is my favourite cuisine, she and David decide to take us to an early dinner and we jump in a taxi to the theatre district and to a restaurant that Toutou knows.  Given her mixture of Asian ancestry (one of which is Thai), I ask Toutou to order for Mike and I and her choices are fantastic.  I wish I could remember the names of the dishes we eat because only one of them is familiar to me.  A wonderful meal in lovely company.

Photo:  Mike, me, Toutou and David

They drop us back to the marina and we say our goodbyes, wishing them well in their endeavours to find the perfect Privilege.

Lying in bed that evening we try to work out what the strange rumbling noise is that we hear every few minutes.  Mike thinks that it is water coming under the pontoons but I don’t think it’s regular enough for that and conclude that it’s the subway under the river.  We have a station near us and there’s one just the other side. 

Tomorrow Victoria arrives – I can’t wait!

 

Position:  42 deg 21 min N, 71 deg 03 min W

Distance so far:  1942 miles