Tom sked for updates. Here's my first.

We left Belfast later than we would have liked. A month ago we ordered from West Marine two Montague folding bikes and two bike bags. The bikes arrived promptly but the bags had to come direct from Montague. Instead of the bags, what arrived was a third bike which I returned. It took a full month to straighten it all out and we couldn't leave until the bags did finally get to us. All those days with sunny northwest winds went to waste while we waited.

Instead we had very light tail winds our first day out. We tried sailing the spinnaker a couple of times when it looked like a breeze might fill in but it was only wishful thinking. We mostly motored to Harbor Island in Muscongus Bay that day.

next day we did find enough of a following wind to run to Goose Island (and the Goslings) in Casco Bay where we took one of the dozens of free moorings, surprised to be the only boat there. We ended up staying two nights, bailing out of a day with thick fog, heavy rain and 30 kt winds.

Our reward came the following day with clear skies and a fast beam reach across another of my beloved NW winds. We easily made it to the Isles of Shoals where we grabbed another free mooring. Again, we were the only boat there, other than a couple of locals.

Overnight the wind clocked to the NE and we could reach, on the opposite tack, to Provincetown where we anchored off the beach. Along the way we caught glimpses of only two whales. The Cape Cod waters must have gotten too warm for them.

We had another light following wind the next day. That suited us perfectly as we didn't want to get to the cana too early and have to fight a strong flood current. As it was, we were half way threough the canal when the current reveresed in out favor. We made it to Onset by 3:30, time for noce hot showers in the water warmed by motoring (mandatory) the length of the canal. We were the only boat showing an anchor light.

Yesterday we had 10-25 kt following winds and sailed dad downwind to Block Island. There's no relaxing when you're always on the edge of an accidental jibe. In Great Salt Pond we finally found other (three) visiting boats at anchor, so we're getting back in tune with the sailing season.

Tomorrow we set sail for New Jersey (Cape May or Atlanic City, depending) with another day of this six day nor'easter. The forecast is 15-25, dropping a bit on Monday. We should be able to make Cape May with that but I always hedge those bets.