Massachusetts and New Hampshire

June 22 – 30 2022

With much anticipation we eagerly set off for Massachusetts. The last leg before our goal cruising along the Maine coast for the rest of the summer. More on that later. We decided to skip Newport RI and visit on the way back when it is not the height of the season. Instead, we went to New Bedford MA for a couple of days. The marina was a challenge since it has fixed docks with a 3.5′ – 4′ tidal range. Modest tides for the area but still a challenge to getting on and off the boat. Yuki was less than thrilled with being hauled up and down but seems to have recovered. New Bedford was really cool with it being the Whaling capital for the peak years of the whaling industry. We toured the downtown and went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum Home – New Bedford Whaling Museum. Between Mystic and New Bedford I think we are whaling experts by now. It is an interesting time period and we can thank the nasty petroleum industry for saving the whales. The cheap new petroleum products pretty much made taking whales unprofitable.

We stopped in Sandwich MA since we couldn’t get to Boston in a single day. I am glad we did for two reasons. The first is we were able to time our transit through the Cape Cod Canal at reasonable currents. It is known for the currents that run through there but were able to glide right into the marina, easy peasy. The second reason was because it was a cool little area with a really good restaurant. We took a stroll over to the Cape Cod Canal visitor center and out to the end of the canal jetty. Afterward we had a really good meal at the restaurant across the street from the marina.

Finally, we are in Boston! We stayed at the Constitution Marina which is next door to some old ship. I never get tired of seeing Boston since there is always something to see and do. We took the trolly tour and revisited many of the sites we had seen before but was fun to see again.

After a few days of R&R in Boston we rolled on to Portsmouth NH. The wows keep on coming. We weren’t able to get into my first choice of marinas near downtown Portsmouth. Instead, we stayed at Wentworth by the Sea Marina. It is a very nice upscale marina connected to a resort hotel. It had nicely manicured grounds that something other than a dog can enjoy and an awesome boardwalk to view the bay. We used the marina’s loaner car to go to and walk through the historical downtown and waterfront. I had a lobster roll at a waterfront restaurant that was to die for. I had it warmed with butter instead of chilled salad style. Definitely the way to go but won’t turn down the chilled just for the record.