Bye-Bye, Maine…Hello, Boston

We fell in love with Maine. We became acclimated to the cool temperatures and conquered the plethora of lobster pots, at least we didn’t have any run-ins with them (this time!). Scott loved the rocks, especially since we didn’t touch any of them (meaning with our hull!). The trees, seals, harbor porpoises, and lighthouses were all big hits. However, the temperatures were dropping and we felt the calling to bask in the warm sun once again. We have decided to attend the Kadey Krogen rendezvous and want to visit some places that we missed on our way north. Therefore, it’s time to wend our way southward. The first night we anchored in Rockland and then one night at Richmond Island but didn’t go to shore in either location. We did want to check out Gloucester (pronounced Glaa-str) and it happened to be the 37th annual Schooner Festival. America’s oldest seaport honors the fishing schooner which was invented there in 1713. The boats were as thick as ants on a log. It took an hour of picking our way around lobster pots, moored boats, and anchored boats to finally find a safe spot to drop the hook which happened to be at the far end of the outer harbor.

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Scott didn’t want to miss seeing the famous “Man At the Wheel” statue, the bronze memorial dedicated to 300 years of Gloucester losing fishermen. Further down the esplanade is the newer memorial to the long-suffering fisherman’s family depicting a fisherman’s wife and her two children looking out over the harbor. Do not confuse the man in the fisherman’s memorial with the man in the Gorton’s seafood company, known for inventing fish sticks, which is also located in Gloucester and dominates the downtown area.

Finally, we arrived in Boston, one of the highlights of our summer. We do have a soft spot for big cities that are walkable and this beautiful city was a delight. We walked all of the Freedom Trail except the small portion at Bunker Hill. A portion of the walk was in the company of Mike and Maria on Tuscan Sun. When we walked to the USS Constitution the navy personnel learned that Mike was a retired Navy Captain. As Mike boarded the worlds oldest commissioned war ship the sailors clanged the bell and announced his name and rank and welcomed him, then they repeated as he disembarked. It was quite an honor to explore the ship with a VIP. Thank you for your service, Mike.

We ate many delicious meals, including two in the Italian neighborhood of the North End. We also enjoyed a terrific evening with Roberto and Maria on Gratitude. We ate dinner at the Chart House which was good but the bold rats that kept creeping closer as it darkened was absolutely disgusting.

We are always drawn to nature and spent a fun day at the beautiful New England Aquarium. Coincidentally, we could hear the Sea Lions barking from the boat as we were anchored right across from the aquarium. Another odd sound we heard in the boat was the clanking of trains passing beneath the water in the East Boston Tunnel, the first North American subway tunnel to run beneath a body of water. Other highlights included the Quincy Market, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and taste tests at a few breweries.

We found Boston to be a gem and we look forward to a return visit. Next up, a return visit to one of my favorite islands…Nantucket.