August 15-31, 2025 Gloucester, MA to

*****Pictures will be added when I have good wifi. Thanks for reading this far!*****

Friday August 15th

Slept in, breakfast in the cockpit. Launch to town for OJ and FL Woods's CBYC 1/4 zip for Laz. Line at fuel dock so went on. Wind 11-15 kts from NNE with big waves. Had to tack out as wind was shifty enough that we couldn't quite dodge the rocks on one tack. Went way out so we could tack back in towards Gloucester. Big wind, big waves, big fun.

On mooring at 1605

Dinner with Keith and Agnes Miller at Oak and Ember in Gloucester

Saturday August 16th

Lay day Gloucester 

Croissants and yogurt

Refueled and filled forward water tank at Brown's Yacht Yard

Into town to Source Bakery for breakfast pastries, Mark Adrian for new Olukai boat shoes for Laz, Bishco for lunch, Turtle Alley!

Back to baji-naji and saw another Dufour 382 on a mooring a few away from us. Boji'd over to meet Jeff and Susie on Painted Kite. Fun to compare notes! They were missing and wanted the wine rack in the floor by the stairs so we Boji'd back and brought it to them! Brought them to baji-naji to show and then Laz took them to shore to meet their kids.

Apps: cheese board and Dinner of leftovers. Chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing from Source which was moist and delicious.

Excellent band tonight on land. Boomsoss

Sunday August 17th

Up at 0730 and off the mooring at 0810 to go to Provincetown! Didn’t get past Ten Pound Island when the engine alarm started screaming. Overheating, so we limped back at forward idle to IH-14 mooring ball.

Turns out the alternator belt shredded and fell off. Laz and I read the manual, undid the correct screws, and once the metal cooled a bit could move the alternator almost enough to put the new belt on. Yes, we have spares. We pulled, tugged, gently tried a crowbar and need just a few more millimeters. So frustrating. The new alternator for the lithium battery is just a wee bit bigger than the old one and those millimeters matter. We can see where it ‘should’ pivot to, we just can’t get it there.

Meanwhile, even if we could get it on, the weather for tonight in P-town is storms. So we decided to stay in Gloucester and see if we can get help tomorrow and then set out on Tuesday. I had to do a round of changing all the bookings on Dockwa. Most people were very kind, and able to do that right away. Gloucester harbormaster was very kind and able to extend our booking til Tuesday.

Laz did chores like clean out the galley sink so it would drain well and cleaned the speed /depth sensor.

Good news is that my college roommate, Lydia, and her husband David, who live in Lexington, will be able to come out tomorrow and meet for dinner. Something nice out of all of it.

And yes, it was Arsenal v. Manchester United today, and Arsenal won.

Thought about going to Decklyn's for dinner, but decided to pick up a pizza and wings from Bravo by the Sea and brought it back to baji-naji. Squall came through with up to 30kt winds, minimal rain. Crazy storm clouds as well. Fast moving front.

Saw the Ardelle coming in wing, a very cool look for a schooner. The winds were so big that Adventure, the larger black schooner took a couple of tries to dock.

Watched a drama unfold with a sailboat in the anchorage ended up being tied up to the side of the Coast Guard boat and moved to mooring. We had a quick exchange with the launch driver just to make sure everyone was OK.

Monday August 18th

Slept in til 0900. French toast and a zucchini and cheese omelet for breakfast.

Headed into town to go to the marine store for maybe a new belt and got the scoop on the sailboat drama last night from one of the assistant harbormasters, Mike , who was also our launch driver. Turns out they were dragging their anchor and wanted to move, but then couldn't get their anchor up. No idea why they didn't stay put at that point, but apparently there is debris underwater where they were anchored so with the big winds they wanted a safer spot. When rafted with the Coast Guard ship, they were able to pull the anchor up and move to a mooring.

Went to Rose Marine and they did not have a slightly bigger belt, but Napa parts was across the street and did. It would come in after 3pm.

Had some great conversations waiting for the launch with Heather and Dave who have a power boat and the woman who does sunset sails on her boat Anejo, who's husband works in the Harbormaster's office, or maybe is the Harbormaster?There were a couple of mechanics waiting for the launch as well and they were sympathetic to the alternator belt story and had a few suggestions.

Everyone from the launch driver to locals agreed that Yella on the Water is an excellent choice for dinner.

We ran the generator for 1/2 hr between 1430 and 1500 then took the launch to shore and walked to Napa, got the new belt and back to baji-naji. Sad truth, the new one is the same size as the spares, even though we measured it so carefully! Laz called Napa and they will have one 1/2 inch bigger at 0730. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Had a wonderful catch up with Lydia and David and a truly delicious meal at Yella's.

Back to baji-naji, ran the generator for an hour to charge the battery. Thank goodness we have it or we would need shore power! And thank goodness for the wonderful lithium battery.

Tuesday August 19th

Laz went out at 0700 and got the new alternator belt. We got it on, yay! But could not tension enough and there is smoke because it's not tight enough. Talked to Nate and Garrett and they seem to agree that if we can get the correct belt, it should be OK. Still not sure why it snapped in the first place. Then called Sky at Napa to order the tween size, which is in Washington DC. Overnight would be $128 plus the part and Thursday would be $20. We went with the $20 option.

Then the round robin of getting in touch with marinas. Ptown had moved us but could not today. Apparently Craig was not supposed to do that the other day. We forfeit our Ptown fees, $342, oh well. SH Onset moved our dates no problem . They know we are coming because we have a package there. Ordered a few more things to be delivered, my beauty regimen lol. Apryl was able to move my hair and pedicure appt to Fri the 29th. I never book marinas this far in advance; the universe is telling me it's a bad idea! Now Hurricane Erin is offshore so even if we get the engine belt correct and fixed, we can't leave Friday or Saturday. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. If all goes well, we will still go to P-town and then Onset.

Meanwhile, pumpout is needed and the guy who came by is Stephanie's husband, who owns Anejo. Love all the peeps in Gloucester.

We went for a walk to Napa, to pay for the belt we ordered. On the way back we checked out the laundromat , which was a little industrial for me, plus it’s a bit far to carry the laundry. We were looking for an inexpensive watch for Laz because his watch battery died. Odd, since it was changed at Christmastime. We met Louise and Bert at Tonno for dinner. Their friend Martha, who lives in Rockport, met us there for a wonderful dinner. Adagio is on one of the Ten Pound moorings. We walked back to Solomon Jacobs Landing and got back on the launch to go back to our respective boats. We will hopefully see them in Onset.

Wednesday August 20th

Bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Pick up by Brown's at 0840, towed baji-naji to their yard. I spent the time chatting with Val who runs the store and fuel station. An old fashioned Italian Nonna, we chatted about food and grandchildren. Tom Beaton, their mechanic, came down to baji-naji. He and Laz turned on the engine, ran it to 2800 rpm and everything looked fine. He suspected that the burning rubber smell was that the belt had not sunk properly into the grooves. Plus Laz had tightened it a little more after we tried but we didn't try again since we knew we'd be at Brown's today. We happily paid their fee, which was less than the overnight fee for the middle size belt! Since this one works, I called Sky to order another and we will then have a 33 1/2 and 33 5/8 aboard by tomorrow. Given hurricane Erin's size and track creating high wind and surf, we won't be leaving before Sunday.

We decided to take the shuttle to The Lobster for lunch and it was a great move. Delicious NE clam chowder and lobster roll for me and a lobster BLT for Laz. We started the meal with a spinach and artichoke dip that had fried wonton triangles for the dippers. 1/2 the entire meal went back to baji-naji. We walked back to town from The Lobster, which is just over a mile, then stopped in at Turtle Alley. Chatted with Hallie, who grew up in Charlestown, Rhode Island and got somemore of her delicious chocolates. We then took the launch from there back to baji-naji. Stayed aboard the rest of the afternoon and evening. Even took a nap!

Dinner was delicious leftovers from Tonno, Yella and The Lobster. Turtle Alley chocolate for dessert. Life is good.

Thursday August 21st

Slept in as after the nap yesterday afternoon I was not tired enough to sleep until after MN. The Craig Johnson Longmire book I'm reading did not help me get to sleep either. With Erin's size and track, we are glad we are staying put. It's breezy here from the NNE and feels like 15+ kts with bigger gusts, so we are happy to be in the inner harbor.

Off to Source Bakery for breakfast and excellent mocha lattes. I had the egg and boursin with micro greens on their biscuit and Laz had the sausage patty and egg. So good biscuits are huge, so I gave Laz some of mine. We stopped at Lone Gull coffee house for more breakfast pastries. I popped into Mark Adrian to say hi, and ended up with some great sandals for gigs, a beautiful pair of suede boots, both on sale, and some cute flats. They have not steered me wrong on anything I've bought there and Nancy even gave me a beautiful beach bag to carry my purchases home. Such nice people. Back to the town dock, where we helped a motor boat tie up in the brisk wind, then back to baji-naji. We relaxed aboard and had a snack of trail mix and almonds, since we had a pretty hefty breakfast. Laz went to Napa to pick up our spare belts after Sky called to tell me they were in. I took my shower while he was gone. We headed to the Franklin for dinner. We shared the match stick zucchini that were sauteed with toasted almond slivers and topped with a slice of pecorino and balsamic glaze. Delicious! I had the fish chowder which was as good as Terry, our launch driver (with Skipper the dog) said it would be. I was so full from zucchini and the generous portion of chowder that I took home my salad with grilled shrimp on top. Laz ate all of his chicken. Relaxing evening on baji-naji. Another chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing from Source, so yummy.

Friday August 22nd

Very unfortunate unhappy stomach for me with me throwing up at 0140. No fun! Not sure what did it. Mouthwash helped but did not get to that til 0230. Luckily my stomach settled right after that and I finally fell asleep and slept til 1000. Yogurt and a scone with coffee aboard. Decided to walk to Stop and Shop to pick up new deli meats and some sodas. Our launch driver took us right to a dock to shorten the walk instead of to Cripple Cove. We took a Lyft back since we had three 12 packs of sodas. Had a nice driver; we had a good talk about the rise of racism in the US and women in engineering (our respective daughters). Put away the groceries and took our laptops to the lounge where Laz paid some bills and I worked on the log. Back to baji-naji at dusk. I heated up the cheddar chive biscuits from Eventide and served them with my salad and grilled shrimp leftover. I added a little cheddar to the salad. Delicious meal. I heated some of the raspberry bites for dessert. Ran the engine to charge the battery. It charges at 100 amps whereas the generator charges at ~ 60 amps, so it's now a bit faster with the engine, unlike previously where the generator and the engine were about the same with the generator having better fuel efficiency. With Erin still making big surf out there, we are in Gloucester at least another day. We have been exploring all of it; it's a great town with nice people. We've gotten so many nice restaurant recommendations from the launch drivers, Nancy at Mark Adrian, Hallie of Turtle Alley and our fellow cruisers, especially Louise.

Saturday August 23rd

Up at 0830. Heading into town with our laptops to pick up breakfast at Sweet Magnolia and then to the lounge to work on the log. Our launch driver suggested Mom's Cafe. We had heard great things about Mom's so we said sure! He dropped us off at a different dock, St. Peter's and we walked over to Mom's. There is a sign up sheet with at least 6 names ahead of us, so we kept walking. Sweet Magnolia had mostly sweet things so I walked into Castaways Vintage Cafe and got an avocado toast with feta, arugula and sunflower seeds and Laz had a sesame bagel with cream cheese. The mocha was meh, so after dropping the computer bag in the Mariners Lounge, I walked up to Source and got a proper mocha. Got a cinnamon pecan monkey bread for later and a peach crumble for much later. Worked on the log and watched Arsenal run over Leeds. Texted with my friend Nancy at home. I am looking forward to going to Misconduct Tavern to see games with her, her husband and her daughter this season. We met a couple from Alexandria, who keep their boat, Calypso, in Galesville. Denise and Jerry. Another couple from Washington DC came into the lounge, Walt and Janet, who have a beautiful Hinckley yawl, and they keep their boat in Marion, with Burr Brothers and drive up this way. Janet is a widow and Walt is divorced and a Navy guy. Janet had her own boat, a completely metal boat which she sailed with her husband. Funny how all the Mid Atlantic folks sail up this way. We swapped stories for so long that we ended up walking to The Burn together for an early dinner. I was craving the Reuben. Started with delicious lemon garlic shrimp served with crostini. I had my Reuben with sweet potato fries and Laz had the regular fries. Excellent hot fryer as all the fries were excellent. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, not soggy in any way as fries can get. I was missing my Pride of Baltimore hat, so we went back to the lounge, where it had fallen into the seat. Back to baji-naji. Janet and Walt had brought their dinghy so they did not use the launch. Settled in to hear the band, Way Up South, at Decklyn's now that the wind is coming from the S, bringing the music to us again. Dessert is the peach crumble from Source.

Sunday August 24th

Left the mooring ball at 0840 on our way to P-town. It was a rock and roll ride here, big chop just past Gloucester breakwater, got better once we cleared Cape Ann. Wind kept shifting to be exactly where we wanted to go, so we decided to tack. Took starboard rack first, but with a knot or more of tide against us went to port tack to see if we could gain anything with the current. Practically no VMG, sigh. Wind was blowing 17-19 leaving Gloucester so main was reef 1. Wind was pretty steady 16-17 but from just East of S. Ended up furling the jib at one point and using the engine. Some of the bigger waves were more than 6 feet. As we got closer to P-town, waves were knocked down, so we put out the jib as going on course into the wind we only did 4kts and sometimes less. We sailed towards Tail of the Sea, which is a whale watching boat we think out of Plymouth. Laz got on the horn to ask if our course was OK and the Captain agreed we were fine, he saw us. Just after that I saw a whale blow!!! just aft of Tail of the Seas.  Laz actually saw another blow and the dorsal part of the whale! My glasses were pretty salty by then, so I could not make out the body. I will blame the glasses and not the cataracts haha. We also saw a mola mola, an ocean sunfish! There are some pretty cool life forms out here! Made it to Mooring 401 by 7p

 Off to dinner at Local 186 for delicious butter chicken and an English burger for Laz. The fried artichokes were outstanding with a garlic aoli dip, and they had the pot de crème. So good. I brought some pot de crème home.

Back to baji-naji to find the fridge water pump making a funny noise. We got air in the system while rocking and rolling, so Laz had to let the air out of the system. 

Monday August 25th

PTown layday. Brunch at Liz's Café and Anybody's bar, a bit of a walk then a wait. Very popular place. Walked Commercial St to look for my water bottle sticker, rainbow sailboats. Found Laz a watch! At Century. Found my sticker at Sharkey's. It cost $5 when in June it was $4. Interesting. 

Dinner at Rosie's Cantina...street tacos and guacamole with chips so good

Tuesday August 26th

Off to Sesuit pronounced Seh-suit with emphasis on the Seh. Great wind 15+ kts from the Westin P-town harbor. Sails up! Wind gradually shifted to the S, of course where we were trying to go, and softened to 2-3 kts. Oh well. We did see another (or maybe the same?) mola mola and this time I got pictures.

To Sesuit Harbor. The town docks are all the way in. We had a "face dock" which would have been a full face except for the piling at one end. We made it work and there is plenty of dock length. Tucked in by 1400 and walked up the docks to walk to Phil's B&B Sesuit Harbor House. Along the way, offered to help a guy with his dinghy line and he offered to drive us to Phil's. Very nice as it was a mile and a half. He had an old truck with 300,000 miles on it and the back hatch was together with a bungee. He passed his street on the way up. He's a retired teacher and he and his wife have been boaters a long time, so they know how it is when you have to walk everywhere. Great visit with Phil, Sylvia and the goats! Phil gave us a ride back, and then we walked to Sesuit Harbor Cafe. Cash only. I had the lobster roll and Laz had mahi. It was just before 5pm but we were hungry. Good thing we got there when we did because the line was out the door and around some lines set up like Disney ride lines with ripe and cones. It was very good, not the best lobster roll but very good.  From there not a long walk back to the boat. Relaxing evening watching the cormorants and the great blue heron.

Wednesday August 27th

Left Sesuit at around 1100, some decent wind to start, so sails up. Wind softened to 1-3kts, and then we had rain showers with some yellow on the radar. We furled the jib, brought the bimini forward to full length, then motored a bit until it built again to more than 5.  Wind became NW so we pulled out the code-0 and sailed to the Cape Cod Canal.  No sailing in the canal, so we furled the code-0 and dropped the main.  +3.5-5 kts of current in the canal. We saw a mola mola larger than the other two we saw trying to make its way against the current out to Cape Cod Bay.  It was slow going for sure. A large  thunderstorm approached and then was all over us, with heavy rain to the point where I asked for the dodger to go up.  A lot of lightning and thunder all around us, but nothing too close.  It blew over before we got to the railroad bridge.  Saw a sailboat doing strange things with only a jib near the Onset channel inlet. Was not sure if his engine was disabled or what, but I had just enough room to go around him before needing to turn into the channel for Onset.  A jet ski zoomed in from Buzzards Bay right in front of us, but with his velocity, I knew he would be long past the entrance before I needed to go in.  Made the sharp right turn into Onset channel.  While coming down the channel, Laz radioed Safe Harbor Onset Bay to see if there were any cancellations due to weather. Curtis answered and said they had a slip for us!  Yay! We were in the first slip next to the dock office.  It is right by the metal bridge, and we wanted stern in, so it was a very gentle docking with a bit of bow thruster. Luckily no strong wind, cross wind or current.  Caroline and Curtis helped us get settled. 

I texted Jan and we met them for dinner at Glen Cove.  Amazing swordfish but rude server. Not sure if she was having a bad day or what. It was nice to see Jan and Walt again. We hope to meet in the Chesapeake.

Thursday August 28th

Lay day in Onset. Laundry day! 4 loads! Vacuumed and cleaned the cabin and the head. Louise came by and offered to give me a ride to Stop & Shop for provisions, so I went to pick up some fresh fruit and milk as well as some more turkey and roast beef. Caroline dropped her cell phone in the water, Laz loaned one of the guys a mask so he could dive under the dock. Amazingly he found the phone, which is of course, dead after 20 minutes in salt water. 

Haircut and pedicure with Apryl at 0900 tomorrow!

Friday August 29th

Up before 0800 for a quick shower.  Took the dingy over to the town dock and went to the coffee stand/ice cream place for coffee and a bagel (asiago toasted with cream cheese). Shared the bagel with Apryl.  Got a the usual wonderful amazing pedicure, plus an update on Apryl's summer and a nice trim of hair and bangs. Interesting that Apryl washes and blow dries my hair before cutting.  It looks great, so it works for her. Back to baji-naji to work on the log.  We had hoped to visit with friends on the Vineyard, but between their schedule and Labor Day weekend, we could not find an available mooring in Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs or Edgartown, except outside the breakwater. With North winds predicted that was not OK. We even tried booking Falmouth and taking a ferry over, but no dice. Needed some time outside after lunch, so we went to flip and wash/scrape Boji. Then back in to work on the log.

Bert and Louise came to see our flipper winches, then we walked over to Glen Cove for dinner. This time we had Wade as our server, and he is wonderful. We’ve usually had him when we dine there and was so glad to see him. A wonderful dinner, with the welcome walk back to the marina to walk off some dinner. We saw some thunderclouds rolling in, but luckily it didn’t start to pour until we were all on our respective boats. This is Adagio’s home port, so Bert and Louise are done with their longer sailing journey. They have some car trips planned and maybe a day trip or overnight on Adagio, but they will be pulled out of the water Sept 23rd.

Saturday August 30th

Slept til 0930 off the docks at 1020, tried to say bye to Curtis and Caroline but both were busy. The CCC was going from West to East starting at 1012, but was not more than 1-1.5 kts against us. Lots of boats catching the north bound current. Put up the sails after clearing the CCC and headed down Buzzards Bay. Nice wind from the WNW at 5-10 ktsI mentioned to Laz that we've had great luck transiting Buzzards Bay, with decent winds and mellow waves and chop, and as he put it, Buzzards Bay said "hold my beer" wind shifted to SSW, exactly where we were trying to go, and strengthened to 13-15kts. The strength was fine, on our nose was not. We had hoped to make Third Beach today, but nope. Thought maybe anchoring behind Cuttyhunk or maybe up near Padanaram up Apponagansett Bay. Laz looked at the guide book and called the harbormaster there, who said the anchorage was empty and we were welcome to come. Then I saw a nice cove in the land on the north shore of Buzzards Bay, past new Bedford. We watched a boat (on AIS)sail up there and then their AIS disappeared. Guessing they anchored. The guidebook has no info about this place. After a brief debate, we decided to go for it. We saw 3 boats anchored. As we got closer we saw they were on moorings. We anchored on the other side of the cove and it is just lovely! Apparently we are just off Demarest Lloyd State Park, in Dartmouth MA, off the mouth of the Slocums River. Who knew?

Maybe try for Third Beach tomorrow.