More Marblehead

Marblehead Mass, N 42 29.887 W 70 50.834

Friday, September 8 2006

I got a picture of myself next to the Seaman's Memorial in Gloucester this morning. That statue is one of the most recognizable icons in the world. I stopped at the C of C to pick up a tourist map. The thing they were handing out is a Perfect Storm attractions map. It shows where to find the pier, the bar, the memorial, and other places around Gloucester that were seen in the movie. It's amazing what an effect a movie can have on a locality. I bet that bar sees zero fishermen and 100% tourists nowadays.

My plan was to sail to Salem today, anchor there overnight and come to Marblehead on Saturday to meet Nancy. We did that, but when we got to Salem Harbor all I could see was a big power plant, piles of coal, and lots of unattractive industrial shoreline. Yuck. We changed our minds and came to Marblehead again.

Tomorrow we meet with Nancy and Marilyn for lunch. After that we'll probably take off and head for the Cape Cod Canal. That's part of our Florence avoidance strategy. Florence will make for dangerous seas starting Sunday and lasting until the middle of next week. We plan to hide out those days in one of the several good anchorages at the north end of Buzzards Bay. To get there we have a run of 47 miles to the canal entrance and we have to time it so that we arrive at a time with favorable currents. A Sunday morning departure would be too late because we have to hit the canal between noon and 1800. We'll leave Saturday evening instead and sail overnight. I hope to arrive at the canal around noon on Sunday and we'll be at anchor in Buzzard's Bay before 1700.

Our backup plan is to stop and anchor in Plymouth Mass.

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