Whale HO

At Sea
N 42 10 W 070 19

Getting up at 0430 is hard. It seems that the alarm went off just minutes after going to sleep. Never mind. We dragged ourselves out of bed, made coffee, and prepared to weigh anchor at dawn about 0500. Our goal was to catch the tidal current in the Cape Cod Canal. The currents in this canal are very swift. Therefore, there is no question that we must have the current with us.

Now for the bitter pill. As we approached the canal entrance, the current was against us. Oh no! I had reversed the ebb-flood direction in the canal in my planning. Instead of getting up early, we should have slept in late. We had to turn around, re-anchor, and try to go back to sleep after drinking coffee. I couldn't have messed that one up more than I did.

After the wait, we started again. The trip through the 7 mile long canal with the current with us took less than an hour. We are always impressed by how nice the Cape Cod Canal is. At the west end, is Massachusetts Marine Academy. They always have some interesting vessels tied up there. After that, most of the canal is screened by hills and trees from sight of any houses or roads. Although a canal is anything but natural, this canal looks like a very nice river. Best of all -- along both
sides are wonderful hiking trails. On nice weekend days, like today, the trails are filled with all kinds of people. Some hike, some jog, many bike, and a few zing along on roller skates. There are benches to stop and enjoy the view. There are porta potties at strategic intervals. One can climb down the bank to the water and go fishing, while others can stop and talk with the fishermen. I bet that the Cape Cod Canal is the best hiking/biking trail spot on the entire east coast.

After getting through the canal, we set a direct course for Penobscot Bay, Maine. It is only 140 miles away and we are supposed to have favorable winds today and tomorrow. Therefore, we should get there by sometime Sunday night. That means that we skip Portland and Boothbay Harbor, but we're trying to take advantage of the wind whenever possible.

A special treat. Libby was below sleeping and I had the watch. I looked over at a whale watch boat not to far away. Suddenly, I saw a blow myself. "THAR SHE BLOWS," I hollered at the top of my lungs (I always wanted to do that. Check off another of life's goals realized.) Rudely awoken, Libby came scrambling up on deck. We saw the backs and tails of at least two, perhaps three, whales as we sailed by. After passing, I could still see their blows from more than a mile away. Poor whales,
if their blows weren't so easy to spot, they wouldn't have been killed so easily in the 19th century.

That is our first whale sighting while sailing on Tarwathie. Years ago in the BVIs, a whale surfaced only 20 feet away from us, but that wasn't on Tarwathie.