Hiding
from Hermine
A
quick stop in Scituate helped us time our trip through the Cape Cod canal where
the penalty for getting it wrong is a -4 knot current.
After the canal we headed into Onset Harbor for a few nights of calm
water. Steve took a damp 20 mile dinghy
ride around to Wareham finding it more fun than the public bus option.
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| Scituate Lighthouse |
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| Onset Bay Cape Cod Canal Tour Boat |
While a
half dozen sailboats were fixing to sit out the possible weather from Hermine,
we headed toward New Bedford to check our options. We had a date with the Customs Office to update
our Local Boater cards after finally getting those new passports in hand.
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| New Bedford - oldest continuous operating Customs House |
A
short week later……
New
Bedford is a safe place to hide from a hurricane or even a tropical storm. Luckily the center of Hermine stayed well
south and east of New Bedford so we only experienced one day where staying on
the boat was better than sloshing ashore. (With nice northeast protection we endured
sustained winds in the low 20s and only a few gusts in the 40s plus
intermittent rain bands.) On the nice days we enjoyed a free tour in the New
Bedford National Historic Site thanks to the National Park Service, a stroll
through the mansion district, and a tour of the Rotch-Jones-Duff House. We were so busy we didn't find time to revisit the famous whaling museum located in the historic district.
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| lightship and bell to honor those who served |
Then
there was the hospitality of our fellow boaters. Most notably we were grateful to have Mike
and Denise offer us dinner on their boat in its home port slip next door to our
Pope Island mooring. We also followed
their advice and stayed put behind the hurricane barrier in New Bedford’s
harbor for the duration of the slow moving Hermine. They also gave us a walking tour of Fairhaven
– on the east side of the river and a car tour of their nearby land home with
stops at big box stores to replenish our stores.
Thanks does not cover all the
fun. Mike and Denise also are
responsible for reigniting our jigsaw puzzle hobby, and our hurricane break
gave us time to finish another puzzle provided by their generosity.
However,
with a mooring field full of stranded boaters we enjoyed time with fellow
Krogenites on Sweet Ride and made new friends on sail boats as well. Steve says we boaters are easily entertained.
Being marooned by weather with friendly folks at hand makes an extended
stay almost a pleasure.
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| hurricane? who cares |
