8/11/22 -- Falmouth, MA to Hull, MA

                                     8/11/22 -- Falmouth, MA to Hull, MA

            Damon and Griffin drove down to the marina about 8:30 and then drove us into town to buy some pastries for breakfast (and a sandwich for lunch for us) and to replenish our beer supply at John's Liquors. (I asked and they wouldn't give me a discount for having the same name.) We ate our pastries together on the back deck and then bade them goodbye as they helped us cast off. We motored a short way down the harbor to a fuel dock and were underway from there by 1030. It was another cool, grey morning, with a light SE wind. We had an uneventful passage through Woods Hole because we hit it at slack tide. (The Woods Hole passage is notorious for strong and unpredictable tidal currents.) Rain came when we were about halfway up Buzzards Bay, and we went below into the cabin until the rain passed a couple hours later. 

            We had horrible timing in our passing through the Cape Cod Canal. We entered the canal right at the peak of the ebb tide, which meant we ran against a 4-5 mph current the entire way (about ten miles). That beat the hell out of our fuel economy for the day. That ferocious current was generated by a 7.5-foot difference in the sea level between the Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay ends of the canal when we entered it. That head differential was generated by the different tidal behavior of those two bodies of water -- even though they are both on the Atlantic Ocean. It's a crazy phenomenon and hard to explain. The interested reader should go do some web research. Suffice it to say that a 7-foot head difference in a canal that is a couple hundred yards wide and roughly 40 feet deep generates a lot of force. And to add insult to injury, the Corps of Engineers, which runs the canal, says that the entire canal is a "no wake" zone with a 10-mph speed limit. If we truly ran with "no wake" against a 4-5 mph current, it would have taken us all day to traverse the canal. I took the approach that it was okay to follow one rule but not both, so we managed the passage in a little over an hour. It was clear from watching other boats in the canal that my interpretation of the rules was widely followed. 

                                    the training ship for the                             Massachusetts Maritime Academy, located at the west entrance to the canal

railroad bridge at the west end of the canal

            Our run up the coast to the entrance to Boston Harbor was great fun. I cruised these waters years ago and it was nice to be back. A highlight was passing Minots Ledge Light, which is an amazing structure built out of granite blocks just before the Civil War about a mile offshore a bit north of Scituate. Worth reading about on Wikipedia. The lighthouse is still active (but automated, of course) and we saw a Coast Guard boat boarding a maintenance crew. 

            Another highlight was passing Boston Light, which dates back to 1783 and is the second oldest working lighthouse in the US (another Wikipedia article to check out).

                

            Not far after passing Boston Light, we took at hard left and headed into Hull Bay and pulled into our slip there around four o'clock. Our Florida friends Judy and Chesley who live in Hull met us at the marina. But first they took some great pictures of Craunological II rounding Windmill Point and heading into Hull Bay. That's the Boston skyline in the background, as well as plane taking off from Logan Airport. Pretty cool. Thanks, Chesley!

We showed Judy and Chesley around our little aquatic house and had a quick drink and then they drove us to their house to spend the night. 

            We had a lovely dinner at the Red Sky restaurant looking at the sun set over Hull Bay (it is usuallu hard to see the sun set over the water on the East Coast) and then dessert at the L Street Ice Cream shop. Our thanks to Judy and Chesley for their hospitality!

Janet says: We are also grateful to Judy and Chesley for the use of the nicest bathroom/shower we've been in in the last few weeks. Thanks!