Plum Island, Massachusetts

We enjoyed two days of warmth (if not actual summer heat), blue skies, and sunshine--and now the weather has reverted to being chilly and cloudy. Inside the boat, with all the hatches closed, we are wearing fleece and jeans again. I do not think I will be getting a suntan this summer!

Three days ago (Wednesday, June 11), the dinghy went in the water and the outboard engine fired right up.

Shalako on the foredeck ready to haul up the outboard

Peter in the forepeak getting the outboard ready

By 11:30 a.m., we were on land and ready to explore Gloucester. Near the harbormaster's dock there are a few replicas of old schooners tied up. They are used for charters. 

Replica schooners in Gloucester's inner harbor

We walked up the little hill by the waterfront to Fitz Hugh Lane's stone house and statue. He was a local artist who specialized in luminous marine paintings and seascapes. 

The front street of Gloucester heading south is modern and busy with automotive traffic. We walked along it until we came to Pavillion Beach on the east side of Western Harbor. 

Pavillion Beach

Then we turned back and found the main street, which was more interesting and lined on both sides with shops and eateries, although the architecture is not as charming and historic as in Marblehead. We stopped at Virgilio's Bakery in the early afternoon. Not hungry for lunch, we selected delectable Italian pastries and found a place to eat them outdoors, on the steps leading up to the Sargent house, built in 1782. It was the home of well-educated Judith Sargent Murray, an early American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, letter writer, playwright and poet. 

Peter and Shalako on the steps to the Sargent House

The main street has the usual gift shops, boutiques and cafes but also, surprisingly, within one block of each other, two independent book stores! 

The more modern of the two bookshops

I had read that Rocky Neck, the area across the inner harbor from the main part of town, was more eclectic and diverting. The harbormaster's office told us there are no public dinghy docks there, so we contacted Rick about using the house by his dock. We found his dock but there was only access to the back of their house, which is unfinished and inaccessible. He came over from Artemis on his dinghy and guided us to the marina dock he uses. We hated to interrupt his work on their boat, but he said he needed to come home anyway to get dinner ready for us that evening. We parted at the front door of their cheerfully painted home and Deb's gallery. 

Rick and Deb's home on Rocky Neck

Indeed, we did find Rocky Neck, billed as America's oldest working art colony. On the National Register of Historic Places, in addition to historic houses, it also is the home to boatyards dating back a few centuries. Artists such as Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper and writers such as Louisa May Alcott and Rudyard Kipling spent time here. 

Artist at work in her front yard on Rocky Neck

Having not had lunch, we were looking around for some place for a light meal, since dinner was only three hours later. A local woman said there were only two restaurants, and one was closed. She highly recommended the Salted Cod Arthouse, a creative collaboration between Rock Neck Art Colony members and local restauranteurs. The building was constructed around 1880 as a warehouse and processing plant for smoking and salting fish. Prior to the invention of flash freezing by Gloucester resident Clarence Birdseye in 1924, salt was the primary means of preserving fish for shipment worldwide. 

In 1892, the Tarr and Wonson Paint Company, the first U.S. manufacturer of copper paint, which was used on the bottom of boats to prevent marine growth, bought the property as a warehouse for paint storage. They modified the building and covered the entire structure with stamped steel and the company's celebrated copper paint. At high tide, sailors would come to the back door and offload paint onto their vessels.

Stained glass art at the Salted Cod

Exterior of the Salted Cod

Peter, Sherri and Shalako by the original back door at the Salted Cod

After meals which were just the right size and delicious, we walked around the small area of Rocky Neck, admiring the architecture and the art on display as well as the views. At the western-most point of land is the historic Tarr and Wonson Paint Manufactory, now the base of Ocean Alliance, a marine mammal research and conservation non-profit organization which has been integral to whale protection since 1971. 

Ton and Wonson Paint Manufactory

Mantra and Ten Pound Island from Ocean Alliance

After our stroll around Rocky Neck, we dinghied back to downtown Gloucester, where Shalako and Peter went to hardwares and Radio Shack while I went back to Virgilio's to buy pastries to take for dessert with Rick and Deb. While in town, we found a few striking murals.

Lobster mural

Seascape mural

We returned to Mantra to dress in warmer clothes for the evening and dinghied back to Rocky Neck. Rick and Deb, who are a welcoming, happy, generous-spirited couple. We enjoyed a lovely evening in their eclectic home, decorated with Deb's artwork, memorabilia, and furniture and rugs from Morocco, where Deb used to live. Rick's butternut squash lasagna was the very best lasagna I have ever tasted, and the pastries from Virgilio's were a hit.

The next morning (Thursday, June 12), we went to see Artemis, Rick and Deb's Sundeer 60, and Rick and Peter discussed the differences between our two Sundeers and various approaches to electronics, engine rooms and other things. With a wider beam, their boat is much more spacious than ours and Deb has decorated it in the same style as their home, making it a very bright, cheerful and relaxing place to be. 

Back on our boat, we pulled up the dinghy and outboard and prepared to move on. At 11:20 a.m., we cast off the mooring lines, heading to Plum Island. 

We are very grateful to Harold Burnham, a shipwright and sea captain who built the schooner Ardelle, on which he takes people out on charters. He allowed us to use his convenient and peaceful mooring in Gloucester Harbor for two nights. In our dinghy, we passed him at sail and shouted our thanks.

The schooner Ardelle

Within an hour, we were actually sailing, cruising along a 7.5 knots on a broad reach, port tack, with 15-20 knots from the NW. Our speed increased, and soon we were seeing 10 knots! For a couple hours, it was smooth sailing, and then the wind decreased to 10 to 12 knots, and we were forced to use the engine again. We dropped the anchor inside Sandy Point on the southern tip of 11-mile Plum Island in 8.4 meters of depth. There was a strong current, but our trusty anchor held.

Peter excited to be cruising at 10 knots

With land temperatures in the high 70s (a record high for us so far since we started out), and sunny skies, we went crazy and put on bathing suits to go to the beach. Just after we dinghied away from Mantra, we realized we had once again forgotten oars and a bailer not to mention an anchor for the shore. With the strong current, we would have certainly been up the creek without a paddle (or swept out to sea with the current) had the outboard failed. 

There are miles-long beaches on the mainland and on the island. When the tide, which is nearly eight feet in this area, is out, the beaches slope very gently down quite a distance from the grass covered higher land.  It is nesting season for least terns, and the grassy areas above the sand are roped off to protect the nests. The white, black-capped breeding birds, on their own, do a pretty good job of scaring away predators and curious humans. As we stood or walked along the fence, birds flew up from the ground, reproaching us with shrill high-pitched calls and dive bombing us within a foot of our heads. In addition to the terns, the beach is populated with piping plovers and gulls. 

Sandy Point from Mantra

Piping plover

Least turn resting in the sand

Least tern heading toward me

Shalako flinching as a least tern warns him away

Plum Island, an 11-mile barrier island named for the plum shrubs that grow in the dunes, is known for its purple sand. The color comes from the abundance of almandine-pyrope garnet, which was pushed to this area by glaciers during the last Ice Age, possibly from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

Purple sand on Sandy Point

After a long walk on the beach, we launched the dinghy into the water. The engine roared to life, but we noticed that no water was being expelled, meaning the engine was not getting cooled. We're afraid that it has not been water-cooled any time we have used it. Peter says it needs a new impeller. 

On board Mantra, we all took advantage of the relatively warm weather to shower on the swim platform. Refreshed, we had dinner and stayed up late playing a card game. 

On Friday (the thirteenth!), we did various tasks around the boat for a few hours, waiting for high tide to navigate our of Plum Island Sound into the open ocean. We departed around 2:30 p.m., the wind blowing 8-10 knots from the NNW with partially cloudy skies and calm seas. Once again, we only were able to actually sail for about an hour before the wind speed dropped, but during that time, we were able to test the autopilot function of sailing by the wind, and it performed beautifully. 

Around 5 p.m., a breaching and blowing whale was spotted to the east. It surfaced a few times and then disappeared. We altered course in pursuit, but while we sighted it again, we were never able to get close enough for identification, but we suspect from its behavior that it was a humpback whale. 

With only a couple knots of wind from the WNW, the surface of the water shimmered like fine silver-colored satin that had just been shaken out around us. 

Calm seas

We filled the time until we arrived at New Castle Island and the Safe Harbor marina at Wentworth-by-the Sea playing a pathetic game of Scrabble, with absurdly low scores. We docked by 8 p.m. 

Wentworth-by-the-Sea marina

After tidying up the boat, we went to explore the surroundings. We ended up at the majestic Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel, on a hill above the water. Hungry and dressed totally inappropriately for such a posh place, we dined at Salt, the restaurant in the elegant establishment. 

Ceiling in the dining room of Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel

Shalako, Sherri and Peter after an excellent meal

One of a few surviving Guilded Age grand hotels in northern New England, the enormous building was first constructed in 1874. Wings and additions were added in the Second Empire style of architecture later in that century as well as a larger dining room, a golf course and club house, steam-powered elevators, electric lights, flush toilets, making it one of the best-known luxury resorts on the Atlantic coast. 

Until 1980, guests could enjoy golf, swimming in the pool or the sea water, tennis, horse-back riding and other outdoor activities and were entertained with masquerade balls, symphony concerts, bingo, bridge parties and other amusements. The hotel staff included a sketch artist, a photographer, dancers, singers and a house band. Touring acts such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington made regular stops on their tours.

After that time, the hotel went through several owners, and the hotel became smaller and was close to ruin. Local citizens became concerned about losing the historic hotel and worked to ensure its restoration to a luxury destination, but they had limited success. In 1996, it was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a most endangered place and gained attention in various media. Finally, a new owner was found and the hotel reopened in May 2003. 

After our meal in the refined atmosphere of the hotel, we returned to Mantra and soon went to bed. Light rain began in the night, and this morning we have remained on board with the space heater in use, as it is dreary and drizzling outside, with a temperature of 58 degrees. Will summer ever come to the New England coast?