I woke up at sunrise and watched on the deck with Luna. We spent most of the day in downtown Plymouth, we walked the breakwater rocks, took a nap in the park and found a nice beach for the dogs to play off leash for a while.

We motored into Plymouth Harbor to seek a mooring for incoming storms tonight. We ran out of gas in the channel, and I threw the anchor while Shaun refueled from one of our gas cans. We found a mooring and got the ok from the harbormaster! It was hot and muggy all day. We spoke to sailboaters on the mooring next to us who were heading to Bourne. The gave us advice on taking the Ipswich river through Gloucester, as well as good mooring spots in Newburyport and wished us luck. Around 1:30p we got in the dinghy and started rowing toward Plymouth Rock. We were set pretty far back in the harbor so just as the rowing started to feel daunting as we were fighting a slight current, two older gentleman offered us a ride and we hitched up to their skiff. They brought us straight to the dinghy dock and wished us luck on our journey! Very friendly and helpful people. We walked along Water st in Plymouth, and I snuck into a yacht club for a shower. We hung out in the grassy shade for an hour before Amy picked us up and brought us to walmart, then took us out for pizza at Papa Gino’s. We made 2 trips each from the car down to the dinghy to load our supplies then took the dogs for a walk with us around the harbor to refill our water cans. We rowed back out to the boat around 6 pm just before the storm and secured the boat. I found luxury in sitting naked with the rain on the deck, Shaun referenced Point Break, a movie I’d never seen so we watched it on my phone before an early night to bed, figuring we may as well get the good sleep when we can!

We brought amy to shore at 6 am and walked the dogs. It felt like a crappy day to be anchored, with windy and choppy waters and 85 degree temps.

Our flag is flying! We woke up at 6 am and took the dogs to shore for a walk and swim while Amy caught some extra sleep. We swam off of the boat and since Amy decided to stay another night, I helped her wash her hair in the ocean which she was so excited to try! Then I shaved my legs on the bow with a bucket of fresh water and a bar of soap. It was honestly the best shave ever. We went swimming again as the morning temperatures rose and then laid out on the bow to catch some sun around noon time. We napped the afternoon away, and then took the dogs for walk before the fireworks! The Plymouth fireworks display was amazing, we had a killer view at low tide directly in front of the barge! Luna howled with us as we celebrated the grand finale while Brik hid out in the cabin.

We walked the dogs out past the residential properties on the shore at low tide, and deep into the marshes around 6 am. We didn’t have any issues, Luna even got to swim and I found a super cool hat washed up on shore! I’ve come up with a method for washing small loads of laundry by hand scrubbing a few things in a small bucket with fresh water and soap, rinsing and hanging the clothes to dry. Shaun and I cleaned the bow which had accumulated a nice layer of dried muck that was gifted to us by the anchor the day before. On hot days like this with minimal breeze we hang a tarp for shade using bungee cords. The wake from the channel is relentless and with the number of commercial/chartered boats in and out of Plymouth Harbor we were constantly rocking, which made napping pretty difficult. We ate cucumbers for breakfast, pb/banana/fluff sandwiches for lunch and pepperoncinis straight from the jar for a snack. Amy came after work around 5 to spend the night with us. We got hassled about the dogs on our walk to meet her. Amy brought macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner. We watched a movie and had drinks outside on the deck. We were delighted to see a seal bobbing around 7p just outside the channel! There are always lots of fireworks, every single night. I’ve decided to use my Badger cuticle salve for the dogs paws, just as a precaution for the constant walking on rocks, sand and barnacles. Luna’s armpits healed, the problem was in fact her harness which has been replaced. Shaun and I slept on the bow again, which is starting to feel much like making a nest- Amy appreciates sleeping in our bed when she stays aboard so we’ve gotten creative with making the bow a comfortable space to sleep.

We woke up at 3am since there is an 11 foot tidal difference in Plymouth, quite a difference from the small 4 foot swells we’d gotten used to on the other side of the canal. We anchored close to shore at high tide for the dogs the previous night  but purposefully set an alarm so that we could pull out further before low tide. We knicked our bow off of a low lying rock on the way out, which was a great 3am shake up but this didn’t result in any issues. Once we reset our anchor we went back to sleep and woke up again around 6am to sail into Plymouth Harbor. We found a nice spot to anchor just off of Long Beach and just outside the channel into Plymouth Harbor. This bay is mostly marshland at low tide in most places but we found a sweet spot that afforded 10 feet of water beneath us at low tide. The homeowners on the beach couldn’t stand to see us on a dirt road with our well behaved dogs on leash, not sure if it will be a problem throughout our stay here. For dinner I made white rice with grilled peppers and water chestnuts with hot sauce!

We woke up at 6am, took a long walk with the dogs on the beach, Luna is still loving the daily swims. We saw horseshoe crabs in the shallows! It was a hot day waiting for the tides to switch around 3pm before motoring through the canal. We took baths off the stern, using the ladder to keep balance and then jumping in to rinse off. We pulled anchor at 3.20pm, sailed under the railroad bridge at 3.45, 

Bourne bridge 3.50 and finally, the Sagamore at  4.15. It was a nice day of sailing, with good winds and beautiful weather. For dinner we had lentils, potatoes and carrots. We anchored off of White Horse Beach in Plymouth just after sunset and watched fireworks on either side of the boat before tucking in for bed.