Provincetown

October 25, 2018 2d Comments

September 17, 2018 – Mindful of the need to get Doug and Krista Bell to their family wedding weekend on Nantucket, we take advantage of the next weather window and head across to Provincetown.  After exiting Gloucester, we notice Emmanou is cruising some 2-3 knots slower than normal and listing over to Port with the stabilizer on that side in a permanent down position.  Thach decides yet another lobster trap has snagged in the port stabilizer and that we would deal with that in Provincetown (with visions of retrieving a trap full of lobster).

Passing the Right whale sanctuary on Stellwagon Bank, we spot a whale watching tour boat and NOOA research vessel and join them for some whale watching.

As we slow down for anchoring in Provincetown harbor there is a clunk from the stern portside.  Emmanou had hit apparently run into a big orange mooring buoy – which was surprising since it was not spotted on the way in and was not in the mooring field.  After various attempts at freeing the “lobster trap” from the port stabilizer we called for a professional diver – one of the benefits of a BoatUS membership is one free hour of a boat diver.  After three days of high winds and rough waters we finally persuaded the diving team from Flyer’s marina to come out (they were also somewhat spooked by recent reports of a shark attack in Cape Cod.  After much huffing and puffing we finally extracted what turned out to be the pick-up line of a mooring buoy – which is when we recognized the orange mooring buoy as one from Gloucester.  We had dragged mooring buoy 45 nm from Gloucester to Provincetown, weight and all!

Provincetown is a colorful town at the end of the Cape Cod peninsula — out there in many ways.  We enjoyed bike rides through the dunes and got into the spirit of the place by going to see Crazy Rich Asians (think Sex and the City with an all-Asian cast).

Continued weather delay forced the Bells to get to Nantucket by bus and ferry, and Emmanou was rerouted to an inside run to Buzzard’s Bay via the Cape Cod canal.

Humpback whale on Stellwagon Bank off Cape Cod
Frolicking with NOOA research vessel
Distinctive Humpback whale markings
Getting ready for…
… fin slapping. Seemingly a mating come hither. Does not work with Karin.
Dolphin joining in the display
Fishing boat on second floor reading room at P-town library — because they can

Colorful retail in Provincetown

Onion soup to line the stomach
Doug trying to speak Australian to the shark
Gloucester mooring ball lines extricated!
Mooring ball dragged by Emmanou’s stabilizer fin from Gloucester to Provincetown
Collection of lobster trap and mooring ball buoys gathered up North. In poker, that would be a perfect low hand.

 

2 thoughts on “Provincetown”

  1. Loving these adventures!
    Doesn’t all that gathering of municipal and private buoy/equipment put you on a “Most Wanted” list in too many seafaring communities up and down the East coast?
    When you have collected enough of them, will you be having a jetty-side (garage eqivalent) sale?

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