We got up early at the Mandel's and they took us to the grocery for provisions. Then we hugged them goodbye and boarded the water taxi out to Invictus. She was in great shape with her fridge completely defrosted. We fired up the fridge, reloaded it with food from the cooler and untied from the mooring ball a little before 9 a.m.
Our trip for the day was going to take us through three distinctly different bodies of water. First, we would go northwest In Vineyard Sound then take the cut into Buzzard's Bay at Wood's Hole. Both of these big bodies of water were relatively calm and the sun was out bright.
Next we were headed into the Cape Cod Canal. This is a man-made canal (300 yards wide, 42 feet deep and 7 miles long) that allows you to cut off that long arm of Massachusetts (Cape Cod) that sticks out into the North Atlantic. The swift current in this "ditch" is legendary among boaters. We left early from Edgartown to make sure that we were going through the canal WITH the current. And on this day it was running 4.5 mph. There is a strictly enforced boat speed limit of 10mph, so we're were moving at 14.5 mph from west to East into Cape Cod Bay. Halfway through our passage we came upon a huge ocean-going tug pulling an immense barge into the current. His prop caused a set of three foot rollers that went behind him for a quarter mile.
Since it was Memorial Day weekend, the number of boats in the canal was huge. It was quite a show as we made our way toward the last big
big body of water of our trip. When we got to the Eastern mouth of the canal the wind was blowing hard from the Northeast. (At the other end, it had been blowing from the Southwest - a 180 degree swing). The wind was pushing all the water toward the end of the canal while the tide was pulling the water in the opposite direction. The resulting confused waters hit us quickly. As soon as I turned the boat northeast we got hit by a series of huge waves -- the biggest of the trip so far. I guessed that they were 6-footers but the talk in the Marina later that afternoon said they were much bigger, more like 8-10 feet. Here's all I know -- it was scary as hell. Linda was down below and she said later that she and Olive left the sofa a couple of times headed for the ceiling.
I thought seriously about turning around but decided to stick with it for a few more minutes to see if it would get better or worse. Fortunately, it got better. Not a lot better, but better. For about a half hour we slammed Invictus into wave after wave. Olive's tongue was out (the snake) and Linda was picking things off of the floor of the boat.
The further we got from the bottom end of the bay, the calmer it got. Finally I was able to go a little faster as we got about ten miles from Plymouth -- our goal.
The harbor at Plymouth is protected, but very shallow. Of course we should have remembered that from our third grade civics lessons. The protection from the Atlantic is why the Pilgrims chose it in the late fall of 1620. The shallowness was the reason that had to get off on a rock -- hence, Plymouth Rock.
We also learned in the museum the next day that they were really headed to Virginia but they ran out of beer. Seriously. We were almost out of bourbon so we could relate. I love America's drinking history.
We decided to walk through the town, see the Rock and buy some bourbon before the predicted rains arrived. We grilled a steak on board and enjoyed a nice dinner knowing that we wouldn't be able to leave here until Tuesday at the earliest.
Next stop, Boston!
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