North east cruise 2021

[hiker519]

Northeast cruise in 2021 sounds great. I would like to be included in planning...even if I end up not being able to participate.

Jay
GB 36
Signal V

 

[Lostsailor13]

I will be able to hook up with convey as they pass Gloucester and possibly have another buddy with a 50ft steel hull trawler join us in Rhode Island

 

[backinblue]

We will likely go out to Block for race week. We do have Fishers Island on the list

If you like solitude, and the wind is right, tuck into flat hammock island and anchor for the night. Be very careful for submerged or partially submerged rocks in Fisher Is Sound

 

[Gabe n Em]

You're in my backyard now!!!!!

Greenport, NY
Sag Harbor, NY
Coecles Harbor, NY
West Neck Harbor, NY
Montauk, NY
New London (has a ton of public moorings and Bank street is good, but a lot of ferry and train noise)
Mystic, Ct
Watch Hill, RI (Napatree Beach) (Home Port)
Block Island, RI (Where we spend a large portion of Summer)
Newport, RI
Cuttyhunk, Ma (This is a good stopover)
Hadley Harbor (This is another good stopover)
Vineyard Haven, Ma (Martha's Vineyard)
Edgartown (Our favorite on Martha's Vineyard)
Nantucket

Feel free to look me up (offer open to anyone in the area), or to ask for area specific details.

Shrew,
I've been to woods hole a bunch but only once by boat. I've got a coworker who sings the praises of hadley harbor. I've never been. Care to share your opinion and any thoughts? Looks like a long, but doable, dinghy run to get to the bar, ahem, I mean the free aquarium.

 

[Hippocampus]

Been cruising this area for decades. So for some years now don’t go to any of the places mentioned.
Block sucks. Lots of loud, rude, ignorant people. Holding is miserable chewed up soupy mud. People don’t know how to anchor so routinely drag. We’ve taken to setting up fender from bow to mid ships if forced to go in there. The Elizabethians are so commercialized and crowded that we don’t visit until school starts and the NYers go home. Sag is home to the $35 hamburger as is Greenport but both are nice. You can anchor just out the marina at Sag.
We like small places with few services and no access by ferry or easy superslab. Have friends along both coasts of LI Sound which influences landfalls.
Still, like
Potters Cove, Wickford, Jamestown on backside , Bristol in Naragansett bay.
Stonington, going up from Port Judith there’s lovely spots to anchor. As you approach City island there’s multiple good places to anchor on both sides.
Going up the Hudson is easy with many idyllic sites to anchor. Same with the Thames and Connecticut.
In the other direction usually will anchor outside Marion or Quiset. New Bedford YC is worth a stop for dinner. If we go further up anchor outside Onset waiting on the canal or at Kingsman if we need something. Once through the canal we live in Plymouth so go there and anchor either at the last day signal or off the backside of Bug Light or the beach. Otherwise just go to P’town.
Next stop is Gloucester as the yacht club there has a great restaurant. Some fun stops Scituate, Boston harbor islands, Hingham, Lands End if you’re not headed to Maine. Then Mt. Desert/Southwest harbor area. But the jewel is Washington county. Still truly downeast with glorious bays and great dinghy exploring. We usually pick a string of places going north and a different string going south. There’s pretty much a harbor every 10m so it’s easy to go somewhere new each cruise. We avoid marinas. If you just look at the chart and not just designated anchorages there’s no reason to ever use them except for fuel. Believe New England and leewards are among the two best cruising grounds in the world. Often have the most fun dinghy exploring and Maine is a great place to do that.

 

[SoWhat]

Shrew,
I've been to woods hole a bunch but only once by boat. I've got a coworker who sings the praises of hadley harbor. I've never been. Care to share your opinion and any thoughts? Looks like a long, but doable, dinghy run to get to the bar, ahem, I mean the free aquarium.

The inner harbor has a few private moorings, you can tie up if empty, first come first served.
The outer harbor, NE of Bull Is. is a quiet peaceful anchorage. You can listen to the fish jump, watch the birds, etc. It is reasonably well protected.
Islands are private so you can't go ashore. Not sure I would want to as it center of Lyme disease territory.

I would not take a dinghy over to Woods Hole. Currents going through the straight can be 4-7 knots. Sailboats usually go through at slack.

Hadley is not a destination place, but it is a nice anchorage for a day or night.

 

[AnnapolisJoy]

We cruise the east coast yearly

We keep Joy in Florida during the winter months. In the spring we usually take off to the Exhumas for several weeks before heading north. Outside if weather permits and into The Chesapeake. We have a mooring there and numerous friends we can raft up with. July sends us north to Martha's Vineyard. We have been to Nantucket several times and have friends in MV and Nantucket. Ince in the Vineyard area we go to Hadleys, Vineyard Haven Lagoon and Edgartown.Should we plan to push north it is off the Southwest Harbor before kicking out to Nova Scotia. Our plan last year to go to PEI were scuttled when Canada closed.

This year we may not get north as we have travel commitments back home in Utah. This may be our last cruise on the east coast for a few years as we are planning to have Joy shipped to Victoria BC. Once there we will cruise the inside passage to Alaska for two or three seasons before bringing her back through the canal and back to Florida.

All good on paper but as we all know there is a Plan A B, C, D etc.

 

[Gabe n Em]

The inner harbor has a few private moorings, you can tie up if empty, first come first served.
The outer harbor, NE of Bull Is. is a quiet peaceful anchorage. You can listen to the fish jump, watch the birds, etc. It is reasonably well protected.
Islands are private so you can't go ashore. Not sure I would want to as it center of Lyme disease territory.

I would not take a dinghy over to Woods Hole. Currents going through the straight can be 4-7 knots. Sailboats usually go through at slack.

Hadley is not a destination place, but it is a nice anchorage for a day or night.

Thanks for the info. That rings true with what I've heard and makes it interesting, for sure.

I guess I should have clarified: we have the dinghy(deflate able on davits), and then the adventure dinghy (livingston 12' w 25hp. Towed behind). A 2 mile run across woods hole, especially with the currents, would definitely be reserved for the"adventure dinghy"

 

[IslandTractor]

You could spend a whole season in and around Long Island Sound. I can share info if anyone has specific questions. The majority of my boating life has been in this area. Block Island is popular but way over-rated IMO. Much better choices for many reasons. However, many think of Block Island as a badge of courage or something to that effect. Think overpriced dirty marinas, large crowds at beach bars, etc. If that's your thing, enjoy it.

I agree. I prefer relatively quiet anchorages and scenery rather than well known tourist destinations. Shelter Island, Fishers Island, Stonington are all more interesting and peaceful than Block Island in the summer. Block Island can be a nice spot to anchor if you avoid the horror of going ashore. I try to avoid the bar scene myself on a cruise. As you go East, instead of the crowds at Newport, consider heading further up Narragansett Bay to Potters Cove off Prudence Island or Bristol Harbor. If you just want to make Easting, skip Newport Harbor and anchor off 3rd Beach in the mouth of the Sakonnet. or go up the Sakonnet a bit further to Fogland. Cuttyhunk (outside) is a good stopping point and if the wind isn't too strong from the SW, Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon is gorgeous. Hadley's Harbor on the other side of Naushon is beautiful but almost always full in the summer months. Anchoring outside in Woods Hole itself near Hadley is possible but not well protected. Woods Hole itself doesn't have much anchorage but is an interesting place to visit. There are a couple of small marinas in Eel Pond that usually take transients. For a really quiet anchorage keep going East to the end of Falmouth at Waquoit Bay. Not a lot of water but wide open sandy bottom and you'll have it to yourself. It is very well protected. I personally prefer MV to Nantucket. Nantucket can be beautiful off season but mid summer is quite crowded. If Nantucket is too far consider stopping in Edgartown, which is just as quaint, instead.

 

[IslandTractor]

Been cruising this area for decades. So for some years now don’t go to any of the places mentioned.
Block sucks. Lots of loud, rude, ignorant people. Holding is miserable chewed up soupy mud. People don’t know how to anchor so routinely drag. We’ve taken to setting up fender from bow to mid ships if forced to go in there. The Elizabethians are so commercialized and crowded that we don’t visit until school starts and the NYers go home. Sag is home to the $35 hamburger as is Greenport but both are nice. You can anchor just out the marina at Sag.
We like small places with few services and no access by ferry or easy superslab. Have friends along both coasts of LI Sound which influences landfalls.
Still, like
Potters Cove, Wickford, Jamestown on backside , Bristol in Naragansett bay.
Stonington, going up from Port Judith there’s lovely spots to anchor. As you approach City island there’s multiple good places to anchor on both sides.
Going up the Hudson is easy with many idyllic sites to anchor. Same with the Thames and Connecticut.
In the other direction usually will anchor outside Marion or Quiset. New Bedford YC is worth a stop for dinner. If we go further up anchor outside Onset waiting on the canal or at Kingsman if we need something. Once through the canal we live in Plymouth so go there and anchor either at the last day signal or off the backside of Bug Light or the beach. Otherwise just go to P’town.
Next stop is Gloucester as the yacht club there has a great restaurant. Some fun stops Scituate, Boston harbor islands, Hingham, Lands End if you’re not headed to Maine. Then Mt. Desert/Southwest harbor area. But the jewel is Washington county. Still truly downeast with glorious bays and great dinghy exploring. We usually pick a string of places going north and a different string going south. There’s pretty much a harbor every 10m so it’s easy to go somewhere new each cruise. We avoid marinas. If you just look at the chart and not just designated anchorages there’s no reason to ever use them except for fuel. Believe New England and leewards are among the two best cruising grounds in the world. Often have the most fun dinghy exploring and Maine is a great place to do that.

What he said!

 

[backinblue]

I agree with the previous couple posts. I'll skip Block this year and maybe forever. Never been as far east as Newport but that's the plan this year. A favorite spot found by chance last year was Noank, CT. Stay at Noank Shipyard, first marina closest to Fisher Island Sound. First class full-service marina with showers and bathrooms that are spa-like. Long transient pier overlooking a picturesque classic New England harbor.
A clam shack at the head of the dock and Abbotts Lobster in the Rough next door. Casual BYOB and the best lobster and clambake you'll find anywhere. Don't miss it. Better yet, please don't go here because I want to keep it to myself, it's that good.

 

[jleonard]

Abbotts is a tourist trap. 20 years ago it was outstanding, now not so great in MY opinion as a summer resident in Mystic for 30 plus years.

Try taking the dinghy or walk up river a few yards to Nyman's/Ford's for outstanding lobster rolls.

Block I can be a zoo for sure but we always liked to go there a few times every summer. Always anchored or had the gift of a private mooring. Spend 1/2 a day in town, then have a mudslide or 3.

 

[backinblue]

Abbotts is a tourist trap. 20 years ago it was outstanding, now not so great in MY opinion as a summer resident in Mystic for 30 plus years.

Try taking the dinghy or walk up river a few yards to Nyman's/Ford's for outstanding lobster rolls.

Block I can be a zoo for sure but we always liked to go there a few times every summer. Always anchored or had the gift of a private mooring. Spend 1/2 a day in town, then have a mudslide or 3.

I've been to Abbots 30 years ago and last year and didn't notice much difference. There is no bigger tourist trap than Block Island, but to each his own!

 

[Porgy]

I was at Abbots a few years ago because a friend insisted on getting lobster. I was expecting typical tourist trap food because a fair number of reviews noted how it wasn’t the same anymore. Pleasantly surprised the food and service were fine.

We’ve been to Mystic several times and always stay at the museum. Despite the tourists, there are a number of good eating choices we like in town. I would kill to be at Sift Bakery right now. After the museum closes you have the run of the place and its eerily neat with no people around. When we were last there two years ago, rates dropped after Labor Day plus two nights for one.

We actually like getting a town mooring at Block for a couple days and just watch the antics from the boat without going ashore. We have been ashore and, nice island and all but, it doesn’t do much for me.

 

[Lollygag1]

Kickimuit after going throughout the Bristol narrows is a nice anchorage. Some ski boats during the day cause wakes but at night it is quiet and peaceful. Potters Cove is fine mid-week but I avoid on the weekend as it can be a loud party scene. We frequently go there Friday stay over the night and then head elsewhere Saturday morning.

 

[Davil1]

We’ve cruised the Maine coast quite a bit, usually doing 2 weeks hopping from place to place. We may head toward “the city” this year, we’ve never been west of Block Island. In any case, we’d be interested in a get together/cruise in the area.

Ken

==========================================
the usual silly question


how do you manage the lobster traps?
do you protect the propeller?

1919 just bypassed Maine went straight to Halifax from Cape Cod only because my anxiety about it.

 

[IslandTractor]

==========================================
the usual silly question


how do you manage the lobster traps?
do you protect the propeller?

1919 just bypassed Maine went straight to Halifax from Cape Cod only because my anxiety about it.

Spurs or equivalent is the simple answer. I’ve cruised Maine half a dozen times in sailboats without Spurs and only snagged once. Fishermen helped free us. More recently a couple of tours with a Spur equipped trawler involved only one hit and that was a couple of miles off Gloucester on the way home.

Lobster trap lines are a minor hazard to be sure but 1) preventable with shaft cutters, 2) mostly avoidable and 3) help isn’t far away.

Maine is worth the slight risk of inconvenience.

 

[Lostsailor13]

If any boats are headed southbound north of Gloucester I will meet up with convoy or single boat in Ipswich bay and bring you through the annisquam river it's a great little cruise

 

[Davil1]

Spurs or equivalent is the simple answer. I’ve cruised Maine half a dozen times in sailboats without Spurs and only snagged once. Fishermen helped free us. More recently a couple of tours with a Spur equipped trawler involved only one hit and that was a couple of miles off Gloucester on the way home.

Lobster trap lines are a minor hazard to be sure but 1) preventable with shaft cutters, 2) mostly avoidable and 3) help isn’t far away.

Maine is worth the slight risk of inconvenience.

=======================================


thank you very much
mostly because I believe this year Canada will remain closed and Maine is very attractive during the hot summer months,the fog doesnt bother bother as much as I used to sail out of Morro Bay California and fog is a way of life in summer,unfortunately just came out of the boatyard but I can install one of those combination anode/cutter,not as good as spur but better than nothing
again thanks
PS
from your post looks like you didn't have problems with the fishermen,that is also a reported source of problems running into very hostile crowd?

 

[IslandTractor]

=======================================


thank you very much
mostly because I believe this year Canada will remain closed and Maine is very attractive during the hot summer months,the fog doesnt bother bother as much as I used to sail out of Morro Bay California and fog is a way of life in summer,unfortunately just came out of the boatyard but I can install one of those combination anode/cutter,not as good as spur but better than nothing
again thanks
PS
from your post looks like you didn't have problems with the fishermen,that is also a reported source of problems running into very hostile crowd?

I've found the fishermen in Maine to be pretty tolerant of recreational boaters. I suspect they appreciate the positive impact on their economy for starters and they are after all fellow mariners. Lobstermen deal with snagged/lost buoys all the time and I believe generally have strings of traps with more than one buoy so they don't really lose their traps when one buoy is lost.

 

[Hippocampus]

Can save a lot of aggravation by simply staying a bit more offshore where density of traps is less. Then approach directly at right angles or ideally in a channel. Lobster gear is expensive. On the very rare occasion we’ve picked up a trap try to cut the float free after attaching a line to the other end. Also takes the tension off so easier to get free. Then free ourselves and tie the two cut ends together taking our line back with us. Lobstering is one of the few maritime industries where it’s still a family business for most boats. Losing a trap is a real financial drain to these guys. Be polite if you can. Yes most are on strings but a fair number aren’t. Also throughout the north east states you can get a “recreational “ license for just a few traps. Number varies with the state. Those are usually not on a string with multiple floats. Have spurs but don’t count on that working.

 

[Cigatoo]

We keep Joy in Florida during the winter months. In the spring we usually take off to the Exhumas for several weeks before heading north. Outside if weather permits and into The Chesapeake. We have a mooring there and numerous friends we can raft up with. July sends us north to Martha's Vineyard. We have been to Nantucket several times and have friends in MV and Nantucket. Ince in the Vineyard area we go to Hadleys, Vineyard Haven Lagoon and Edgartown.Should we plan to push north it is off the Southwest Harbor before kicking out to Nova Scotia. Our plan last year to go to PEI were scuttled when Canada closed.

This year we may not get north as we have travel commitments back home in Utah. This may be our last cruise on the east coast for a few years as we are planning to have Joy shipped to Victoria BC. Once there we will cruise the inside passage to Alaska for two or three seasons before bringing her back through the canal and back to Florida.

All good on paper but as we all know there is a Plan A B, C, D etc.

Annapolis Joy, Did we see you in Edgartown last summer? We have a GB 36.

 

[Shrew]

In July and August, is it difficult to find a place to anchor in Nantucket? How about Block Island?

Nantucket anchorage is small. Nantucket Moorings rents moorings.

Block Island has a huge anchorage, but it's very tight in the good spots (dinghy beach). There's room out in the mud bowl (north of breezy point), but it's 20+ feet deep. You can get into the shallower anchorage mid week. I don't like to go in any later than Friday Morning.

 

[Shrew]

Shrew,
I've been to woods hole a bunch but only once by boat. I've got a coworker who sings the praises of hadley harbor. I've never been. Care to share your opinion and any thoughts? Looks like a long, but doable, dinghy run to get to the bar, ahem, I mean the free aquarium.

Hadley is a remote anchorage. I wouldn't dinghy to the bar. Go into the inner harbor, there are free moorings (marked Private) which are maintained by the Forbes family. They are marked private because they are not 'municipal' and (I believe) it absolves them of liability. When we went the mooring pennants were brand new.

 

[AnnapolisJoy]

Yes! We were there

Annapolis Joy, Did we see you in Edgartown last summer? We have a GB 36.

We spent the better part of two months bouncing between Edgartown, Vineyard Haven Lagoon and Hadleys. We put in to Hadleys to ride out the pending hurricane.

 

[backinblue]

We spent the better part of two months bouncing between Edgartown, Vineyard Haven Lagoon and Hadleys. We put in to Hadleys to ride out the pending hurricane.

I plan to be out that way this season. Never heard of Hadleys. Where is that? Any other suggestions are welcome!

 

[Lollygag1]

For us a lot will depend on what if any restrictions there are. I am planning to move the home office onto the boat most days just for a change of scenery. Would love to do MV, Nantucket and Hadley along with Fishers.

 

[Lollygag1]

Hadley Harbor is directly across form Woods Hole, I don't know where the good anchorage is but have heard its a great place.

 

[backinblue]

Hadley Harbor is directly across form Woods Hole, I don't know where the good anchorage is but have heard its a great place.

I've also heard Cuttyhunk is good and looks to be even better protected.

 

[Lollygag1]

Likewise.