Whoooo, whipped whelps! 10 hours of motoring makes for a long day. We put the sails up once but the wind was so much close to our nose that there was no gain in speed and we tipped. The cat hated us for that tipping. But, we made good time to the mouth of the Annisquam River/canal, picked up a mooring while we had lunch on board and a 5 minute nap waiting for the tide to be in our favor. Then through the canal. There were beautiful homes on the river banks and a little house on a raft complete w/t.v. antenna and propane grill on the deck sitting at the edge of the channel! I wanted to take photos but staying in the channel was toooooo stressful to allow photos, especially since I couldn't see in the blazing sunlight. There was also a giant frog painted on a rock at the river's edge...in blue. Too funny. We were lucky enough to follow a lobster boat through the canal and through the TWO bridges that had to open for us!

The winds were calm enough that we decided to cross the MA Bay today even though we'd arrive in Scituate later than our personal guidelines.  As we came into the harbor we passed a boat from Swan's Island, ME. They're on their way south, too, and traveling at about the same rate. They'll go through Cape Cod canal tomorrow while we'll stop in Ducksbury to visit friends. Easy passage today, though long, and we're post dinner on the boat and soon ready to turn in for a good nights sleep.

A sweet patriotic moment this morning in Portsmouth - as we were ready to slip the mooring we heard the Star Spangled Banner playing from the Portsmouth Navel Yard. We went out on deck and saluted. What else do you do when in the presence of a Navy yard?

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 Annisquam Yacht Club

First bridge that ever opened for Grace