Eclipse's Odyssey: Day 8, July 5: Boston to Scituate

The morning after. We woke up with the sun as Boston continued asleep after a festive Fourth of July fireworks display. Most of the boats in the river had made their way out but we remained, anchored in the middle of the Charles River. Our intent was to get out of Boston as quickly as possible and to make as many miles south as we could on this warm and sunny day.

That was not to be the case however as we found out, when we arrived at the railroad drawbridge just prior to the locks, that they would be closed until 11:15 am. The announcement came over channel 13 that this had been posted in advance on some ubiquitous website somewhere in the world of the internet and that we should not be surprised. For all we knew, it could have been posted on Pluto and that would have been just as convenient a place. Of course if it had been filed and we had found it, we would have likely also noticed a long-standing note regarding the building of an intergalactic bypass through our solar system and right through our planet.

Of course, no one had noted either memo regarding the closure on the bridge or the intergalactic bypass to be built through our solar system, so there were about a dozen boats all tied up waiting to get through along with us.

It was about at this time that it also became apparent that the float for the anchor was never retrieved. Of course when anything could possibly get tangled up its most likely place to do so is around our centerboard. It is the most inaccessible place on our boat and so of course it stands to reason that whatever flotsam may exist will exhibit itself upon the centerboard. Sure enough, my intuition was right and when I tried to lower the centerboard it would not drop fully; and of course now when I try to raise it it would not raise fully. Yes, the $1 pool noodle from Dollar tree had found its way wrapped around the center board.

Well not all luck was unfavorable and for something unfavorable, something favorable seemed to happen on this day. Had it not been for a coast guard boat heading up river and a fire boat heading down river which needed to get through, we would have had to have waited until 11:15 a.m. for the first opening. Of course these boats have priority over any rules or legislations that may have been enacted prior and so they were allowed to go through. Well of course the bridge master took pity on all the pleasure boaters on channel 13 all crying to be let through, and it was getting pretty packed there in the lagoon as well, crammed with boats in every little space. He made the executive decision to let us through and then he announced that the powers that be wouldn't let us through, then they relented and only then did he allow us through.

Out into the inner Harbor and Gary raised the mast and assembled the boom and we raised the sails. We made our way to Spectacle Island in the Inner Harbor where we took a mooring in order to be able to better assess the situation with the centerboard. Water temperatures in the harbor being a relatively balmy 67°, Gary donned a snorkel and mask and jumped in, diving under the boat to retrieve the floatie. As it was a hot day, I jumped in as well and we pulled partial eclipse ashore and took a shower at the outdoor shower station by the beach. Feeling much refreshed, we rode back to eclipse and set sail for Marshfield.

The winds and the tides conspired against us as we tried to make our exit from Boston Harbor and so we found ourselves motor sailing most of the way out until we begin to round nantasket at which point the winds picked up and the tidal currents slacked off.