We woke to a beautiful morning, light winds and fair skies. We were looking forward to our sail to Plymouth as it would take us right past Boston Harbor. We had stayed in Boston when we did our survey for Dragonfly in February 2020 and seeing Boston from the water was going to be entertaining for us.

As we left the harbor the seas were still a bit unsettled but only about 1 meter in swell as we passed by the outer marker and headed out . Winds were light and due to our course heading we could see the beautiful skyline of Boston as we made our heading towards Plymouth. Unable to stop due to the severe Covid restrictions we carried on, but we vowed to return to Boston harbor with our boat to stay for a few days and really put our mark on the city another time.

We had called ahead the day before to reserve a mooring in Plymouth through Dockwa. However being a bit more ready for a busy harbor and a ton of moorings after marblehead we contacted the harbour patrol and they gave us excellent instructions to our mooring. Even gave us the description of the vessels beside us so we had a god reference. At this point we are thinking, wow this fellow is great and felt very confident that we would have no issues. He asked for us to call him on the VHF once we were about to enter the last channel markers before the harbor so he know when we had arrived. I gladly agreed and informed him that we were new sailors to a Catamaran and we appreciated the extra help he had given.

As we snaked our way through the winding passage past ominous sand bars and danger markers we were awestruck by how beautiful the area was. Unless you enter the channel to the harbor your really don’t get a good perspective of the lay of the land. At this point we had a little laugh and said “I bet they got stuck in the sand bars and couldn’t leave -that’s why they landed here permanently” LOL. Chuckling away we started to make our way past the final markers and called again to tell the HM that we were finally there. He answered with a simple, ” no problem captain – we are here waiting for you, just look for our lights”. Waiting for me…WTF did I do was the first thought through my head.

We entered the channel and sure enough we saw the Harbour boat with his blue lights on waiting at our mooring ball. I slowly approached and Tammy and Ray landed the mooring lines like champs. Once we were hooked on I shut down the engines and the boat approached the helm. Not knowing what to expect I greeted him with a very pleasant hello. He greeted us with a huge “Welcome to our Harbour, we are so glad to have you stay with us. If you have a minute i can give you some information about our town.” I graciously accepted and he went on to tell us about the dingy dock, restaurants that were still serving takeout and the current covid protocols to keep us safe.

So here’s my statement everyone – I have NEVER been treated so well in all of my time boating then we have been by the folks at Plymouth. The harbour patrol were very friendly and went above and beyond there call of duty. Never have I ever had someone sit at a mooring or dock and ensure I made it in safe. Let alone take the time to greet me with a smile and a welcome to our town. I would encourage everyone who sails the East Coast to stop in Plymouth for a stay. We will return again and stay I am sure when we go back to Boston.

Safe and sound the night started to close in and we had a very early get up in the morning if we wanted to run with the current in the Cape Cod Canal. Time for a sundowner and a nap.

Cheers

James & Tammy