Maine Trip Scrapped – Making Lemonade

Mrs. Horne and I were sooo looking forward to visiting Boothbay with our dear friends Jake and Peggy last week.

The plan was to meet them in Boston Tuesday afternoon and make the 125 mile run to Boothbay on Wednesday.

Alas, as the day of departure loomed closer, the forecast started slipping into the crapper.

Fortunately, Jake bought refundable tickets and they literally took a rain check!

Weather Forecasting – Summer 2025

While it’s true that we’ve had the worst Saturdays on record going back to March, we’ve also had some of the most beautiful Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays!

Overall, I think we are having very typical New England summer weather. However, all the local meteorologists and all the weather services I pay for suddenly can’t forecast the weather!

I mention this because last week’s forecast was wrong again after correctly predicting epic downpours on Thursday. Friday was good enough for golf and as the forecast changed for the better on Saturday, we cobbled together a 5-day cruise – AKA Making Lemonade (”When God gives you lemons, you make lemonade…”)

We are planning to greet our next guests in Boston, so a little cruise around Massachusetts Bay ending up near the city made sense.

Plymouth

We had a late start on Saturday and with Plymouth only 32 north of Onset, it made a perfect stop for our first night.

Plymouth is Amazing Grace’s winter home and we spend a lot of time there in the spring and the fall, but not so much in the summer.

When I was a kid, Plymouth was just another tourist trap town on the ocean. In the last ten years, it’s really changed for the good. Every failed restaurant that closes seems to be replaced by a great one (71° West, Anéjo). And there are more high-end shops appearing on Main Street.

It was around 10:30 when we finally shoved off and it looked like a perfect day for boating as we left Onset.

I don’t think I’m the only boater who takes sick pleasure going under the Bourne Bridge and seeing bumper-to-bumper traffic.

All was going well until we passed the old Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant and a fogbank rolled in.

By the time we entered the outer harbor, it was virtually zero visibility. This is the scenario that gets weekend warriors in big trouble.

They head out amidst bluebird skies and light winds planning a day on the water and suddenly they are surrounded by fog and panic.

As visibility went to near zero, I saw several small boats beating a hasty retreat back down the channel. I slowed to 15 knots and we doubled up the radar.

I’ve been researching the Garmin radar system and discovered that the ideal configuration is to have two screens up with traditional on the left.

Our Garmin radar uses the Doppler Effect to delineate blips on the screen by constantly looking for the frequency shift in the radar echo due to the relative motion of the target (they call it MotionScope).

The MotionScope feature highlights the moving targets on the radar display and color-codes them so you can tell at a glance which targets are a threat.

On Amazing Grace, green blips indicate a boat moving away, magenta blips may be on a collision course. The red blips are fixed objects (buoys or land).

Peter monitored the traditional screen and pointed out every suspicious blip. It worked great and having a second set of eyes on the screen was infinitely more relaxing!

By the time we tied up, it was 1:00 and we had plans to meet friends for dinner at 6:00. The crew was hungry and thus the closest restaurant was the perfect choice.

Surfside Smokehouse

Kristy was running the bar and she suggested Blue Comet IPA as an alternative to my beloved Fiddlehead.

It was very good and quite different with tart citrus overtones.

This place is so consistently good. The only negative is that the bar is in the shade and can get cool on a 75° day. We were very comfortable on Saturday!

While we were docking a brand-spanking-new 2025 Grand Banks 85 came in.

It’s a very big 85 – 22’ beam. It was very impressive to see the owner/captain dock her with just his wife and mate Austin.

I looked up her voyage log on Marine Traffic and showed that she had left Newport that morning and that was the first voyage on record.

I spoke to the owner/captain and he said it was a month old. So either it sat at the dock the last month getting commissioned or the AIS wasn’t activated. Either way she looked she it came from a Boat Show.

He said he had a GB 60 before, but needed a full-time mate, so he traded it for an 85 (MSRP ~$9 million).

Saturday afternoon was the first perfect afternoon for lounging on the Skydeck and reading a murder mystery.

Salt Raw Bar and Fine Cuisine

We have a handful of great restaurants we rotate through in Plymouth, but lately Salt has become #1.

We were joined by our bicoastal friends John and Jean (Plymouth and La Quinta).

Although they live in Plymouth, they had only been to Salt when it first opened and it was more of a TAPAS bar. They were anxious to discover why we loved it so much.

Jeannie, Peter, and I all started with martinis. If you fancy a tuni, you’ll love the one they pour. It’s very large, so large that we still had a few sips left after an hour and a half dinner!

Although I eat often, and I eat well, I seldom eat an entire meal. The Gochujang Chicken small plate at Salt is my perfect dinner.

It’s a single chicken thigh, perfectly grilled, and smothered in a dark spicy gochujang sauce. Perhaps the best $15 meal on the New England coast.

I checked in on sushi chefs who were turning out great volumes of fine cuisine.

All-in-all, John and Jeannie were very impressed with Salt, especially the Coconut Red Thai Curry.

We got back to Amazing Grace just before sunset.

A very impressive 75’ catamaran had docked late Saturday afternoon.

Gloucester Sunday

We haven’t visited Gloucester in decades and never by boat. It’s under 50 miles from Plymouth and I found an interesting Marina that had availability at the last minute, so off we went.

It was a beautiful morning in Plymouth…

But as a seasoned Mariner, I spotted the fog bank sitting just offshore. I checked every webcam on Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay and they all looked the same – sunny coasts and fog offshore. Oh joy!

The few weather reports that mentioned fog said it would burn off at 9:00 AM, so that’s when we planned our departure.

Much to Mrs. Horne’s dismay, we ran through fog for the first hour.

And for most of that time we dodged lobster pots, so I had to slow to 20 knots and shut off the autopilot.

Fortunately, it cleared about the time we passed the Boston Shipping Lanes and all was forgotten.

Our Marina options in Gloucester are very limited. Pier 7 only has one slip big enough for us and it’s booked for the season. Cape Anne is available, but it requires passage through a narrow draw bridge and a tight right turn up the Blynman Canal amidst strong tidal currents.

Ocean Alliance Marina

I discovered a Marina on Dockwa associated with a whale research facility on Rocky Neck. It looked like an easy docking, but it wasn’t really in Gloucester proper; which meant we’d need to Uber everywhere.

The entire facility is unmanned, at least on Sunday, so Dockmaster Brian only came by to help us tie up and show us the gate codes.

He also gave us some great news! The Alliance has a Gold Pass with the Gloucester Water Shuttle and they would pick us up and drop us at Saint Peter’s Square anytime we wanted.

The 1606 At The Beauport Hotel

Gloucester has a lot of great restaurants. My cursory research told me the 1606 was #1 on most lists. They took lunch reservations on Opentable, so I booked it.

We saw our favorite array of three bar stools on the corner and grabbed the ones looking out at the harbor.

A couple of restaurants we considered only offered a brunch menu from 10:00 to 2:00 on Sundays, but the 1606 served both regular lunch and breakfast.

They had a very appealing menu, but after a few moments of contemplation, I decided I’d go all-in for brunch and ordered a Bloody Mary.

It was very good and for $2 more I added a thick strip of candied bacon – sinful, but very tasty!

The option of sausage with my Eggs Benedict sold me.

It was a very large serving and I quickly focused my consumption on the eggs, sausage, and hollandaise, just adding in an occasion muffin or potato.

Peter ordered a custom sandwich – baked, not fried, haddock…

Peter added the corn fritters as a side. I tried one and they were divine. More of a dessert than cornbread.

Half way through dinner, a gentleman to my left jumped into our conversation.

His name was Don and he is a long term resident of the area. His girlfriend Pat was celebrating her birthday.

Don took Mrs. Horne out to the deck to show her the site of Gloucester’s famous Greased Pole .

It’s part of the annual St. Peter’s Celebration in Gloucester. Participants have to try to get to the end of the pole and grab the flag before falling into the ocean.

After lunch, we toured Main Street as Mrs. Horne searched for a piece of art for the VIP Cabin.

Mrs. Horne ended up buying two pictures. She found one in a wonderful little shop owned and operated by Melissa, a local artist.

We headed back to Saint Peter’s Square to meet the shuttle and Mrs. Horne organized a selfie.

It may well have been the first selfie where we all looked pretty good. It must have been the Gloucester vibe!

The forecast had been for a wicked scorcha in Boston (AKA hot and muggy), so I docked with the Skydeck facing the southern sea breeze.

This provided a great venue for reading and taking in Gloucester Harbor.

Peter and I agreed that the views and general atmosphere in Gloucester felt very much like Maine.

Mile Marker One

With only 24 hours in Gloucester, we wanted to see as much as possible. Accordingly, I booked dinner off the Blynman Canal where many of the fishing port scenes on Wicked Tuna are shot.

Marina Bay Monday

I was happy to wake to blue skies, fair winds, and no fog on Monday morning.

Our itinerary was easy. We needed to make the 30 mile run to Marina Bay in time for Peter’s 2:00 appointment in Boston. While he was gone, Mrs. Horne and I would give Amazing Grace a thorough cleaning.

We were assigned a stern-in portside tie-up slip and once again, our upgraded thrusters performed perfectly.

We were on the northern dock, so ReelHouse was an easy choice for lunch.

Peter returned around 4:30 and we discussed dinner at Port 305 and decided to stay in, enjoy the warm evening, and order out from Boardwalk Pizza.

Tuesday Moving Day

Tuesday looked a lot like Monday.

Our agenda was even lighter. We needed to move the boat to Hull where she will remain docked until the following weekend.

The 10-mile ride to Hull could not have been smoother.

Our friend Alyssa (former Marina Manager at Safe Harbor Onset Bay) is now the Business Manager at Sunset Bay. Seeing her in the office made Hull feel like another Home Away From Home.

Local 02045

Unlike Marina Bay, there is only one restaurant near the marina. But it’s a good one!

It’s got a great bar, a dining room that looks at Hull Harbor, and an outdoor patio with plenty of umbrellas.

The last time we were here we discovered their incredible Shrimp cocktail.

I doubt you could buy a dozen shrimp of this quality in a fish market for $21.

Peter and I shared the turkey and bacon wrap.

A half was the perfect lunch portion.

With the Boston heat wave on the third day, I docked pointing south to keep the Skydeck shaded. There was just enough sea breeze to give us a tropical afternoon.

We were planning to join local friends for dinner, but Mrs. Horne fell ill so she canceled. Peter and I returned to Local 02045 for a quick dinner.

By the time we finished dinner, the place was packed. Rather impressive for a Tuesday night!

We returned to Amazing Grace just in time for a Sunset Bay sunset…

Next Up: Plan B On The Islands