It’s In The Timing

The next phase of our little cruise involved more timing than usual. Boating always requires timing. The timing (scheduling) of your own personal schedule often takes a back seat to timing the weather, timing the currents and tides, bridge openings…..and so on. We met some people in Provincetown while sitting around the fire pit, who had never been through the Cape Cod Canal because they had heard such awful stories about the strong current, up to 5.2 miles per hour. We explained that if you pass through the canal with a favorable current, meaning going the same direction you are, it will be ok. If moving swiftly concerns you, then aim for slack tide when there is little current in either direction. I always have to stop and look up which direction is ebb and which is flow through the canal because it is not intuitive to me. “Flood” tide is moving east to west and the “Ebb” tide is moving west to east, depending on your desired direction. 

We timed our departure from Provincetown for an almost slack tide at the Canal because that worked out best for us.

Back to the journey……

We decided to skip a stop at Onset and push through to a harbor farther south in Buzzards Bay. We left Provincetown at 11:00 am and arrived in Quissett at 4:45 pm. Quissett is another harbor we had once visited years ago. We remembered it as quiet and peaceful. It still is, but it felt more crowded, especially on a weekend.

Quissett is lovely. I have read that it is considered the “quintessential” New England harbor. Makes a nice play on the words – Quintessential Quissett.” We just wanted to relax and enjoy the views, the peace, the boats.

Back to timing. After two lovely days in Quissett, we had to carefully plan our next travel day. Quissett Harbor is just north of Woods Hole. We have never transited Woods Hole Passage. Descriptions such as the following are not comforting —

~ “Woods Hole marks the difficult and sometimes dangerous passage between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound.”

~ “Woods Hole is a naturally occurring, rocky, and treacherous passage, with shallow rocky areas scattered along both sides of the channel. The current is often strong running between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, mostly flowing at around 4 knots and occasionally as fast as 7 knots. ” Wikipedia

~ “Woods Hole is the Jekyll & Hyde of Massachusetts waterways — sometimes a placid and well-marked maritime thoroughfare, sometimes the most dramatic and dangerous mile of water on the coast.” Boston Center Cruising Guide

Therefore, the timing is important. Slack tide with a little push would be nice. But we had to match that timing with the current in Vineyard Haven and the bridge opening for Lagoon Pond and they all had to line up. The bridge openings were either 10:15 – 11:00 am, 3:25 – 4:00 pm or 5:00 – 5:45 pm, 7:30 – 8:00 pm. Decision: Leaving Quissett at 3:45 pm would put us at Woods Hole at 4:00, through the passage by 4:15 pm and set us up for a bridge opening at 5:15 pm and a gentle current with us.

The next day we were all off doing different things. Don and Cindy went to visit a high school friend who lives right at Lagoon Pond and we went into town to wander around first before having dinner with our friends Colin and Diane.

After dinner we went the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, a “member-funded 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to screening the best in independent films, movie classics, documentaries, and world cinema.” This was our second visit there and we have always enjoyed it.  

We had been watching reports about Erin, the hurricane, and after careful consideration, we decided it would be best to cut our cruise short and head back to our homeports. Limerick has a long travel day back to Sea Cliff and prefers to have good sea and wind conditions. We needed to be back home on land for Al’s follow-up appointment to his cardiac ablation and did not want to risk a delayed return if the conditions were bad. Although Erin wouldn’t “hit” us here, the predicted 10 foot seas and 30+ gusting winds were not appealing for crossing open water between the islands. So, again, it is all about the timing.

After nine hours, we stopped for the night in West Harbor on Fishers Island. Limerick would be departing at 5:30 am for their 11-hour journey back to Sea Cliff. Ugh, after the 9-hour day. Very hearty folks!

We had a really good cruise again, although shortened. I missed visiting our favorite places on Martha’s Vineyard, but we did some new things this season which was really nice. New places in Newport, New Bedford, Provincetown, Quissett, and Woods Hole. It is good to change things up. But it is extra good to do it all with good friends. Extra good and extra special.