A Slow Hot Crawl Through the North Shore

(Note: for the more social media inclined we also started an Instagram! Follow us at @sailing.harvestmoon for more pictures and misc silly stuff 🙂)

The second half of June was a mix of continuing to explore the North Shore of Massachusetts, more boat projects and a brief interlude of off grid camping in Vermont. We thought we'd be more bored by now but learning about the boat and her quirks has been keeping us busy. It is certainly nicer to be troubleshooting a boat problem instead of doing a slide deck for a customer so I'll take it.

Some miscellaneous highlights:

The map of our sailing path

Salem

In a word… witchy. I didn’t realize people stayed goth after high school but I guess that’s because they all moved to Salem. A very wacky vibe. But I appreciate a good schtick and this place definitely committed to their history, even if some parts were a little too touristy. In lieu of doing one of the ~sPoOky~ ghost tours, we checked out the Ouija Board Museum which essentially consisted of a room with nearly every type of Ouija Board ever made (including those from the 20s when it was mostly a hook up game) and John, a man with an absurd array of knowledge about literally every single one. I learned more about Ouija boards than I thought was possible. Worth checking out if you’re in the area.

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Gloucester

(To be pronounced as if a sock is in your mouth). Just up the coast toward Cape Ann and much more of a fishing town. The anchoring area was a minefield of lobster boats and traps but we managed to find a sliver of space to slide into. Around the time of our visit they were hosting the annual Saint Peter’s Fiesta, which at first seemed to be just another classic Italian street festival. But the special marquee event was the Greasy Pole contest where bold (and boozed up) men try to walk across a 45 ft telephone pole that is covered in…. a metric shitton of grease. Masculinity is weird. This is one of those times where a video shows it way better than any words ever will so I’ll just leave this recap video for any interested viewers. While we didn’t stay in town to see the event live we managed to catch it being played on sports bar sized TVs in the next town over. It was getting equal screen coverage as the World Cup, go figure!

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Rockport

The spiritual equivalent of a Caribbean beach town and a NE fishing town having a baby. It had all the trimmings of a picturesque artsy beach town: ice cream shops, knickknack stores, art shops of all kinds (including Japanese fish printing), guys playing guitar covers and a place to get hair wraps. Throw in some broody rock cliffs, classic old style New England homes and several lobster roll shacks and you’ve got Rockport. All and all it was a lovely place to hang out for a few days. We even found two little orange stuffed animals at one of the shops to represent our land kitties Bertie and Margo!

It also featured not one but two lovely visits to Harvest Moon. Sofia, one of my dearest college friends, made the trip up from Boston for a day of hanging out on the boat, putting around town, and eating more fried fish than should be legal. Two of Michael’s cousins, Alexander and Michael, came aboard a few days later for an afternoon of talking shop about the boat’s myriad of systems while enjoying some afternoon beers.

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Newburyport

Next (and last) stop on the Massachusetts North Shore was Newburyport. This was our intended final destination on the North Shore as we wanted to leave the boat on a mooring at a marina, vs being unattended at anchor, during our off grid camping trip. It was also our most “inland” stopover as we had to go ~5 miles up the very fast Merrimack river. Trying to grab a mooring ball in a wicked fast river like the Merrimack at peak flood will really test your patience, core strength and steering capabilities).

Another key strategic element of stopping at a marina in Newburyport was picking up our replacement alternator and having a chance to replace the mast light (The Climb round 2). Merri-mar Yacht club, an excellent yard for doing a project, was the one place on the coast of Northern Mass that had the parts we needed. We know, we called them all. As with most of our sailing projects this one seemed straightforward but of course turned out to be trickier than expected. On our first try we spent an 100 degree afternoon in the engine and floor panels rewiring and mounting it only to have it start smoking within seconds of testing. After the minor (emotional and literal) meltdown, frantic emails to the supplier, and another internal inspection and remount we trepidatiously turned it on again to find it worked perfectly. Turns out, this piece while new to us, had been sitting on the shelf for many years and was most likely just burning off dust 😫.

Newburyport as a town was quite cute. A nice mix of quaint practicality making it more livable from a day to day perspective as compared to Rockport. The only travesty was that at the same time the mega heatwave hit the northeast, a town up the river had suffered a massive sewage leak so the river and its associated beaches were unswimmable for close to 2 weeks 🤢. (This had also happened to a lesser degree while we were in Rockport, we’ve just had some shitty luck). Poop river notwithstanding we still found ways to weather the heat on land including visiting a lovely little maritime museum, exploring a huge antique store, and going out to dinner at Michael’s Harborside Restaurant for Michael’s birthday.

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Ohana

After a full month on the water we took a nicely appreciated land break by going off grid with the Rasmussen family at Ohana Family Camp. It was AWESOME. 10/10 would recommend, both for seapeople returning to shore and landlubbers alike. It was effectively a traditional sleep away summer camp but for families of all ages. We were bunked in cozy little cabins (out of cell service range) and spent our mornings doing crafts, archery, and field games; afternoons at the lake swimming, kayaking, and paddle boarding; and bookended it all eating delicious food and singing campfire songs. While it risked being kitschy, the camp delivered everything in the right balance and offered an array of activity choices across each day so you could really make the experience your own. Who knows, Michael and I might just have second careers as summer camp counselors after this!

Huge shout out to Ingrid, Andrew and Isabella who’ve been going for years and encouraged all of the family to go. And to the whole Rasmussen clan who are always so welcoming of me ♥️.

One of the best parts of the time away was not having Sunday scaries about going back to work. In fact, by the end we were both itching to get back on the boat and to our “real lives” in a way that was truly refreshing.

At the conclusion of our trip, Michael’s parents drove us back to Newburyport and were finally able to visit Harvest Moon. As boat owners themselves (some moons ago) it was amazing to be able to share our new journey with them and to hear them reminisce about their own sailing years. While it was just a stationary visit this time, we definitely hope to be able to hoist the sails with them come our next visit in August.

Onwards and Upwards (and Downwards?)

This thus concluded our jaunt through the Northshore. July 13th we officially heaved anchor again and started wiggling our way up to and through the Downeast of Maine. We’ll be amidst the fog and firs up through mid to late August before we start heading back south.

Fairwinds and following seas!