Our cruise began at 0730 with that well-known curse of New England boaters – THE FOG!! Unable to see a damn thing, we motored slowly down the Sakonnet River with our trusty air horns blasting a 135dB message to keep out of our way. The, just before we reached open water, the fog cleared completely and the sun came out as we passed by Sakonnet light.
We arrived at New Bedford, still the largest US fishing port, at1230 and waited for about an hour for the Pier Oil fuel barge to tie onto us in mid harbor. Apparently the delay was caused by Homeland Security restrictions related to a large refrigerated transport ship berthed alongside the State Pier. We quickly pumped on 620 gallons of diesel from the barge at the best price in New England - $2.75/gallon – and headed back out through the hurricane barrier behind a large fishing vessel named the Island Queen from Cape May!! Instead of following (as we are headed there on Wednesday), we headed into Padanaram Harbor, picked up a free mooring that looked big enough to hold us in place for the night, and cracked open a beer. Day 1 – no mishaps!!
We had a beautiful cruise over to New Bedford. The sea was calm, it was quite warm (at least 60 degrees) and we had lots of seagulls and migrating ducks as company. The sun even came out for a few minutes. A good day to start our journey.
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| Leaving home port with the full moon behind us |
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620 gallons of diesel at $2.75 per gallon!!!! |
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