Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): July 17

Brewer Plymouth Marina

It was time to move north today...it feels like we have been dragging our feet and we'll never make it to Maine. There are so many things to see in New England and we've definitely missed a lot. We had a great time here and will have to come back another summer. As we made our way north we went through the Cape Cod Canal. This is an artificial waterway traversing the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts. It connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south. Using the canal saves boaters about 135 miles by not having to go around Cape Cod. The canal current changes direction every six hours and can reach a maximum speed of 5.2 MPH, during the receding ebb tide. So timing when you go through the canal is important. We reached the canal just as the tide was beginning to run north and we had a great push going through...I wish we could go that fast all the time.

The water was wonderful today and it felt cooler being on the move than sitting in an anchorage. The next few days are going to be record setting high in Massachusetts. Reaching the upper 90s in the Boston area, so we've decided to head straight to Maine and see Massachusetts on our way south. We stopped in Plymouth this evening and stayed at a marina. We plugged in and turned on the AC, then took care of chores that needed to be done. It may be awhile before we have another marina, so we washed the boat, filled the water tanks and did laundry.

Plymouth is a pretty little town, although very touristy. We really didn't spend a lot of time looking around since it was so hot when we arrived and we had so much work to get done. As you cruise into the harbor you can see a large, very large statue on the hill. It is the National Monument to the Forefathers. An 81' tall monument built in 1889 to honor the pilgrims. We didn't make it up the hill to see the monument but we did see the "rock". We were told it wasn't very impressive, but we can now say we've seen Plymouth Rock. It's a little ironic that Plymouth Rock is such a symbol of our American history, since there was no mention of it in journals kept by the original Pilgrims. The first references to the rock were made 121 years later, no doubt a way to generate tourism even in the 1700s.

The Cape Cod Canal - looking back towards Buzzards Bay