Scout's Boston Layover
Now that Scout was safely docked in Boston, the only thing missing from her interior was us. Once jobs, graduations and homes were dealt with, we promptly took the red-eye from the west to east coast of the US. In what we hope will be the last of the large luggage for a while, we found not one but three of those over-rated inflatable travel neck pillows. I already have a purge pile as I practice living minimally.
Constitution Marina in Charlestown is walking distance to everything we needed in Boston - Italian restaurants in the North End, hardwares stores, revolutionary war history, supermarkets, plus the immediate buzz of the Boston Celtics v Golden State Warriors NBA finals just over the river.
The first few days on Scout included several trips to the local supermarket for some serious provisioning as my French Carrefour trip back in March was running painfully low. We have all of those empty storage compartments under the seats to fill, after all. I did get more than a little bit excited about the OXO storage containers that ended up fitting perfectly in the drawers too. Yup, the little things.
Despite having access to the shorepower at the marina, we chose to stay disconnected as we wanted to see how quickly our mighty 1125w solar array would replenish our 1000 Ah of lithium. The Boston sunny conditions had the battery bank full by midday, and that was with liberal use of our induction stove (cookies and roast chicken, anyone?) and washing machine. I’d like to see how this works out as we head further north and while sailing and using the power-hungry autopilot. To be confirmed!
With the provisioning more-or-less complete and the solar officially reliable, we headed out on our first sail - destination Peddocks Island to the east of Boston. The first thing we noticed were the lobster pots - lots of them. I was expecting them in Maine, but Boston Harbor was a surprise. As Scout dodged the ferries, we made our way passed Georges Island towards Peddocks. The mooring balls here on the east coast seem to be very well serviced with two pennants provided, but they also cost more than what we had previously paid in e.g. the Bahamas or French Polynesia.
We were the only boat in this vast mooring field and the view of the sunset over the Boston skyline was incredible. We rustled up some pasta to the vibrant sound of the Boston flight path directly over us.
Our next sail was out to an area just south of Pleasure Bay. This was specifically chosen as I wanted to test the Ultra anchor and the holding here was said to be good. During the build we opted for the chain counter, and its great knowing exactly how much chain has been put out, plus you can drop or weigh anchor from the counter too, as well as from a remote key fob and the traditional foot buttons next to the windlass.
With testing and provisioning out of the way, we were now ready to head north to Maine on our next adventure. There would be cute, tucked away anchorages, lobster pots dramas, and more.
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