Provincetown, MA - Our Favorite Spot!

Cuttyhunk to Provincetown

Transiting the Cape Cod Canal

The trip north to Provincetown, MA is always interesting.
The first issue is timing the tides at the Cape Cod Canal – Canal regulations stipulate that:

“Vessels of any kind unable to make a through transit of the land cut portion of the canal against a head current of 6.0 knots within a maximum time limit of 2 hours 30 minutes shall be required to obtain the assistance of a helper tug at the vessel owner’s expense or await favorable tide conditions prior to receiving clearance from the marine traffic controller.”

Since our max speed is about 6.5 knots, we definitely fall into the category of vessels that have to wait for a favorable tide! In this particular day, slack tide going to flood, at the railroad bridge (West end of canal) was at 4:12 PM. what that meant was that we’d be fighting an outgoing current up Buzzards Bay and anchoring behind the sand spit alongside hogs channel for a couple of hours. It also meant that we’d be getting into Provincetown Harbor at just about sunset… That is, assuming everything went according to plan. If not, we had our fallback; anchor outside Sandwich, MA for the night and then cross Cape Cod Bay in the morning.

Well, I’m sorry to say our story this time will be pretty subdued. As opposed to the beating we took on our last trip north on Buzzards Bay, this one was easy peasy! We made a quick trip,up,the bay and were around the Hog’s Channel sand spit and anchored by 2:00 PM! We had lunch, read and simply enjoyed the afternoon until it was time to go. At 3:30 I decided to pull up anchor and start heading up. We made it north to the railroad bridge a bit too early and circled back to kill some time until we could head on through.

Provincetown Sunset – First night at anchor

Once again, we had an easy time transiting the canal, with only one commercial vessel coming though west bound. We were making good time and decided to go for it!

Yep, nothing to see here! No near disasters, no bashing, no 8 foot waves, nothing, nada! We rounded the cape, entered Provincetown Harbor and dropped the hook at precisely 8:30 PM – 2 minutes before sunset!

We were back in Provincetown

I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!

The following morning we got up and decided to head in to Provincetown for breakfast. Ok, not having propane to make coffee played a big roll in that decision, but it was a decision nonetheless! We managed to find the dinghy dock (last time, we had stayed on a mooring) unloaded our trash and headed into town.

Mass Exodus – Provincetown, MA

We suddenly found ourselves heading the wrong way up the pier as literally hundreds of men, most muscled & bearded, made their way towards us carrying backpacks, duffle bags, rolling luggage, etc! Did they know something we didn’t?

We waded through said outgoing tide and made our way to the center median just beyond the pier to figure out where we would go for breakfast… we spotted a couple of places right along this first block, but as usual, I stopped to ask a “local” for a recommendation. We were offered several, but the final one was Liz’s Cafe; a long walk, but by far the best – sold!

We headed towards Liz’s along commercial street and ran headlong into more throngs of men heading in the opposite direction… perhaps it was simply the fact that it was Saturday morning & the ferry was at the Provincetown dock – this was a mass exodus!

Liz’s Cafe

We eventually made our way to Liz’s and put our name on the list; yep, a line was already forming outside underneath the yellow & white awning. Fortunately, we only waited about 10 minutes before we were offered seats at the bar. We gratefully accepted and went on in.

Liz’s Cafe – Provincetown, MA

Liz’s Cafe has a great selection for breakfast and the Hash Benedict caught my eye – Homemade corned beef hash atop toasted english muffins, topped with two perfectly poached eggs with just the right amount of hollandaise sauce and home fried potatoes on the side! Maria had 2 eggs scrambled with toast – someone has to be sensible!

We both had coffee which was awesome – seriously, as you know, we grind and brew our coffee every morning and this stuff was seriously good coffee!

Our bartender/waiter was excellent! He was professional, friendly and on top of his game! We sat, ate & chatted with a gentleman that teaches at Rutgers – great guy, truly enjoyed talking with him, but completely blanked on his name; sorry! Anyway, we finally found out what was going on – it was the tail end of Bear Week in Provincetown and everyone was heading back home!

We spent the rest of the morning wandering around provincetown – it really is a great place with an awesome vibe!

Lazy days in Provincetown

We already knew where the Post Office & Library where from our last visit to P-town, so as per our SOP, we tracked down the Supermarket; I’m not sure why, but we had walked like crazy last time & never connected with it… this time we found it! A very nice Stop & Shop. Satisfied at having accomplished our goals for the day, we decided to head back to Rocinante and hangout for the rest of the day. Tomorrow was another day!

We got up bright and early as usual & headed into town for breakfast. Remember? No propane! With a find like Liz’s Cafe, it just wasn’t worth trying anyplace else, so off we went! Although it was rather early on a Sunday morning, we were surprised to find that the place was still crowded. That said, we got lucky and there was no wait to be seated – we got the last available table; woohoo!

Ada (aka Maria) decided to go for the Brioche French Toast – thick slices of brioche soaked in deliciousness, cooked to perfection & served with a dusting of powdered sugar & real, honest to goodness, Maple syrup! I, of course, had the same thing I had had the day before; Hash Benedict & coffee – lots of great coffee!

Having thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast, we decided that today was a beach day! We headed back to the dinghy dock and took off for the mothership where we changed, got back in the dink & headed for the beach; our beach! Yep, not a soul in sight!

Our tender securely anchored in shin high water, we waded ashore to explore and relax for a bit as we watched the tide roll out. It truly is a spectacular beach and we enjoyed it thoroughly!

Miles of empty beach; some sand & some stone sections, so bring footwear to truly enjoy the walk. Watch the seals, walk to the lighthouse or go for a dip! We did it all and after a few hours, with a few new beach stones and shells for our collection in hand, we boarded our tender and headed back to Rocinante for the day.

Propane & laundry day

As luck would have it, it was going to be a hot one today, but we had to do what we had to do! I briefly considered loading everything into the dinghy in order to make only one trip into town, but there was no way in hell I was going to fit the two of us along with our folding cart, 2 propane tanks & the laundry!

We decide to take care of the propane situation first and then make a second trip for the laundry, so I loaded up the dink and off we went… for breakfast at Lize’s Cafe of course!

After breakfast we returned to the dinghy dock, loaded up our cart with the propane tanks and took off towards F A Days & Sons on Shank Painter road. It wasn’t too far of a walk, and the cart made easy work of pulling the tanks up the few hills we encountered on the way.

You would think that was it, but as my brother would say; “todo es un processo!”
Every now and again we run into trouble, because our tanks are not the ubiquitous 20lb BBQ tanks everyone is familiar with and new laws require that propane tanks have a specific OPD valve to prevent overfilling.

Our tanks have said OPD valve, but it’s built in as a dedicated valve, not as part of the primary fill valve – some people understand this and have no problem refilling them others start to freak out and claim that we need to replace our tanks! Now, I must say, I don’t blame the employees, there is a hefty fine imposed for filling tanks without said device – we got lucky and the owner was around; he was called out to inspect our tanks and was able to help us. Woohoo! We could cook again!

We headed back to Rocinante, stowed our spare tank, hooked up our primary and got ready to head out again to do laundry – oh, joy! But seriously, as I’ve mentioned in prior posts, it’s actually not so bad. Yes, it’s a challenge getting the cloths ashore without getting them soaked by the spray kicked up as we motor to the town dock & more so on the way back once they’re clean! But it’s a small price to pay for the privilege of living aboard Rocinante full-time.

BTW, for our cruising friends, the Laundromat is just past the parking lot of the Stop & Shop; exit the parking lot, turn left and head up into the next driveway you encounter… less than 100’ or so.

Showers & Thunderstorms

Provincetown Thunderstorms

To this day, we both still mimic the robotic voice on the marine weather radio that warns us of “showers & thunderstorms” with the accents in the wrong places – you have to hear it to understand, but trust me it’s funny.

Anyway, we’re expecting strong winds & thunderstorms for tomorrow, so I spent part of the afternoon prepping Rocinante. We’re anchored in deeper water than usual; 50+ feet, and I only have 150’ of chain. Now 3 to 1 is more than good enough of a length to depth ratio in settled weather, but not when you’re expecting heavier winds – I needed more scope! As most of you know I have 4 anchors aboard along with more chain & more nylon rode, so I pulled a 300’ length of line out of the lazarette and spliced it onto the end of our chain – presto! 450’ plenty of scope for what we were expecting.

While we were still almost a day away, I decided to let out the chain plus an additional 200’ of rode putting us at 350’ plus another 20’ or so for our snubber – why wait for the last minute!

Tuesday came, as did the expected gusty winds, but the highest we saw was about 22. Likewise, the storms rolled in later that evening and while they looked ominous, they proved to be reasonably mild offering up few gusts over 25 – we slept well, confident that our anchor wouldn’t drag.

Holy Mackerel!

Long Point Beach – Ours, All Ours!

With our chores behind us and funky weather coming, we decided to hit the beach again. Did I tell you how much we love just roaming around a completely empty beach? Love it lots! Today, we arrived at the beach as the tide was coming and got to explore some areas that were completely flooded last time during high tide – awesome! We followed the water as it wound it’s way across the beach between the dunes, making sure we stayed off the dunes of course. It was a real kick following this “stream” for miles, not so much walking back against the incoming tide! But, make it back we did. Having had our fill of this particular indulgence for the day, we headed back to Rocinante.

As usual, we were simply hanging out in the cockpit when I spotted a bunch of guys fishing and getting close enough to us for me to ask what they were fishing for… a few charade like motions indicting a rode & reel and they shouted back – “Mackerel!”

Now, some people consider Mackerel a bait fish for larger fish, and they are that, but they are also a great fish to eat in their own right. I dug out my tackle box, found a mackerel rig, set it up with an 8oz sinker and off to Rocinante’s stern I went.

Thirty minutes later, I had 4 nice size mackerel on the hook and the makings of a great dinner!

Fresh Mackerel – the “after” shot!

Fresh Mackerel – the “before” shot!

The Massachusetts Recreational Fishing Permit is officially the best $10 I’ve ever spent!

The United Postal Service

It’s amazing the things we take for granted, like a fixed/permanent mailing address!
As we travel from place to place, we make good use of the US Postal Service’s General Delivery service. This allows us to have our mail and/or packages delivered to a post office c/o GENERAL DELIVERY, where we can then go and pick it up within 30 days.

In this case, we desperately needed our updated charts from Navionics or we would not be able to continue our trip north… ok, it would be more difficult to continue our trip north! So off I went to the Provincetown post office to pick up my precious package. I stood in line for a bit and then presented my Drivers License as proof of identity and waited… nope, “package is not here yet”… what?

I stepped to the back of the post office, pulled out my iPhone and checked; sure enough, it had been delivered the day before as I had thought. I got back in line, got a different clerk who looked up the tracking number I was now able to provide and told me the package hd already been picked up! Naturally I replied with what I took to be an obvious point – ah, nope, here I am asking you for it, so no, it has not been picked up! I got a shoulder shrug & I politely suggested she check again. Fortunately a supervisor walked by and a few seconds later my package showed up… apparently “someone” had pressed the wrong button when they RECEIVED it and marked it as picked up instead!

All’s well that ends well I always say so off we went to hit the library and then The Brewhouse for lunch before heading back to Rocinante.

BTW; I realize that this reads like a jab at the USPS – trust me it’s not! What makes this standout for me is the fact that it was such an anomaly! These folks do an amazing job day in and day out no matter where we’ve been, so kudos to the USPS for outstanding service!

Provisioning & Fishing

It was now Friday and we were practically out of food, so it was time to re-provision. Off to the Stop & Shop we went with our trusty folding cart, our insulated bag and our normal canvas bags.

Now, this Stop & Shop offers the ability to self scan your purchases as you pack! How cool is that!?

So, we grabbed a scanner and went off on our merry way to shop… produce – bagged, weighed & scanned! Awesome sirloin strip steak & on sale – Scan! Ginger Ale – scan! Soppressata – Scan! Manchego – Scan! Scan! Scan! Scan! Scan! Woohoo!

All of our purchase scanned & bagged, we can go through the Express Lane – oh yeah!
This should not be so exciting, but what can I say, it is!

Back on Rocinante, we put everything away andI decide to try my hand at fishing – oh yeah! Fresh fish for dinner again… gotta love it! Nothing like provisioning from Mother Ocean!

Will we ever get to Maine?

Well, we’ve so enjoyed Provincetown, that we decided to spend another week here before continuing north. While it has been a very stormy week, we’ve still enjoyed our anchorage and have even spent a few days just hanging out, never even getting of the boat! All good!

We were scheduled to continue north to Rockport, MA this coming Sunday, but we just got word of a bit of a family emergency down in Florida. I called the harbormaster and made arrangements to leave Rocinante on a mooring behind the breakwater. With Rocinante secured, I’ve gone ahead and made the rest of our travel arrangements and will be heading south first thing Sunday morning.

Hopefully all will be good and we’ll be back shortly to continue north, but if not… “Que sera, sera”

Till next time,

Carlos & Maria
SV Rocinante…_/)