June 27 -- Newburyport, Mass to Portsmouth, NH

We motored the 15 miles once outside NBP to the entrance to Portsmouth, due to light wind directly on our nose. And there was about a knot of adverse current too. The current was favorable in the Merrimack, pushing us downstream, and  then changed and helped push us up the Piscataqua River.  But it was adverse, by about one knot, while we traversed the entire Atlantic coast of New Hampshire. The Piscataqua is the border between NH and Maine. In fact, Portsmouth and Kittery Maine are like Brooklyn and Manhattan, except they are in different states. And between them, and a hub of economic activity for both cities, on Peavey island, is a huge U.S. Navy Yard, devoted to refurbishing ships, especially submarines. This is another new port for ILENE.

The distinguishing feature of the passage was the first appearance of fog, not the deadly 50 feet fog, but 200 yards (for about a half an hour) is too close for comfort. The Captain directed the crew to “Put down that cell phone and maintain an intense watch!” while he vacuumed the cabin. It was also rather cold, though I did not feel this as much as Lene did. Other than that half hour, visibility ranged from .5 to 2 mile; decent.

We passed Portsmouth Harbor light in Fort Pitt and headed for dockage at The Martina at Harbor Place, which is the back of an office building built at the end of a row of old warehouses that lined the city. We are in the heart of the downtown of this historic city, the only boat living aboard in the marina which is gated for security.  Lene brought the boat in for a perfect landing against a tide that flows quite strongly here.

We took a walk into town, got oriented to the history of the place,

came back, showered and dined aboard.

We left NBP at about 8:20 and were all tied up by 1:30, ahead of the anticipated 2 pm rain. The rain began at about 5:30 and is expected to stay here with us, and keep us here, for the next few days before the jump to Portland Maine.