Paul bought a new boat…we helped him sail from Salem to Rockport

Famous statue in Gloucester

Sunday afternoon walk

Boston buildings

Science Museum Boston

Vertical garden

Sunday at the beach

Trying to fly!

Boys exploring

It’s a jack hammer apparently

I feel a bit like a chicken, cooped up, waiting for the last vestiges of Hurricane Jose to trolley off out to sea. New England has been brushed with it’s final throws. We are safely tucked up in the inner harbour in Gloucester Massachusetts with two anchors down, a batch of freshly made scones and some Netflix downloads.

For those who know knots, it’s a steady 20 to 25, gusting 30. Good news is no waves though as we are well tucked in. Think we’ve been on the boat for about 36 hours now, but we are about to escape for a couple of hours as there appears to be a bit of a lull.

Now back from Project Escape-The Boat. Hero Paul, our new found local buddy, picked us up and we planned to head to a local quarry for a walk and explore. On the way we bumped into a lovely family who we’d met before on a 28 foot boat called Tiny Bubbles. Mum, Dad and three boys aged 2, 7 and 10. They are well squashed in!

The expedition party had grown in size. The boys have been brought up with freedoms that most people will never experience. On seeing the quarry, the boys stripped off Reggie Perrin style to their shorts and went for an explore. There’s a couple of photos of them climbing which may put the heebie jeebies into some parents. The boys all appeared to have an inherent sense of managing risk, even the two year old. It was great to see and they are a lovely family to spend time with.

It’s now a few days later. Unexpectedly we’ve had to return to the UK at short notice as Dave’s Dad is poorly in hospital. The boat is safely residing on a mooring ball in Gloucester Inner Harbour. There maybe radio silence for a while.