Tuesday was a funny day…
I woke up to the third day of pea soup fog with the Point Connett moorings drifting in and out of the 1/4 mile visibility. Our dear old friends Gary and Amy were coming to visit for brief one night stay and hopefully a maiden voyage on Vigilant.
Looking out at the fog, I knew I needed a plan B!
I must have watched a dozen local weather broadcasts and all were predicting clearing; some at noon, some at 3:00 PM, and some even later.
Gary and Amy arrived at noon, amid the lingering fog, so we kicked into Plan B – lunch at the Shipyard Inn and a walk around the Mattapoisett Town Pier.
As we enjoyed the Clam Fritters, Chowder, and a Lagunitas IPA we kept seeing glimpses of sun reflecting off the cars passing by on Water Street.
Thinking I might be able to salvage what’s left of Plan A, I suggest “why don’t we pack a cooler and go for tour of the harbor on Vigilant”.
Gary screamed “YES, get me on a boat” and we’re off to the races with a renewed Plan A.
30 minutes later, we were on the launch at The Mattapoisett Boatyard looking at blue skies. A quick look at my NOAA Marine Weather App showed we were under Small Craft Warnings with a steady 20 and gusts up to 30. Perfect Vigilant Weather.
I eased her out of the harbor and rounded Angelica holding close to shore. Taking the 4-5 footers off the beam meant a lot of rocking and rolling.
We did a big turn inside Aucoot, hugged the coast around Converse and then did another loop inside Marion’s outer harbor.
As we made way toward Bird Island, I remembered that I wanted to take a few pictures from one of my secret gunkholes, so I made the turned, and watching my instruments closely, I pulled up close to the shore just north of Bird Island.
My Kittanset Cove Gunkhole
I’m a little mixed about telling you about my secret gunkhole since I’ve never seen anyone else there – I’d hate to see it get crowded!
I discovered it 2 years ago on a foggy day when I stopped there for a picnic before heading up the canal. It’s a cozy little cove and although there are some visible rocks, there is plenty of water up to a few hundred feet from shore if you pick your spot.
If you look at the screen shot from my Garmin Blue Chart below, you can see that there is about 11′ of water up to 200′ from shore.
Vigilant draws about 43″ of water and between my depth sounder and my forward sonar, I’m quite comfortable snuggling in close. Of course, the closer you get, the better protected you are from the southwest blow. And since we dropped anchor around 4:00 PM, it was gusting near 30 knots at the time.
The other reason to pull in close is the get a good look at the 3rd “Beach” hole at Kittanset…
One of the incredible things about Buzzards Bay is being able to find such solitude within a quarter of a mile of pure ocean fury…
Dave
My Buzzards Bay 