Provincetown MA USA

Departing from Gloucester

It’s only about 40nm from Gloucester to Provincetown, on the tip of the Cape Cod peninsula, but we had been told that Provincetown is a ‘colourful’ place to visit and well worth a wander ashore, so we wanted to arrive early enough in the day to have time to explore. Consequently, we had another just after dawn departure as we left Gloucester on the morning of Friday 28 September. It all started so well, a little bit grey and damp but not exactly unpleasant…..

We didn’t order weather like this!

….but within minutes of our switching off the engine and getting sailing, it was pouring with rain.  Grey, miserable, solid rain, with poor visibility – true English Channel weather if ever there was some – and a swelly, cold, grey sea to complete the picture.  The only redeeming feature was that there was a good breeze so the sailing was reasonably fast.

Race Point Light at the northwest tip of Cape Cod

By about 1200 we were off Race Point but the tide was running against us so making our way under the tip of Cape Cod took longer than we had hoped and needed a couple of tacks.  The area off the tip of Cape Cod is a protected habitat for right whales and we saw several whale watching boats speeding in and out to the area where right whales are known to gather.  Right whales were hunted to the brink of extinction and their numbers are only very slowly increasing so sightings of them are very rare. But other whales like the plankton and small fish upwellings just to the north of Cape Cod’s tip too, so the whale watching in the area is, apparently, very good (not that we have seen any on either occasion we have sailed through).

Sunfish in Provincetown anchorage

We lowered the sails just outside Provincetown’s breakwater and motored to an area off its eastern end where we planned to anchor for the night.  With the wind in the northeast, this was the most protected place we could find but, with the bay shelving very gently we would still be a long way off the shore with a good fetch should the wind get up.  Close to where we planned to anchor we saw a fin in the water and at first though that it was attached to a floating, dead fish – a large sea bass or something similar.  To our surprise we found that the fish was very much alive and that it was a sunfish. We didn’t expect to see that around here.

The Pilgrims’ Memorial.  In November 1620 the
Mayflower landed at Provincetown and the pilgrims
 spent a few months here before moving to Plymouth
 where history has it they arrived in the New World

It was still grey and drizzly by the time we got ashore, though happily it had stopped raining heavily. Provincetown was not at its best. In high summer the town’s streets are a riot of colour and it’s a vibrant LGBTQ summer holiday base.  In late September the end of the season is nigh, indeed we arrived on the last Friday of the season according to several signs we saw, and the enthusiasm for holiday partying is similarly on the wane.

Nevertheless, the shops were still bright, with some amazing displays, and despite the lack of crowds there was still a surprisingly lively atmosphere, even if everyone was wearing jeans and T-shirts instead of full summer holiday rig.

Town beach with enormous beach chair. We’ve seen this style of chair all around Nova Scotia and the New England states

With the very autumnal weather, we didn’t feel like a long walk on the ocean side of the peninsula or a stroll on the beach leading out to the lighthouse.  However, the beaches do look lovely and it’s easy to understand why, in the height of summer with bright blue skies and blazing sun, this has become such a holiday mecca.

Departing Provincetown

As we left in the morning the sun shone almost as if to show us what we were missing.  But we didn’t have time to stay and see the town in the glorious autumn sunshine as we had a tide to catch at the entrance to the Cape Cod canal, 20nm away and, if the forecast held true, almost directly upwind.  We had to get going.

Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA