Coming into the Merrimack River and Newburyport
Yes, people do swim in this cool water
The tide was running hard and there are shallows along the inlet. You can see the difference in the surface of the water from smooth in the distance to choppy in the near field which is shallow.
A second visit was nice. This time Keith and I road our bikes along the Clipper Rail Trail. This is the old train route through the town of Newburyport that the city has paved for biking, hiking and walking. The town has done an excellent job. The trail is landscaped and has numerous pieces of art work along the way.
Clipper Rail Trail
Just some of the art work on the trail
There was also a windmill along the trail
Keith and I also visited the Customs House which has been turned into a museum.
Inside the customs house
We learned that in 1791 the vessel Massachusetts was built in Newburyport. This was the first cutter to enter into active service with the US Revenue Cutter Service, later to become the US Coast Guard. Because of this vessel, Newburyport considers itself the birthplace of the US Coast Guard.
Another first for Newburyport is the beginning of Nabisco and the New England Oyster Cracker (Crown Pilot Cracker). In 1792 in the building next to the customs house, John Pearson opened a bakery producing hardtack. Hardtack was a type of biscuit stocked on many sailing vessels as a food staple, and like its name, it was hard. This biscuit had a long shelf life (good on a sea going ship), but could break a tooth if you were not careful when eating it. Pearson gained a reputation for producing a quality product, but what really put his business on the map was his invention of Pilot Bread. This product was softer than hardtack and more palatable yet survived long storage times at sea. A variation of this bread developed by Pearson was a smaller, sweeter cracker he called the Barge Biscuit. New Englanders began using the Barge Biscuit as a staple in soups and chowders and it became a New England tradition. The company eventually became Nabisco and the Barge Biscuit was called the Crown Pilot Cracker. New Englanders were so attached to the cracker that when Nabisco discontinued the cracker in 1996 a small uprising occurred in the region between Maine and Connecticut. Nabisco brought back the cracker, but eventually discontinued it again in 2008.
This is one of the Pearson Bakery's boxes at the custom house museum
The weather was quite toasty warm while in Newburyport. Upper 80's and humid which we are not used to this summer. We actually spent a fair amount of time in the air conditioning on the boat during the afternoons. On Tuesday August 20th it was off to Scituate, Massachusetts.
Coming around the tip of Cape Anne
This is a sun fish we saw on the way to Scituate. It looks like a throw-back from the dinosaurs.
There are many varieties of sun fish and they can be found in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They are the heaviest of the bony fishes in the world with adults able to weigh 500 to 2,000 pounds. They are flat like a pancake. Very unusual creature.
Passing Boston about 8 miles off in the distance on our way to Scituate. You can just barley see the skyline.
Once we were settled on our mooring ball in Scituate harbor, we watched as the Coast Guard changed out some of the old channel markers for new ones. Boat TV.
Scituate lighthouse
Scituate is a reasonably sized town. There are amenities such as shops, hardware store, grocery, pharmacy, etc. We had a mooring ball for an overnight. Took the water launch service in to town for dinner.
Pengi riding to dinner with us on the boat shuttle
Scituate mooring field
Mooring field at sunset
Wednesday morning the 21st around 7:30 AM we left Scituate to cross Cape Cod Bay for Provincetown.
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