We have been moored right off downtown Boston for the last 10 days.  A great spot, and a real change of pace from the tropical islands we have been visiting for so many months. A change in weather, and in noise and crowds.

Boston is one of those cities that had the good fortune to be penned in by water, so unlike a lot of cites it never really got a chance to sprawl.  As a result, the downtown is easily explored on foot, and by subway or trolley car.  We have been exploring and touristing around visiting historic and scenic sights.

One downside, is that when we arrived the harbor was experiencing an algae bloom, so the surface of the water was covered with a brown scum, which now means our boat has a terribly scummy waterline.  Once we get in clean water again, scrub brushes will come out!

Of course everywhere we go we have SOME boat project that we get to work on.  Here our big project was the installation of the new radar. In concept a pretty simple project, and mostly it was.  Connections are pretty straightforward.  The only challenge was getting the wire and the antennae up the mizzen mast.  I think Karen hauled me up the mast half a dozen times as part of the project, meaning she can skip the gym for a week!

We’ll be leaving here on Monday morning, for another boat project.  We’ll be installing a new transducer for our sonar.  Since this means putting a hole in the bottom of the boat, it requires the boat be out of the water.  It is a bit of a challenge around here finding a boatyard that allows DIY projects, but we have found one in Beverly. We’ll be there for two or three days, and then off for points further north.