Ipswich Bay To Gloucester via the Annisquam River and Blynman Canal

Sunday, July 28 2019

We left our mooring buoy at Ipswich Bay Yacht Club and since this was a "shakedown cruise" I wanted to try every possible system on board so we decided to try out to anchor at a nice sandy beach across from the moorage field.   We motored out there and then tried to find a good spot to anchor that would not get us fouled on the mooring buoys that were already in place, and that would not have us hit other boats.   Caroline also wanted to try and go for a swim.

After several attempts we did manage to get the anchor to hold, but the current was too strong for swimming and I was not happy with our position relative to other boats, so we raised the anchor, but we could say that we had successfully done our first anchoring, even if it was only for five minutes!
First Raising of the Anchor on Sunny Tug


The portion of the trip in the ocean, through Ipswich Bay, was very pleasant.  Caroline took the opportunity to pilot Sunny Tug for awhile. 
Caroline at the Helm


Our destination for the day was Gloucester, MA.  Low tide was a 1:21 pm at Annisquam and we were following this tidal river down to Gloucester.


Part of the route is through the Blynman Canal.  Since it was Sunday afternoon the river and canal were very busy!   Hint!  --- If people are walking out towards your boat, it is probably too shallow for you to be there!

People on the beach.....  Very close to where we were navigating!

As we continued down the Blynman Canal we came to two bridges that we had to navigate.  One was open, but required a hard right hand turn and only one boat could navigate through the opening at a time.  We started the turn and thankfully did not have any traffic coming the other way!

Bridge Opening at our Request
The second bridge was a bascule bridge that only had a clearance of eight feet.  With our antennas up I have a clearance of 13'.  I called the bridge master on Channel 13 and, though I did not receive an answer, the bridge was duly opened and myself and several other boats went through and into Gloucester Bay. 

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