Rockport, MA

It was a beautiful day on Saturday, July 27 as we left our Gloucester mooring at 8 a.m. bound for Rockport. We passed the Thacher Island Twin Lights off the east coast of Cape Ann. They were erected in 1771 and appropriately nicknamed “Ann’s Eyes.” All the attendees of the recent MTOA Rendezvous received a copy of The Lighthouse Handbook of New England and the Canadian Maritimes so now we can learn about the scores of lighthouses we are passing on our cruise.   Fun fact about these lighthouses is that they were the first ones in America to mark a dangerous spot rather than a harbor entrance. 

 We also passed Straitsmouth Island Light that guides ships into the busy harbor of Pigeon Cove in Rockport.

By 2:15 we found an anchorage in Rockport Harbor by the beach that was full of people enjoying the warm summer day.  After a couple of attempts to set the anchor in what seemed to be a very rocky bottom, we found a spot where it held.  Our anchorage was across from the town’s performing arts center featuring a huge window with a view of the harbor.

We made the short dinghy ride to the inner harbor and tied up at the dinghy dock. The tides here are quite dramatic and with no floating dinghy docks there are places that one has to climb a very tall ladder attached to the rocky walls. 

Rockport is yet another beautiful town on Cape Ann with colorful shops, old houses, and lots of tourists. 

As we strolled down the Main Street we went by the iconic Modif #1, the red boat house made famous by many Cape Ann artists.  It is considered to be  the most painted building in the world!

As we continued to the less touristy part of town we found the shops and galleries to be much more to our liking. So much so that I succumbed to buying a blouse at an attractive shop called Flax.  Jonny and Archie patiently waited in the comfortable porch chairs with another gentleman and his dogs doing the same while his wife was also inside. 

That evening our MTOA friends, Scott and Mary Coles, came by and we all went out to dinner at a restaurant in Gloucester called the Salt Water Grill and Pub.  It was hard to get a reservation on a Saturday night in July in this bustling vacation spot but we obviously were successful. We enjoyed our evening together exchanging cruising stories.  They live in nearby Ipswich but keep their boat in Stuart, FL and spend the winter on it in the Bahamas. 

Heading back to Zendo, we made the long climb down the ladder to the dinghy since the tide was very low.  We always enjoy our time in the charming, artsy town of Rockport. Our next stop is beautiful Newburyport.