New England – Week: 10 (Home To New Hampshire!)

August 3rd to 9th, 2026

Day 62 – Monday, August 3rd, 2026 – In: Newburyport, MA

After a great night’s sleep, we woke to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. The weather forecast said it would rain pretty much the entire day. We broke out the umbrellas and raincoats and walked up the street to the Port City Sandwich Company for breakfast. For the rest of the morning, Brenda did some laundry, and I finished up last week’s blog and got this month’s article for Lakeland Magazine finished up and sent out. While she was getting off the boat with the laundry bag, Brenda slipped on the wet dock and banged up her knees a bit. (She is a bit sore, but okay)

At 2:30, the rain finally let up, so we decided to go for a walk into town. We walked down the riverfront, grabbing a couple of geocaches along the way to the east end of town, then went up to Water Street, the main business district. Our theory was to start as far away from the boat as possible and work our way back in case the rain started again.

We walked up and down the downtown streets, stopping into shops and checking out the architecture. Newburyport is a very vital town. There are very few empty storefronts. The buildings are in good repair and have beautiful flower boxes out front. There is a nice mix of gift shops, antique stores, clothing stores, and small restaurants and cafes. It’s a great place to visit. The only downside was that being Monday, a few of the stores were closed. We got a few quick drizzle events, but in general the rain held off.

At 4:30, we had made it back to the marina, so we stopped into The Goat (the restaurant at the end of our dock) for an appetizer and to check out the menus of the many restaurants in the area. We decided on Black Cow Grill, just up the street. We had a nice dinner. Brenda had Sushi, and I went for Calamari and a salad. We headed back to the boat for the evening. Just as we headed out, the rain started again. Not heavy, but steady.

When we got back to the boat, we were greeted with a double rainbow from the setting sun peeking under the clouds!

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Day 63 – Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 – To: Portsmouth, NH
Prescott Park Town Dock

We waited until 10:00 for slack tide before leaving Newburyport. The tide was going out, so it was pushing us against the dock, and the river current meant we didn’t get a time without it. The thrusters did a good job getting us off the dock, and I spun into the current. Brenda was on the back of the boat with a fender. We got off the dock, and while it wasn’t a quick spin, the boat spun into the current. Brenda has a habit of telling me HOW to run the boat, “We’re not spinning,” rather than giving me basic information like “we are about to hit the dock.” The current pushed us back, and she didn’t get the fender over the side in time, so we hit the dock and got the first “ding” in our wrap. Not big, so I guess if we have to get a first ding, that wasn’t bad.

The rest of the exit went smoothly, and we were pushed down the Merrimack River at 6 knots with the engines at idle. Once we exited the river into the ocean, we turned north again and followed the coast. I had planned our route to be about a mile offshore, hoping to see many of the places we visited by land. However, like yesterday, the lobster pots pushed us out about two to three miles to find a clear path. Still, we were able to see the Seabrook, NH Nuclear Power Plant, Hampton Harbor where my father and I used to go deep-sea fishing from, Hampton Beach, the location of many a weekend outing, and up the coast through Rye, Wentworth, New Castle, and to the entrance of Portsmouth Harbor.

In our years living in the area, we never took a boat trip out of Portsmouth Harbor. Portsmouth has a large submarine and naval base on the Kittery, Maine side of the Piscataqua River, which is the entrance to the harbor and the border between Maine and New Hampshire. I had a picture in my mind of what the trip up the river to Portsmouth would look like, but the reality was quite different. At the entrance to the river, there is an old fort, Fort Constitution, with a matching battery on the Maine side to protect the harbor entrance. The river snakes through a mostly residential area, with a few small marinas and fishing docks along the banks. Then the huge Portsmouth Naval Prison building, a derelict structure, rises off of Jamaica Island. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard sits on an island in Kittery, Maine, not Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The facility is primarily a submarine maintenance facility, and as we rounded a corner in the river and into Portsmouth, we could see a submarine in for maintenance. Like other naval facilities we’ve passed through, the naval vessels are kept behind floating fences, and a patrol boat keeps boaters at a safe distance 24 hours a day.

There is a large lift bridge that carries US Route 1 across the river between Portsmouth and Kittery. Our dock was just before the bridge. Like the Merrimack River we just left, the Piscataqua River has a wicked tidal current. As we approached the dock, the tide was coming in, so we went past it to the bridge, waited for a tour boat to pass, then swung around and docked against the current. Our dock was on the outside end of a T-head, which made docking easy. The dock hand was waiting for us, and we were tied up in a few minutes.

Between the current and lots of traffic, which in “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire doesn’t care about no-wake zones near marinas, there are a lot of waves pushing toward the dock. We had been warned about the waves and wake, so we broke out pretty much every fender we had and put them out, and it was a good thing too; almost as soon as we docked, we got hit with three-foot wakes from passing boats. We’ve been told that things calm down after sunset. We hope so, or it will be a LONG 6 days! We tried to get into a more sheltered marina, but even booking 4 weeks out, they were full.

We were expecting a childhood friend to visit this evening, but something came up, and he had to reschedule. Brenda was having a little trouble walking from her fall, so we stayed on the boat for most of the afternoon. At 4:30, we walked into downtown, which is only about two blocks, and went to another “GOAT” restaurant. We thought it funny that there was yet another GOAT restaurant, the third on our trip. We found out that it was the same chain as the one in Newburyport. We had a good dinner, then walked (slowly) back to the boat for the evening.

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Day 64 – Tuesday, August 5th, 2026 – In: Portsmouth, NH

We had a steady stream of visitors on Tuesday! First, my sister Sylvia, her friend Donna, and my Aunt Michelle came to visit. They all live around Laconia, NH, about an hour away. It was so great to see them. It’s been just under a year since we’ve seen Sylvia and years since we’ve seen Michelle and Donna. We had a great visit, giving them a tour of the boat and catching up before going to lunch.

After they left, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to keep the fenders between the boat and the dock. The dock here at Prescott Park is nice, but the boats, especially the lobster boats, going by on the Piscataqua River put up a huge wake. We understand, as the river is running at 5-6 mph and fighting the current upstream requires them to run fast, but we get rocked so much at times that it tore a fender out of its holder! The bulk of the traffic is between 2:00 and 5:00 when the boats are coming back in, and the tide is going out.

A consolation for the rocking is that we are right next to the stage in the park. In the mornings and afternoons, we’ve been serenaded by a children’s summer theatre group practicing their version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The singing is excellent! We get the full production this weekend! This afternoon, we had Devon Gilfillian, a soul singer, setting up and rehearsing in the park for his performance this evening.

The concert started at 6:00, and at around 6:30, Mike Antosca and his wife Mary-Jo arrived for a visit. Mike is our retirement and financial advisor and has played an important role over the last 20 years, helping us build and manage our retirement financial plan. It was great to show him the fruits of his guidance! Thanks, Mike! After a tour and catch-up on the boat, we walked up the street to Cure, an American restaurant for dinner. Mike and Mary-Jo used to live next door to Cure, and were well known there. We had a great dinner with them!

After dinner, we walked back to the boat; the concert was ending as we arrived, so we didn’t get to hear any more of it. But tomorrow night is another concert!

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Day 65 – Thursday, August 6th, 2026 – In: Portsmouth, NH

Thursday we stayed on the boat for most of the morning. Brenda did some housekeeping, and I worked on the computer. Brenda is still feeling the effects of her slip, so she is taking it easy. I was also waiting for a delivery of my engine oil to the local UPS store.

At 1:00, I went for a short walk to see where the lobster boats that zip past us and cause waves that slam us into the dock were going. There is a channel just in front of the boat, but a dock and a corner hide it. I walked through the park and around the corner. There is a dock for the “pirate ship” that we’ve been seeing. It’s a dhow-style boat run by a summer camp program. As I walked by, the campers were scrubbing the decks. Across the creek was the commercial fishing dock with the lobster boats lined up. There is an arch bridge just past that, with an opening wide enough and tall enough for smaller fishing boats to pass into the bay on the other side. There were also a bunch of fishing boats docked there. Now I understand why there is so much traffic!

When I got back to the boat, I got a text that my oil delivery had been REFUSED! We had other packages, so we got an Uber and headed to the UPS store. The plaza where the UPS store is has a supermarket and a Hallmark Store as well, so we took advantage of the trip and stopped at both. Brenda has been collecting Hallmark Christmas ornaments since high school. Each year she gets the new ornaments in her favorite series. The first batch is released in July, and the more popular ones and the limited editions sell out quickly. This is the first Hallmark we’ve been near, so we stopped there first, and she got her first round of ornaments, including the last one, a limited-edition piece, which she got at the display.

After Hallmark, we went to the Market Basket supermarket and did a bit of food shopping. Then wheeled the cart to the UPS Store to get our packages before we got a ride back. I figured there was an issue with the delivery, like the oil leaking, which is why they refused it. When I talked to the counter person, they said, “Oh, it was too heavy, so we didn’t take it!” WHAT!!! The whole reason for the UPS Store is to handle packages. The UPS delivery drivers do the heavy lifting. I said that I had sent an email ahead and called to let them know it was coming. He said that they tried to call me, but there were no missed calls on my phone. It was too late to do anything about it, as they won’t re-deliver once refused. I picked up my other packages and left disgusted.

We got an Uber back to the marina and unloaded. I was going through my boxes and noticed that some of the items I was expecting from Amazon were missing. Just then, my phone rang; it was the UPS Store. “Oh, we forgot to give you two of your boxes. You can come back and pick them up.” One of the problems with Amazon is that you don’t know whether an order will arrive in a single package with multiple items or in individual packages. So, until you unpack them, it’s hard to tell, and they don’t give you an easy way to see how many packages they have split things up into on their app or website. We were expecting company, so I will have to go back tomorrow.

We were expecting my accountant, Jim, around 5:00. At 4:30, he sent us a message that he got tied up at the office and wouldn’t be able to make it, so we rescheduled for Sunday.

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Day 66 – Friday, July 8th, 2026 – In: Portsmouth, NH

Friday morning, I found a local Volvo dealer that had my engine oil in stock. They were only $1 more per gallon than the online price, and since it was in New Hampshire, there was no sales tax! I booked a multi-stop Uber ride, first to take me back to the UPS store, and then to Great Bay Marine to pick up the oil. We had company coming at 12:00, so I wanted to be back by then. I picked up the packages, asked to speak to the manager, but he “wasn’t available.” With an Uber waiting, I didn’t want to hang around for him, and I figured complaining wouldn’t do any good anyway. I took my packages and left.

The oil pickup went well. No issues. They had it ready for me when I got there. It was a quick trip back to the boat. Actually, it would have been shorter to go to the marina by boat. It was only 4 miles upriver, but by car it was over 7 miles.

We loaded the oil onto the boat and got ready for our company. Brenda’s cousin Scott, his wife Kaydee, and his two kids, Cameron and Rachel, stopped by to visit. We haven’t seen Scott in over 13 years. He visited with Bethanny in Florida earlier this summer, and it was great to see them. Cameron and Rachel are super young people! Very confident and polite. We caught up on their racing and sports activities.

When they left around 2:00, I decided to spend the afternoon doing our oil change. This is the first time I’ve done the oil on the new boat. I watched the last one, so I had a basic idea of what needed to be done. Still, it’s never as easy as it looks. My mechanic, Michael, rarely gives estimates because you never quite know what you’ll get into. “A boat is like a box of (melted) chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Overall, the process went well. I did the generator first, as that was the easiest. I learned that sucking the oil out through the dipstick tube takes a long time, even when the engines are hot. I’m going to order a valve for the drain plug for the next one! Next came the engines. The pump quickly emptied the oil from the engines. The two oil filters came off without issue, and even though they are mounted upside down, they are designed to prevent a bunch of oil from spilling when you remove them. The oil fill cap is at the back of the engine and a little hard to get to. I had a pour spout that screws onto the oil jugs, and I added a bit of hose to it so it reached. This worked well, except that it took several minutes to empty each gallon of oil. I’ll have to get a better funnel for the next change. I took my time so that I didn’t make a mess, and by 6:00 we were done and picking everything up.

I was soaked with sweat from the heat and had been in the direct sun for most of the work, so I took a quick shower. They were having a performance of Cinderella in the park as we walked up the street to The Press Room for dinner.

When we got back from dinner, we listened to the end of Cinderella and watched the mist rise from the river again.

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Day 67 – Saturday, August 8th, 2026 – In: Portsmouth, NH

Saturday was another day of visiting! In the morning, I worked on a few projects around the boat and on the blog. At 11:00, Brad Chappell, his wife Shelley, and friends Peter and Carol came by. Brad and his family own Chappell Tractor. They were one of my first larger website customers when I started my web development company back in 2000. We worked together for several years, and have stayed in touch since. It was great to see Brad again after so long! The Chappells were great to work with!

One day after we had worked together for a couple of years, I received a FedEx envelope from a law office. Inside was a “Lawyer’s Letter” stating that I had ruined Chappell’s business and that they were filing a lawsuit against me. I didn’t know what to think! As far as I knew, everything was going fine. I called Kent Chappell, Brad’s father, and asked what we had done. He gave me a dressing-down about the interruption of business and the corruption of his son’s morals, on and on, then ended with “April Fools!” It was April 1st! I learned that they are famous for their sometimes elaborate April Fools’ jokes. The next year, I was asked to mail photos of a front door in Portsmouth’s Historic District that had been decorated with cheap lawn ornaments. The letter was supposed to be a complaint from the “Historic Commission”. They didn’t want it to be postmarked from Milford, NH, where their office is, so I took it to Manchester to mail it for them. The house in the photos was Peter’s.

After Brad and company left, we stayed on the boat working on the blog and doing some route planning. We had dinner reservations at the Portsmouth Gas Light Company for 5:00. Being Saturday, the traffic on the river, causing wakes, was more than usual, so at 3:00 we had had enough rocking, abandoned ship, and went for a walk downtown. The downtown area in Portsmouth has always been vibrant. Lots of small shops and restaurants with many people just walking around. We used to come here for a day’s outing when we lived in Manchester.

We walked around and ended up at the restaurant just before 5:00. We had a table reserved, but the bar faces into the kitchen, and there were seats right in front, so we took those instead. Portsmouth Gas Light is known for using a wood grill to cook their food. The grill is just behind the bar, and it was fun to watch them cooking on an open oak log fire.

After dinner we walked back to the boat, and sat on the back deck listening to Cinderella up on the stage again.

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Day 68 – Sunday, August 9th, 2026 – In: Portsmouth, NH

We had another bright sunny day for our last day in Portsmouth. In the morning, we took a walk on the north side of downtown. We wanted to get a photo of the famous Portsmouth Tugboats. We wandered around, checking out a few shops until around noon. It was another warm day, 90° and humid. Brenda’s left leg is still bothering her from her fall, and as we were right near the Thirsty Moose, we decided to stop in to cool down and have a rest.

Aside from a huge beer selection, the Thirsty Moose is known for their Whole Wings. They keep the drumstick and wing connected. They also wood-fire grill them instead of frying. Very tasty!

After our snack, we walked back to the boat. I puttered around with small boat projects and getting the boat ready for travel tomorrow. It was another rocky afternoon with all the boats buzzing past on the river.

At 5:00 we walked back into town for dinner. Neither of us was very hungry after our afternoon snack, so we just went to a local pub. Brenda had what they called Lobster & Scallop Pie. It was large chunks of lobster meat and scallops in a Ritz cracker filling. I had a steak-and-cheese sub.

After dinner, we took a walk through Prescott Park where we were docked. Cinderella was just getting started, and the area around the performance stage was packed! We walked to the other end of the park where they have flower gardens and strolled through the beds, taking pictures of the flowers and the many bumblebees. A Hawk was sitting on the roof of one of the buildings looking for supper (or digesting, we couldn’t be sure).

We looked through the art gallery, then headed back toward the boat. We stopped to watch the performers for a few minutes before heading back to the boat. It was a busy evening on the docks. Lots of boats coming and going, so we sat out on the back deck for the rest of the evening, watching boats and Cinderella.

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Weekly Recap

This week was all about coming home to New Hampshire, the 13th state on our trip. We had a great time visiting with family and friends and exploring what had changed in one of our favorite towns, Portsmouth. We stayed put for the week, so we only traveled 25 miles. Brenda took a bit of a tumble when she slipped on a wet dock, our first injury of the trip.

Next week we cross into our 14th and final state, Maine! We plan to work our way slowly up the coast, visiting some of the quaint Maine fishing villages on our way to Bar Harbor.