Third Leg: Chatham to Provincetown

A very simple trip this day--get out of Chatham early on falling tide and then jet north.  No special currents to consider along the way, no obstacles, nothing tricky, just 40 nautical miles of open water until I drop anchor inside Long Point, Provincetown.  (If Cape Cod is a fishhook, then Long Point is the barb on the end.)  At any speed averaging much less than 4 knots I might be facing arrival in darkness, therefore I'd better plan to make my anchorage with the help of gps.  Just as I will have along Monomoy, I intend to enjoy paralleling the Cape Cod National Seashore, and would love to put ashore at some point.  However, even if I had time, it is pretty rare for the beaches there to have no surf.  Even if I felt safe anchoring, our dingy will likely be limited to the inflatable kayak: the ride in would be exciting at best, and the ride out impossible.

The only wrinkle in that day--assuming favorable and moderate wind--might be the anchorage: Cape Cod Bay has 10 or12 foot tides, and a poor choice or even a little wind shift could set us ashore for hours.  Our trip to Provincetown a few years ago was marred by the boat grounding not once, not twice, but three times.  The first night, anchoring in darkness, we woke to find ourselves high up on gently-shelving beach seeming miles from the water.  The second night I anchored in deeper water, but still got stuck.  The third night we anchored beside a steep-to shore, parallel to the beach, in a good 10 feet of water.  During the night, a wind shift put us in the shallows--with predictable results!