August 19, 2026 Boston, Mass.

 Wed.-Fri., August 19-21, 2026  Plymouth Mass. to Boston Mass  45 miles and 4.8 hours

Mid-morning departure.  No hurry.  4.5 hour cruise to Boston so leaving at 9:30 still gets us in early afternoon.  Awakened at 4:30 as all the lobster boats in the harbor started their motors and headed out.  Didn't take long before the silence and sleep continued. Uneventful trip. Nice day, seas overall pretty calm.  Getting used to spotting the lobster traps again.  Good practice for the even more densely packed ones we'll see in Maine.

Nice calm day.  A passing boat generated the only waves we saw all day

Bit of a cruise all the way into Boston Harbor and Constitution Marina. Usual heads up required for the speeding catamaran ferries coming from the front. behind and the side - sometimes all at once! We stayed at this marina during our trip last year.  Convenient walking distance to downtown and all the historic sights. But it is a tight marina and they pack 'em in.   Limited space for boats our size so we were glad they could accommodate us.  Just glad for a good first mate, a knowledgeable dockhand and not much wind or current during our arrival.   Long day of walking around in Plymouth on Tuesday, so decided to relax all afternoon and recoup for walking around on Thursday.  

Got us packed in pretty tight.  Wasn't much maneuvering room as we spun and backed in

Did I mention we were packed in pretty tight?

We did much more tourist sightseeing during our last visit here.  You can read about it in our blog posting from Sept. 19, 2025.   As You Wish - Our Adventures: September 19-21, 2025 Boston

Thursday we hit our favorite area - Little Italy.   Street decorated for upcoming St Anthony festival. Annual event held in the North End since 1918.  Pass by a couple of older gentlemen squabbling in Italian.  Sfogliatelle, French horn and an elephant ear pastry for breakfast at Modern Bakery - one of several outstanding pastry shops,  

Streets decorated for St. Anthony Festival

Unfortunately, the festival is next weekend after we're gone

Breakfast of Champions - fresh pastries

A slice of square pizza from Galleria Umberto.  Still run by 4th generation of original owners. Opens at 10:45 and when they're out of their famous sheet pan pizzas they close up for the day - usually well before 2 PM. Arrived too late on our last visit, but not today!  Got in line behind the other customers stretching out the door and waited my turn.  A thinner Sicilian crust that's light and airy with just a hint of crunch, good sauce and cheese.  Yummy. Worth the wait and all the hype for a whole in the wall looking place. 

Yup. Roll-up door is down and done for the day.

Walked around a bit more.  Visited the 1899 St. Leonard's Church built by the Italian Catholic immigrants and still conducting mass in English and Italian. Very elaborate and beautiful interior.  They have a garden area with statues of St. Anthony and Francis of Assisi.  Both Italian Franciscan Friars who lived at the same time during the turn of the 12th century.  More walking about. Checked out some souvenir shops and even bought a shirt and cap.  Had early dinner at La Famiglia Giorgio's.  Recommended during our last visit by a native Bostonian.  Excellent food and huge portions, so plenty of leftovers for another two meals.  Chicken Marsala for Martha and Eggplant Rotolini for John. 

Ornately decorated interior of St. Leonards Church.
The rotunda forces you to look heavenward

Incorrectly thought this was a statue of St. Francis. Actually is St. Anthony. 
 Should have known better. Francis usually has animals around him, not children

This is St. Francis.  Odd depiction as Francis
 lived 1200 years after the crucifixion.

Dinner at La Famiglia Giorgio's.  Optical illusion that my platter is smaller. 
 And these are platters - not plates!!

Friday - rain overnight and into the morning but let up by 10:00.  Gave us time to head over to the Haymarket Farmers Market.  Only open Friday and Saturday.  One of our fun experiences last trip.  Huge selection of fruits and veggies. No farmers but basically just a bunch of wholesalers selling for dirt cheap. You need to know what you want in advance as you walk up and down the aisles. Before buying anything check everyone's price.  Same package of blueberries are 2/$5, $2 or $1 depending on vendor. Walked away with a bunch of goodies.  Then walked over to the Star Market which is a regular grocery store for some other essentials. Milk, butter, bananas, bourbon, Kahlua, etc.    Took it all back to the boat, unloaded and found space in frig or freezer for most everything.

Just one vendor's stand. Probably 50+ of them overall. 

Some vendors specialized in fruits while others in veggies. 

Chilled for a bit then headed to Night Shift Brewery.  Only one within walking distance.  Seems like it disappointed us on our last visit and did so again this time. Decided that since we sampled Boston's best Sicilian pizza yesterday, we needed to sample Boston's best Neapolitan pizza for dinner.  Arrived about 5:45 to a line out the door waiting, which wasn't moving too quickly.  Decided Martha would hold our spot while I ran a few blocks away for some more pastries.   Got back with plenty of time to spare.  Took about 50 minutes to get seated in Pizza Regio's dining room.  Nothing fancy but been in business for 100 years. Excellent pizza.  Thin, brick oven baked.  Just plain cheese for us although they have a huge variety of other toppings.  The dough has just a slightly different taste which I found impossible to place. They say it's a special strain of yeast.  I just know it was good.  We're pigs - ate the entire pie.

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing"!!

Waiting line was still out the door when we left at 7:45

Lighting up the streets for us as we leave Little Italy and the North End

Back at the boat I sautéed 2 pounds of assorted mushrooms from the market trying to condense them for storage while Martha took care of a couple loads of laundry while we have the chance.  Didn't do any real touristy things on this visit other than spend time in Little Italy. Not a bad place to eat your way through for two days. Thankfully plenty of walking involved to work it all off.

No sunsets while we were in Boston. Have to make do with 
the lit up Bill Russell Bridge over the Charles River. 

Journey for August 19, 2026

August 18, 2026 Plymouth, Mass.

 Tuesday, August 18, 2026  New Bedford to Plymouth, Mass.  54 miles and 5.5 hours

During our trip last year we skipped a visit to Plymouth as we were in max travel time mode trying to stay ahead of some impending rough weather.  Seemed like a good opportunity to visit this year.  We needed an early start out of New Bedford to hit the Cape Cod Canal with a favorable current and that would put us into Plymouth around noon giving us time for a visit.  Plan worked out well.  Out of New Bedford at 7 AM.  A bit of a cooler cruise out to and up Buzzards Bay.  Weather was overcast and the northerly breeze was in our face. Waters relatively calm - just a slight choppiness. Made good time through the canal.  Railroad bridge is only thing that could hold us up, but it remained in the raised position during our transit.  Speed limit is 10mph through the canal which we were hitting with throttles in idle mode - so very favorable push. Remaining bridges are both high rise fixed allowing larger cargo ships to use the canal. 

Overcast morning but when the sun did break through
 it was blinding as we were headed eastward 

Making way for some commercial traffic in the canal

The lift railroad bridge getting a new coat of paint.
 A mere 7' of clearance when lowered.

Once out of the canal it was evident we had hit the Atlantic lobstering waters.  Lobster trap markers have begun.  Not too many and very randomly placed so needed a constant focus.   Seas settled down to flat by the time we approached Plymouth and the meandering waterway that leads in.  We have a mooring ball reserved for one night located right in front of the town wharf where the cruise ship American Glory was parked.  Caught the launch into town and since we didn't have much for breakfast were ready for a meal.  A local recommended Woods Seafood right on the water.  Very good fried fish.  Big portions and quite reasonable.  No mistaking Plymouth's main industry - it relies on tourism.  Waterfront has a couple of wharfs that service visiting American cruise line ships, whale watching cruises, the Mayflower replica, and offloading the commercial lobster boats.

Replica of the Mayflower built in 1957 in England and sailed to Plymouth. 
About 110 feet long with a 25 foot beam.

Cruise ship American Glory at the town wharf

Whale watcher ships went in and out all day

   Nice park areas connect the entire length of the waterfront with the pavilion housing Plymouth Rock in the center of it all.  Tourist shops and restaurants on the opposite side of the street and then Main Street shopping a block further up. Multiple monuments scattered around in the parks.  Found the local brewery - also closed on Tuesday.  Lucky for us, guys working at the brew house in back were working and able to sell me a mixed 4 pack to go.  Some ice cream, more walking, more picture taking. 

Pavillion at the site of Plymouth rock

Plymouth Rock. 
They say it used to be three times the size but during the late 1700's
and 1800's people were allowed to remove a chip from it as a souvenir

Line of houses dating to 1700's as we walk up to Main Street

Pilgram Hall.  Museum containing Pilgram artifacts.
Unfortunately closed Monday and Tuesdays

The Pilgrim Mother Statue honoring the women
who braved the trip on the Mayflower

Massasoit Statue pays homage to the Wampanoag Indian leader
who allied with the Pilgrims and contributed to their survival.

William Bradford was the first governor of the colony
 and lead it through it's difficult first years 

The Immigrant Memorial is a recent addition.  Three sided and made of stainless steel.
It recognizes those who followed in the Pilgrim's footsteps
seeking freedom and opportunity. 

The Pilgrim Sarcophagus contains the remains of those who perished
 during the first winter.  Roughly half of the 103 Pilgrims died. 

Watched the American Glory depart the docks only to have the American Pioneer dock not an hour later.  Town art project consists of multiple fiberglass seals that have been named and painted.  Challenged ourselves to find as many as possible before heading back to the boat. 

American Glory passes behind the Mayflower as it departs Plymouth. 
  American Glory accommodates 100 passengers and 50 crew. 
Virtually the same as the Mayflower carried. 

American Pioneer making its arrival at the Plymouth docks 

Can you find As You Wish ?

Did you have a favorite??

Full day for us between getting up early, traveling, and touristing.  Could spend another day here to visit the museums but we have reservations for a slip awaiting in Boston.  Perhaps we'll stop again on the way back south.

Very full harbor.  We were the largest boat moored. 

Getting towards sunset and the lobster boats are secured for the evening. 
 Heard them all leaving at 4:30AM

Journey for August 18, 2026