Provincetown Massachusetts sits at the very tip of Cape Cod Mass. This makes it a very easy and convenient sail from Boston, the Cape Cod Canal, even Nantucket Mass or Portland Maine.

I’d asked Liam where he wanted to spend his Birthday month and his response was immediately that he wanted to spend it in PTown (Provincetown’s affectionate nickname). We arrived a few days before June 1st from Boston after an uneventful and pleasant sail. We slid into the harbor and went down to our favorite anchorage spot.

There are a few places to anchor in Provincetown but our personal favorite is all the way in, past the marina, past the Coast Guard Station, and past the municipal moorings. Right on the edge of the shallows. It’s key to anchor in deep enough water since the tides here are significant and the water shallows quickly. We typically anchor just about on top of the marker that’s in ActiveCaptain. 8ft of water at the lowest of the low tides and 20 ft of water at high tide.

There are several things about this anchorage that are great. First is that there are several folks who have municipal moorings that live on their boats in PTown for the summer, the whole summer, it’s certainly tempting and something I’m seriously considering. You’re on the edge so it’s mostly quiet with some noise coming from the clubs on shore after dark and the harbor seals having domestic disputes on shore in the mornings. It’s also well protected with excellent holding. Every time we anchor we always end up with a beautiful circle on the anchor monitor after a couple of weeks.

Another wonderful thing about this anchorage is that it’s super close to “Capt. Jack’s Wharf” which is a series of seasonal cabins out on a wharf. The owners rent out their cabins for much of the summer which makes it an excellent place to stick guests if you are able to get any to come and visit you. Capt. Jack’s has a free public dinghy dock that makes getting to shore a breeze. And of course everyone on the wharf from the caretaker to the owners and the guests are all amazing and kind and fun to chat with.

There is one thing to watch though. The dinghy dock at the wharf sits on the sand at low tide so you’ll need to ensure that you don’t need to go anywhere the two hours before low tide and the two hours after low tide. So that’s only 4 hours of no go time each day (yes I know there are two low tides but one usually happens in the middle of the night).

From the wharf it’s a short walk into town. Most everything in PTown is to be found along one street, Commercial Street, and the Wharf is no exception. The town is an interesting mix of seafood, an abundance of art, and overwhelming queerness that is so prevalent it stops being queer.. If that makes sense. Essentially PTown is so safe and accepting, and has had such a long history as a LGBT save place that everything just seems normal.

I was expecting a larger crowd for Pride month though and was honestly disappointed. Turns out the “real party” happens at the town’s Carnival in August which may actually predate Stonewall.

It was still an excellent place to be for Pride month. And there are certainly places where I love going with my son since I can see a physical change in him when we arrive. PTown is one of those places. The first time we went to PTown it took a bit but once we started to mingle with the folks who were there I even noticed him walking taller and more confident. Seeing that transformation in my kid.. well PTown will always have a special place in my heart for that.

There weren’t many Pride month events that we did, we’re the early to bed crowed and not really party folks. So the parties and events that were late kinda just slipped by us. And there were a few events during the day that were fun. We did the rally, the 5K, and a few other events.

PTown is also an excellent place to sail into and stay for a while. The grocery store is just up a few streets from Commercial and a short walk from the dinghy dock. The hardware store is on Commercial street and right in the middle of the action. And there is a free pump out boat that is run by the Harbormaster’s office. I think once I end up with a watermaker I really will spend a whole summer there because the only thing they don’t have is a water delivery boat. (There is water on the dock by the town Dinghy Dock, deep enough for the average sailboat to pull up to and certainly good for water cans in the dinghy).

Sadly Ryan had signed up for a Manufacturing Job Training program back home in Maine so we ended up needing to head out so he could get there by the 20th. Armed with our calendar we headed out and discovered that we didn’t have a working transmission. It was rough weather and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction so after sailing and being pushed out to sea for 10 hours or so we turned around and headed back. Sailed back to our anchoring spot and anchored under sail.

Ryan still needing to get up to Brunswick Maine we put him on the Provincetown Express to Boston where he grabbed the Downeaster Train up to Maine and grabbed a hotel for the night.

We fiddled with the Transmission but ultimately couldn’t get it working. So we left the anchorage under sail and made our way home to Casco Bay Maine. We called the marina we were scheduled to stay at and they said they wouldn’t really be able to help us out with our transmission and that we should look elsewhere.

So while underway we called Spring Point Marina, which is where we spent time last summer doing work on the boat and they both remembered us but offered to help. Turns out the service team at Spring Point Marina is also booked up for most, basically all, of the season but the staff there said they’d help us find someone, anyone, to come over and help us swap out the transmission and do any other work we need. Once we were there everyone we met started pulling out their phones to get us contact information for mechanics who might be able to help. .. BUT That is another story.