Maine

We left Boston on LizAnn's birthday, the 27^th of July and sailed to Rockport, Mass. on the north side of Cape Ann. Rockport is a small artsy town with a beautiful performance center that looks out over an anchorage area. We would have loved to attend a performance there just to look out at the water while the music was playing. The fishing shack in the inner harbor is known as “Motif #1” because it has been painted so many times. It was foggy and thunderstorms were passing just as we got in but they passed over and we walked around the town late that afternoon.

The next morning we had more rain and then fog. We waited for the fog to clear some and then headed out around 10:30. Winds were good and we had a broad reach most of the way to Portsmouth, N.H. We took a mooring ball from the Portsmouth Yacht Club whose mooring field is actually across the river in Kittery, Maine. So we actually made it to Maine on the 28^th of July. Another thunderstorm passed after we moored. It was calm when we moored but during the night we got swells into the mooring area and we rolled all night long. It was not comfortable at all.

We sailed on a broad and  then beam reach the next day to a little area called Harpswell Harbor.  It was a great anchorage with good holding and no rolling! Wednesday, July 30th, we motorsailed all day in the fog. It was extremely foggy in Fisherman’s Pass so we decided to take a mooring ball in Tenant's Harbor rather than risk trying to anchor in Long cove not knowing the area and not being able to see if there were other boats nearby. It was so bad that we couldn’t see the dock or the marina building when we got into Tenant’s Harbor and had to call them on the radio to get directions as we passed each buoy in the harbor. We finally found our mooring ball and just stayed on the boat for the night.

Harpswell Harbor

Lighthouse on the way to Fisherman's Pass before it got too foggy

This is the boat right next to us in Tenant's Harbor. If you look really hard, you can make out a mast beyond it on the left and another boat on the right. This harbor is full of boats. You just can't see them. 

July 31^st, we motored through even worse fog (didn’t think it could get worse) up to Penobscott Bay. LizAnn spent the entire day kneeling in the cockpit and peering out to look for boats and lobster pots. The lobster pots were everywhere, making travel in the fog even more difficult. We had lots of contacts on AIS and radar and heard them on the radio (lots of huge commercial ships) but never saw a one. It finally began to clear as we got to Gilkey Harbor at Islesboro, Maine. This was our first real destination in Maine. Friends we had met in Marathon, FL live here and host the SSCA gam August 1 to 3. We anchored in Broad Cove in Gilkey Harbor, just off their back yard. Dick and Kathy DeGrasse have done a transatlantic crossing and have so much advice and knowledge to share. They now spend their summers in Maine and winter on their boat in FL. We took the dinghy over to Warren Island which is a state park and we hiked around the island. There are also free mooring balls at the island and camping on the island.

Entering Gilkey Harbor, Islesboro

Boats in Broad Cove with Maine mountains and mist in background

Next morning: sunny and still

Our walk on Warren Island (State Park)

Lobsterman's shack in Gilkey Harbor

Dinghy drift Friday night. Passing around appetizers and having Happy Hour(s)

Gathered on Dick and Kathy's lawn for the speaker presentation

Dick and Kathy on the left. Our little Irish friends drawing the name for a prize. They picked their own boat name out of the basket!

View of the boats in the harbor for the gam from Dick and Kathy's yard.

 We had a great time at the gam and met lots of other cruisers and saw some we had met down south. We met one family from Ireland who sailed over . The kids were adorable and I could have listened to them talk all day. They had a great speaker at the gam who related his experience of saving a tug and barge off the Florida coast during some really bad weather . It turned out the tug was hauling the NASA fuel cell for the space program(one that was built in New Orleans). He wrote a book about it, “In Peril” by Skip Strong. Those of you interested in boat stuff would probably enjoy it. We also had a great pot luck feast in Dick and Kathy’s yard. There were over 50 boats at the gam and it seems everybody was a good cook!

We left on Sunday and motored to Buck’s Harbor where we got showers( in the outdoor shower ) and did some laundry.  We met two people in the harbor who saw our boat name and stopped to talk to us because they were originally from New Orleans too. Our boat name has turned out to be quite a conversation starter. Most people not from south LA have no idea how to pronounce it or what it means. So that gets them to asking about the name and we meet people that way. Or they are from the New Orleans area and stop to say hello.

 The next day we headed to Southwest harbor on Mt. Desert. We had to motor most of the way that day through Eggemoggin Reach and the Casco Passage.  We took a mooring in Southwest Harbor and met up with Greg’s sister and brother-in-law, Sue and John Moir.  We had fresh lobsters we got from a 13 year old boy who caught them in his own traps that day. They were delicious. Several other friends from Canada had also sailed down to Maine and we spent several days sailing the area and sharing meals and drinks: Hugh and Maria on S/V Suture Self (Hugh is a surgeon, this the name), Phil on S/V Gamblin, and Doug and Denise on S/V Elusive.

Lighthouse at Bass Harbor Head on the way to Southwest Harbor, Mt. Desert, Maine

 August 5^th, we sailed up Somes Sound which is actually the only fjord in the continental U.S. and anchored at the north end of the sound. Phil (S/V Gamblin), Greg and I went into town the next day on the shuttle bus to get some groceries for Phil and a part for our propane hose which had started to leak. We had to order it and have it delivered to Dick and Kathy’s house in Islesboro which we would pick up later. (We also had a new RAM for the autopilot being delivered there because ours was leaking hydraulic fluid. Fortunately, it was still under warranty.) We spent 2 nights in Somes and then sailed to Perry Creek. There were free guest moorings there and we used one.  Sue and I took their kayaks and paddled around the creek. There was a cute little boat house, really more of a floating house than a boat. It had a little outdoor shower and solar panels and their own little lobster traps. It looked very self sufficient. Greg took a hike the next morning with Sue and John and said the views of the sound and bay were beautiful.

Floating house on Perry Creek

Scenery as Sue and I paddled up the creek

Sue in the kayak

LizAnn's first kayak experience

Dinner on Sue and John's boat (S/V Rhythm & Blues)

Sue and Greg on the hike at Pulpit Harbor

Beautiful views on the hike

We then sailed over to Rockland harbor and went to the Maine boats, homes and harbors show that was going on this weekend. Had a great dinner at the Black Pearl restaurant with John and Sue, Hugh and Maria (S/V Suture Self), and Doug and Denise (S/V Elusive), all from Canada. The next day we stopped in Islesboro, visited with Dick and Kathy and picked up our packages and then sailed to Belfast Harbor where we anchored. We walked around the town and picked up a couple of things at the grocery then had dinner on S/V Rhythm & Blues with Sue and John and their daughter, Erin and husband, Jason who had driven down from New Brunswick to sail with them for a few days. It was great to spend time with family we rarely get to see. Sue and John fixed a fantastic pork chop dinner and we all feasted on their boat followed by a game of 7 step rummy. A new card game to us and we weren’t too good at it.

The next day, we sailed around the north end of Islesboro and tacked down East Penobscott Bay to North Haven and anchored in Pulpit Harbor. There is a little cove off the harbor called Cabot Cove which you might remember from the TV show with Angela Lansbury, “Murder, She Wrote.”  It was quite secluded and pretty. We had the Mulvany/Moir clan for dinner on our boat that night followed by a continuation of the rummy game. We dinghied around Cabot Cove the next morning and then sailed to Castine , ME.
 

Pulpit Rock

Moon coming up in Pulpit Harbor

Pretty moonlit night

One of several pretty classic sailboats in the harbor

Looking into Cabot Cove

 We anchored in Smith Cove near Castine and took the dinghy over to a little waterfall and tidal pool area which was really pretty. We had a nice quiet night tucked in behind Sheep Island there.

One of the fantastic estates on the Maine coast

The little waterfall form the tidal pool in Smith Cove

Mussel shells on the shore

Sue and Erin trying to walk into the hard shore through the muck. Their flip-flops kept getting stuck in the mud and coming off their feet.We were quite muddy after this excursion!

In the tidal pool area

John, Jason, Erin and Sue on our boat

On the 12^th of August, we sailed to Camden and explored the town. It has a lot of shops and restaurants  and is quite busy. We stayed at a marina on a mooring ball there but left the next day to go back to Rockland because some weather was coming in and Camden Harbor was open to the wind direction. In Rockland we tied up to a floating dock. However, there was a big (about 50+ feet) trawler about 3 feet in front of us and another dock across our stern. Erin and Jason left that day to return to New Brunswick (fortunately, for them.) We spent the night rocking and rolling and hitting the dock and not getting any sleep. We had to get up about midnight and re-tie the lines because the trawler in front of us had pulled the cleats out of the dock and was coming back on us. We got them re-tied and had to start our engine to hold us off the dock on our stern until we could redo our lines too. Then Greg and the man on a really nice cruising tug (M/V Trilogy) who was across from us had to tie up a sailboat on another dock in front of us because the owners had gone to a hotel for the night and their lines broke loose and the boat was  banging on the dock. Even when we went back to bed around 1:30 a.m., we couldn’t sleep until after 4:00 because the rolling and banging was so bad. The only damage to our boat was the bow light frame got bent when we and  the boat in front of us went bump in the night. Oh well, one sleepless night won’t hurt us. In retrospect, we would probably have done better to be on a mooring or at anchor in the harbor. We’ll know for next time.We walked around Rockland that day and found a little restaurant with a small brewery attached to it called Rock Harbor Restaurant and Brewery. We had a great dinner there and Greg and John got to try all sorts of brews. The owner and brewmaster is a young guy named Dan Pease who started brewing his own beer in college and he came and hung out at our table for a while explaining about the different types of beers he brews and giving the guys samples. It was great fun and he evidently brews some good beer judging by Greg and John's comments. It was a fun night and we wish Dan lots of success.

Bow of our boat just visible on left. This is how close we were at the dock in Rockland.Notice the green and black cleats..

After the storm, all bolts pulled out or bent on this cleat

This one is coming out.

Dinner at Rock Harbor Restaurant was great especially with all the beer samples!

We said good-bye to Sue and John the next morning and headed SOUTH. Got to get back south before the weather turns cold. We had planned to go further, but fog started coming in, so we stopped at Tenant’s Harbor and anchored in Long Cove this time instead of getting a mooring. We ran into S/V Selkie there and saw Justin and the kids in the town library. It’s a beautiful little library with very comfortable reading areas and free wi-fi. We love when we can find that!

 It was clear and sunny the next day but was foggy by 1300. We anchored in The Basin off New Meadow River, Casco Bay. We had to dodge lobster pots all the way up the Bay. The Basin was really a nice anchorage and we stayed 2 nights. The morning after we got there, we took the dinghy in to the Conservancy area and hiked for about 4 hours. It was beautiful. I am sharing my photos of the hike including the multi colored mushrooms we saw. OK, for those of you who think I have lost it or ate too many mushrooms, I confess that in college at UNO I remember making fun of my biology professor who showed slides of fungus and mushrooms he took on his vacation. I just couldn’t believe someone would take pictures of that on their vacation! But here I am 40 or so years later, taking pictures of mushrooms. They were just so colorful and pretty there in the woods. Oh well, laugh if you must.

Views from our hike around the Basin

Eagle's nest in tree about 1/3 the way from the left

Closer up, you can see how large the nest really  is

Old cemetery we saw on our hike. Graves from the 1800's

Greg found some wild blackberries

The size of the stones in Maine is so amazing

One of our favorite dinners: homemade veggie pizza

On Monday, August 18, we sailed all morning making 7 knots. The winds got lighter in the afternoon and we had to motorsail the rest of the way to Kittery. This time we took a mooring in the Back Channel at Kittery Yacht Yard. It was much less rolly here than where we had a mooring on the way north and we had a great night. We went to the miles- long outlet mall the next day and got some bargains on Columbia clothes and a few other things. We also realized that although the engine had been running, the batteries had not charged. Once again, we found another wire that had vibrated loose on the voltage regulator (the new one we had bought) and had to repair it.

Now we are headed South again. More updates soon.....