Turning South

We arrived in Acadia Nation Park on Mount Desert, ME on Wed Aug 14th and this is where we intend to stay a while before turning south. The approach from Frenchboro is unfortunately really foggy and we are glad to have radar working among these small islands. We encounter a lot of boat traffic as we approach Southwest Harbor as lots of boats appear to be heading out. We have a little better visibility as we enter Somes Sound, the only fjord in the continuous USA and very impressive it is too. There are huge steep walls arising right from the edge of the sound and the water is over a hundred feet deep in places. Not quite as impressive as Alaska and Scandinavia but unique in these parts.

Somesville mill pond

Somesville bridge

The local village is called Somesville after its founder, it was once the center for the area with water mills cutting wood and grinding flour as well as a nearby quarry. We toured the library the small museum and a local art gallery. They were all very interesting and we enjoyed the quiet walk and peaceful surrounding but lamented the traffic which pours past here. We returned to Moosetracks and found Unicorn was in the harbor, a Swedish couple we had met at the SSCA GAM, we said hello and they invited us over for sundowners.

Ahh nice couple

The Park has a great free bus service that runs all over the island and centers around Bar Harbor. So our first trip was there as it is a bit of a pilgrimage for Liz as this is where several of her Moose themed tee-shirts are from. We found the first bus and were in Bar harbor around 10am. The “Cool as a Moose” store was just around the corner as we got out of the park visitor center. Liz spent a good time saying hello to all the Moose who are there awaiting new homes, they almost started a party for her but realized they need to be on their best behavior. Liz shopped as only she can, try on everything with a moose on it! So we came away with 3 tee-shirts for her birthday in a few weeks. The rest of the morning we walked the high street and shops again admiring the plethora of moose trinkets. We finished the morning with a walk of the Bar at Bar Harbor to the adjoining island. The tide was well out and we had plenty of time. We returned to a lovely lunch on the high street in downtown to people watch for a while.

Liz's favorite store

Their logo

Moose awaiting a new home

The next day we had a few bus rides to the lighthouse at Bass Harbor and walked down to the lighthouse and rocks below. A lovely spot with great views but unfortunately the lighthouse is now someone's home so you cannot tour it. After this we walked into Bass Harbor and on the way Liz found some blackberry bushes and stopped for several minutes while we picked some. We also spotted our only deer on the island while approaching the village. At the harbor we met some artists painting the scenery. When Liz was talking to one particular lady she mentioned our cruise and the Lady says “oh I live on Elbow Key in the Abaco’s”. It turns out she was watching Oliver and Cici’s wedding on the beach as her daughter friend was to be married their this year too. Again what a small world this is! We caught the bus back to Southwest harbor and had a picnic on the sea front by the coast guard station. After that we walked around town and visited antique stores and chandleries as well as a grocery store. Later that night we had Hakan and Anna over for sundowners & blackberry pie on Moosetracks and bid them farewell as they were leaving tomorrow.

Somes Sound

Well it is a national park after all so we decided to walk some trials, Devin let Liz choose and guess what.... she chose the highest and longest! So we caught the bus to the nearest point on the Cadillac Mountain North Ridge trail. It was a fabulous walk up the ridge in the morning and an easier rise than we expected. The height gain is only around 1,400 feet so much easier than the Munroe’s we were used to in Scotland. The views all the way up, at the top and going down were fabulous. We took the South Ridge path down as we had no car and could use the bus to return to Bar Harbor. The total trail was around 12 miles so it was a pretty vigorous day so we decided to stop a while in Bar Harbor and have ice cream before returning to Moosetracks.

Bar Harbor from N ridge

The South ridge

Our Mountain Guide

The park was a great deal of fun and we felt we could stay longer only a weather window had opened and we could get some North winds to take us SW so we decided to make the jump. We headed out to sea from Mount Desert in the SW winds which blow consistently around this time of year. The shift was due early evening so we kept close hauled to the wind all day. Unfortunately the shift didn’t arrive until near midnight and that was 6 hours of close hauled sailing and 40 degrees more to sea than we wanted. So each time we were contemplating tacking we got little shifts and made a nice arc in our course as we came around to a westward heading over several hours. Well all this meant we missed the Isles of Shoal as we couldn’t head far enough west. Ahh well we did make Cape Cod and Province town with a lot less motoring. It is also nearly 200 miles south from where we were and therefore we had warmed up quite a bit too!

Somes Sound Fjord

Whales on the way south

Sunset arriving at Provincetown

Provincetown is on the vey tip of Cape Cod and is perhaps most famous for the first landing of the Mayflower pilgrim's. Indeed it was here all the men signed the Mayflower Compact the first self governing document in the USA. We enjoyed a nice walk along the causeway in the harbor to the beaches on the outer bank and then found a huge surprise. We didn’t know this was the nudist beach area! So we crossed over the back to avoid most of it and walked a mile to the car park and firm trails as opposed to crossing the marshes. After an unplanned much longer walk than intended we had a very late lunch and enjoyed some of Provincetown.

Walking the causeway

P-Town lighthouse

The next day was the Provincetown parade and carnival. Well for those that don’t know this is a very gay pride type event with some very revealing costumes and floats. We decided to go in early and tour the Pilgrims monument and museum first. The monument sits on the highest point in town and affords great views of the Cape it is build of Maine granite which was hand cut on site in 1907-10 and stands 252 feet high, the tallest all granite structure in the USA and modeled after the Torre Del Mangia tower in Siena, Italy. It was quite a hike up but easier as they had ramps not stairs a lot of the way. The museum was a lot larger than we thought too with many exhibits of local life and a local hero Donald MacMillan who was a great explorer of the Artic. After the museum we descended the hill to watch the carnival, I think the pictures tell you more than we can, it was a blast and very entertaining.

Pre-Acts



Cesars Palace



Circ de Solei



Contrasts?



Elvis is alive



Old show girls




Young show girls

Our Favorite



Next years theme - Comic strips



After P-Town we got great wind to beam reach across Cape Cod Bay at 6-7 knots to the Cape Cod Canal, we dropped sails once in the canal as it winds a lot and is pretty narrow for tacking. We rushed through again at over 9 knots due to the current. We turned off again at Onset to anchor for a few nights and explore the places we missed in our rush going north to Maine. The town is small but a shopping mall is only a 2 mile walk out from the dock. So we walked out to Wal-Mart and did a little shopping to top off groceries and also replace our now defunct backpack that the zippers had all corroded on. We stopped in town on the way back to check out the laundry for a run tomorrow as well. The following day we did the laundry and in the afternoon we chilled out. We waited for a good tide to leave Onset and therefore left after lunch but not before we took the opportunity to fill diesel and water and pump out as the diesel prices are good here.

So on Sunday afternoon we tacked in brisk winds down buzzards bay. Now this is pretty special too as we both learned our USPS navigation course on charts of Buzzards Bay and here we are sailing it! So we had a great sail into Hadley Harbor, surrounded by lots of private islands in the Elizabeth Island chain.  The owners have allowed you to use free moorings and the dinghy dock on Bull Island. So we choose to stop here but we found it still pretty full even after the weekenders had nearly all left and we dropped the hook in the outer harbor to give ourselves plenty of room and by morning we were the only boat there! We spent 2 nights here and visited Bull Island which is really very small and not much exercise but the weather was overcast and eventually turned into 3 inches of rain on Monday night into Tuesday. We were prepared to stay another night but it managed to clear enough for us to make slack tide at high water and leave through Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard. Woods Hole was much easier to navigate than folks had lead us to believe and it was extremely easy with this minor current running through it, I guess that USPS course paid off in spades!


Hadley Harbor

So here we are in Lake Tashmoo behind Vineyard Haven to explore Martha’s Vineyard and wait for a window to cross New York Bay into the Delaware river. We want to explore these island for a bit so the weather window is not a huge concern.

Swans in Tashmoo

Well summer is coming to a close for us and we are headed south, we hope you have had a good summer and are looking forward to fall as much as we are. We have a few events on the East coast and will be planning to do both remaining SSCA GAM’s so we hope we can meet lots of our friends along the way.

Summer in Maine

Our first stop from Booth Bay was Tenants harbor, a nice harbor and a good anchorage just outside which was very well protected and much more scenic. We took the long dinghy ride into town to visit the local store called Cods End which is pretty famous in these parts for selling lobster and fresh bread. We decided to look around town first and walked out to the new library which was literally just being finished and was absolutely fantastic. We enjoyed several local magazines and free internet and had a good look at their local artists exhibits. We then had lunch at a local restaurant and Devin had his first Lobster roll a must try dish in Maine. Then we walked off the lunch with a walk to the east side of town and the lobster boat docks. We attempted to by from the boats but they weren't back yet, one guy did steer us to the local store where his excess lobster are sold daily. We walked past on our way back and bought one large bug at $3.35/lb a good price. We then bought fresh bread at Cod’s End which looked delicious. That night we cooked the big bug and watched as indeed he turned bright red. Yum what a delight, very similar to the Bahamian lobster but very different to eat having to extract more meat from the claws and legs.

Tenants Harbor

 

Big Red Bug

From Tenants harbor we made our way to Cradle Cove on Islesboro to await the upcoming SSCA GAM. We arrived a couple of days early so we explored the island from Dark Harbor boatyard who were kind enough to let us use their docks to tie up to. It is a lovely island with private residences and some lovely pastures and woods to walk through.

 

Then came the GAM, we moved over early and visited or were visited by a few boats we have met on and off in the Bahamas or locally. At last we got a chance to meet Mary and Christian on s/v I Wanda, who we communicate with on the SSCA nominating committee. On Friday evening there was a dinghy raft up behind s/v Windpower in Broad Cove where everyone brought appetizers to share and we passed them from dinghy to dinghy. The weather stayed cloudy and the rain stayed off at least until all the appetizers were gone! On Saturday the rain started first thing so we all anxiously waited for a call on the radio and low and behold the weather radar showed it clearing up so we were on. We again had a pot luck lunch and truly it was fantastic with lots of very nice dishes and some stunning deserts. We enjoyed a few talks on the lawn of Dick and Kathy’s cottage which overlooks the cove. This is a great event and truly a local flair which made it very special for us.

 

Dinghy Raft Up at SSCA GAM

SSCA GAM Islesboro 2013

 

At the GAM Denis and Pam from s/v Glide played Santa and brought over all our packages that we had been ordering. It was great to get them but of course it means more work for us to fit things. We moved back to Cradle Cove on Sunday to join Denis and Pam along with 3 other couples for a spot of home making on their cottage. Pam and Denis have been building the cottage for 4 years and are getting along great but there is still plenty of things they wanted to do so we all pitched in to give them a hand. Devin shingled the remaining part of the porch that was behind the shed whilst Denis and Sid worked inside paneling the loft room. Later everyone was pitching in while we finished off the porch and then sat down to a great dinner prepared by the ladies. It is a lovely cottage in a great location and they are sure to have many very peaceful summers here.

 

Devin squeezed in at work

Denis & Pam's cottage

 

After work socializing

Getting ashore in Cradle Cove with Pam

 

 

After Cradle Cove we headed to Pulpit Harbor which is renowned for it’s great sunsets and some nice walks around the island of North haven. We were lucky enough to meet Jim and Joanne from s/v Heather who had also been at the GAM and we enjoyed drinks and snacks on each others boats as well as some nice walking around the island together. The sunset did live up to reputation as I hope the photo shows.

 

Pulpit Harbor sunset

Classic wood in Pulpit Harbort

 

Our next stop was Camden as we had the wrong cable for the radar and we needed to collect the correct one and return the wrong one. Denis and Pam agreed to meet us and ferry us around by car to get our errands done. It was a great help and again we are so grateful for all their help. We took a mooring for the first time as the harbor was really totally consumed by moorings. The town is a honeypot for tourists and probably a bit busy for us but we enjoyed the parks and the opportunity to window shop and visit a local pub.

 

Well it was time for a workday on Moosetracks, we had all the parts and needed a nice calm anchorage somewhere to get down to fitting everything. We choose Perry Creek as it is stunningly beautiful and very protected. The radar and chat plotter took all day to fit as removing cables and running new ones is never a trivial task. But it is all up and working so we are back in business again and just as well as fog is forecast again! The next day we deserved a rest and as it happened Jim and Joanne came into the creek as well as Rik & Linda on s/v Mystery from the GAM. We enjoyed evening company with them on Moosetracks. The following day we hiked a trail on Vinalhaven with Jim and Joanne to the highest point which gave us great views out over Penobscot bay, as well as picking fresh blueberries along the way.

 

Jim, Joanne, Liz & Devin at the peak of Vinalhaven

We have to put in a mention of the lovely house boat on Perry Creek, it featured in a show on extreme house boats and is apparently now all over the internet. We thought it was a delightful place in a truly awesome setting, we stopped and chatted to the owners who built it and tow it here each year. It is built on a 16’ x 40’ platform and the house is 12’ x 20’ with a large downstairs room and a loft. They keep lovely flowers around the porch and really make the place look like paradise.

 

Houseboat on Perry Creek

Our next stop was Merchant harbor which is in Merchant Row a large archipelago of beautiful islands. We saw several seals on the way there and pass one island which had a large group of seals basking on the sun heated granite boulders. The harbor was delightful and well sheltered for the S-W winds forecast so we had a very pleasant night.

 

Seals enjoying the sun heated granite

That brings us to where we are now, in Frenchboro on Long Island. It is a small fishing community which first started around 1800’s at around 19 people. It prospered for a quite a while on fishing and forestry so the population grew to 197 in 1910. The Main Coast Heritage Trust bought 1,000 acres of the island in 2000 for $3M and then was donated another large tract later and now has 70% of the island in it’s care. The island therefore has some great trails and good access for boaters. We were lucky and got a free mooring for a couple of nights as the government have not yet formally approved the moorings. The trials are a delight to walk and with local support from landowners they cover the total perimeter of the island for over 6 miles of trail, most of which we walked. We met a local school teacher on her walk and had a chat about the island. She told us the school had 6 children last year but in her 15 years was as low as 1 pupil. It seems that island living isn’t as easy as people think and the lobster industry although thriving is not enough to keep it thriving. The school teacher also told us her eldest is now going to have to go to the mainland for next year and that this meant they might have to leave Long Island for a while, a shame as this is what causes many to never return. It all tells the same story as the Island Institute talk did at the GAM, island life is under constant pressure and needs careful nurturing.

 

Frenchboro Harbor - high tide

 

Frrenchboro Yacht Club

Well we are off to our final destination before turning south again, Acadia National Park was the furthest point we intend to go on the Maine coast. After this we will start to head South and West before the cold weather can catch us, after all summer is very short up here!

 

There are a lot of lighthouses in Maine so here are a few we sailed past in GOOD weather.

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you all have lots more summer plans and a bit longer to enjoy them!