This year the cruise felt like a true adventure, with new wildlife (for us), fast sailing, and remote harbors.
In 2009 I got a head start with Dan Musgrove, who left Keyport with me on Tuesday, June 23. We sailed as far as Milford the first day, and the Mystic River, on the second day, Wednesday. There, we were met by Rich and Marc Howard and Marc's Fiancee, Allessandra West, while Dan returned to NJ. On Thursday, June 25, we motorsailed through thick fog to Newport, where the air cleared and we enjoyed some fine tacks through the harbor.
Friday morning we sailed up the bay to Wickford, where the crew picked up a pre-positioned car and drove back to NJ. I took it easy, did some minor maintenance, and watched the Blue Angels rehearse for a weekend air show. That evening, in the middle of a torrential thunderstorm, Janet arrived from the Amtrak station by taxi.
This was our gateway to Maine. Along the way we had a marathon sail from Wickford to Provincetown, arriving at dusk just before a huge storm. We spent a second night at P-town to avoid a bad-weather ride to Gloucester. We arrived at Gloucester on Monday, June 29, and then had a cold foggy 80nm slog to Casco Bay on June 30. We were in fog all the way to the dock at the restaurant in Potts Harbor where we had a wonderful, hot dinner.
From Potts, we sailed across midcoast Maine to Rockland where we re-provisioned (bought lots of groceries) and enquired about where best to see fireworks on the 4th. The answer was that local fireworks were at Camden on July 3. So we sailed up Penobscot Bay to Smiths Cove, and then went to Camden on July 3 for the invisible fireworks display ... at dark the fog came in and the stuff was shot up into the soup and never seen. What a waste of gunpowder.
We sailed to Bucks Harbor on July 4, and then on to Burnt Coat Harbor on July 5... a beautiful place that was still in winter hibernation (not ready for tourists). We went by the one restaurant in town, but it had not yet opened for the season.
From Burnt Coat, we continued to Northeast Harbor where we had a fine hike up the Bubbles, and took a day off the let some rain pass, then on July 9 the weather looked good so we went further east to Winter Harbor. The forecast gave us a good weather window for the next three days, so we decided to go further east to the famed Mud Hole on Great Wass Island. This is an anchorage that is quite remote, protected on all sides by hills, and has a treacherous entrance that is only passable at high tide, with a ledge in the center of the channel for good measure. We inched our way in and out without incident. There was one other boat at the Mud Hole during our stay ... a trawler from Alaska.
The sail from the Mud Hole back to Northeast Harbor was perhaps the best we ever had on Applied Physics. It was a close reach in a breeze of about 15-20 knots. We maintained 8 knots boat speed for much of the 40 nm trip.
At the Gardens of Acadia Visitor Center we asked a ranger to suggest a hike. Champlain Mountain was the pick. It was steep, with stairs cut into the rock. There was a perfect view.
Stuart Gannes often spoke how much he enjoyed the remoteness of Matinicus. We sailed there on a fine July 14 and explored the island on foot. There was one other cruising boat. The owners were French (happy Bastille Day) and had sailed across the Atlantic. All the other boats in the tiny harbor were work boats.
We heard there was a puffin colony at Matinicus Rock, about 10 miles out to sea from Matinicus Island. We hired a small ferry boat to take us there to see the puffins and auks. The puffins seem barely able to fly, furiously flapping. Once we knew how to recogize them, we saw puffins in Penobscot bay near Isle au Haut.
It was almost time for Janet to head back to work and we looked for a quite place for the last days alone. Seal Bay was our choice. It sunny when we arrived, but in the morning on the way to Rockland the sky was quite threatening.
On July 17 in Rockland Janet left and Stuart and Sylvine came aboard. July 18 was foggy, but we decided to sail to Long Cove on Vinalhaven. While we were in a narrow channel with fog and a swift current the Raymarine chart plotter quit. I have a handheld Garmin to use as a spare. Stuart watched the Garmin and guided me safely to a mooring.
Later that day we decided to take the dinghy in to a place called "the Basin." It has a narrow entrance with a shallow channel that flows like a rapids much of the time. It was about a two mile ride in the dinghy to get to the entry. Once there, we were swept in.
We had a nice stroll along part of the banks of the basin, and then it was time to leave. Impossible. The 4hp engine of the dingy could not overcome the swift current in the rapids. Someone on the shore called us over and told us the current would not ease until dark, but that we could motor to the south end of the basin, and then portage the dingy across a road and proceed through a gentler channel back to the bay. We took this approach, first carrying the engine, and then the dinghy. Not fun. The experience was made worse by mosquitoes. Somehow Stuart also got bloody. No one complained.
Then the fog came in. I forgot to bring a GPS. Fortunately Stuart had an iPhone with an app, and that worked well enough.
In hindsight, I realized that if I had left Stuart and Sylvine on shore, they could have walked around past the rapids. Without the extra weight the dinghy can plane and achieve a much high speed.I could have motored successfully against the current.
Our original plan was to take 4 days to sail from Penobscot Bay to Portland. There Doug Gage would join us and Stuart and Sylvine would drive to Boston and then fly home to San Francisco. But after leaving Long Cove the weather cleared, and we were in Gloucester in 2 days. Between the Portland area and Gloucester we saw minke whales and spinner dolphins. We had a rain day delay in Gloucester , and then sailed on to Boston where Sylvine and Stuart departed and Doug joined me on July 23. The next day we sailed through fog to Quissett.
On July 24 there was rain before dawn, but the air cleared and we headed west. Soon the wind picked up to 30 knots on the beam and we had white-knuckle sailing in Buzzards Bay. By the time we got to the end of the bay, the wind had eased to about 20 knots, and then it finally died as we motored to the Ram Island Yacht Club near Mystic. A long and tiring day. On July 25 we went nearly the entire length of the Sound to Glen Cove. Leaving before dawn, on July 26, and catching a fair current through the East River, we were in Keyport before 1PM, avoiding severe storms and a tornado warning.
