Castine to Mount Desert Island

On the morning of July 19th we left Castine's Smith Cove and motored out of the inlet into East Penobscot Bay. It was a lovely morning; sunny, a light breeze, calm water. Wind predictions were 15 - 20 knots out of the Northwest in the afternoon, building from 10-15 in the morning. Our plan was to motor into the wind for 20 minutes then turn south, fill the genoa (large forward sail) and enjoy a downwind sail to Islesboro - a long narrow group of islands in the middle of Penobscot bay. 

Once out of the inlet the winds were blowing 20-25 knots with gusts to 30 on our nose, running seas of 3-4 feet. We were bashing into them. At one point the speedometer read 1.4 (that is pretty much standing still). Not fun! After about 30 minutes, we decided to head to the northern shore of the bay, then run west along it (helping to reduce the wind a bit) and head into Belfast Harbor where we could grab a mooring in the protected lee shore. A few hours later, we were happy to be hanging on that mooring and taking a breath. We had a very salty boat, but once again we were settled in a calm harbor. 

The next morning the wind was what we had expected the prior day, so we enjoyed that delightful downwind ride we had planned to do the day before. 

Our neighbors on the last morning in Castine

Heritage anchoring near us in the rain in Castine

Islesboro is in the middle of Penobscot Bay and served by a ferry from Lincolnville on the bay's western shore.  After sailing past Isleboro's ferry dock and turning south, we tucked into Cradle Cove and dropped the hook. A dingy ride to shore and a walk up and down the hills allowed us to do a bit of exploring. 

We stopped into a very nice little gift shop and chatted with the shop keeper. She is a year round resident on Islesboro, one of about 500. She said she pretty much knows all of those 500 people. The population swells to 3000 in summer. But as we have noted so far this season, things are quiet, and it seems there are fewer people about than past years. It was warm! While it hasn't reached 90 in these parts locals are still complaining about the heat which has been in the mid-80's many days. Fortunately, it cools to mid-60's most nights.

Map of Penobscot Bay

The next day, we weighed anchor and headed south and east toward Camden. What we found this time after leaving the harbor was very dense fog! It was only a five mile trip and we had decided not to raise the sails. Activating radar and fog horn we picked our way through the numerous lobster pots and across the bay. Fortunately, visibility improved once we entered the harbor. 

Ducklings in Camden Harbor

Walking Camden

We have spent a lot of time in Camden this summer due to hosting guests onboard or meeting friends. We were excited to catch up with Jim and Cynthia onboard Neverland there. We had time on land for long walks, a bit of shopping, a night out at a new restaurant Salt Wharf, several loads of laundry, and accomplished a few large maintenance projects. After a few days it was time to move on. We said goodbye to Jim and Cynthia and headed East. 

In light winds, we motored out of the harbor and around the southern tip of Isleboro, turned north and then east again past the iconic lobstermen's town of Stonington - picking our way through islands and, of course, lobster pots all morning.

Our destination a favorite anchorage, Pickering Cove. It's always so quiet and peaceful there. When entering these remote anchorages we are often greeted by the sweet faces of seals checking to see who has arrived. Sharon keeps saying she is going to sit in the cockpit with her camera at the ready so she can get a shot of these shy mammals. Her patience and timing haven't worked out yet, but she'll keep trying!

Pickering Cove

Continuing our journey east the next day, we headed across Jericho Bay, again through islands and the morass of lobster pots that is northeast Maine, around Bass Harbor Head and north into Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island. We grabbed a mooring at Hinckley Marine, dropped the dingy and headed ashore. Our goal was lobster! 

We walked over two miles along the beautiful harbor shore completely to the other side where we found Beal's Lobster pound. Two 2lb lobsters, a pound of steamers and two Allagash Whites (our beer of preference up here) later, we headed back around to the mooring. A good five miles for the day and a fabulous lunch! 

The remains 

Bear Island Light just outside Northeast Harbor

Our next hop was to Bar Harbor. Greg hadn't been there in 30 years, so he was looking forward to exploring.  We checked out a few of the many shops in town and had a really excellent meal at Havana on our first night.  Trekking is a big deal on Mt Desert Island due to the natural beauty the terrain and ocean provide. We took advantage the next day walking over 7 miles on marked paths through woods and shore. All beautiful.

Unlike Isleboro and some other smaller towns along Maine's coast, Bar Harbor this summer is VERY busy. Two cruise ships were anchored in the harbor when we arrived. Their little people transport pods ran constantly to and from shore off our stern.

There are several large harbor tour boats ("pay-for-boats"as Greg calls them) and of course the requisite lobster boats, all filling the busy harbor. It was fun to check out the town, but it was a bit of culture shock - even Camden hasn't been this busy. 

The Margaret Todd and Dream Catcher

Sunset

Scenes along our walk

Dream Catcher

Acadia National Park covers most of Mount Desert Island, includes most of the Schoodic Peninsula across Frenchman Bay from Mount Desert Island, and all of Isle au Haut. We've explored much of it over the years and are looking forward to more.

Leaving the hustle and bustle behind once again, we headed further down-east. 

One great benefit of sailing down-east is that you have a prevailing Southwest wind. We used this wind today deploying the main and Genoa and headed through Frenchman Bay. After rounding Schoodic Point we turned north and headed toward Prospect Harbor, our chosen destination. But, once the harbor was within sight we could see only lobster boats and they filled the small harbor. No room for a cruising sailboat! 

We needed an anchorage to get out of the sea swells if we wanted a reasonably pleasant night. So, turning around, we poked our way down the eastern shore of the peninsula until we found a place we liked. Slowly making our way around the ledges and shallows we crept into Birch Harbor, a small crescent bay. Finding a spot that assured enough depth for safety in an eleven foot tide, we dropped the hook. Our anchoring maneuvers include Greg at the bow handling the anchor while Sharon drives the boat. Greg can pretty much tell within short order whether the anchor is going to set properly. This time, he could see the chain skittering on the roller as Sharon backed the boat up to set the anchor. Sharon could also feel it skipping over what was obviously a large, sheer rock bottom. After backing down over a hundred yards into the middle of the small bay it finally bit enough for us to feel safe. But, to be careful we set anchor alarms on Greg's cell phone app and our instruments so that, if we did move during the night, we'd be notified and could respond before trouble occurred.

We chose Birch Harbor for its lee shore - wind was off the land keeping the velocity such that we had a quiet night with no incidents. But, once we settled we were inundated with hundreds of flies! This forced us to head below sooner than usual and screen every port and companionway for the rest of the evening. Not the best anchorage, but safe and pleasant enough.

Egg Rock Light, Frenchman Bay

Views from the boat

Petite Manan Ledge Light

We headed out early the next morning in bright sunshine. This made it very tricky to see the thousands of lobster pots on the water as we traveled east into the rising sun. While this area of Maine is simply stunning in its beauty, the joy of sailing is sometimes moderated greatly by the constant vigilance needed to assure you don't wind 200 feet of lobster pot line around your propeller. This is a serious issue. Imagine losing power several miles offshore, tethered to a lobster pot dragging behind, as the wind and waves push you along with no easy remedy short of climbing into the 55 degree water with knife in hand!! Our friend on Neverland, Cynthia, told us that the further east you go the more pots you'll find. She was right! After an hour or so it just wasn't fun, so we turned west and headed for Winter Harbor, which has been on our list for this summer. 

We've heard a lot about Winter Harbor and often see boats with this hailing port on their stern. We found a mooring with Winter Harbor Yacht Club. So nice, what a beautiful place and what welcoming people. The young lady who drove the launch came to get us with our bicycles and brought us to the club house. We cycled to Schoodic Peninsula, then headed out to the point. It was a beautiful ride filled with lots of ups and downs we don't experience in flat Florida or Delaware. The road lead us to the Schoodic Institute - a science and educational organization in Acadia National Park. After a fifteen mile ride and a full day we welcomed the quiet mooring in this quaint, protected harbor at day's end.

Schoodic Institute

Eiders

In the morning, after waiting for the fog to lift, we headed into the club's dock to fill the water tanks. While there, we chatted it up with the team at the yacht club, watched the kids learning to handle their Optimists (training boats for young sailors) and got a couple of recommendations for anchorages in the adjoining bays. With light winds, we motored out of the harbor, up Frenchman Bay into Flanders Bay off the town of Sorrento. This is a very large bay that is enclosed by islands, allowing relief from sea swells and winds from all directions. We found a beautiful anchorage empty of pots and any other other boats at the northeast end behind Treasure Island (Thank you Jim at Winter Harbor). 

To our surprise we saw three cell towers in the distance! With unusually good cell signal we decided to finally get this blog entry written, so here we sit - writing and doing boat maintenance projects - you decide who is doing which!

'Til next time -