August 7^th- We went into shore and walked up to the general store and market where we met Mike and Ivy so we sat with them a while and chatted. Finally around 10 we headed out. Instead of the 5-10 NW we were promised it was SW. We beat out of the bay and through another tangle of islands to the East passage. At least the wind was light and the water was relatively flat even though we had a contrary current. It was nice sailing as we were doing about 4 cruising along. Right around the entrance  to the Thorofare the wind died and we motored the last couple of miles into Seal Bay. This has a pretty narrow entrance and sort of weaves its way through some small islands and rocks until it opens up nicely to a large bay. We continued through this bay until we  wrapped around a couple of more islands and into a long channel where we anchored. This is a very scenic place a lot of it is protected so you can explore all the nooks and crannies. There were about 10-12 boats anchored here but it didn’t feel crowded at all. However this was the place of the attacking flies. The flies swarmed over us and seemed to be everywhere. The cockpit floor was carpeted with the carcasses of all the ones I was swatting but they still kept on coming. Nightfall did bring relief as  we had a nice quiet evening.

August 8^th- We got up early to try and catch the falling tide but all we seemed to do was catch more flies. They just seemed to nibble at you. I swatted another couple of hundred until the wind picked up and we left them behind. The wind was light NW until we reached the end of the island and the open ocean. There it picked up to 10-15 SW and we sheeted in and had a nice sail. We tacked through this maze of islands and reefs past Brimstone Island and up into Carver Bay. We went flying down the channel which was filled with lobster pots until we pulled into the harbor of Vinal Haven. There we looked around and amongst the hundreds of moored lobster boat we found one of the 3 rental moorings. This is a working harbor and it is filled with fishing boats and their supporting industry. It was fun to watch the activity. It seems amazing to me that the world could eat this many lobsters and that there would be some left under the sea.

    We rowed in to the head of the  harbor and got out and walked through town. It is an interesting mix of working folk and the tourists and second home owners all walking the streets together. We stopped in at the famous Harbor Gawker for lunch and gawked at the passing parade of people.

    The wind picked up to 15-25 SW this afternoon and with the seawall under water at high tide it was pretty bouncy on the boat. We watched the fleet pour in and off load the days catch and by 5 everything had settled down nicely. The night was very calm until around 5 am when the lobster boats started heading back out again.

August 9^th- Even though we were up we waited until around 9 to leave as we wanted to let the ferry go through first. We would be heading out the  Reach which was another winding and very narrow passage which the ferry uses. It doesn’t slow down for boats and it throws a good sized wake. So we thought we would follow it through. The Reach is only about a mile long and on the other side we turned south and headed for Hurricane Island. This is the former home of Outward Bound. We took a mooring there and went onto the island. It is now run by the Hurricane Island Foundation which gives classes with a scientific bent. There is some research going on and also some leadership training. They were very friendly and open and let us walk all over their campus. There are some great hiking trails also. We hiked up this old quarry and had a magnificent view of the surrounding area. I think these trails had been made by the Outward Bound folks as the scaled big rocks and had ropes to assist you. It was great to be able to walk along the granite shore. This is the first island up here where the trails actually led to the ends of the island. We explored all over the island. It was and old quarry and a lot of the old machinery was still lying about. There were tons of ruins of old structures made mostly of granite blocks. Some of the granite had been finished and polished. It felt like walking through an old Roman ruin to see the tops of  fluted columns sticking out of the grass.

August 10^th- we hung around until 9 or so and then headed out. We had a very nice sail reaching across the bay. The wind piped up in the middle and we flew across. It was a pretty overcast day and just as we arrived in Rockland it started to rain. This was the  first rainy day we have had since getting here. This is also the end of the road for us. It has been a great trip but now its time to head back to Vermont. We will leave the boat here and hopefully make it back over for some more sailing before winter.

I want to thank everyone who followed along with us and hope I didn’t bore you too much. Tim O thanks for reading and the encouragement to keep writing. I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer as I know my summer has been unbelievable… so far

Russ

July 30^th- We left Rockland and headed south beating into a light chop. Once we rounded the point we headed down wind. We were sailing with a light wind and a favorable current. We ghosted through the upper part of Muscle Ridge Channel mostly riding the current. The wind did pick up and we shot out into the bay. We rode the wind all the way into Tenants Harbor. As we were motoring down Long Cove a guy sailed by and told us we were welcome to use his mooring. It was further out than we really wanted but we said what the heck and took it. Tomorrow is the start of the annual Cape Dory cruise and a couple showed up later in the afternoon.

July 31- We sat here on the boat watching Cape Dory after Cape Dory pull into the harbor. We sailed the dinghy again and then went over to High Island where we had a picnic/cookout. There are about 10 Cape Dories here for this, a couple of 36’s, a couple of 30’s and some 33’s and my 28. We will be the oldest and slowest boat here. It was a great group of people and we had a blast hanging out on this island. The party broke up quick when we remembered that we left the dinghies at low tide and now they were floating away. Some quick work by a few recued every one’s dinghy.

Aug 1^st- We left early to get a jump on everyone because we really are the slowest boat. There was no wind at all so we motored up the Muscle Ridge Channel through Fisherman’s passage where the wind picked up slightly. We managed to sail about ¾ of the way across before we started the motor. We motored through the Fox Island Thorofare and down into the anchorage at Winter Harbor.

   This is a spectacular place with high cliffs coming down to the water. It is a narrow channel through the rocks and has small beaches made of mussel shells. We tried to get out and walk on an island but it so muddy we just got stuck. We eventually found a rock to climb out on and everyone joined us for happy hour on this rock in the middle of the channel. Another cd 28 joined us here and he bought some lobsters off some kids in a lobster boat. The party broke up just as it started to rain. It continued to rain for most of the night which made for some very pleasant sleeping.

Aug 2^nd- We left early again but again there was no wind at all. It was interesting seeing the ocean as flat calm as this.We motored through Merchant’s Row which is a hodge podge of islands and then around Marshall Island and into Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan’s Island where we anchored. This is a very protected fishing harbor with a quaint shoreline but not much else. We met at a pair of rafted 36’s for happy hour. Meanwhile a brigantine loaded up with the performers from the show tonight sailed by regaling us with songs. After this we walked up the hill to a hall where we witnessed the Sweet Chariot Music Festival. This was the 25^th year and it brings together lots of folk and blue grass musicians for a night on an island off the Maine coast. It was a very good show that was attended by many people. We walked back to the boat afterwards in a long line of people heading to their boats. It was nice looking down on the harbor and seeing all the anchor lights blinking on the water.

Aug 3^rd- There was no wind again so rather than just sit here we motored over to Sand Cove on Marshall Island and anchored off the beach. This is a beautiful sand beach surrounded by huge boulders. The water is crystal clear. This was our first experience with surf and Alayne got wet when a wave breached the transom on the way in. The water is warm by Maine standards at 60 degrees. This island is all protected so it has some great hiking trails of which we took advantage. In the afternoon the wind came up a bit and we weighed anchor and went sailing. We just sort of ghosted along and headed back to Burnt Coat Harbor for the night. A couple of big schooners had come in and were anchored as they were here for the second night of the show.

Aug 4^th- We left early again and managed  to sail in the light winds. We ran close hauled through the big swells on the ocean until we rounded the buoy and then we headed north. The wind was too light and the swells too big and they were just bouncing us all over the place so we motored in. It was only about a mile to go until we entered Frenchboro Harbor on Long Island where we picked up a mooring. There was much discussion about this because there is no anchoring here and the moorings are all private. So we just picked up one and hoped nobody would come for it. Lobster boats came for all the ones around us but not ours!

   This island is mostly preserved and it has about 65 residents who mostly work on lobster boats. We talked with a couple to see what the life was like. We are learning a lot about lobsters. Speaking of which there is a restaurant here that has been here for many years and we all got together and ate—you guessed it lobster. She said it was fresh this morning and a complete ;lobster  dinner was $12.50 !!!!

Aug 5^th- We left around 7:30 to a nice SW wind and sailed out of the harbor into Blue Hill Bay where we turned north and shot down the east side if Swan’s island. Mt desert Island forms the other side of the bay. We surfed down some big Atlantic swells and ran with the wind and current sometimes getting close to 7 knots.Once we reached the north end of Swans we turned onto the Casco Passage. This is a narrow but well marked passage between several islands and shoals. Once we cleared the buoy we headed up the Eggmoggin Reach. The wind was blowing just forward of the beam and we had a great 15 mile run. About a third of the way in all the lobster pots stopped so it was great sailing not having to worry about that.We sailed into Buck’s Harbor and got a mooring for the night. We really needed to get rid of trash and take showers!! This is the last night of the CD cruise so we are headed out to dinner in town.

July 25^th- After 4 days in Camden we were ready to move not to mention the batteries needed to be charged. There was absolutely no wind so we ended up motoring the whole way to Crow Cove where we anchored. This is a very well protected cove and very pretty and quiet. We rowed over to Gil B’s house and had a nice afternoon chatting with them. Gil is someone I know from Charlotte.   They have a beautiful old house on a very picturesque piece of property.

   A thunderstorm rolled over us in the middle of the night. The sound of the thunder is really neat here. It sort of rolls and tumbles across the water instead of the heavy hammer and echo you get in the mountains.

July 26^th- A fog had enveloped us when we got up in the morning and I couldn’t even see shore which was less than 50 yards away. With the fog this thick sounds are really amplified and as this anchorage is pretty isolated the sounds where amazing. From the whistling of the osprey and eagles to the plaintive cry of the loons you could add the squawking of the gulls and the cawing of the crows. You could even hear the snorting of the deer on shore. Then the human sounds started to intrude. The rumble roar of the lobster boats and the wail of the fog horns were quickly overrun by the sound of cars and lawnmowers.

Slowly around noon the fog lifted and we departed motoring again as the wind was light. When we turned the tip of Isleboro the wind picked up and we motor sailed the last couple of miles. We motored through a small gut into a long narrow channel and anchored in the middle behind Holbrook Island in 14 feet of water.

   This is a state owned wildlife preserve. There is a dock but we just pulled the dinghy up on shore and went hiking. The trails here are fantastic. We walked through deep dense spruce forests with beautiful patches of several kinds of flowering mosses. Then you burst out into an old farm field turned meadow with huge elms lining the fields. Then you walk down to the long stone beach with the clear emerald water.

   It was very hot so when we got back to the boat we went swimming, yes even Alayne. This is the first time she’s been in the water the whole trip. After supper you could see and hear the harbor seals playing on the rocks a couple of 100 yards away. Their bark is a weird noise and I thought for a while that someone was yelling. The night was clear and windless.

July 27^th- We slept in again as the day was bright and windless. The whole ocean was like a mirror. It eventually got so hot we thought that the breeze from moving would be nice so we left. We motored around Cape Rosier which is where the Neerings wrote their book on sustainable living.There the wind picked up a bit and we had a nice close hauled reach for several miles ducking between these little popcorn islands. The wind died as we neared a narrow passage between two islands so we started the motor. Once we got through the passage the wind picked up nicely although it was blowing straight in from the ocean and we were fighting the tide. We were now in East Penobscot Bay and were beating through tons of lobster buoys. We tested today whether we would catch one. We ran over quite a few and the toggles too. Little dinghy smacked more than her share. We finally turned the corner into the Fox Island Thorofare and the wind really picked up. Of course it was right in the direction we wanted to go. Wind is wind though and we found our way into Carver Cove and anchored in 24 feet of water at high tide. We were next door to a schooner “ Mistress” out of Camden. This is a pretty anchorage with some rock ledges and then sloping grass meadows with only a few houses. It is all private property though so we stayed on the boat. It was a very quiet night.

July 28^th- More lazing around this morning as we could see fog out on the channel. We hung around and waited for it to lift which it started to do around 10:00. We motored out onto the thorofare which is narrow with lots of lobster buoys. When we turned the corner to North Haven we could see that the fog ahdn’t lifted out on the ocean. So we slowed down to a crawl in the hopes it might blow by soon. No such luck, by the time we reached the entrance we could see maybe a mile out so we decided to go for it. About a mile out we ran right into a fog bank so we put up the main and continued to motor. We crawled down the inlet with visibility only being 100 yards or so. Thanks to the GPS we knew right where we were. As soon as we rounded the buoy and it was a clear reach we shut down the motor and sailed. It was a nice sail broad reaching in about 10 knots of wind with the exception that we could only see 100 yards or so.We were straining our eyes and ears to find other boats and there seemed to be a lot of them out there. We a schooner ghost past us a little ways off and had several lobster boats buzz by us. We kind of saw several other sailboats also. It was an interesting experience, one I guess that goes along with sailing in Maine. When we were a couple of miles from Rockland it finally cleared and we had a nice sail into the harbor. The fog stayed all day and it was interesting watching boats pop in and out of the fog bank.

July 29^th When we woke this morning I could see the boat next to me let alone the shore. The ferries were blasting their fog horns and there were people coming in trying to find their way. We had wanted to row into town but it was too dangerous to be more than 50 yards from the boat. Eventually after a couple of hours I could see a 100 yards and we rowed in. I rowed from boat to boat hiding out along side them until we could determine if it was clear. At the channel we let several boats go by and then I rowed like crazy to get across. About half way the ferry let loose with its fog horn and scared me into rowing even faster. We made it in and tied up. You could barely see the top of the dock from the bottom. We did a laundry and I went grocery shopping. We also went back to Knights Marine and got a mooring for the rest of the season. This is where we will have the boat hauled out for the winter.

We dawdled around in the morning because we didn’t have far to go leaving around 10:00. The wind was WNW around 10-12 knots which made for a perfect broad reach the whole way across the bay. We dropped sails right at the mouth of Pulpit Harbor and after veering around Pulpit rock we anchored in about 25 feet of water ( high tide).

    This is a very pretty and well protected anchorage. The sides of the harbor are lined with rocks and spruce trees. There are only a few houses visible from the water. There are 3 narrow inlets all meeting ina broader inlet so there is plenty of places to pick from. There are plenty of empty mooring balls also.

    We walked up to a very nice grocery store and had lunch and bought stuff for dinner. It was a beautiful sunset looking out over the Camden Hills.

July 21- We had another great sail today. We were close hauled for a while until we zipped between Mark and Goose Islands and then we had a nice broad reach. We were right along side a schooner for a good part of the trip. We got to Warren Island State Park around noon and went ashore and hiked around the island. It is a pretty interesting place but very buggy. There were big winds and t-storms predicted for tomorrow so we decided to head for Camden tonight.

   The winds picked up to the 15-20 knot range and we put a reef in and beat into the whole way. We were sailing alongside the same schooner as this morning   It turns out that this is our 32^nd anniversary which I apparently forgot. Considering I barely know which month it is I think I can be forgiven. Anyway we were going into town to have dinner at a restaurant that the girls had given us a gift certificate for and the restaurant was closed and had been sold. As a footnote I emailed the folks who bought the place and would be glad to honor the gift card except they are not open yet. I guess we’ll have to come back in the fall!!

    Camden is a very busy harbor but not with any fishing boats. There are a ton of schooners here and also some very beautiful boats. We have a mooring in the harbor and can watch these great boats sail by all day.

July 22^nd- None of the storms materialized and it was a hot, sunny , and windless day. We did laundry and wandered through town.It was hot enough that I actually went swimming for the second time..There was big storm that rolled trhough around 3:30 in the morning with much wind and lightning but not much rain.

July 23^rd- The kids came today and  we waited for them and then went to lunch. After lunch we went for a schooner ride on the Appledore dodging thunderstorms along the way. We had fun hanging with the crew. Again it was very hot but after these storms it cooled off some. After dinner the kids went back to their campsite and we had a nice pleasant evening on the boat.

July 24^th- We hiked up Mt. Battie this morning. The view from here is very impressive. You can see the entire Penobscot Bay all the way over to Mt Desert and down past Rockland. The view of the harbor is nothing short of spectacular. After lunch the kids came out to the boat and at least Kalyn went swimming. They headed home around 2 after taking us grocery shopping. It was a very nice weekend now all we have to decide is where to head next!

July 15^th We left around 9:00 to catch the ebbing tide. It was a warm and sunny day with very light winds. We had a local sailor travel with us to show us the way out. Not that we needed him but he was traveling in that direction and it didn’t hurt. There were a couple of tricky spots with the current and all. 

   Everything was great until we turned the corner onto the Sheepscot River. The temperature immediately dropped 20 degrees and the wind picked up to 10-15 South of course. And then the fog rolled in!! Any wiser person would have just turned right around and called it a good lesson but no we had to keep going. And the going just got worse. This was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. The fog cleared slightly so we thought we could keep going. Ha! Visibility was about 200-300 yards and then the waves built. We were heading over 8 to 10 waves as the wind blowing against the tide made the waves steep and close together. We couldn’t see shore at all and were sailing by GPS alone. The AIS didn’t show any boats around us but that didn’t mean much when the lobster boat roared by us. We crashed around like this clawing are way to the mouth of the river until about noon. There was a buoy here we were supposed to round but the GPS said it was 400 feet away but we never saw it. 

   The fog finally cleared and the wind relaxed and the waves sort of settled down into a less mountainous state. So we put up the sails and went sailing!! We sailed downwind around and between a bunch of rocky islands before sailing up into a little inlet called Christmas Cove. This is a nice place, tiny and filled with boats on moorings but it has its own character. We got a mooring jtust outside of the restaurant and went for a walk into town. The town of South Bristol was less than scintillating but it got us off the boat and we burned up a little of our nervous energy from the morning. There are a ton of really beautiful boats here, little ones and big ones.

July 16^th- We left a little before the tide change today and that seemed to work much better. Once we turned the corner on the peninsula we took off broad reaching across John’s Bay until we got to Monhegan Island where we turned and ran downwind. This is the type of sailing I came to Maine for. We saw seals and had a pod of dolphins swimming around  the boat for a while. We entered Tenant’s Harbor and turned into Long Cove where we anchored. We rode over to High Island where we ran into Les who is heading the Cape Dory cruise next week. He is  intragal in getting High Island preserved for public use. It is a beautiful typically Maine island. It is covered in spruce trees with the moss just dripping from the branches. And the shore is rocky as they come. At low tide there is a nice lagoon with a sandy bottom that makes a great swimming hole. The water is actually ( relatively) warm.

July 17^th It was pouring when we got up so we just stayed in bed and listened to the rain on the cabin roof. I have always loved that sound. As it was kind of foggy we decided to stay another day. We rowed over to the island again and explored it a little more fully. This time there was a falling tide so I didn’t worry so much about the dinghy floating away. There are some very interesting rock formations and the colors of the stone is just amazing. We met up with a bunch of kayakers there who all turned out to be graduates of Sterling College in Vermont. One couple lives in Enosburg and used to hang out at CSC . The fog rolled in big time and by sunset I couldn’t see 100 yards. The only way I could see the boats around me was because of their anchor lights.

July 18^th The fog was just as thick this morning and not even the lobster boats were moving. It was incredible how sound travels in the fog and just how small your world gets. Visibility was less than 50 yards so we decided, you guessed it, to stay here another night. 

    The fog finally cleared out by around 12:30 and Tom G in his Bristol Channel Cutter stopped by and offered us a ride into town. Town was the dock a general store and a couple of other houses so it didn’t take long to check it all out. We did meet Les again on the dock and had a nice conversation with him.

   Thunderstorms blew in in the evening and the wind picked up quite a bit. After a series of storms blew through and not much rain the night calmed right down.

July 19^th We departed long Cove finally and had a very nice reach to the mouth of the Muscle Ridge Channel on NW 5-10 winds. Then we beat up the channel until we were near Dix Island and the wind petered out. From here we did it all, motored , sailed, and motor sailed until we entered Rockland Harbor. Then of course the wind picks up from the NW. Anyway we finally got tied to a mooring at the Journey’s End Marina. Another boater stopped and offered to tow me in and showed me where everything was. 

   This is another quaint touristy town. The main street is filled with shops and galleries selling the same old stuff except this time it says Rockland or Maine on it. Still it has a nice feel to it and there     are more gorgeous boats than you can imagine. We are interviewing marinas for hauling the boat and this place seems like it has what we are looking for so we may spend the winter here. Well the  boat might anyway.

          

  

July 11th We left around 10:00 to catch the ebbing tide. It was a gorgeous day with 5- 10 out of the NW. We had a very nice sail, sailing up to the Goslings to have a look. We then sailed down the passage through a sea of lobster buoys. At least it adds a bit of color as every one has a different color scheme. We sailed down past Little Birch Island and around into Potts Harbor where we tied up to a mooring at the Dolphins. There is not much to see and do off the boat here but it is a beautiful spot. We went to the Dolphin Restaurant which is famous for its fish chowder and blueberry muffins. Of course we didn't have the chowder ( next time).
    It was a very quiet night until around 5:00 or so when every fishing boat in Maine went by right along side our boat. It was quite rocking and rolling until around 7 when they had all left and it was quiet again.

July 12th- It was flat calm seas this morning as we motored out past some very rugged coast line and a couple of beautiful islands. Once we got out past most of the rocks and hazards we put up the sails and broad reached to the mouth of the New Meadow River. Now the wind just pushed us up the river until it became too narrow and hazard filled. We motored to a narrow cut in the shore and down a river like passage for about a 1/4 mile. This inlet was filled with lobster buoys and had a good current fortunately it was favorable for us and after a bunch of twists and turns shot us out into this large pool. It is about the size of Converse Bay and just lined with rocks and trees. We anchored in about 15 feet of water at mid tide.  A CD 36 came in right after us and went over and talked to them.
    It was a very quiet night and it was a beautiful morning as the water was like a mirror.

July13th- We left about 7:30 in order to catch the tide not only here but to have the right tide at our destination. There was very little wind and we just ended up motoring the 25 miles. I tried sailing around Sequin Island but to no avail. We motored up the Sheepscot River which is very pretty in a typical Maine way. Everything is a little more interesting looking at low tide as there are more rocks exposed. I was going to take one of the smaller channels but with the low tide it looked barely wide enough to fit the boat.
    We pulled into Riggs Cove and Robinhood Marine. This is the adopted home of Cape Dory. There are quite a few here of every size. There's not much to do here as the marina is isolated but there are plenty of CD's around to admire.

We left Portland with a bit of trouble. With the tide and the wind we had a hard time backing out of the slip. We eventually backed all the way out and were on our way. The wind was NE 5-10 right where we wanted to go. Anyway we put up the sails and beat into it. It was a nice sail except for having to dodge all the hazards. Once it got too narrow we put the motor on and motored into South Freeport where we picked up a mooring in the river. The marina was having a band on the deck with food so we availed ourselves and enjoyed the music.
    It was really quiet here at night. With no wind banging halyards and waves slapping at the hull and for the first time in a while no sirens it was quiet.


Saturday July 9th The forecast calls for rain all day so we decided to stay here. We walked into Freeport and went to LL Bean. It is impressive to see the place but it's not really us so we had a nice lunch and walked back. I heard from a guy who was supposed to have a CD rally this weekend but canceled it because of the weather. He thought we should still try and get together. So we hopped the ferry over to Bustin Island where he lives and met up with him and his family. He graciously showed us around his home and then we walked around the island. We caught the last ferry back and retired.

July 10th It rained most of the night and was raining when we got up so we decided to stay another day. We did manage to get off the boat for a walk between showers. The refrig was acting up so we emptied it and defrosted it. It seems to be OK now.