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.

July 2nd As per tradition we have decided to sit today so we motored around the corner and anchored in Sandy Bay. This is a fairly large anchorage with good holding. It must be good holding because we saw some awful anchoring techniques and they held fine. There were 15 -20 boats in here now. The tide is 10 feet which can make for some challenging anchoring. We rowed over and walked to a farmers market and then just sort of hung out and walked around this bustling little town. It was very quaint and iconic.

July 3rd- W walked a bit further into town and did a much needed laundry. Again we just hung out all day and watched the anchoring wars and people watched in town. It was a pretty lazy day. It appears that owning a mega yacht on the ocean does not guarantee that you know how to anchor.

July 4th- Due to the fact that there will be a huge bonfire on the beach tonight and we have been told to expect a couple hundred boats in the bay we decided to leave. We had a nice reach until noon or so and then the wind petered out. We just kept mosieing along as we didn't want to get there too early. By the time we pulled into the Isle of Shoals there were still plenty of people but a mooring opened up and we tied on. Moorings are free and the anchor holding is poor so...
    This place is nothing but a rock that sticks a few feet above the ocean. There are only a couple of trees on the island. There is however a large old hotel and conference center. They hold semi-religious retreats for families and such. There are over 300 people here now. We took the launch in and the driver told us where we could go and where we shouldn't. It was still a very pleasant hike around the island with great vistas. We were allowed to walk through the lobby of the hotel which was impressive.
   I have been impressed by the clarity of the water. I could see my anchor yesterday in 30 feet of water. Later that night we could see fireworks from a half dozen shore communities.

July 5th- The day dawns cloudy and cool as we motored out of the bay. There wasn't much wind but it was behind us so  we rolled out the jenny and motor sailed. The sun would come out and then the fog would roll in. Visibility was sometimes only a couple of hundred yards but with the GPS   it was fine. We eventually sailed a bit but about 5 miles out we rolled everything up and motored. We didn't see land all day until we were within a 1/2 mile of shore. The anchorage was through a narrow cut in the rocks with waves breaking on one side but once through it was a fairly wide open pond. This is Stage Island. It was very pretty here but it was not particularly protected. The holding was good and the water was clear enough I could watch the anchor dig in. It was low tide so we rowed in to walk on the mud flats. It was a very impressive how large these became as the tide lowered. After a while we looked up and we could see the boat through the fog. It eventually got so foggy it more or less rained. It eventually cleared later in the evening and there were tons of stars out. There were also all these phosphorescent creatures blinking on and off in the water.
    It got a little rolly when the tide went over the breakwater but the wind was still light. In the morning we saw a seal sunning itself on the rocks and the water was so clear I could watch the lobster swimming into the trap underneath us.

July 6th We left early to catch the tide and there was zero wind. The ocean was as flat as a mill pond. We motored into Portland and took a slip at the South Portland Marina. Here we met up with Richard and Debbie who were cruising buddies of Bob and Liz who we had met earlier. Its this kind of comraderie that I was hoping to have more of. We went out to dinner with them in Portland and had a great time trading stories. We will sit here for another day to wait out some crappy weather and then on into Casco Bay.