2009 Log
8/1 to 8/15/2009
This is the current period of our log for 2009. At the bottom of the page are links to this year's pass weeks; our earlier voyages are in Prior Voyages.
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Updated on 08/17/2009
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8/1/09 - Wow, August already. July left last night with another shower but without the winds we'd had earlier. We woke to Buddy's call of good morning; announcing that a beautiful sun and blue sky awaited us if we'd only get up... the best of the day was gone already, it was 7am and all sorts of boats were parading by. No wind, so we motored to Kittery, ME (Portsmouth, NH) under sunny skies. At Kittery we took on fuel and anchored. Ruth headed to the beach; this is one of her favorite glassing spots. She got tossed. The beach "owner" suggested that she find another beach. Beach access laws vary state to state to the extent that I'm researching them for a cruising article. Maine is a wet sand state unless early settlers were given a special grant of sea bottom to encourage development of water services (landings and docks). Wet sand usually means sand wetted by normal tides is public accessible - though usage is limited to fowling, fishing and navigation. Talked to Miles via cellular; they are a day away at Peaks Island off Portland, ME. We may catch them tomorrow or the next day. 8/2/09 - Woke to a light haze and sunshine. Heavy dew last night... the boat looked like it had rained. By 7am I was hoisting anchor and the fog was settling in. By the time we started motoring visibility was down to 1/8 mile. During the first 8 miles our chart plotter/radar crashed 7 times requiring a system reboot each time. I'm pretty sure the fact that we have 2 map chips in is part of the problem... the rest is just good ole Raymarine. The fog lifted to haze and 3 mile visibility. I saw my first seal of the season off Kennebunkport. Ruth saw the second 3 miles out of Portland; just before the fog dropped on us again. Back to 1/8th mile. The fog lifted to 2 miles for our entrance into Portland, good thing as the chart plotter rebooted twice. As we anchored behind Ariel at Peaks Island the fog set on us again. I took the Hudson / Cape Cod chip out of the chart plotter - we'll see if that helps tomorrow. Damp and raw this evening so we turned on the heater and Ruth brewed a pot of chicken noodle soup... adding sautéed celery and canned chicken - mmmm! Just what the doctor ordered! 8/3/09 - The sun is bright and beautiful; we can tell because the fog is brilliant white. It keeps thinning and thickening like pea soup in a cheap diner. Sometimes we can see Portland 2 miles away, sometimes we can't see Little Diamond 1/4 mile from us. Aurora is now SW of Prince Edwards Island headed our way. We took a short jaunt with Ariel to Jewell Island where we were the 4th & 5th to anchor. By mid afternoon there were 13 of us in this tiny rock harbor. A 19' sailboat with a family of 4 aboard caught our attention; it was registered in Minnesota. We talked to them learning they were from Lake Pepin and had trailered the boat out here to show their children where they had grown up. 8/4/09 - Woke to bright sunshine and a little wispy fog just above the water. By the time coffee was ready a high cloud bank (fog?) had hidden the sun. By 8am we were in pea soup, the really thick kind an expensive restaurant would serve. By 10am we decided to go fog or not. We ran in 1 - 1 1/2 visibility about 10 miles to Quahog Bay and Snow Island. As we entered the narrows the land mass had burned off the local fog unveiling a beautiful day - gorgeous. We anchored in one of Miles favorite spots off Swan Island. Miles and Laureen scored 5 1-1/2 lb lobsters from the fishermen's co-op for $6.00 each so we had our first lobsta fest of the season on Another Adventure. We learned last year that lobsta is be eaten at our cockpit table... easier to hose the room down afterward. 8/5/09 - A beautiful morning so we decided to go to Boothbay for a wireless connection and provisioning. When we got out to Casco Bay we encountered light fog (3 mile visibility) and 10 - 15 knot winds. We had a nice sail until we rounded the tip of Harpswell Neck enroute to Sequin Island. With the wind and wave behind us we had to add power to keep the swells from wearing out the hardware. I'm not complaining that we rolled a lot (our quart of milk is now butter), but it wasn't comfortable. At Boothbay we took a mooring as there's not a good place to anchor. A short walk to the free trolley and we were off to Hannaway's Supermarket. We staggered off the return trolley with two backpacks and 8 bags of groceries. At least my wallet weighed less. Ruth found cellular and internet a little trying here; at least she got her messages. 8/6/09 - Beautiful morning! The lobster pot buoy knocking on our hull was joined by Miles. He gave up, the pot didn't so I got up. We hung around the boat until 11am, then took the dinghy into the town dock for a little shopping and sight seeing. We had lunch at the Tugboat Inn. Ruth had a cup of tomato basil soup that was out of this world. I wanted to take a gallon back to the boat with us. Boothbay is definitely a tourist town, but a very quaint homey one. It's a place I could live. We stopped by the shipyard where square rigger Friendship of Salem was under going some repairs to her topsides. 8/7/09 - Another beautiful day. We left our mooring at 7:30am and headed east for Tenant Harbor, 23 miles away. The wind was variable but we sailed most of the way, arriving at 1:30pm. Our speeds over bottom ranged from 1.5 to 7 knots. Enroute we met an Outward Bound sailing vessel with a hardy crew headed for a growing experience. We also saw two seals gluiding along the surface. We took a mooring from Cod End. It was identical in appearance to a lobster buoy... hard to find. We got it fastened just as a 30 knot squall line arrived. Nasty little piece of weather. Good cellular and internet connection here - fast. 8/8/09 - I paid for our mooring ($25) at 8am and we headed for Pulpit Harbor under sail. We ghosted by a loon that was complaining about our disturbing him; yet he swam within 10' of our boat. Very pretty bird! The wind speed was up and down all day but we were able to sail the whole distance arriving at 12:15. We anchored along the north side where we've dropped the hook before. We like this harbor as it is not overly commercial and always has a scent of firs that reminds us of Lake Tahoe. I checked on the Camden Knockabout (it's getting to be an annual pilgrimage), finding it in good shape for a 100 year old wooden boat. I met one of the Cabot family, owners of the Knockabout and talked a while; learning she'd last been refitted about 5 years ago during which the yard had left out the two ports. Again the weather didn't cooperate and I was unable to get sailing photos. While Ruth was beaching and I was drifting around waiting, a lobsterman pulled up to his dock. We went over and scored six 1-1/4lb beauties for dinner ($36). Miles and Laureen bound three from us and joined us later for a lobsta-fest on AA. Candied yams, mashed potatoes, Laureen's delicious salad, her warm blueberry coffee cake and lobster with lots of melted butter; doesn't get any fresher or better! As we talked into the evening a golden waning moon rose over the harbor accenting the boats around us (the most I've ever encountered here). Registrations were predominantly Maine with WI, PA, MD, Cayman Islands, RI, NH, MA and DL blended in. 8/9/09 - A fall morning, quiet, crisp and clear. I turned on the heater, Buddy muttered "finally". We headed for Bucks Harbor around 9am. It was a short hop of 15 miles through a chain of rocky island topped with towering conifers - stunning! Both boats saw seals but had no luck photographing the shy beasts. We took a mooring at Bucks as there is not a lot of room in their mooring filled small cove. No phone or broadband here though Miles' Blackberry is working sporadically. Ruth watched a group of minnows play in the shadow of our boat. As she watched a seal came to play with the minnows. The seal wanted to play lunch time... the minnows didn't. The gulls circling overhead were screaming "move the boat". Dinner in the wilderness: barbequed baby back ribs, mashed baby red potatoes and cream style corn... time to start exercising. 8/10/09 - At 7 we headed down the Eggemoggen Reach enroute to Acadia with Ariel. Enroute I realized we'd be passing the Brooklin Boat Yard home of Stephens Waring White Yacht Design and Wooden Boat Magazine's harbor. Sorry Miles, we're stopping here for a day; see you tomorrow. We met with Paul Waring, an owner of Stephens Waring White Yacht Design and the designer for the modifications to the Camden Knockabout I helped build at Ames Point for Tom Fisk. It was interesting to review some of their designs and see the vessels. They have captured the essence of classic yachts in modern designs. What a fantasy morning! After lunch we took the dinghy 1.5 miles to the home of Wooden Boat magazine where I hoped to meet Matt Murphy, the editor. He was somewhere on their large "campus" but we didn't connect. We did get to visit their store, school, campgrounds and lecture buildings. This is the place to learn about wooden boats! The frosting on the cake? Their harbor was filled with wooden classics in prime condition. Late that afternoon we watch Brooklin's newest flag ship head out for trials. She's registered in the Cayman Islands along with a lot of large yachts. 8/11/09 - I revisited Brooklin before we raised anchor and moved to Wooden Boat harbor; a whole 1.5 miles. We anchored there, enjoying a windjammer and all the classic wood boats. I visited Wooden Boat magazine again, talking to a staffer. Ariel is in Northeastern Harbor on Mount Desert enjoying the hiking and dining. We've gotten hooked by the hundreds of islands and anchorages at the south end of the Eggemoggen Reach. Spent much of the evening trying to find a dentist for Ruth. She had a crown break loose and we are trying to find someone to fix it. Our internet/phone connections here are terrible making it a challenge. 8/12/09 - Foggy morning... sitting among the classic wooden boats and wind jammers it feels like we've been transported back in time. We're poking around in small anchorages exploring little villages (and avoiding daily mooring fees that erode our budget - mooring daily would amount to $900+/month; I'd rather eat). We motored and sailed to Mt. Desert's Northeast Harbor where we took a mooring? Actually it was a tandem floating dock out in the harbor. We went to the grocery store for a couple of items and the Chamber of Commerce to swap books. Tomorrow we'll catch a bus to Bar Harbor where I'll check out the bars and Ruth will visit the dentist... thinkin' I'll be havin' more fun. 8/13/09 - Sunny with broken light clouds. A cool autumn-like morning. We caught the 9am bus to Bar Harbor (Bah Hahbah locally.. does that make me Bahhy) where Ruth got her cap re-cemented for $160. Yeah! After a delicious brunch at Jeannie's Breakfast we walked the town visiting tourist oriented stores and galleries. Then we jumped on a series of shuttle buses that allowed us to tour the island. Very nice way to spend a cool somewhat overcast day. The buses are great, and free (well, we made a couple of donations). Actually it is a great system for reducing the motor traffic in the park and island. We met some nice folks along the way; enjoying their company as we bounced along the narrow island roads. Steve, of S/V Gandalf, told us he named the boat in honor of his favorite quote from the Ring's Wizard, "A wizard is never late; he always arrives exactly when he intended". He thought that was also true of sailors. Back on the boat we found a couple of big sunflowers, a thank you from the young lady on S/V Yankee Cowboy, the boat sharing our raft/mooring. Ruth had given her a quart of blueberries last night after learning they were her favorites. 8/14/09 - Woke to a beautiful fall day. Clear cool sky and the heater running. Our dock-mates cast off before 7am, headed back toward home. Today was mail day, though we've been told the package may have been refused and sent back to FL. A stop at the Post Office confirmed they had not delivered it but had held it in General Delivery. Something to do with having to list all the recipients at an address so they quit delivering mail to the harbormaster's office. Somehow UPS and FedEx make it work and make money doing it? We caught up with our mail as we did the Laundromat thing. Found the state wanted $800 in taxes from Mr. Sew & So, cleared that up on the phone - they'd estimated WI income. Sorry, wasn't there. Also found E-trade hadn't deposited a check in my account because Ruth's name was also on it (though we'd both countersigned the check). Had to cash it locally. Gotta love it. Miles always says the first thing they teach a plumber is s**t runs down hill. I think reality is that it seeks its own level. New dock mates tonight, fellow loopers from Colbert, CAN. Nice folks. 8/15/09 - Surprise, when I started talking to our neighbors I realized they weren't the same folks who'd been their when we went to bed. The loopers had left at 6am and a new boat had tied up at 6:30. You snooze, you loose. We made a short run up a real live Maine fjord to Some Harbor, site of the first settlement on Mt Desert. Once a thriving town with 4 mills, 5 ship yards and a granite quarry; now a fishing and tourist village. We backtracked down the fjord to an anchorage surrounded by St. Sauveur Mountain, Valley Peak and Flying Mountain. What an incredibly beautiful spot! Today being Saturday we had a lot of local boaters stopping in to tube, wake board and swim. A large yacht anchored so they could play all afternoon with their water toys. When they left they had 3 lobster pots trailing from their anchor. Ruth called on the VHF, noting we'd come over with our inflatable and clear them... they responded our blood wasn't blue enough or nasally projected words to that effect. As he headed down the channel a stream of radio messages advised him that he was towing lobster pots. Some poor fisherman lost his gear investment. We closed the day by taking a pair of steaks to Ariel for a joint dinner. Renee provided the salad and broccoli, excellent!
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At Falmouth the guys and gals had their toes done. That's Tom in the red... okaayyy
Light morning fog over Portland harbor
Ruth's New England beach treasures - note the rare bottle stoppers and the perfect arrow head.
Minn. family of 4 enjoying Casco Bay on a 19' cruiser they trailered from Lake Pepin.
A little above the deck work - sometimes I feel like Peter Pan
Fog creeps into Jewell harbor
Classic Maine lobster boat
Boothbay church overlooks busy harbor
Miles & Laureen check out square rigger
Looks like a job I'd be doing if Ames Point had a marine railway
Miles captured AA enroute to Pulpit Harbor
Outward Bound, shot just before the squall
Drive-up lobster shopping
Guess who's coming to dinner
Marina in Bucks Harbor, ME
Beautiful natural finished Woody at Center Harbor, ME
Classic looking Brooklin design, S/V Bequia, their new 90+ foot flag-ship...
reveals one of her modern touches, a retracing boarding platform. Hard to believe that this is a wooden boat!
Ruth at store on Wooden Boat magazine campus
Here they teach the skills of wooden boat building
Wooden Boat classic
Windjammer ghosting along the Eggemoggen Reach
Alfresco barber
Restaurant and shops on Main Street in Bar Harbor, ME
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