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Maine Cruise 2005
Week 1 |
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Day 1:
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Falmouth Foreside - Harmon Harbor
26.5nm traveled | Depart 1055;
Arrive 1630 |
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 Heidi
dropped me off at the boat at around 0830,I with great
anticipation. I lugged several bags of fresh and frozen food to the
boat, along with blocks of ice and cubes for drinks, and spent some
time on board stowing the final gear. Presently, I was done, and
now was simply awaiting the arrival of Nathan. I rowed over to chat
with Britton Cooke on Triton 680, Prudence (for the time being,
anyway), who had sailed his newly-launched boat up from Ipswich, MA
to cruise in Maine. For the first part of the cruise, at least, the
three of us planned to sail together--a sort of unofficial
bachelors' cruise. |
 After Nathan arrived and had prepared his boat, we all returned to
our own boats and prepared to depart. I dropped the mooring around
1030, and set the mainsail in a glorious 5-15 knot northwesterly;
some hazy weather had cleared out, leaving bright skies and pleasant
temperatures. |
 We headed for Harmon Harbor, powering much of the way out of the
inner bay, but we were able to have an excellent sail across Casco
Bay to nearly Cape Small before the wind died again. Very nice
indeed. Many good sailing photo opportunities arose, with all
three boats close to each other.
With the reduction in wind at Cape
Small, we powersailed the rest of the way to Harmon Harbor, where
we were able (as last year) to pick up some private moorings kindly
offered by one of the homeowners on shore. After some drinks and
dinner, we turned in early, partly because of voracious mosquitoes.
It was just as well, though as we had an early start planned for the
next day. |
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Day 2: Sunday, July 24
Harmon Harbor - Long Cove (Vinalhaven)
45 nm traveled | Depart 0505;
Arrive 1355 |
 I was up at 0400, as we had decided upon an 0500 departure. Anxious
to get east, we wanted to get this day under our belts. At 0500, we
dropped the moorings and headed out into the rising sun, with
another fair weather day forecast. The wind remained out of the
northwest, and shortly after passing the White Islands, near
Pemaquid, we were able to set sail for a very nice beam reach across
Muscongus Bay towards Eastern Egg Rock. The wind built, and just
before the rock we all decided, more or less simultaneously, to tuck
in a reef in the main. |
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 We powersailed through the channel off of Port Clyde, and then were
able to sail again between Mosquito Island and Muscle Ridge Channel,
and into the channel itself. This was perhaps the best part of the
day--perfect breeze with minimal seas. Gorgeous! Inside Muscle
Ridge, the winds began to peter out, though, and by Otter Island I
was forced to use the engine. From there, and across the lower part
of Penobscot Bay, the wind was flat, and we powered across the
several miles to the lower end of beautiful Hurricane Sound and up
the short distance to Long Cove, our chosen destination. |
 Long Cove was beautiful as always, and we enjoyed a pleasant
afternoon there. The winds remained light through the afternoon,
with sunny skies. Overnight, it was flat calm, with nary a sound to
be heard. |
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Day 3: Monday, July 24
Long Cove (Lay Day)
 The three of us were in no rush to go
anywhere, and soaked in the pleasure of being somewhere we wanted to
be, the drudgery of arriving now in the past (though this year's
delivery was much nicer than usual, thankfully). |
 We took a planned lay day today, relaxing after a long trip the day
before. The morning was highlighted with some corned beef hash that
I had made in advance and brought along just for the occasion, and
we lazed around all day doing the things that cruisers do. I was
thrilled to be relaxing on board, after so many busy weeks leading
up to the trip.
There was little of note today. The
weather was nicer than anticipated, with the sun breaking out
before noon, and I spent the day socializing, eating, rowing around,
reading, and eating Nathan's pizzas in the evening. This is what
cruising is about. |
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Day 4: Tuesday, July 25
Long Cove - Seal Bay (Vinalhaven)
11.1
nm traveled | Depart 0925; Arrive1150 |
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 We were all ready to get going again, but we chose an easy days'
route across the island to Seal Bay. We exited through Leadbetter
Narrows and passed through Fox Islands Thorofare, under power the
whole way. It was one of the best trips ever through the thorofare,
with little traffic and no obnoxious powerboats. We arrived in
gorgeous Seal Bay after only a short run, but feeling as if we were
in another world, though as the crow flies our new location across
the island was only about 3 miles away.
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 We anchored inside of Hay Island, anticipating strong SW breezes
later in the day and overnight. The protection there is quite
good. Little of note occurred during the afternoon, till we watched
a pair of sailboats come in--each handled by a solo sailor--and
anchor well inside of where I had anchored, which I felt was a bout
as far in as I was comfortable with. These two boats went well
inside, into an area the chart indicated was 2' at low, and we three
eagerly anticipated the drama when low tide arrived. Sadly for our
twisted minds, the boats seemed to remain floating, calling into
question the true boundaries of the shallows shown on the charts. |
After a pleasant evening, the promised winds picked up overnight,
howling incessantly through the night. We were well protected,
however, and the holding ground was excellent. |
Day 5: Wednesday, July 27
Seal Bay (Lay Day) |
 The SW winds blew strongly all day; as anticipated; this had been
expected, and we were looking forward to a relaxing lay day.
In the morning, I watched as Britton loaded some dive/snorkel gear
into his dinghy and rowed off. Several hours later, after
Nathan and I had enjoyed some grilled hot dogs for lunch, we
actually became concerned, as we had seen nothing of Britton since
his departure.I decided to go
look for him, and presently found him, happily snorkeling behind
some nearby rocks, but hidden from view from where the boats were
anchored. |
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 By the
end of the day, the winds had become more than tiresome, with some
gusts approaching 30 knots, but then the thunderstorms came in,
pushed before an approaching cold front. This took care of the
winds, but despite a significant lightning show, we seemed to miss
the worst of the severe weather, getting only some brief heavy rain,
no wind, and only the nearby thunder and lightning. Afterwards the
air was much clearer, cleaner. Unfortunately, the storm's
timing at cocktail hour really put a damper on the festivities--how
unthoughtful of Mother Nature, indeed. |
Day 6: Thursday, July 28
Seal Bay - Merchant Harbor
8.98
nm traveled | Depart 0930; Arrive 1200 |
 The weather was mostly clear, though with a few lingering high
clouds, and a pleasant NW breeze blew. We departed leisurely and
set sail immediately outside the entrance to the harbor, and enjoyed
a very pleasant reach across to Merchant Row in 10-12 knots of
wind. Our destination was beautiful Merchant Harbor, tucked inside
Harbor Island and Merchant Island at the southern extreme of the
archipelago known as Merchants Row. While this harbor tends to be a
bit rolly, it is gorgeous in fair weather, with distant views across
Vinalhaven and North Haven, to the Camden hills beyond, and Swans
Island at the opposite side.
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 Upon arrival, the remaining clouds
quickly dissipated, leaving behind an absolutely perfect day.
It was so stressful, there in a beautiful place with friends, that I
just had to have a lie down.We had a pleasant cocktail hour with
lots of Mount Gay, as well as some of Britton's Laphroig single malt
and some port for dessert. Yikes. |
Day 7:
Friday, July 29
Lay Day Merchant Harbor
 I don't think any of us necessarily
planned on this being a lay day, but after some fun the evening
before and a prolonged cocktail hour, no one seemed to be in a hurry
to get going. By late morning, it seemed obvious to all that
hanging around would not only be likely, but pleasant.
In what was becoming a disturbing
trend, I spotted the 100' schooner Tabor Boy, on which I once
crewed, lurking outside the harbor. Each year on the cruise,
we see this boat, always "just passing through", but I could almost
hear the theme from Jaws playing as she slipped by.
We enjoyed a walk on Harbor Island,
and I rowed around quite a bit. Later, we enjoyed cocktails and
dinner on board Dasein, enjoying a clear, but surprisingly cool,
evening. I was chilled when I returned to the boat, and had to put
on (gasp!) socks to warm up. The sunset was beautiful in the
distance, with the Camden Hills in shadow.
Sorry--most of the pictures I took
during this lovely day were ruined by my camera, partially because
of low battery power and a bad battery door, and partly because of
obscurment from the lens cover. Rats. |
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Day 8:
Saturday, July 30
Merchant Harbor - Bucks Harbor
17 nm traveled | Depart 0655;
Arrive1015
 I woke up early and peeked outside to find and Alberg 30, which had
arrived yesterday and anchored a bit too close, nearly touching my
bow. I got up and was about to go on deck when I noticed the
Alberg's skipper taking in scope, so I left him alone. There
was no wind or sea, so the danger of collision was minor anyway.
I got up earlier than normal for
cruising at 0530, and when I arrived on deck with coffee about 20
minutes later I found Nathan already up and rowing his way over.
He was antsy and had been up since around 0400, when he said that he
had looked out to see my bow pointing directly at his porthole so he
pushed off and then used his dinghy to row his boat further away.
(I had been oblivious to these goings on...). In any event, he
was antsy and ready to get going to Bucks Harbor, where the two of
us were meeting our respective wives later in the day, so we ended
up departing by 0700 for the longish (for us) trip up to Bucks
Harbor. We were at Bucks by 1100, having powered the whole way
in a flat calm and overcast--but clearing--skies, and all three of us found good
moorings. The sun was soon out in force for a beautiful summer
day. I did errands and bought ice and fuel, and filled the
water tank and jugs, and then settled down to relax and wait for
Heidi.
 Heidi, chauffeured by Heather, arrived at a bit after 1700,
exhausted from a busy last week at work and from the drive up. She
crashed by 2100 and slept through till 1100 the next morning.
Sorry...the lens cover was
partially closed on most of the pictures I took today, so there are
precious few from which to choose. Stupid camera.
Continue to
Week 2>
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