We are leaving Maine behind.
Our time there has run out and we are on our way back south. We have had a lot of days with little or no
access to Wi-Fi and we ran out of data in our phone plan so there has not been a lot
of communication. So here is what has been
happening:
On Monday, 9/5/16, we planned to leave Rockland and go
across and up Penobscot Bay to Pulpit Harbor.
After a quick run into town we dropped the mooring ball and were on our
way. That is what was supposed to
happen. What really happened is that
when dropping a mooring ball I usually motor forward a bit to let off the
strain and Cori drops the mooring line and then I back away until I will be
sure of clearing the mooring and it’s lines.
This time, for no apparent reason, I thought we were clear of the
mooring and motored ahead planning on leaving it behind. The reason to back away is to keep the lines
away from the prop. Cori started
franticly trying to telling me that I was going to overrun the mooring. Before I can shift to neutral the line
catches the prop and winds itself on it pulling the mooring ball until it stops
us. We are now sitting with a mess and
not going anywhere. I tried turning the
prop shaft to see if it would release with no luck. We called the marina to tell them of the
situation but there was nothing they would be able to do for us except give us
the name of a diver to call. Cori called
the diver but when there was no answer we realized that it was Labor Day, a
holiday with almost everyone off for the day and any help would be
expensive. At this point it was decided
that I would have to go in and try to free it up myself. I am an oka snorkeler but seem to have too
much flotation to stay down for very long.
The water was not too cold, similar to swimming in Lake Superior. My first dive showed that the small line had
wrapped itself and pulled the larger line around the prop and the eye had
hooked on a prop blade. The next dive
got the eye free and by pulling on the line was able to get both lines to
unwrap. We were now free of the mooring
but I was still in the water. A quick
and unsightly climb into the dinghy and then I was aboard again. Cori quickly started the engine and proceeded
to motor out of the mooring field while I rinsed off with fresh water to avoid
getting salt on everything. Not a good
start to the day but it didn’t cost anything other than my dignity. Once out in the bay we took several long
tacks up to Pulpit Harbor and picked up another mooring ball.
Our first project in the morning was to replace the pressure
valve on the water heater. Now that I
had the engine heating the water the pressure valve would not seal. We have had this problem before and we carry
a spare valve. Problem solved, for
now. We then dinghied to shore and
walked up the road to a small store to pick up some fruit and vegetables. We stopped to check out an old cemetery along
the way. Once back to the dinghy we rode
around taking a tour of the harbor and checking out an osprey nest on some
rocks that the cruisers guide says has been in use for over 150 years. Everything is old up here. On Wednesday Cori took her kayak out to
explore some of the areas we were not able to get into with the dinghy. On her way back she stopped to visit with
several other cruisers. We were invited
for drinks and stories on “Sugar Sugar” a boat visiting from South Portland. Also aboard was Laura off of “Annie Laurie”
who has been cruising single handed for some time.
The next morning it was foggy but was burning off so about
10:00 am we decided to continue on. We
started down the bay but soon the fog closed in again. At times we could see one or the other
shore. We turned on the radar and using
that and the chartplotter we were able to continue, keeping a sharp lookout for
lobster pots that would suddenly appear out of the fog, most times in front of
us. We debated several places to stop
and get out of the fog but decided to continue to our planned destination at Bunrt
Island. The radar showed us where the
island was as we approached it and found the mooring field. Once we were tied to the mooring the fog
cleared a little showing us how close we were to breaking waves on a rocky
shore. The next morning, at low tide
Cori went off exploring again in her kayak.
Mid-morning we dropped the mooring and headed out with Boothbay Harbor
as our destination. Along the way we
diverted to Eastern Egg Island to see if we could spot some Puffins. The Puffin has been reintroduced to the area
and the Egg Islands are a prime nesting area.
It was too late in the season and they were all off to sea. Once we reached Boothbay Harbor we checked
out the anchorage and decided to rent a mooring instead of anchoring. This also gave us a short dinghy ride to get
into town. We picked up a mooring in
front of the Tugboat Marina and paid for a two day visit. We took a walk around the downtown area,
grabbed a drink and an order of wings and started back to the boat. We had passed a coffee shop that had a sign
for live music 5:00-7:00. Since it was
just after 5:00 we stopped in. A VERY
good decision! There was a duet
performing a variety of songs and during their break we got an opportunity to
talk to the guitarist/singer. His name
is Bobby Sweet from western Massachusetts and was just back from another eighteen
month tour with Arlo Guthrie. The singer
was a local from Boothbay Harbor. We
stayed for the entire show, bought two of his cd’s and after saying good bye we
were back to the boat for dinner and listening to music. Sunday morning we went ashore, took advantage
of hot showers and wandered aimlessly about the town checking out the shops and
galleries. One of the galleries invited
us for a reception with one of the artists later in the afternoon. With nothing else pressing we went back for
the reception and met Jim St. Clair, an artist from New York that paints scenes
along the small waterways around New York City.
It turns out that he has a boat in the 79th street marina and
invited us to look him up next time we are in the city of staying at the marina. We talked a lot about boating rather than art
and he wants to be a liveaboard like us.
Sunday dawned foggy, rainy, and chilly. We decided to stay for another day. We did more wandering around, stopped for
some chowder at the Chowder House and just killed time. We both had been commenting how much the town
reminded us of a slightly larger version of Bayfield Wisconsin where we had our
29’ Ericson, “Carina”. Monday morning we
dropped the mooring in time to make the 10:00 opening at the bridge and motored
up the Sheepscot River to Wiscasset.
Upon arrival we tied up at the town dock, notified the harbormaster that
we were there and planned to stay for a couple of days. There is supposed to be a charge for staying
at the dock overnight but he never came to collect.
When we first arrived in the Abaco’s in our first season one
of the first couples we met were Sam and Kayda on “Solstice”. We have stayed in touch with them and they
were the first to tell us that we needed to come up to Maine. Cori had let them know we were coming. Tuesday afternoon Sam picked us up, gave us a
short tour and then to their home for dinner.
Also visiting them was Tom and Bella, another coupe they had met while
in the Bahamas. After dinner and many
stories we were back to the boat for the night.
The next morning, Wednesday, Sam picked us up and brought us to the
Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Just down the road from the Bath Iron Works
where they are building ships for the Navy.
Sam and Kayda both volunteer at the museum and it was their day to
work. After a quick tour by Sam we were
set free to visit the museum. If you are
ever in the area we highly recommend this stop.
The area has a lot of shipbuilding history and fortunately much of it
has been saved, including the site and buildings where they built the largest
wooden schooners ever built. They also
gave us their car so we were able to make a quick run for provisions. Back at their house they loaded us up with
fresh vegetables from their garden. In the evening we talked about theirs and our
cruising and discussed what our next move should be.
Among the “must see” areas on our way south they strongly
suggested Jewel Island. On Thursday,
9/15/16, we waited for high tide to catch on outgoing current and we left
Wiscasset. Once out the mouth of the
river we were able to sail again and made our way to Jewel arriving about 6:00
pm. There were several boats in the
anchorage so we picked a spot and anchored.
In the morning all of the other boats left so we pulled the anchor and
moved further into the anchorage. Jewel
has a long history of supposed hidden treasure and being used as lookout
outpost both in WWI and WWII. We paddled
the dinghy ashore, tied off to a rock and hiked across the island and then
followed the trails past the ruins of old barracks to the two towers. We bypassed the tall one and checked out the
shorter WWI tower and then hiked to the south end of the island for a beach
lunch. After hiking back we found the
dinghy high and dry, as we expected, and dragged it back into the water. The area has ten foot tides so no matter
where you leave the dinghy it will either be floating away from the shore or up
high and dry on it. Without the motor it
was an easy job getting it back in the water.
Saturday we went ashore about mid-tide and hiked back to the ruins. This time we climbed the WWII tower, eight
stories tall, and having brought flashlights explored the underground bunker
and the gun placement sites. We hiked
several more trails finding more ruins of buildings and back to the harbor. With
the tide out we walked across the spit of land that is normally underwater and
walked the beach of the small island looking for shells and sea glass.
It rained overnight and most of Sunday morning and when it cleared
Cori took the kayak back to the little island to look for more shells and sea
glass. It was a big day onboard with
being able to listen to the Nascar race and the evening Vikings-Packers game on
the XM radio. Monday morning we planned
to make the run to Portland. We need new
batteries and I had found a good source there.
Unfortunately it was rainy and foggy and it never cleared enough to try
making the run. Tuesday morning was
foggy also. We kept watching for a break
and eventually it looked like it was getting better. We pulled the anchor and as we started out of
the harbor it filled in making it hard to see the boat right next to us. Hoping it would get better we turned on the
radar and continued. Again it was a day
of trying to avoid lobster pots that would pop out of the fog right in front of
us. We have had several instances when
the auto pilot would act up or quit, and today was one of them. The auto pilot refused to work so it was
hours of standing behind the wheel steering.
Once we arrived at the mouth of
Portland Harbor the fog cleared. We
motored up the harbor then into the river to find a place to stay. The guides listed the possibilities and we
chose to try staying at the Centerboard Yacht Club moorings with the hope of
being allowed to come to the dock to swap out batteries. Once we explained our problem the dockmaster
told us to come in to the dock for the night and he would only charge us the regular
mooring fee. The club had a number of
amenities we were able to use including free Wi-Fi, showers and laundry. Cori started a load of laundry and I ran an
extension cord into the boat since they did not have the usual 30 amp service
on the dock to power up the computers and such.
Wednesday morning started early with me pulling the six
house batteries out and moving them up to the parking lot. At 9:00 am Pam from “Sugar Sugar” picked us
up and brought us to Ed’s Batteries with a side stop at a great bakery for
breakfast treats. Once we had exchanged
batteries we got a tour of Portland and then back to the boat and Pam went back
to work. We meet such good people when
we are out cruising. Once the batteries
were in and everything connected we moved out to a mooring ball but at a discount
“since it is after the high season”. People
in Maine are really nice. We spent the
rest of the afternoon in the clubhouse using their Wi-Fi and getting six loads
of laundry done. I took care of some
business and was ready to start an update to the blog when we were invited to
the outside tables for drinks that ran into dinner with several couples.
Thursday morning we went back to shore to finish the laundry
and take care of some phone calls then we got ready to head out. Before leaving I checked the auto pilot. It still would not work. We can travel without it but it is a lot more
work to always have someone at the wheel.
Several years ago we upgraded all of our electronics except the auto
pilot and it was looking like it was time.
We started making calls to find if anyone in the area had what we
needed. We eventually tracked down a
system at the Braintree MA West Marine store.
We had made plans to stop in Portsmouth NH to see friends and made
arrangements to have it shipped to the West Marine store there. Once that was finalized we dropped the
mooring and headed out. We stopped for
the night at Bitterford Pool and in the morning proceeded to Portsmouth. We had met Elizabeth and Morgan on their boat
“Ithaca” while in the Bahamas and they were another couple that kept telling us
we had to see Maine. She was able to let
us use her mother’s dock and gave us her car to use while we were there. We made a run to West Marine and picked up
the auto pilot and received a pleasant surprise: New Hampshire does not have a
sales tax, saving us over a hundred dollars.
We had dinner that night with Elizabeth since Morgan was out of town and
then in the morning started the install.
Once I got into it I found that I was going to be short one networking
cable. The local West Marine checked
several locations and found the one we would need at a store down by
Boston. While I kept installing Cori
made the run to get it. Once she was
back I finished and then started testing.
We were using parts of the old and the new pilot and were not sure if it
would work. After going through all of
the commissioning steps the only thig to do was give it a sea trial. We opted not to do that because we weren’t
sure we could get back to the dock with the strong current running.
Sunday morning, 9/25/16, we debated our plan once again and
decided to head out for an overnight stop at Gloucester. A front had come through Saturday and the
wind was forecast out of the north for the next couple of days. We had been motoring into south winds all
this time and would have a chance to sail again. Once out and sailing downwind we changed the
plan and decided to bypass Gloucester and make for Plymouth. We were able to sail all of the way at 4-6
knots but with the added distance we were going to be out after dark. Out in the dark is not a big issue until you
take into consideration the number of lobster pots what we normally have to
avoid. In the dark we would not see
them. We were lucky and only picked one
up in the afternoon and when we turned the boat into the wind and spun the prop
shaft by hand it dropped off. We arrived
outside Plymouth Harbor and dropped anchor at 10:00 pm, well after dark. We chose to anchor outside the harbor so we
could get an early start but found that that was a mistake. The swell had us rolling side to side all
night, making it almost impossible to sleep.
In the morning after checking the weather forecast we pulled anchor and
motored to the Cape Cod Canal. The north
winds were blowing themselves out and they were too light to sail. We arrived at the canal with an incoming
current and picked up an additional 2.5 knots.
About an hour and a half later when we exited the canal we made way to
Woods Hole for the night. We had made
plans to stop at one of the closer harbors but decided to go the extra five miles
and pick up a mooring in Hadley Harbor again.
We like it here in Hadley Harbor.
The rain forecast for overnight arrived and we are spending the day
relaxing and obviously writing this blog.
The weather is unsettled so we do not know how long we will be here but
are in a hurry to get further south, it is chilly up here and the trees are
changing color. It’s time to move south!
