Maine But starting Back

We are still in Maine but are starting our way back.  The weather has cooled off and it's time to move to a warmer climate.

We were hanging out at Mistake Island, which by the way was not a mistake, enjoying the scenery and solitude but we had one more group of islands we wanted to check out.  The weather had different plans for us.  We were socked in with fog for four days.  At this point we decided it's time to start back.  We motored and sailed down to Little Cranberry Island, which is just across from Mt. Desert Island better know as Acadia National Park.  We checked out the small community (approx. 60 people) and hiked the only trail that our app showed.  It took us along the beach which is not sand but rocks that have been rolling for so long they are round.  Once off the trail we encountered what the island is best known for: mosquitos.  The guide tells us that some years back they drained the bogs  and "the cranberries never came back but the mosquitos did."  From there we moved to "Hells Half Acre" next to Devils Island.  The area has a reputation from back in the early days when the state was "Dry" but you could get liquor and other "adult pleasures" out in these islands.  We spent one night there and moved further up the bay to Southeast Harbor.  The appeal of this anchorage is that it had access to several hiking trails and was protected from all sides from a storm.  We took the dinghy to shore and used an old granite dock to access the trail.  We spent several hours hiking and came back to the dinghy for a surprise.  The tides here run 9-11 feet.  When we tied up the tide was going out but I thought we would be fine.  I was wrong, the dinghy was high and dry with the tide still going out.  We had two options, wait until the tide turned and came back in, in about five hours, or drag the dingy through the mud until it was floating again.  We opted to drag through the mud.  Several times we almost lost our shoes and at one point the mud was knee deep.  We were a mess, once we were floating we then paddled out to where we could drop the engine and motor back to the boat for showers.  The photos is on my phone so I can't upload it now but now we are able to laugh about it.

After several days in Southeast Harbor we moved to Vinalhaven Island planning to stop in Winter Harbor.  When we got there the winds were blowing into the harbor and it would have been unsettled so we turned into Seal Harbor, one of several Seal Harbors.  Hurricane Teddy was blowing down by Bermuda and sending it's outer wind bands and kicking up big seas in the area as it made it's way to Nova Scotia.  We were forecast to get those winds but we had good protection.  When the winds did hit several days later they we only saw gust into the 30 knot range.  We did take a day to go out in the dinghy to check out the area.  We had been to the island on a previous trip but had not been to this area.  It is an amazingly beautiful place.  We contacted our friends Lauren and Brian who we had met in the Caribbean when they had their boat Nightingale Tunes who now live in Vinalhaven.  They were able to come pick us up so we could spend the evening with them.  Lauren and Brian, thanks for your hospitality and a great meal.  We especially appreciate the invitation to bring our laundry.  We spent Tuesday, September 22, on the boat out of the cold north winds brought to us by Teddy.  It was also the Autumnal Equinox, the beginning of Fall.  We spent the next day on the boat wanting to give the seas a chance to die down after the winds.

We then moved on to Rockland, where we are now.  We have a number of things to take care of after this much time traveling.  We were running low on provisions, we needed to fill propane tanks, I needed to pick up a prescription, drop off some mail and we had scheduled a haul out.  The propane refill was accomplished by walking a mile to the supplier with each of us having a tank strapped to our backs.  Fortunately we use a small tank that hold about six pounds of propane so they are easily transported sticking out of a backpack.  Provisions were accomplished by taking the dinghy to the yard we were going to hauled out at and using there dock to get us closer to the store.  We still had a mile hike to get there and another mile back with the groceries, again in backpacks and carrying the extra bags.  I had also made an extra trip to the post office and to pick up some boat parts.  Sunday we made another trip into town for necessities such as wine, rum, and diet coke that we had not gotten on the previous trip.

Monday we were scheduled to be hauled out.  With the location of the boatyard and the tides we could only be hauled out at high tide.  We planned on having them power-wash the bottom to see how much was growing on it, the condition of the bottom paint and for me to check and service the propeller and zincs.  We arrived at our agreed time of 9:30 but had to wait until they finished hauling out three other boats before us.  What we had scheduled was what is called a "quick-haul" which is where they haul you out, leave you on the lift, perform the work and drop you back in the water.  This usually takes about an hour if all goes well.  Our problem was having to wait so that we would be the last ones to be hauled out since we were going to occupy the lift.  They decided that we would spend the night in the lift and be relaunched in the morning which was just fine with us.  Everything went as planned, the bottom was cleaned and surprisingly had little growth on it.  The propeller had very little growth on it, it is painted with a different paint then the hull, and I quickly got it cleaned and greased.  We had time in the evening to get a couple loads of laundry done and even a nice long hot shower.  The two drawbacks were that it rained in the morning and we were tracking mud all over the boat as we came and went and that I was not able to get plugged into power like I had hoped.

This morning we were relaunched and moved out to a mooring ball to finish putting everything back together.  We have looked at the weather forecast and today is forecast to be foggy and then a front coming through tomorrow that will kick up the winds and seas.  We have decided to hang out on the mooring to let that pass.

Still in Maine

We are still in Maine.  The temperatures are dropping, we have had many days where it doesn't get out of the 60's and nights in the 50's but we are hanging on.  This is a big shift from being in the islands and having 80's every day.

We left Portland and with little wind we motored up the coast to Quahog Bay then tucked into Hen Cove.  We wanted to go here because our friend Randall has a mooring here that he is not using and offered it to us.  We met Randall in the Caribbean and last saw him in Trinidad.  He was also gracious enough to pick us up and take us out for dinner and a provisioning run. Thank you Randall!  We spent a quiet week going for hikes to the next town to buy lobsters and to explore the area in our dinghy.  We left Hen Cove and continued on to Burnt Island.  This is a small island with some summer cottages and a secure anchorage that we had been to before.  We stayed for three days with never more then two other boats anchored around us.  We hiked the main trails and just hung out, staying an extra day because of fog.  We left Burnt and proceeded to Isle au Haut.  Isle is another island with a small year round community with a small store and a post office.  The appeal of this island is that about half of it is part of Acadia National Park, but without the crowds.  There is an extensive trail system and we spent several days hiking some trails trough the forests and along the shores.  We came across wild blackberry's and picked enough, after eating a lot, to add them to pancakes several mornings.  We had several days of fog and one day with rain and a serious thunderstorm but otherwise the temperatures are perfect for hiking but a bit cool at night.  

After a week we moved on.  We had planned to go to Acadia National Park for more hiking but we learned that the buses are not running due to Covid 19.  The buses were going to be our transportation getting to the trails so we decided to bypass and save them for another year.  Our next island, Long Island, had been suggested to us so that was our next stop.  There is a small community and an active lobster fishing fleet.  There are also some well maintained trails so we had another day hiking.  We stayed two nights on a mooring due to there not being much room to anchor and moved on to Eastern Harbor.  It was foggy in the morning but cleared up and we headed out.  About an hour later the fog formed again.  We have radar so the only downside of fog is that it is hard to see the floats for the lobster traps so we don't pick one up and get it wrapped in the prop.  We pulled into Eastern Harbor and were able to get one of the guest moorings.  Again, this is a harbor for lobster boats and in the morning and afternoon there is a lot of them coming and going.  The next day we were fogged in so we just relaxed on the boat.  Our main reason to stop here was because our next destination was further then we wanted to go in one day, breaking it into a two day trip.  We had another day with fog in the morning but it burnt off quickly and we headed out again.  Once again, after about an hour the fog rolled in.  We motored on, weaving between lobster floats and arrived at Mistake Island, set the anchor and settled in for the night.  In the morning we dinghied to the town of Jonesboro to hit the grocery store.  Once in the town harbor we got the OK from a family to use their dock to tie up to while we walked to the store.  Once we had our groceries we walked around the town for a bit stopping and having pizza for lunch.  While we had been out the winds had picked up a bit and it was a rough ride back to the boat, a twelve mile round trip.  Several of the lobster men we talked to were surprised we made the trip in such a small boat.  We then went ashore on Mistake Island to check out the lighthouse.  The Coast Guard maintains the light and fog signal but the lighthouse was sold and a young couple are trying to refurbish it.  We were lucky enough to be able to climb to the top and check out the view.  The next day we dinghied across to Great Wass Island to hike the trails there.  This being Labor Day Weekend we expected and met a number of people on the trails, otherwise we have been having the trails to ourselves.

At this point we have one more island we want to visit before we turn around and start heading back.  We had talked a lot during the past season about getting back to Maine and have not been disappointed.  The Covid Pandemic has not effected us much since we are staying out in the more isolated islands.  One of our goals was to spend a lot of time hiking and we have really been enjoying that.

Here are some photos:

A friendly seal checking us out as we were checking them out.

One of the interesting bridges in Quahog Bay built with the locally quarried granite.

Wildlife on Burnt Island, we don't usually see much because we are noisy hikers.

Hi Flite at anchor at Burnt Island.

Part of the hiking trail on Isle au Haut.

Debris on the beach.

The beaches are rock instead of sand.

The view back to the mainland from Isle au Haut.

Rocky cliff shoreline.

Rocks rounded off by centuries of water and ice rolling them around.

Part of the trail on Long Island runs along the shore.

Another part of the trail on Long Island.

The trail on Long Island ended next to a small cemetery.  This marker simply read "Unknown Soldier."

Moose Peak Lighthouse on Mistake Island.

Looking up inside the lighthouse.

The view from the lighthouse.

One last shot of the lighthouse.