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.