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.