Sailing between Maine and the Caribbean Sea
One word….MAINE….that is all I can say! Sadly we are now in Gloucester Mass, and I am trying to catch up on the blog, so for me, being a visual learner, the best way is with photos. In the past month I have taken over 3,000 digital photos and most of them only turn out half as good as it really looked. So here are a few from my MAINE collection….enjoy….
We are still here….still afloat….but have NOT blogged in a week! We are lost in the beauty of Maine from NE Harbor through Deer Island into Hell’s half Acre and then onto Vinalhaven and then into Camden where we waited out the 30 knot blow last night. Today, we are underway again, motorsailing the 45 miles from Camden Maine west to Boothbay Harbor. We hope to catch up with the blog soon with more photos….but for now, we are under way….
More later….with photos….ok…back to relieve Radeen at the helm….wind…rain….low viz….MAINE
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| Island Spirit and Cutter Loose share a dock float mid harbor in North East Harbor Maine |
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| Cutter Loose, IP460, on anchor at Little Cranberry with Mount Desert in the fog |
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| Sutton Island north of the Cranberry Isles on the approach to NE Harbor |
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| Radeen secures Island Spirit to a NE Harbor float |
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| Asticou Terraces overlook, an easy walk up from the harbor |
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| The view over NE harbor, our float is to the left of the tall tree |
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| Thuya Gardens are the reward at the top of the hike |
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| Local artist painting at Thuya Gardens |
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| Island Spirit and Cutter Loose on the harbor float |
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| Thank you, Henry Curtis, Landscape Architect and protector of these hills |
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| Tristan, Ray and Hayden on Island Spirit |
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| Radeen and Linda, friends for over 30 years, teaching school together |
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| Hayden takes the team back to shore after a fun dinner aboard Island Spirit |
We sailed from Isle au Haut through Merchant Row and up into Eggemoggin Reach just in time to arrive at the finish line of the wooden boat regatta, http://ERregatta.com. This location at Brooklin Maine is the home of WoodenBoat School where you can learn to build your own wooden boat. We have never seen so many magnificent wooden boats and perfectly varnished brightwork and wooden masts and spars in one harbor anywhere.
In the morning, we explored the WoodenBoat Bookstore and the WoodenBoat School where we observed students working on their kayacks and small sailing dinghies. This looks like a very interesting program and maybe someday we will come up here to participate in building a boat. Take a look at some of the yachts I photographed below. I tried to show their beauty and their varnish. Enjoy the photos….
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| White Wings, a W Class yacht! http://www.w-class.com/spirit_of_tradition_yachts/f/w_class_yachts_home.html |
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| Team W-Class, White Wings with her FLEET! |
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| Wild Horses, White Wings, Race Horse plus a sailing dinghy http://www.w-class.com/spirit_of_tradition_yachts/f/w_class_yachts_home.html |
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| Beautiful varnish |
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| Ticonderoga and her gold leafed dolphin |
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| Classic |
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| CANGARDA and the Bow Sprit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangarda |
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| The Classic Herreshoff Sailing Dinghy, this is one you can learn to build |
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| Island Spirit off the stern of M/V LITTLE VIGILANT, with her race boat to port! |
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| The RACE Course for the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta |
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| Hayden and Radeen on top of Duck Mountain, Isle au Haut |
Following our good friends Eric and Patricia, who are the directors of our “Outward Bound” hiking program, we followed the Duck Harbor Trail up to the peak of Duck Mountain, 314 feet high. Compared to the hike Eric and Patricia did to reach Cadillac Mountain at 1300+ feet, this was a breeze…..for them….and a stretch for us. We love to hike trails, and take in the beauty, but scaling granite boulders and steep grades was a new challenge for us. The beauty of these park trails is breathtaking! hen you reach a summit on a clear day, you are rewarded with a vista across the bay and back to Vinalhaven and the Camden hills. Thank you, Team Cutter Loose for leading us through a beautiful trail and climb.
Here are some photos of the 50+ I shot….
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| The Park Map, Duck Harbor Trail lower left |
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| Island Spirit IP35 and Cutter Loose IP460 at anchor Duck Harbor |
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| Part way up, with a look back to our boats in the harbor |
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| A great view overlooking the bay |
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| Looking north to Merchant Row |
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| Patricia with Eric pointing to our boats in the harbor |
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| Dew on the local vegetation |
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| One granite rock ledge we climbed, National Park Service has cut hand holds into the rocks, Eric leads us UP! |
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| Patricia easily handles the hike down |
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| Beautiful close up of a mushroom and moss…NO we did not eat this 🙂 |
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| Back down to our boats at anchor, before we depart for Eggemoggin Reach |
CHECK OUT THE 10′ TIDES….
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| Notice the high tide mark on granite blocks at the dinghy dock! |
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| Tide part way down on dinghy dock. |
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| Tide down, part way, these blocks are about 3 feet thick! |
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| Island Spirit IP35 and Cutter Loose IP460 Isle au Haut |
We departed Rockland Maine for the Island of Isle au Haut, part of Acadia National Park system and to connect with our good friends Eric and Patricia on www.CutterLoose.com the dream Island Packet 460 from our home port of Rock Hall, MD. We anchored in Duck Harbor on the west side in a narrow rock lined cove with pine trees rolling up the hills. In the Taft Cruising Guide, this is rated a #4 out of 5 so it is spectacular in its beauty. I keep taking photos and none of them look half as beautiful as this place is in real life. Everyone says there is something special about the light, the colors, the water, this place, and we both have to agree, Maine is truly beautiful. Last night we had a wonderful meal aboard Cutter Loose and we enjoyed re-visiting with our good friends Eric and Patricia. Today, we plan to hike a few easy trails here and then sail over the Eggemoggin Reach for a wooden boat show.
Here are some photos, the best I can do, enjoy the beauty….
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| Eric and Patricia on Cutter Loose welcome us to Isle au Haut |
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| Island Spirit anchored in 30 feet, high tide, look at the rocks. Tides 10′ |
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| Our view from the galley port, notice the tide dropping, look at the rocks! |
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| Granite shores with beautiful sea grass and pine tree lined hiking trails |
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| Duck Harbor Cove on Isle au Haut, Acadia National Park |
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| A local cabin on the water, Isle au Haut |
Well, that’s it for now. I am nearly freezing here this AM. I get up at daybreak to blog, 5:30-6:00, it is now 7:40, slow connections! The temperature here in the boat is 55 degrees. I have a fleece top and fleece pants on and socks and I am still COLD! Topside the boat is soaked with morning dew, the enclosure is fully covered with moisture. The tide is down and it looks like we could be up on the rocky shore, but I am in 25 feet of water! The anchor chain wakes you up as it grinds over the granite rocks on the sea floor. The 10 cups of coffee help me to warm up. When we head for the trails today….I will be taking my jacket! Brrrrrr
Have a great day! ACADIA IS B E A U T I F U L……
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| AM Fog, this was good viz, about 100 yards! |
Long Cove off Tenant’s Harbor is a popular and beautiful Maine anchorage. We have been here before with Bobby W. who guided us into the narrow entrance after we were totally lost in the fog. Sure enough, we got fogged in this time here again. Lucky for us, this time it was the next day, in the AM when the fog set in, so we decided to just stay put and read and work on the boat. It is one thing when you are underway and you run into a fog bank with zero visibility as opposed to choosing to go out a tight channel and into zero viz…so staying put was far easier.
While here on anchor in Long Cove, we enjoyed another beautiful sunset off the stern….
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| The sunset zoomed in over the pine trees |
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| The sunset panoramic and Long Cove, Maine from our anchor. |
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| AM sunrise over the islands off Long Cove, Maine |
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| The Loons with their beautiful calls work the AM fog, notice the house… |
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| FOG LIFTS, next day: Same view as top picture, but NOW we can see the exit |
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| Owl’s Head Lighthouse to the south as you enter Rockland Maine |
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| Local artists painted these cool signs all over town |
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| Lobsters Lobsters everywhere. Full dinner costs $14.00, what a deal. |
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| Schooner and the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. The Breakwater was built in 1902 and is 1 mile long! SOLID Granite ———————————————————————————————————— |
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| Trouble in Paradise: NEW OIL leak on the transmission oil seal. We had a similar problem in 2009 when we were up here. Looks like we will have to deal with this again. For now, it time to enjoy a LOBSTER ROLL 🙂 |
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| Lobster at the IP Rendezvous Dinner |
The Maine Island Packet (IP) Rendezvous is a wonderful event held in one of the best towns in America, Boothbay Harbor. The IP dealer, Norm Pierce and his gracious wife, Mary, plan and organize the three day event! They schedule the restaurants for multiple meals, they organize the speakers and outline the seminars, they write supporting documents and helpful handouts, share information about their town, and they accept your mail, UPS, and FedEx packages, all to support the Island Packet Fleet. This is our second time to attend this bi-annual event and Norm said there will be another one in two years, so make plans now to COME ON UP by boat or by car!
I have taken hundreds of photos of the event and I have posted 60 photos on our Island Packet Yacht Owner’s Web site. Here is a link to the direct photo albums…
60 photos from Friday: http://ipyoa.com/community/62-hayden/photos/album?albumid=152
20 photos from Saturday: http://ipyoa.com/community/62-hayden/photos/album?albumid=154
Here are a few more photos:
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| 10 foot tides allow for easy bottom work on your boat |
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| Low tide on an Island Home |
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| My favorite spot, Island Spirit with chimes from Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church |
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| Boothbay Harbor town, looking down into the harbor at dusk |
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| Reading: Ride a Magic Carpet with Books at the public library |
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| This is the Humpback Whale, the kind that swam across our bow! |
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| The IP ESTERO at Norm’s Dock for the Rendezvous |
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| The Island Packet Flag and Logo |
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| A beautiful church with wonderful chimes that play over the harbor |
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| Norm’s Dock where he gave a demo on rig tuning a new IP460 |
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| The fleet and Cap’n Fish’s |
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| How beautiful, notice the tide is down, 8-10 foot drop! |
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| No picture can show the true beauty, this is the best I can do…. |
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| Low tide from the foot bridge |
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| Hayden and Norm…..thank you, Norm, for all you do for the IP Fleet! |
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| Island Packet Lobsters ! NICE Touch! |
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| Catholic Church Boothbay Harbor Maine |
Living in BBH, Boothbay Harbor Maine is paradise as we are here for a week leading up to the bi-annual Island Packet Yacht Owner’s Rendezvous hosted by Norm and Mary Pierce of Pierce Yachts. Norm is so helpful with the Island Packet Fleet and everyone highly respects his open and honest help and support. The IPY Maine Rendezvous will be Fri, Sat, and Sun with events planned to bring the fleet together to share and to learn topics related to our yacht ownership. As the local Maine dealer, Norm organizes and hosts this event every other year. Owners sail up to Maine to participate in the event. This year 25-30 boats should be here!
We are here a few days early because we love the BBH town center, shops, ice cream parlors, library, shuttle bus, and friendly Maine people. There is something special about Maine; besides the scenic beauty, it has to be the people. We will enjoy life in BBH for this week and we will be sad to see it end. I am working on a full photo essay of the BBH town, and will post that later, for now….
Here are a few photos from today…
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| The view from our mooring ball |
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| Our neighbor, a local lobsta boat |
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| Our local lobsta retailer…fresh caught everyday! |
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| $8.50 per pound live lobsta….Got Lobsta? |
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| Schooners sail past our boat several times a day |
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| Conrad our friend from Rock Hall, IP420 Oro Negro in front of us |
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| The local neighborhood |
MORE PHOTOS TO FOLLOW….
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| Cape Ann off Gloucester MA, with two lighthouses |
We did not plan to run 70 miles today, but the weather changed underway, so we decided to press on another 20 miles and reach Boothbay Harbor Maine before the front. Last night we were anchored in Isles of Shoals 8 miles off the NH coast and we were treated to the most spectacular sunset we have ever watched. The lighting on the rocks to our stern and the golden colored sunset off our bow was breathtaking. Radeen and I both are so grateful and appreciative that we have this opportunity and time and good health to live this sailing life and our lifetime dream. This sunset made us both take time to reflect.
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| Isles of Shoals sunset and Radeen |
With flat calm seas and clear skies we depart the Isles of Shoals for Maine, planning on anchoring near Cape Small, the closest point towards our destination of Boothbay. Underway, it was so calm that we sanded and re-varnished the port stern cap rail of teak around 10am! Then as we crossed the Portland shipping lanes 8 miles off shore and in 350 foot deep water, we were treated to TWO WHALE SIGHTINGS! One off our starboard beam about 4 boat lengths away, and the other, 30 minutes later surfaced off our port BOW about two boat lengths away. This one was swimming across our bow! This second one was a humpback whale and was ….VERY LARGE….I tried to get video but the WHALE never resurfaced, thank goodness as it crossed our bow. We heard other boats talking about WHALES in the area, but these two sightings were the only ones we saw. Welcome to MAINE, we call it a fairyland because it seems too good to be true, to beautiful to be reality, it truly seems like a dream land. We both agree, we have never seen anything as beautiful as Maine!
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| Seguin Island Lighthouse approaching Boothbay Harbor, Maine |
Arriving into Boothbay Harbor, Maine by water is spectacular, as you pass lighthouses and islands with summer homes on rock lined shores with pine trees down to the high water mark. White waves crashing onto the rocks and splashing into the air contrast to the dark greens of the pines, even in the low light, rainy overcast day, the lighting was still spectacular. I find it difficult to describe the true beauty, you simply have to sail into Maine and discover it for yourself….Welcome to Maine, our 3rd visit by water.
Here are a few photos….
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| Sunset on the rocks, Isles of Shoals, NH |
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| Sunset over the bow of Island Spirit, Isles of Shoals, NH |
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| Thank you…Attitude of Gratitude |
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| My friends Conrad and Mirna from Rock Hall, MD in Boothbay Harbor, ME |
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| Our view over the Boothbay Harbor, Maine for the next week….ahhh |