Portland, Maine

Sunday August 23, 2015
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We had planned to take a circuitous route to Portland today - winding thru narrow passages that link several of the deep estuaries between here and Portland. But the morning was so gray and dreary we decided to just give it a miss and take the much shorter ocean route. What a drag this weather is.

Five hours later we peered thru the fog and rain and found our target mooring field and picked up the assigned ball. We only had 34 NM to cover and seemed to have a favorable current all the way.

There are lots of capes and rocks around the Maine coast. I usually do not bother taking photos of the associated "aids to navigation" unless the visibility is decent, but today I gave in despite the "average" conditions. You can see the results below.

Cuckold's Lighthouse - makes you wonder what went on in that place in the old days!

Seguin Island Lighthouse

Halfway Rock Lighthouse

Looks like a tourist ride out of Portland. Those folks won't go home with much of a tan!

Portland Head Lighthouse - I actually caught the light as it rotated.

Nice houses on the channel into Portland Harbor. Love the roses!

Spring Point ledge Lighthouse  and view of downtown Portland

Monday August 24, 2015

We dropped the dink and went ashore in the gloom and ate a hardy breakfast. I needed to get my Lipitore prescription refilled (I had run out 3 days ago, and after that breakfast..... ) and Deidre needed a super market, so we split up, planning to regroup at the supermarket and catch a cab back. . As we left the breakfast place the sun came out, what a difference that made.

After unloading groceries on Tide Hiker, and with the sun still shining, we headed off in the dink to explore Portland's waterfront. Its an old waterfront that has been partially spiffed up and partially left unaltered - in other words a bit raunchy. We came across a seal swimming in the murky water and felt a bit sorry for him. But we also found a very spiffy floating restaurant/bar so landed the dinghy and found a table with a view. I had been able to buy a NY Times and so we spent a very pleasant couple of hours hobnobbing. Now that's the life. Just add a bit of sun......

The ferry terminal was just next to us

As we were tootling around quite a big ship passed us and went thru the bridge

Big fishing fleet here

Booth Bay

Saturday August 22, 2015
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Overnight we arranged to meet Cavara at Booth Bay - a 25 mile run for us, a 44 mile run for them. They had given up on getting fuel and water in Camden. So we took it easy and enjoyed a cooked breakfast, and did not drop the ball till about 9 AM. Lo and behold, we saw Cavara on the radar soon after pulling out of the harbor. They had given up on getting fuel in Camden and left early in the AM. Visibility was decent and we arrived in Booth Bay about 2 PM.

We dropped the dinghy and went into town. It was another busy vacation place. Lots of restaurants, tour boats, hotels, tee shirt places etc. We liked it, but felt sorry for the dirt dwellers, trying to park their SUVs and entertain the kids.

A good photo of the catholic church!

Because dock space is so valuable for the tourists, the lobster people pile up their traps on unlighted floats

Our mooring field was associated with a nice yachting club on the other side of the bay. Barb and Don needed to do their washing so had gone into the club. We buzzed back to the Club to discuss plans - they were set up in the bar as they waited for the machines. They told us they would be busy until 8 PM so we headed back to town and had dinner in a Chinese joint - good tucker!

Barb and Don washing cloths - at the bar

Tenant Harbor - Mooring Ball

Friday August 21, 2015
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Another foggy morning. Plan A was to head 44 NM to Booth Bay. Plan B was to head about 1/2 way and bail out in Tenant Harbor - at least that would be progress. We dropped the tether at about 1 PM and headed out. Cavara had still not made it to the fuel dock so they were to follow later.

The fog was mostly "on" and sometimes "off" as we headed south west. Fortunately I had connected with an audio stream of the 5th Test in England, so could listen to the cricket as we stared out of the windscreen into the grey, spotting and avoiding lobster floats.  We saw nothing else but grey water and grey cloud and grey fog for just over 3 hours. Maybe a few red blobs on the radar that we avoided.

We arrived at Tenant Harbor about 4 PM and spent the best part of an hour searching for our reserved ball. Eventually made ourselves secure and launched the dinghy so we could go ashore and pay the dimwit who did not know where "her balls" were actually located. Then walked into "town" looking for the local spot for a meal.

The mooring ball search

Tomorrow we will head for Booth Bay, rain or shine. We need to make some progress or we will both start rusting. The "humidity" is 90% - 95% all the time. Everything is wet.

Camden, Maine (Mooring Ball)

Thursday August 21, 2015
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Another "fog" day. We delayed pulling the anchor 'till 11 AM when the fog had cleared in the anchorage. All good as we made our way thru the Fox Passage but returned in strength as we entered Penobscot Bay. So we nixed plans to continue south and headed west to Camden where we could take on fuel and water, rent a mooring ball and go ashore for dinner.

Restored trading schooners seems to be a Maine thing. We passed this one as we headed into the fog on Penobscot Bay.

Tide Hiker was a mile or so ahead of Cavara so we went in for fuel first. The working part of the harbor is small and crowded with boats, and the space at the fuel dock was very tight - maybe 60'. We squeezed in OK, missing the boat behind by a couple of feet.The fuel pump was pretty slow so filling the tanks (440 US gallons) took at least an hour. By the time we finished the fog was as thick as I have seen it. Working our way out of the inner harbor and finding the ball in the fog was fun.

So where is the fuel dock? And this is when we could see!

Cavara decided not to attempt the refueling for the reasons described above. About 6 PM we called for a ride on the water taxi and headed into town for a walk and dinner. Maybe we can make some miles tomorrow!

Carver Cove anchorage

Wednesday August 19, 2015
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Fog, fog, fog, fog................
Lobster traps, lobster traps, lobster traps............
Crazy yacht people, crazy yacht people, crazy yacht people..........

It was very foggy when we woke up this AM so we rolled over and went back to sleep. At 9 AM it was not much better. We checked in with Cavara every hour, and by 11 AM it looked like it had lifted a bit so OK - not "good" but "OK".

Half an hour later we were enveloped in heavy thick fog with lots of other boats and millions of lobster traps. The extract from our chart plotter below shows just how disoriented we became as we dodged "everything". We eventually got around the "GONG" but it sure took some doing.(The straight bold lines are my plans, the dotted line traces our actual path!)

The straight lines are our planned course.
The dotted line is our actual path!

We came across one yacht in the fog that we had to "cross" and so called them on the radio multiple times - no answer. We entered a couple of narrow channels and broadcast "All Stations, All stations, this is motor vessel Tide Hiker entering XXXX channel heading west at 7 Kts. Any concerned traffic respond on Ch 16." No responses. Never the less we encountered a couple of yachts in the channel, in the fog.

Ten miles out of Southwest harbor we ran out of traffic, so it was just the fog and the lobster floats. It got so bad that at one point I asked Deidre to stand on the bow and point at floats as they appeared. We eventually both rugged up and ran the boat from the fly bridge.

Our float plan today took us thru what would have been a very scenic area, if we had been able to see. Its really a shame as it is very unlikely that we will return.

This is as much as we saw

 We arrived at the anchorage about 4 PM. Twenty minutes before we arrived a brisk southwesterly sprung up and blew the fog away. Moments later it was a nice day. How did that happen?

The schooner above sailed in an hour or so later and dropped anchor. Deidre and I had dinner on the aft deck and watched the anchored schooner - definitely either a burial at sea of just a religious group - or something else altogether.

Southwest Harbor, Maine

Tuesday August 18, 2015
44 16 381 N
68 18 786 W

Only a short day today, but required 100% concentration because of the lobster trap floats. We dropped the mooring at about 8:15 AM and arrived Southwest Harbor at about 10:15 AM. Another beautiful day, calm and sunny.

Don had ordered engine oil for both boats (Tide Hiker is due for another oil change in 30 hours) and so he immediately dropped his dinghy, picked me up and headed over to the municipal wharf to meet the truck. While there we watched as the lobster catch was unloaded.

Lobsters off the boat into wet storage

This harbor is a very busy place. Lots of commercial fishing boats and private sailing boats. Lots of boating facilities around the shoreline.

We are moored right opposite the Coast Guard Station

...... and the sailing school?

Southwest harbor is located near the entrance end of 5 mile long fjord called Somes sound that runs north into the "middle" of Mt. Desert Island. So we gassed up the dinghies and headed up the sound for an adventure. We found an anchorage near the end and a dinghy dock that allowed us to get off and walk 1/2 mile to a gas station and buy an ice-cream. One shore of the fjord was the Acadia park, the other side must have been "old money" private, as we saw several very well spaced mansions overlooking the water.

Nice summer cottage

Bar Harbor, Maine (Mooring Ball)

Sunday August 16, 2015
48 23 523 N
68 12 020 W

With some reluctance we retrieved the anchor for an 8 AM start. It was a beautiful morning and I was reluctant to leave such a great anchorage. Finding anchorages like this is why we had been looking forward to Maine. But we needed to check into the USA so we had to head for an entry port - in this case Bar Harbor was 44 NM away.

Sad to leave..........

The weather was good and the hop to Bar Harbor was uneventful. We needed to round a couple of minor capes and managed a couple of lighthouse photos. Most of our attention was focussed on dodging the millions of lobster trap floats.

Bar Harbor is located on the east coast of Mount Desert Island, and the approach up Frenchman Bay was particularly scenic. The harbor itself is created from the shelter of several small rugged islands. There was a cruise ship leaving as we arrived - the same ship we had seen in Halifax. This place is very touristy and the bay was busy with sightseeing vessels of all sorts. We had reserved a couple of mooring balls and Tide Hiker was secure in no time.

Cavara expertly picking up the mooring

Our immediate view

I immediately called Customs and Immigration, expecting to be cleared in over the phone. Not so. After two phone calls we were told to stay put, and "officer was on his way"! After dropping the dinghy, we settled down to wait on the aft deck taking in the sights. We were near the shore and had front seat view of the harbor facilities and the busy town was a lot of fun. The officer called from the dock and we headed in with all our documents. he had a quick look at our passports and that was that - "Welcome home".

Monday August 17, 2015

Easy morning, watching the tour boats leave on the aft deck in our pajamas, coffee in hand. Headed into town about 11 AM to pay our mooring fees and have a look around. Bar Harbor was really hopping with tourists and tee shirt shops - but in a classy way. We found a place for a late and newspaper before venturing too far. Then signed up for a one hour "Lolly the Trolley" tour including Cadillac Mountain. Compliments of the many 19th century millionaires, most of the island is National Park and the bus ride up the mountain was very pleasant. Lots of industrialists made bar harbor their summer home.  Stopped at a waterside bar for a beer before returning to Tide Hiker. Impressed with the prosperity of Bar Harbor.

ADAKY in the dinghy dock

Local resort. Still not as much fun as being on Tide Hiker.

View of Bar harbor from the mountain

Waterfront bar

The view from our table

Tide Hiker in the background.

Tourist boats