I am now in Winter Harbor, Maine, the furtherest I have been downeast. It's another typical Maine town but it seems a little less driven by tourism. There are still a few bed and breakfast inns and little shops but it seems more like their "home" than a tourist destination. The little stone building is the library.

A friend from the sailing club in Lexington, Sally Shafer, is coming down from her Maine cottage, see it at www.mainehaven.com, for a few days of sailing. It will be nice to have some company for a while, especially someone who knows the area.

It was a year ago yesterday that I moved aboard Bella Vita at the boatyard in Gibson Island, Maryland. Seems like much longer than a year with all the new unique experiences I've had since then. I've sailed about 5,900 miles with about 4,300 of that singlehanded. The miles don't really amount to much since most were offshore and they just sort of go by. A better measure of how much sailing this has been is the number of anchorings with no problems (~100), the number of crowded harbors I sailed through, the number of moorings picked up or the number of locks gone through (2 and they still get the adrenalin up). Crew has included Steve Applegate (Chesapeake Bay and BVI), Bill Morgan (offshore to Bahamas), John Byrne (offshore to Maine) and my brother George (USVI). There have been a few problems (wind generator 2 times, autopilot, voltage regulator/alternator) that I had to take care of, a few touches but only one real grounding (Luperon, DR), a few bumps and bruises but only a few days of boredom. I have had no close calls with other vessels at sea although there were a few that seemed like it the time. I just had to realize that 1/4 mile is still a lot of room. Even sailing in the Maine fog with boats all around is not quite as terrifying as I once thought it would be. And then there were the good and the really good times. The great offshore sails, the beautiful anchorages, the great people I met along the way. The comment on the VHF that evening in Cat Island still seems to capture the best of cruising: "This may not be heaven but it can't be more than a quarter mile away." I think I'm ready for another year.

August 11, 2006

Sally came down to the boat on Aug. 4. She suggested sailing up the Narraguagus River to Harrington Bay. She has some waterfront property there that she had never seen from the water and it looked like a great cruising area so off we went a little further downeast.

The wind was really light so we motored and motorsailed the first day. We went by the Schoodic Peninsula portion of the Acadia National Park and observed the tourists covering the rocks from a safe distance. There are about 2,100 acres of park on the peninsula and of course much more of the rugged beauty of Maine.

On past the peninsula and over to Petit Manan island. Petit Manan island is listed as a preserve and is very low and mostly barren. There is a large lighthouse and a few other buildings along with thousands of birds. We went close to the island on the west side and then went around the island close to shore to watch the birds. We ended up sharing the view with a small cruise ship that offers lighthouse, whale and lobster (?) watching. After we got by it, we ended up beside a small group of puffins. I had never seen them before and they were interesting.

On up the Narraguagus Bay to an great nice little anchorage behind Trafton Island. There was one other boat anchored there, a really nice Alden that was on a mooring beside us in Winter Harbor. We had a nice night there although there was a short squall going that came through about 11:00 pm.

In the morning we headed up Harrington Bay to where Sally's property is just north of Ray Point. Motoring by close to shore we got a nice view and then went across the Mill River to anchor in a nice area out of the current to go ashore and see the land. It is a truly beautiful spot with a nice mixture of rocks and sand along the front and a nice clean forest shore.

We left there about noon and headed on down the bay and over to Dyer Bay to anchor for the night. More light winds meant more motor sailing. Dyer Bay is another of the long narrow bays along the Maine coast and is protected by a group of small islands across the mouth. It is also about the highest density of lobster traps I have seen. We missed most of them and anchored just south of Sally Island. That seems to be a popular name because there is one at the next bay to the west, Gouldsboro Bay, and the group of islands there are called the Sally Islands. But it was a nice quiet anchorage and being Sunday morning, there were no lobster boats out in the morning. They are not allowed to pull traps on Sunday. It meant that it was quiet in the morning but we had wanted to buy lobsters from one of the boats.

Sunday we decided to go up the Frenchman Bay to the town of Sorrento. Sorrento is described as one of the best anchorages in the area but when we got there we found the harbor full of moorings. Motoring through, we were hailed by a gentleman on a boat who said the free guest mooring was available. They have installed a mooring in memory of someone who had passed on to "Fiddler's Green." We picked it up and went ashore to see the town. It is a very small town with some nice homes, a dental office and a boatyard. Pretty but not much there so we went back to the boat for dinner aboard.

Monday morning we got going pretty early for the trip back to Winter Harbor. I wanted to be back on Monday to get a mooring for a few days. The big lobster festival was next weekend and they would have people coming in for that and could not hold the mooring for me but said that if I was in Monday, I could get one. Since I was going to leave the boat there for a few days to go to Sally's cottage, I wanted it on a mooring. The wind had picked up considerably and was directly from the south. We had to go south for the length of Frenchman Bay and then cross it to the east to Winter Harbor. We motored south with the wind getting up to about 20 knots. I was thinking that if I had not gotten the power output of the engine back where it was supposed to be, we might have been doing about 1 knot max. We motored at about 4 knots all the way back. Since we now had a car available, we were able to see the rest of Winter Harbor. It is an active lobstering port. We went to the dock to buy some lobster but they are basically a wholesale only and had a high minimum purchase so we got some pictures instead. The lobstermen have claimed the middle of the three harbors in Winter Harbor since it is the best protected. There is a lot of lobster going through there!

I got the boat secured and we headed off to the cottage with a couple of stops for the necessities such as lobster, smoked shrimp, smoked scallops and some wine. The drive to the cottage was mostly on back roads and I got to see some of the Maine countryside. The cottage is on a nice lake, although it's called a pond. It's a great place to get away from everything and I certainly understand why Sally enjoys it so much. Her web site can't convey the beauty and serenity. We stayed there for a couple of days. The first day we went across the lake and picked blueberrys. I have never seen blueberrys, either wild or cultivated, that were so easy to pick. The bushes are about 5 feet tall and covered with berries. We had blueberry pie, blueberry pancakes and blueberries on cereal and salad. After two days of relaxing and great food, Sally dropped me off at the boat back at Winter Harbor. I had to leave the mooring so I went over to Makeral Cove to anchor. The wind was light so I ended up motor sailing again to try and get there and get anchored before dark. I made it OK and am anchored there now. If I get this update done in time, I may go over to the WoodenBoat harbor and anchor there so I can use their wireless to update the web site and catch up on email.

August 15, 2006

I did go over to the WoodenBoat School to update the web site and catch up on my email. That's only about a 8 mile trip so I stayed in Mackeral Cove until after lunch and could still make it to the WB harbor in time to use their wireless. I wasn't thinking about the lobster traps along the way. I was going into the sun and there was a slight chop on the water. Either of these can make it difficult to see the lobster trap bouys and together they make it almost impossible. I caught one on the rudder skeg and it would not come off. It was one of those that have two floats and I think one of them may have been submerged. Anyway, I caught it and it did not want to come off. I stopped (I had been motoring into the wind.) but there was a strong enough wind that it pushed the boat sideways and kept enough force on the line that it wouldn't float off. I tried pushing it off with the boat hook but couldn't push it down far enough to free it. I eventually put up the sails and tried to get enough speed to turn up into the wind so the boat would stop long enough to let it come off the skeg. There was enough drag from the trap dragging through the mud that this didn't work either. (Probably not a pleasant trip for any lobsters in the trap while they were being drug through the mud.) I didn't want to start the engine in case it was wrapped around the prop. I got into the dinghy with the boat hook and tried to reach under the boat and pull it out to the side but it was so choppy that I couldn't steady the dinghy long enough to even see under the boat. I got back into the boat and pondered the situation while I slowly drifted off toward Swans Island. I decided that I would have to use the engine to move the boat so the force could be taken off the line. I went below and to check if the line was caught on the prop by tuning the shaft by hand. It turned freely about 30 degrees and stopped so I could tell that the line wasn't wrapped but that it was pulled along side the prop and would probably become wrapped if I started the engine. I turned the shaft again and I heard a pop and then the prop turned freely. When I turned the prop it either cut the line, has a pretty sharp leading edge, or it pushed the line off. Either way, the line was gone and when I went topsides I could see the float bobbing behind the boat. I couldn't tell if it was attached yet or not but I was free of it so I got underway again toward the WB harbor. I had caught a lines a couple of times before but was able to get them off with less trouble than this one. The lobster traps are a way of life for a lot of Maine's population but they sure make it difficult to sail.

I did the last web site update and decided to spend the night in the harbor before moving on. The weather was not to pleasant the next day so I just stayed there and loafed for a day and looked for an interesting place to go the next day. There were showers and thunderstorms predicted but all we got was a few sprinkles. There were storms close by but they were small, some very small, and missed us. It did make for a pretty sunset though.

I had not been along the south side of Deer Island so I decided to go through the Deer Island Thorofare. This is a narrow channel between Deer Island and the bunch of islands south of it. It wasn't far from the WB harbor so I decided to go on through and then cross the Isle Au Haut Bay and stop for the night in either Kent Cove or Carver Cove between Vinalhaven and North Haven islands. The wind was still from the west so I could sail the first leg which was south to the east entrance of the Deer Island Thorofare. After that I motorsailed for a while and then motored on through the thorofare. It is one of the prettiest spots I've seen in Maine with all the small islands the channel goes by. It didn't hurt that it was a clear bright day with lots of fluffy white clouds. The little town of Stonington is located in the middle of the thorofare. It's a pretty little town with a busy harbor packed with moorings. The town's people used to depend on the granite quarry (The crane used to lift the blocks onto barges can be seen at the right of the picture.) but now it's lobsters and tourists.

I went on through Stonington and out into Isle Au Haut Bay. The wind was still from the west so I continued motoring the four or so miles across the bay. Kent Cove and Carver Cove are right at the eastern end of the Fox Island Thorofare. This is similar to the Deer Island thorofare in that it is a narrow channel with lots of rocks and small islands. The wind had picked up some and Kent Cove was pretty much open to the west because the land sloped down to meet the water so gradually. Kent Cove is behind the light in the picture. I decided to stay in Carver Cove and went down there and anchored. There was one other boat anchored there when I came in and a few more came in later. It was a great anchorage and was absolutly dead calm all night.

Today I passed the 6,000 nautical mile, about 6,900 statue miles, mark on my little sailing adventure. That seems like a lot of miles of sailing but it has been less than a year since my first sail on Belle Vita when I went to Delaware on a short shakedown cruise. The miles just sort of slide slowly by when you're going 4 knots and aren't in a hurry to get somewhere.

In the morning I got started early and went on through the Fox Island Thorofare. There is one small town in the middle called North Haven. It is similar to Stonington but smaller and also has a busy harbor full of moorings. There are resturants, art galleries and the usual B&Bs.

After exiting the Fox Island Thorofare, I continued on across the West Penobscot Bay to Camden. Camden is a really busy harbor with most of the Maine Schooner fleet sailing out of here. I got there about 11:00 and four schooners came out as I was coming in. They take people out for a day sail or some for several days of sailing. The large schooner in the middle of the picture was at anchor and the one on the left, the Mary Day, had just left. The habor is full of moorings that are mostly sailboats instead of the lobster boats in most harbors. I just sailed in for a look and then back out and on to the next harbor on my little tour.

From Camden, I went north up the West Penobscot Bay to the Island of Islesboro. Isleboro is a large island that seperates Penobscot Bay into East and West bays. I was planning on anchoring for the night at the main town of Dark Harbor. It is another pretty little Maine town that would be interesting to walk around for a while. When I got there, I found the harbor to be packed with moorings and no obvious place left to anchor. It was getting late to go elsewhere so I didn't stop and continued north through Gilkey Harbor and back out into the West Penobscot Bay. It looked like Castine would be a good anchorage for the night again. I had been sailing since I left Fox island Thorofare, except for motorsailing though Camden Harbor, and was able to keep on sailing all the way up the west side of Islesboro, around the north end and east to Castine. I went into Holbrook Harbor and anchored in nearly the same spot as the first time I came into this harbor. I'll stay here today and tonight and tomorrow will probably go back across Penobscot Bay to Belfast. My brother Joe and nephew Mike are coming on Friday for a few days of sailing and we're meeting in Belfast. I need to do laundry again and pick up a few provisions and Belfast is good for both.

August 21, 2006

I'm back in Belfast now. My brother Joe and his son Mike came in on Friday, the 18th, for a few days of sailing. They got here in the afternoon so we just motorsailed over to Holbrook Bay by Castine and anchored behind Ram Island for the night. It was a really calm quiet night and quite pleasant. The weather forcast was for rain and thunderstorms starting Sat afternoon and continuing until Mon afternoon. Based on the nasty forecast, we went out and sailed down the East Penobscot Bay for a ways and then turned around and sailed toward Belfast. Nobody was too interested in sailing in the rain so we decided to go ahead and get settled in Belfast for the rest of the weekend. We took a mooring close to the dock so the dinghy trip wouldn't be too long. With my little dinghy, I could only take one of them at a time so going ashore was a bit of a hassle. We went ashore Sat afternoon and walked around Belfast and then watched some of the golf tournament on TV. Sunday didn't look too bad in the morning but the forecast was still for rain so we stayed in port again. We took a trip to town for a movie and then back to the boat for dinner. They left this morning for the drive back to Boston and then back to Cleveland. I fueled up and then moved out to the edge fo the harbor and anchored for the night.

I'm at the laundrymat again to get everthing ready to start the trip south. I'll stop at the library to update the web site after the laundry is done, pick up a couple of things and then I'll be ready to start south. It's getting too cold here for me. The weather forecast this afternoon sounded good for the next few days so I may leave here in the morning for Cape Cod. I will probably wait there for a weather window for the trip to the Delaware Bay. I think I'll cruise some more of the Chesapeak Bay before I head further south for the winter.

August 23, 2006

I left Belfast yesterday morning but not for Cape Cod. The winds were a little light so I decided to go to Carver Cove on Vinalhaven Island and leave from there on Wed, assuming the weather was good. I had stayed at Carver Cove last week and it is a large anchorage that only had about 5 boats in it. Last night there were 15 including 5 of the large sailing canoes that I had seen a few weeks ago. Apparently they sleep on the boats. They put a large awning up that covered most of the boat so at least it's somewhat dry. Twelve people on one of those boats would be a bit snug for my tastes.

The weather forecast for today and tomorrow is still a bit light, 5 to 10 knots, but I decided to go ahead and leave for Cape Cod. My last sunrise in Maine was a pretty one. I will have to motorsail again but I wanted to get across the Gulf of Maine and at least the seas will be calm for the passage. I would like to get through the Cape Cod Canal before dark on Thursday but with the light winds I may not make it. Right now it's about 10:30 and I am just leaving Matinicus Island astern with about 142 miles to go to the Cape Cod Canal.

August 24, 2006

I motorsailed until about 11:00 pm when the winds clocked around to the north and picked up some. I shut off the engine and was able to sail the rest of the night with the winds continuing to clock around to the east. I was sailing between 6 and 7 knots most of the night with really calm seas. After a few hours the wind driven waves built up and the ride got a little rolly but I was still making good time. I have a little problem with the Cape Cod Canal in that I will get there about the time the flow in to the east. The current hits about 4.5 knots so I will have to wait until it get close to slack tide before entering. You are required to transit the canal in 2.5 hours and with a 4.5 knot current I couldn't make it. The winds have slacked off some this morning and my speed is down to about 4 knots. I may have to slow down a little more or just kill some time sailing around Cape Cod Bay. Right now I am about 45 miles from the east end of the canal. Transiting the canal at night should not be a problem. It has "street" lights along the entire length and the approaches are well marked with navigation lights. I think I'll continue on through and head for the Delaware Bay unless the weather forecast looks bad. It's a 240 mile offshore passage so I need to make sure the forecast for the next couple of days is OK. It was OK this morning but that could change by tonight.

August 25, 2006

I made it to the Cape Cod Canal east entrance about 10:00 last night and managed to find the entrance with no major problems. It was a little tough picking out the navigation lights among the background lights but it is well marked and the chart plotter makes it easy. You just drive the little boat icon where the chart shows the channel is and you'll be there even if you can't see it. There are lights on the shore along both sides once you're into the canal. I got there about 45 minutes before the current changed and would give me a boost. As I entered the canal, there was a very slight adverse current and in about a mile it went away and the good current started to build up. My speed went up to about 6.5 knots as I exited the narrow part of the canal and I got a boost for the next 3 or 4 hours.

The only problem I had was at the first bridge. It is a high fixed bridge and it was so dark that I couldn't see if there were supports in the middle of the span. I was looking with the binoculars and could see a middle support with a red light on the right side and a green one of the left side. That seemed a little strange that they would have two narrow channels but that's what it looked like. Then I realized that the support was moving toward me! It wasn't a bridge support but was a very tall tug pushing a barge right down the middle of the channel and directly at me. I very quickly, well as quickly as I could, got to the side and out of the way. I could not hear a sound from the tug until it was beside me. From there on through I did not see another vessel underway until I was through the canal and it took about that long for my heart rate to get back to normal. That is the closest I've come to a serious incident.

I cleared Buzzards Bay and entered Rhode Island Bay just at sunrise. I made the turn at the last waypoint there and had 230 miles to Cape May, NJ, the entrance to the Delaware Bay. It will take me about two days to get there and with good winds I'll be anchored in the Chesapeake Sunday night.

The first large harbor I went past was Newport, RI. This is a large Navy facility and as I was getting close to the traffic control zone, I heard the security call from warship 60 saying that it was leaving the dock bound for sea. I figured it would go out the outbound lane until well clear of the harbor and I didn't want to have to wait for it to go by so I started the engine and motorsailed to get across the outbound lane before the ship got to me. I won although I'm not sure if the warship knew we were racing. I was surprised when it slowed down to 5 knots to let a lobsterman cross in front of them. On the trip up, we saw a submarine coming out of the same harbor. While using the binoculars to look for the warship, the tail of a whale broke the surface. I watched the area for a while but did not see it again.

August 29, 2006

Shortly after passing Block Island at the east end of Long Island, I heard a Coast Guard report on the VHF that a severe thunderstorm was spotted close to the west end of Long Island. The storm had 60 mph winds, lightening, hail and a strong possibilty of a tornado. They never give the general area for a storm like this but give the towns it is near. One of the towns I heard was Mineola and I knew where it was since I had been there once long ago. It was about 100 miles away so I wasn't too concerned although the storm was heading SE at 30 mph. I looked like I might get the remains of the storm and a couple of hours later I did run into a storm. There was no thunder and lightening but fairly high winds and lots of rain. I dropped the sails and motored into the wind for a while until the winds moderated some. Even though the winds dropped, it had lasted long enough that the seas got stirred up pretty good. I then got underway with a double reefed mainsail only. At times I was doing over seven knots with this shortened sail and wind kept up strong enough that the seas stayed rough. In fact the seas stayed rough until I got just off the NJ coast the next day. The sailing wasn't too bad but with the boat rolling in steep seas I didn't get much rest during my short catnaps. I had to lay on the bed with my butt up against the main mast support pole that is located about midway along the edge of the berth. Otherwise I would slide off the berth as the boat rolled. The waves were generally about 6 foot but occasionaly a large one would come along. I had one the hit the side of the boat and broke over the deck. It washed away one of the dorade vent covers and I had water coming through two if the vents, one over the berth. I had to move to the settee for the rest of the trip. At least I was on a port tack the whole trip and with the settee on the starboard side, I didn't have to worry about falling out of bed.

Atlantic City was the first land I saw after leaving the east end of Long Island, or rather the hotels at Atlantic City. I was about 27 miles away when I first saw the hotels and casinos. The high seas kept a lot of the boat traffic of the water and I only saw about 5 boats before turning into the Delaware Bay. The Bay water was calm, or at least seemed calm compared to the last 30 hours, but I still had a nice breeze and made good time up the bay. (About halfway up the bay I was back to swimming truncks and a T shirt. Even the water in my tanks is much warmer now.) I turned into the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal about 4:00 pm. I had caught the current westward and was motoring along at over 6 knots. I got through the canal in just over two hours with no large vessels encountered. Another hour and I was pulling into the Bohemia River where I anchored for the night shortly before dark.

It had been a 514 NM trip from Vinalhaven Island to the Bohemia River and took about 4 1/2 days. The first few days were nice sailing with the last two a little rough. I never felt like I was in danger from the seas although it was certainly not comfortable.

I'm still anchored in the Bomenia River and with heavy storms predicted today, I'll probably stay here until tomorrow. Then I will start down the Chesapeake with frequent stops along the way. I have not seen much of the Chesapeake Eastern Shore since most of my time here has been spent working on the boat.