There just isn't enough time to cruise and sight see when the weather is nice and we don't have any down time. You'll just have to wait for pictures to be posted in the last two sections, waiting to find wi-fi so I can do that.
We entered back into the United States today, Friday, August 28, at Eastport, ME. We rode the outgoing tide down the Western Passage from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, getting a push upto 4 MPH. It was a great ride. We will hunker down here until Tropical Storm Danny goes by Saturday night and Sunday Morning, then we'll have to wait for the sea to die down before we can proceed south, probably Tuesday based on current wave forcasts.
It's Saturday night, Danny is just to the SW and we are getting the rain and wind of it's leading edge. We are tucked into a small safe harbor with about 40 fishing boats, rafted up 6 deep to the floating dock inside an L shaped town warf. High tide was about two hours ago, and while we were up the wall of the warf was about 8'high and we were exposed to the NE wind. We're on our way back down, going down 17', and when we're at the bottom the wind goes over the top. Wind forcasted to die about 3 AM tomorrow, so next time we get to high tide the storm should be E of us.
Danny passed last night, and at about 3:00 AM the wind died. We woke up to broken clouds and by 10:30 the sun was out. Moved back to the outside of the warf on a floating dock sy
stem, we're plugged back in, and it has been a beautiful day. That evening we finally saw some whales jumping out in the bay.
Monday we took two ferry rides to get to Campobello Island, FDR's summer residence, which is actually back in Canada. With our bikes we walked onto the Eastport-Deer Island Ferry, and passed through Canadian Customs on Deer Island. Waited 30 minutes and then took a second ferry from Deer Island to Campobello. The National Park is managed jointly by the US Park Service and Parks Canada and is open free of charge. The Rosevelt cottage was simple with 10 bedrooms, on a beautiful setting facing Eastport across the bay.
On Tuesday morning about 15 minutes before high tide we left Eastport so we could be at the international bridge to transit Lubec Narrows just after high tide. Even so, the water was pushing us close to 5 MPH as we went under the bridge. It's so much fun to go 15 MPH over ground when we are only going 10 MPH through the water. The first 15 miles to Bar Harbor was outside of any islands in the Bay of Fundy. We were getting a 2 MPH push as we went down the coast. Once we got to Long Point we could head inland and travel behind the coastal islands. The highlight was a passage through the "Thorofare", a narrow channel through Rogue Island. We arrived at Bar Harbor and tied up to a mooring ball at 5:50 PM, after a 86 mile run. And guess who was in town, CARRIBEAN PRINCESS and her hundreds of passengers. Remember, we passed CARRIBEAN PRINCESS in the fog as we left Saint John.
Prior to our arrival in Bar Harbor we had made contact with the Foote's, friends from Boston who we had cruised portions of the Maine coast with us back in 1968. They have retired and now live on Moosehead Lake. Have we told you about the lobster trap buoys that are EVERYWHERE! On Wednesday, as I cast off the mooring ball, the boat had drifted over a lobster trap buoy, so when I put the boat in gear I immediatly fouled the line around the port propeller shaft which shut the engine down, and while trying to get back to the mooring ball, fouled some more of the line around the starboard shaft which shut that engine down. Called Doug on HAPPY CLAMZ on the phone to come over with his dingy to pull me back to the mooring ball, which he was able to do. So on went the diving gear, under the boat with my supper dooper Craftsman cutter, and 10 minutes later both shafts were clear of ropes. Oh, did I tell you the water is COLD up here! Tad and Kathy met us at 11:30 at the town dock and we cruised around Mount Desert Island up into Somes Sound, a fjord that splits the island. Upon returing to town we joined Foote's for dinner.
Thursday was our day to visit Acadia National Park. We boarded a tour bus in town and took a 3 hour tour through the park and to the top of Cadillac Mountain. At 2:00 we were back at the boat and by 2:20 we cast off the lines from the mooring ball and heading south for an unkown anchorage. At 5:10 we dropped the hook in Mackeral Cove on the north shore of Swan Island. We'd been having trouble with the raw water cooling system on the generator. I'd already cleaned the strainer and changed the impeller in the pump. But still our water flow was too low for sufficient cooling. So, on with the dive gear to check the intake under the boat. Oh, did I tell you the water is COLD up here! No blockage there. Next I disconnected the supply line at the strainer, put it in a 5 gallon pail full of water to check the pump operation and every thing down strem of the strainer. The generator engine quickly sucked up the water the exhausted it, so the problem still has to be in the intake hose. Dissasembled it at the elbow of the thru hull and found blockage where the hose connects to the hose barb. Removed kelp pieces, reassembled, problem solved.
Friday, August 4, is another beautiful day. We pull anchor and head up Eggemoggin Reach on a flood tide for Castine, ariving just in time for lunch. Tie up at the town dock next to the Maine Maritime Accademy. Had a nice simple lunch at "The Breeze", a take out lunch counter at the dock, then a 2 hour walk about town. Back on the boat, by now the tide has turned, for a quick ride down the western branch of the Penobscott river to Camden. Sure helps to have a 2 MPH tidal push all day. Camden is having their annual "Windjammer Festival" so their are lots of people around, and about twenty scooners. Caught up to HAPPY CLAMZ again and enjoyed dinner with them in town, and then enjoyed the fireworks that evening.
HAPPY CLAMZ left early Saturday morning for Boothbay Harbor. We went into town to walk around and see some of the many old homes and buildings in town. Just after noon we returned to the boat, had some lunch, cast off from our mooring ball and started south running behind the islands. We anchored for the night in LONG COVE near Tenants Harbor, watched the sun set to the west ending another georgous day, and watch the full moon come up over the water to the east, it just doesn't get any better than this.
On Sunday we traveled the last 30 miles into Boothbay Harbor, got there in time for lobster rolls for lunch and a walk around the town. There are crowds of people enjoying the last weekend of summer. We'll spend one night at the Tug Boat Marina and head up to Bath tomorrow through some small back waterways, running with the tide. Should be fun.
We had a ball Monday going up to Bath. Left Boothbay Harbor two hours after low water, went up through Townsend Gut to Sheepscot River, through Goose Rock Passage to Knubble Bay through Lower Hell Gate to Hocomock Bay, and up the narrow Sanoa River to Bath. At times we had a 5 MPH pus
h. Once in Bath tied up to the city dock to see the town. The large cranes at Bath Iron Works tower over the city. The Bath boat building industy was able to convert from wood to steel and today are on
e of our nations largest ship building centers. After the tide turned we went down the Kennebec River two miles and tied up to the Maritime Musiem dock. Tied up to the dock at the musiem was a sister hull to the BLUE
NOSE, but this boat was diesel powered and only used it's sails as stabelizers. We left at 5:00 PM when the musiem closed. By now the tide was about three hours past high in Bath so we
had maximum push going down the Kennebec. Along the way we saw seals on some of the rocks. We anchored in Small Point Harbor for the night.
ODYSSEE headed for South Freeport on 
Tuesday morning for a shopping day at L L Bean. WOW, what an operation they have in Freeport, ope
n 24 hours for your shopping convience.
They have some interesting cars running around in the hargor too!
Wednesday, September 9, we have moved to Portland and are tied up to a friends mo
oring ball. Yesterday and this morning the forcast for Thursday and Friday called for seas building to 7-8', so we were planning on spending several days here. This evening the wind is calm, not as forcast this morning, and the forcast now for tomorrow is for seas of 3' building to 5' in the afternoon. So we now plan to get up early and head for Portsmouth, NH. If the seas get uncomfortable we have three bail out harbors. So, we'll see how the day goes.
Thursday arrived and we proceeded to try to get to Portsmouth. We rode the tidal current out of Portland harbor and when the outgoing water met the Atlantic, very confused big waves resulted. We slugged through them out to the sea bouy and turned SSW towards Portsmouth. The swell was on our side from the SE with a 1-2' NE wind wave on top. It wasn't comfortable but we were tollerating it. An hour went by and the wind wave built to 2-3', and we decided enough was enough, so we turned the boat more westerly and headed for Kennebuck
port. On Friday we finished our trip to Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth city dock is at their waterfront city park.
We spent the last three days of our Maine visit spending time with our friends Chuck and Barbara Ganem, boaters on GOLD WATCH. We toured all the sights along the SE coast of Maine.
It is now Sunday, September 13, and we are heading for Ipswich, MA.
We entered back into the United States today, Friday, August 28, at Eastport, ME. We rode the outgoing tide down the Western Passage from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, getting a push upto 4 MPH. It was a great ride. We will hunker down here until Tropical Storm Danny goes by Saturday night and Sunday Morning, then we'll have to wait for the sea to die down before we can proceed south, probably Tuesday based on current wave forcasts.
It's Saturday night, Danny is just to the SW and we are getting the rain and wind of it's leading edge. We are tucked into a small safe harbor with about 40 fishing boats, rafted up 6 deep to the floating dock inside an L shaped town warf. High tide was about two hours ago, and while we were up the wall of the warf was about 8'high and we were exposed to the NE wind. We're on our way back down, going down 17', and when we're at the bottom the wind goes over the top. Wind forcasted to die about 3 AM tomorrow, so next time we get to high tide the storm should be E of us.
Danny passed last night, and at about 3:00 AM the wind died. We woke up to broken clouds and by 10:30 the sun was out. Moved back to the outside of the warf on a floating dock sy
stem, we're plugged back in, and it has been a beautiful day. That evening we finally saw some whales jumping out in the bay.
Monday we took two ferry rides to get to Campobello Island, FDR's summer residence, which is actually back in Canada. With our bikes we walked onto the Eastport-Deer Island Ferry, and passed through Canadian Customs on Deer Island. Waited 30 minutes and then took a second ferry from Deer Island to Campobello. The National Park is managed jointly by the US Park Service and Parks Canada and is open free of charge. The Rosevelt cottage was simple with 10 bedrooms, on a beautiful setting facing Eastport across the bay.
On Tuesday morning about 15 minutes before high tide we left Eastport so we could be at the international bridge to transit Lubec Narrows just after high tide. Even so, the water was pushing us close to 5 MPH as we went under the bridge. It's so much fun to go 15 MPH over ground when we are only going 10 MPH through the water. The first 15 miles to Bar Harbor was outside of any islands in the Bay of Fundy. We were getting a 2 MPH push as we went down the coast. Once we got to Long Point we could head inland and travel behind the coastal islands. The highlight was a passage through the "Thorofare", a narrow channel through Rogue Island. We arrived at Bar Harbor and tied up to a mooring ball at 5:50 PM, after a 86 mile run. And guess who was in town, CARRIBEAN PRINCESS and her hundreds of passengers. Remember, we passed CARRIBEAN PRINCESS in the fog as we left Saint John.
Prior to our arrival in Bar Harbor we had made contact with the Foote's, friends from Boston who we had cruised portions of the Maine coast with us back in 1968. They have retired and now live on Moosehead Lake. Have we told you about the lobster trap buoys that are EVERYWHERE! On Wednesday, as I cast off the mooring ball, the boat had drifted over a lobster trap buoy, so when I put the boat in gear I immediatly fouled the line around the port propeller shaft which shut the engine down, and while trying to get back to the mooring ball, fouled some more of the line around the starboard shaft which shut that engine down. Called Doug on HAPPY CLAMZ on the phone to come over with his dingy to pull me back to the mooring ball, which he was able to do. So on went the diving gear, under the boat with my supper dooper Craftsman cutter, and 10 minutes later both shafts were clear of ropes. Oh, did I tell you the water is COLD up here! Tad and Kathy met us at 11:30 at the town dock and we cruised around Mount Desert Island up into Somes Sound, a fjord that splits the island. Upon returing to town we joined Foote's for dinner.
Thursday was our day to visit Acadia National Park. We boarded a tour bus in town and took a 3 hour tour through the park and to the top of Cadillac Mountain. At 2:00 we were back at the boat and by 2:20 we cast off the lines from the mooring ball and heading south for an unkown anchorage. At 5:10 we dropped the hook in Mackeral Cove on the north shore of Swan Island. We'd been having trouble with the raw water cooling system on the generator. I'd already cleaned the strainer and changed the impeller in the pump. But still our water flow was too low for sufficient cooling. So, on with the dive gear to check the intake under the boat. Oh, did I tell you the water is COLD up here! No blockage there. Next I disconnected the supply line at the strainer, put it in a 5 gallon pail full of water to check the pump operation and every thing down strem of the strainer. The generator engine quickly sucked up the water the exhausted it, so the problem still has to be in the intake hose. Dissasembled it at the elbow of the thru hull and found blockage where the hose connects to the hose barb. Removed kelp pieces, reassembled, problem solved.
Friday, August 4, is another beautiful day. We pull anchor and head up Eggemoggin Reach on a flood tide for Castine, ariving just in time for lunch. Tie up at the town dock next to the Maine Maritime Accademy. Had a nice simple lunch at "The Breeze", a take out lunch counter at the dock, then a 2 hour walk about town. Back on the boat, by now the tide has turned, for a quick ride down the western branch of the Penobscott river to Camden. Sure helps to have a 2 MPH tidal push all day. Camden is having their annual "Windjammer Festival" so their are lots of people around, and about twenty scooners. Caught up to HAPPY CLAMZ again and enjoyed dinner with them in town, and then enjoyed the fireworks that evening.
HAPPY CLAMZ left early Saturday morning for Boothbay Harbor. We went into town to walk around and see some of the many old homes and buildings in town. Just after noon we returned to the boat, had some lunch, cast off from our mooring ball and started south running behind the islands. We anchored for the night in LONG COVE near Tenants Harbor, watched the sun set to the west ending another georgous day, and watch the full moon come up over the water to the east, it just doesn't get any better than this.
On Sunday we traveled the last 30 miles into Boothbay Harbor, got there in time for lobster rolls for lunch and a walk around the town. There are crowds of people enjoying the last weekend of summer. We'll spend one night at the Tug Boat Marina and head up to Bath tomorrow through some small back waterways, running with the tide. Should be fun.
We had a ball Monday going up to Bath. Left Boothbay Harbor two hours after low water, went up through Townsend Gut to Sheepscot River, through Goose Rock Passage to Knubble Bay through Lower Hell Gate to Hocomock Bay, and up the narrow Sanoa River to Bath. At times we had a 5 MPH pus
h. Once in Bath tied up to the city dock to see the town. The large cranes at Bath Iron Works tower over the city. The Bath boat building industy was able to convert from wood to steel and today are on
e of our nations largest ship building centers. After the tide turned we went down the Kennebec River two miles and tied up to the Maritime Musiem dock. Tied up to the dock at the musiem was a sister hull to the BLUE
NOSE, but this boat was diesel powered and only used it's sails as stabelizers. We left at 5:00 PM when the musiem closed. By now the tide was about three hours past high in Bath so we
had maximum push going down the Kennebec. Along the way we saw seals on some of the rocks. We anchored in Small Point Harbor for the night.
ODYSSEE headed for South Freeport on 
Tuesday morning for a shopping day at L L Bean. WOW, what an operation they have in Freeport, ope
n 24 hours for your shopping convience.
They have some interesting cars running around in the hargor too!
Wednesday, September 9, we have moved to Portland and are tied up to a friends mo
oring ball. Yesterday and this morning the forcast for Thursday and Friday called for seas building to 7-8', so we were planning on spending several days here. This evening the wind is calm, not as forcast this morning, and the forcast now for tomorrow is for seas of 3' building to 5' in the afternoon. So we now plan to get up early and head for Portsmouth, NH. If the seas get uncomfortable we have three bail out harbors. So, we'll see how the day goes.
Thursday arrived and we proceeded to try to get to Portsmouth. We rode the tidal current out of Portland harbor and when the outgoing water met the Atlantic, very confused big waves resulted. We slugged through them out to the sea bouy and turned SSW towards Portsmouth. The swell was on our side from the SE with a 1-2' NE wind wave on top. It wasn't comfortable but we were tollerating it. An hour went by and the wind wave built to 2-3', and we decided enough was enough, so we turned the boat more westerly and headed for Kennebuck
port. On Friday we finished our trip to Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth city dock is at their waterfront city park.
We spent the last three days of our Maine visit spending time with our friends Chuck and Barbara Ganem, boaters on GOLD WATCH. We toured all the sights along the SE coast of Maine.
It is now Sunday, September 13, and we are heading for Ipswich, MA.
No comments:
Post a Comment