Down the Maine Coast

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 system, 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    push. 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 one 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 BLUENOSE, 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, open 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 mooring 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 Kennebuckport. 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.

The Saint John River

On Wednesday morning, August 19, we left Westport for a fast run of 71 miles to Saint John. It was fairly clear, visability of 3 miles or so, the sun was starting to light up the eastern ski, the wind was SW at about 12 Kts, and we were running with a rising tide of about 2 MPH into Saint John until 11:19 AM. With a SW breeze, you want to run to Saint John on a rising tide or face very large, square waves. We put the throttles down and got ODYSSEE up on top running through the water at 15 mph. With the tide behind us we were averaging 17 MPH over ground, and with the ocassional surf off a big wave, we were up to over 19 over the ground. What a boat ride, probably one of the nicest rides we've ever had on this old gal. We arrived at the entrance to the harbor at about 10:30 and were tied up to the Market Place Pier by 11:00, where we waited until 1:35 pm for the 1:45 slack water at the reversing falls at the mouth of the Saint John River. The reversing falls are created by the difference between the river level and the water level in the Bay of Fundy. With a tide swing of 24' in the bay, when the bay is higher than the river, the bay flows into the river at the falls and when the bay is lower than the river the river falls into the bay, so you must pass through the falls at slack water, when the water levels of the river and the bay are the same. We followed another boat through that is a local and when timed correctly it's a non event. Once in the river we tied up at the docks of the Royal Kennebecasis Yacht Club. I was now fairly close to our truck which is still in Mirimachi. On Thursday morning I rode my bike 4 miles to the bus depo, purchased a ticket, folded up the bike and put it in it's bag and checked it through. Once I arrived in Mirimachi, I unpacked the bike and rode it three miles to the truck, folded it up again and put it in the back of the truck, and drove the truck back to Saint John. On Friday I moved the truck to Bangor, Maine where Steve and Jean Purdy picked it up to drive back to South Carolina where they have their trawler for the summer. I checked my bike, got on the bus back to Saint John, unpacked the bike, and rode it the four miles back to the boat. So, the truck is heading south, will be back in Hilton Head in a couple of weeks. We left Saturday morning on a drizzely morning for a trip up the river to an anchorage in Grand Lake, Douglas Harbour. HAPPY CLAMZ is traveling with us, and beat us to the anchorage and had picked out a spot by the time we got there. Doug and Leslie joined us on our boat for dinner. Sunday, Tropical Storm Bill was now a little SE of us and we were getting a NE breeze and rain. We pulled anchor and headed for Fredericton, arriving shortly after noon. By the time we arrived, the weather was clearing. As the capital of New Brunswick, and a history that goes back 1500 years, there is much to see and learn about, and they do a nice job at telling you about their city with most of the walking tours and government building open free of charge. All afternoon, one night, and the next morning until 3:00 gave us enough time to see most of it. Monday afternoon into the evening we cruised back down the river in an anchorage called Kinston Creek, about 2/3 rds the way back to Saint John. It was a beautiful afternoon, no wind, just a great day for a lazy cruise down the river. Tuesday morning I went under the boat with my third lung to inspect everything and change zincs as necessary before we got back in the cold salt water. I found a rope wrapped around the starboard propeller shaft and I did change out the rudder zincs, the shaft zincs will make it back to Beaufort. That project done, we finished our cruise back to Saint John and are at the RKYC. Wednesday morning we left early for a trip back through the reversing falls                                                                     at 7:10 AM. Once through the falls we continued down the coast of the Bay of Fundy to Dipper Harbour in a ebb tide, arriving at Dipper Harbour at 10:30 AM just before low tide. The waves in the Bay of Fundy were 4-6' in every direction and the fog was thick giving us visability of less than .2 of a mile so we were glad to get to our destination.

On to Nova Scotia

We left Charlottetown, PEI yesterday, Saturday July 18. We had a good crossing over to Pictou, NS, arriving at the city marina, the Hector Quay Marina, located next to the reconstructed square rigger, Hector, the boat which brought the original 189 Scottish settlers here in 1773. Pictou is the birthplace of

New Scotland. Sunday we traveled east, on a beautiful, calm day, around Cape George to Havre Boucher where we anchored in their natural harbor. After a very peaceful night, we pulled anchor on Monday morning, heading for Bras d'Or Lakes. We went thru two current control locks, the first in the Straights of Canso. This is a large lock capable of handling large ocean going ships. Unlike most locks which raise or lower you several feet, this lock only controls the current through this passage. Depending on the tide, you are either raised or lowered. Today the water level at both ends was vertually equal, so we drove into the lock, held ourselves in the middle of the lock, and drove out the other end. The second such lock was as we entered Bras d'Or Lakes at St. Peter. This lake is exposed to tidal water at the north entrance and the St. Peter Canal controls the current at the south end of the lake so boats can safely transit the canal. This is a small lock operated by Parks Canada. Once in the lake we immeadiatly turned left and went to St. Peters Marina operated by the local Lions Club. Two boats we knew from Rimouski were here, including Marcel and Genevieve on their sail boat SANTA MARIA 1. We no more than tied up the boat and Marcel insisted we come to their boat for lunch. They had been monitoring their radio and knew when we called into the marina, so were there to greet us. We had a delightful lunch together and then they came over to our boat for a soup supper. Many of the people we meet along the way are special, and Marcel and Genevieve are among them. Tuesday, Marcel and Genevieve took us on a 13 hour driving tour of Cape Breton Island. The highlight of the trip was the drive on the Cabot Trail, through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Around each corner there is another breathtaking vista. The camera just doesn't capture this beauty, but it's the best we have to attempt to share this beautiful scenery with you. It rained hard all day Wednesday, so we stayed on the boat and caught up on housekeeping chores and a few small maintenance projects. Thursday, at about noon the sun came out. We left the marina to see this beautiful lake. We anchored on the north shore of West Bay and a secluded cove at the base of the mountains which are the eastern edge of the Cape Breton Highlands. Friday we took an interesting ride up a narrow channel named "The Boom", to Orangedale, an interesting town with a prosperous past. The channel was remonisant of our trip through Georgian Bay in 2007. In Orangedale they have resored a late 1800 Railroad Station. In it's heydays, 1930-1950, they had 6 passenger trains and as many as 20 freight trains go through Orangedale every day. Now there are 4 freight trains a week, one each way on Tuesday and Thursdays. With some windy, rainy weather expected during the night, we snuck into McKinnens Harbour through a narrow dredged channel. The guide book didn't mention that the channel was schoaling in on the east side, so our trip in got a little interesting. We made it but I was a little concerned as I watched the bottom go by just under the starboard side of the hull. The wind blew 30 K and it rained all day Saturday, so we just hunkered down. Late in the day it calmed down, and I took the dingy back to the narrow channel to take soundings with my lead line to figure out the best course back out. If we hug the west side of the channel we had a good 8' of water. Sunday morning we pulled anchor and headed out for Baddeck, with a planned stop in Iona to go see Highland Village, a reconstructed early Scottish village. Iona also has a Government Warf, so we tied up ODYSSEE, got the bikes out, and rode UP to Highland Village. As we were docking, I heard a short squeek of a drive belt, we froze up a bearing on the starboard engine fresh water pump. Yes, we rebuilt the starboard engine, but we used the fresh water pump from the failed engine. So now I have replaced both fresh water pumps, the port engine pump failed a year age at Burlington, VT. The Village was nicely done, and the view of the lake from on top of the hill was spectacular. The ride down to hill back to the boat was a whole lot easier than the ride UP. On one engine we proceeded to Baddeck. Baddeck was Alexander Graham Bell's summer residence, because it was so much                                          like his native Scotland. We visited the museum run by Parks Canada. Most of his experimentation and inventions occured here. Besides the telephone, he is the father of Canadian aviation and the developement of hydrofoil boats, driven by air propellers. His boat, HD-4 set the world speed record on water of 71 MPH in 1919 on Bras d'Or Lakes. This year they are celebrating 100 years of Canadian aviation, in February of 1909 Bell flew his Silver Dart from the ice of Bras d'Or Lakes. More than 100 antique airplanes have flow in to celebrate this occasion. 

   

We ordered a new water pump from the Detroit dealer in Montreal on Monday morning. It will be here Wednesday about noon. So we are enjoying Baddeck, but look forward to moving on. The new pump arrived at 12:10 on Wednesday, it was installed and we left the marina at 2:30, traveled 15 miles to an anchorage on The Great Bras d'Or behind Otter Island. On the way to The Great Bras d'Or we went        past  Bell's lake estate. It was at this 

location that his aironautical and hydronautical experiments were conducted. The Great Bras d'Or is the NE entrance into Bras d'Or Lakes and is not controlled by a lock. You have to time your exit with the tidal current, which means we have a 6 hour window to go out on Thursday from about 5:00 to 11:00 AM. Well it's Thursday. It's foggy and expected to rain later in the day, and the wind is blowing near 20 Kts. So we are sitting, anticipating a better day tomorrow, if the forcast comes true. We want to see "Bird Islands" just outside and the coast line from here to Louisburg. In Louisburg, Parks Canada has reconstructed the Fortress of Louisburg, a French Fort which fell to the British in 1745 and again in 1758. It is reconstructed as it was in 1744. This reconstruction is larger than Williamsburg, and our experience with anything Parks Canada does has been very well done.

We had a nice run to Louisbourg on Friday. We passed under the Great Bras d'Or highway bridge as we headed NE towards the Atlantic. Once outside we detoured a little NW to get to Bird Islands. Not only did we see lots of birds, but large groups of seals were also present. Once we turn back                             to the SE towards the tip of Cape Breton, there was very light wind, a modereate swell, and a very plesant ride. As we rounded the tip of the cape and started back SW we went through our furthest east point, W 059 47.200. At 11;30, the wind started to build from the SW, and as we cleared Main-a-Dieu Passage we met the REAL Atlantic with 6' swells and 3-4' wind waves on top. The only good news was that we were close to Louisbourg so we had only about an hour of rough water as we approached Louisbourg, the Fortress was to our left. When we arrived at the town Warf, we learned they were celebrating their annual Crab Fest, this is a major fishing port for snow crab. On Saturday we spend most of the day at the fortress and were joined by Genevieve and Marcel who drove up from St. Peter and brought Doug and Les on HAPPY CLAMZ with them. It was great to spend lunch with everyone. We went back to town at 5:30 for their crab dinner, only to be disappointed to learn they were sold out, having already served 1500 dinners.

On Sunday, we moved to Canso in 4-6' rolling seas and light wind. passing a few seals along the way. When we arrived we found JUST RELAX was there, looper friends from Charlotte, NC. It blew hard on Monday so we stayed in port. Tuesday, with lighter wind, we left for Liscome Lodge, ran all day in dense fog.

It's Thursday, August 6, and we are at Liscomb Lodge. I'm in the Lodge lobby on their Wi-Fi. We've got lots of details to fill in, hope we have good Wi-Fi in Halifax so I can post pictures and details. Weather has not been cooperating. We've had limited windows of opportunity when the waves have been less than 6'. Ran 10 hours from Canso to Liscomb on Tuesday in 4-6' seas and fog with less than 500' visability most of the day.                                    Liscome Lodge had posted a sign at the end of their dock advising others that might show up that their dock was reserved for two boats, us and JUST RELAX. Wednesday was a lay day waiting for the seas to calm down. Early in the day another Mainship 40 needed a space to find shelter from the rough seas, and called in in hopes of finding a place to tie up. JUST RELAX, also a Mainship 40 agreed to let the other boat raft up to them. We took a walk on one of several hiking trails available on the Lodge property, which went along the opposite shore, allowed us a view of all three boats tied up to the warf. The Lodge is owned by the provincial government and operated by an outside contractor. Seas are dying down now, so we hope to make a two day run to Halifax leaving at about 11:00. Thank you Bill Riley for GPS!

We left Liscomb Lodge at 11:00 on Thursday, spend the night on the hook in Tangier Harbour. As we left Tangier Friday we passed through a narrow channel as we got back out into the deeper water off the coast. We arrived in Halifax at 2:30 on Friday afternoon. We were traveling with two other looper boats and two were here, so we have 5 of the 7 boats doing this trip here together in Halifax. We all had dinner together tonight.

There are lots of sights to see and lots of history in Halifax. The Citatel is on the highest hill, up from the water front. The clock tower and the waterfront below make for some great pictures. If you double click on this picture you will see ODYSSEE just to the right at the base of the street.

After spending a weekend on the waterfront with the "Busker Festaval" with thousands of people roaming the boardwalk watching all the street acts, and touring all the tourest attractions, we were ready to move on. Monday was forcast to be a day of rain, wind, and fog. We can attest the forecast was correct. Room became available for us to move down the harbour to Bishop's Landing to join (clockwise) VOYAGER II, HAPPY CLAMZ, and JUST RELAX waiting for better weather. Tuesday was forcast to be a little better, without the wind. With the extra day available we toured Alexander Keith's Brewery.

Tuesday morning we left with VOYAGER II, JUST RELAX, HAPPY CLAMZ, and ourselves. The fog was thick, left over swells of 4-6', no wind, and some mist. We could deal with this and test the radar and chartplotter one more time. We went into Chester and the others went to Lunenburg. After a nice lunch in Chester we moved to Mahone Bay for the night, tied to a ball in the harbour. Wednesday morning SUMMER ARRIVED. We enjoyed walking around Mahone Bay and then had a beautiful afternoon cruise to Lunenburg where we again met up with the other three boats. We spent one night on an anchorage ball and the second night at a small marina.

Like most other coastal Nova Scotia towns, Lunenburg was a cod fishing community. As part of that heritage, Lunenburg was also a great boat building port. Most famous of the boats ever built here was the BLUENOSE. These fishing schooners raced every fall to determine the fastest boat Canadian boat against the fastest American boat. The trophy's they sailed for rivaled the America's cup. BLUENOSE proved time and again she was the fastest, but as fishing turned to motor powered vessels, it became impossible to keep BLUENOSE                                          going, and she was sold, and ultimately lost at sea. In the early '60's an exact duplicate was built as a private yacht, christianed BLURNOSE II. Ultimately this boat was sold to the Canadian Government for $1.00 and is docked, sailed, and maintained by the Lunenburg Maritime Museum. She has just returned to her home port having participated in the recent tall ship gathering in Halifax. Today, Lunenburg is a tourist attraction, with some wooden boatbuilding and repair still going on.

On Friday we set out again and arrived in Shelburne in late afternoon. Some boats making this trip amongst the rocks don't fair so well. The Shelburne waterfront was reconstructed for the filming of "The Scarlet Letter". It's neat but there is no tourist trade to bring in enough business to keep the shops open, so this cute little town is falling apart. While we were there, the replica schooner "Amistad" was in port, as it heads south to the Caribean for the winter. This boat was built at Mystic Seaport for the movie "Amistad".

 They have a good fleet of Albacore sail boats here, and are having the Albacore North American Championship regatta starting on Wednesday, August 19. On Sunday the local fleet had a tune up race, and I sailed one of the sailing school boats with a young girl as my crew. We finished second behind the current Albacore Canadian Champion.

On Tuesday we had a good travel day, so the four of us went around the "bluenose" to Yarmouth. Like just about every other day we've been on this coast, we traveled in fog. GPS chartplotter and radar allow us the travel the inside passages in amongst the coastal islands, even in the fog. After spending one night 

                                                              in Yarmouth we crossed St. Mary's bay to the little fishing town of Westport in Grqand Passage. Again

we had fog all day and the entrance into Grand Passage had currents of at least 5 Kts, creating some clanging eddys and a 6' standing wave. Our shelter for the night was behind a government breakwater rafted up to idle lobster boats. When the tide is out lots of beach shows. Note where the permanent fishing warfs are, only accesable at high tide. We went through 18' tides during the night, very interesting.

From Westport we are off to Saint John, and the Saint John River.