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We are approximately 315 nautical miles from Raritan Yacht Club. So far, we have sighted porpoise and harbor seals; no whales, yet!
From Boothbay Harbor, ME, we sailed to Tennant's Harbor where there were at least a million lobster traps in the harbor entrance (would not want to do it at night, that's for sure). One sailboat unfortunately ran over one and the skipper had to dive in to cut it away from the prop; the waters here are quite cold. After we anchored, we went into 'town' (very small, 2 places to eat; a B&B and 1 supermarket; I am sure there is a town center somewhere but not in walking distance). Last evening, we hailed a lobster'person' and were able to buy two nice size lobsters for $10. We also took the dink to the Great Eastern Mussel Company in Long Cove and bought a 10 pound bag of mussels for $7.50; we had yet another dinner feast. By the way, Martha Stewart featured this company in April and June of this year.
We see many of the same boats in each of the harbors we visit and have begun to make new sailing friends; we also stay in touch with a few of them via VHF or Single Sideband. We have learned from them that there is a get together August 6 sponsored by the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA), of which we are members, in Islesboro Harbor, ME; a stop on our way.
From Tennant's Harbor we sailed to Rockland Harbor, ME, for half a day and then onto Camden, ME to pickup our mail. By the way, a lobsterman's trap was right next to our boat so we hailed him and bought two lobsters ($3/lb; two nice size for $9; they are getting cheaper); not tired of it yet! Rockland is a fairly industrial harbor; we do not plan to go ashore here; will hang out for the evening and leave in the morning for Camden.
Camden, ME is a very popular harbor and a beautiful harbor town. The streets take great pride in their display of flowering window boxes and gardens everywhere. We caught up on our mail and made several phone calls, did some food shopping and basically hung out in the fog for about a day.
We left Camden on August 5 and took a short motor trip to Islesboro Island where the SSCA get together is to take place. We fueled up and filled the boat with water and motored to an anchorage where other sailboats are here for the SSCA event.
The SSCA get together was great, potluck style; about 50 boats arrived. The guest speaker was Dodge Morgan. He sailed 'solo' around the world non stop in 1985-86 aboard the sailing vessel American Promise; he also authored a book about his journey. He was an entertaining speaker and certainly put long distance sailing into prospective with quite an introspective view. We have not yet read his book but probably will along the way.
We enjoyed the beauty of Islesboro and decided to stay here for the entire weekend to catch up on some varnish projects and visit with some new friends. Tomorrow, August 8, we will leave to go back to Rockland Harbor to go ashore for email, parts, food shopping and a haircut!!! From there we will head to Bar Harbor and then into Canada. Stay tuned!!!
We continue to stay in touch with Raoul Rabiner from RYC at 1600 hrs on Ham radio. If anyone is interested, please call in; see details below.
RADIO CONTACT INFO: If any of you would like to contact us, we have been talking with Raoul Rabiner (KC2YK). Our call signs are KC2GPH (Marie) and KC2GHA (Terry). We talk at 1600 hours at
7.230 MHz. Terry has also been on the SSB at 2000 hours. 451,452,453 from 2000-2005 - 651,652,653 from 2005-2010 - 851,852 from 2010-2015. Give us a call.
We left Islesboro in a fog on August 7 and motored to Rockland to get parts to repair our generator (genset). On the way south we saw porpoises, but not too much else due to the fog. We spent the 8th, 9th and 10th in Rockland. During that time we got caught up on e-mail, went to the farmer's market and had a couple of great meals ashore. On the 10th, when the pump for the generator arrived, the ace mechanical team of Marie and Terry installed the pump and cleaned impeller debris from the heat exchanger. Mission accomplished generator once again operational. We are still attempting to re-resolve the possible coolant leak from the engine. Perhaps the cause is evaporation from a faulty (old) radiator cap so this has been replaced. Next stop is Vinlyhaven, ME, where "Hound", a boat we have raced against in the Newport to Bermuda race, is kept.
As we enter the Vinylehaven Harbor it is obvious that there is no room to anchor and there are no moorings. The harbor is a maze of lobster boats and traps. We bit the bullet and headed north for Stonington, A small quarry/lobster/tourist town on Deer Island. We spent a lovely evening at anchor (see sunset photo), went ashore for a walk and ice cream cone and in the morning left thru the "Deer Island Thoroughfare", a serpentine passage through lovely secluded pine covered islands. While ashore there, we learned a bit late that Linda Greenlaw, a native of Stonington and the author of The Hungry Ocean (national bestseller, a swordboat captain's journey during the Perfect Storm) was guest speaker and held a book signing at the local hall (sorry we missed it); got a quick peek of her.
We made our way into Frenchmen Bay, then to Bar Harbor/"Baah Habah" We picked up our mail along with repair parts for our fishing reel. Mount Desert Island is beautiful (home of Acadia National Park). On our way in we saw seal and porpoise. We picked up groceries and sent e-mail. For the past week Marie has been trying to get our ham radio e-mail operational and is getting pretty frustrated. A radio by one manufacturer, a modem by another (in Germany) and a software package takes a lot of coordination! Bar Harbor has a "rolly" harbor, so neither of us got much rest.
At 5:30 am on August 12 Marie says "Let's go, I haven't slept for two nights." So we weigh anchor (after a sunrise--see photo) and headed for Southwest Harbor, a delightful little harbor (home of the famous Hinckley yachts). The harbor is smooth and the surroundings are beautiful. There is also a FREE bus service around the island. We have some generator and engine concerns which have somewhat shaken our confidence in our beloved Zelda. We have made the decision not to go offshore to Nova Scotia "yet" until these concerns are addressed. On Tuesday we located a mechanic with good credentials. He cannot do the work until Monday so our expedition to Canada is delayed. In the meantime there is fishing, perhaps some whale watching, finish the installation of the watermaker and .....varnishing (Marie's favorite hobby--so much wood and so little time!!!). As a postscript, the diesel mechanic just left and does not yet seem majorily concerned about the engine; we have a few things to!
Check out tonight and will check back with him tomorrow; keep your fingers crossed that it is minor.
We have been successful in talking with Raoul Rabiner (RYC) on amateur at 4:00pm on 7.230 MHz. Terry's efforts at 8:00 pm on single sideband radio have not been very successful. However, if any of you have your amateur (ham) radio licenses, check in with the Mobile Maritime Net on 14.300 MHz and ask for traffic for either of us (Terry KC2GHA or Marie KC2GPH) at 8:15pm.
Once again, RADIO CONTACT INFO: Our call signs are KC2GPH (Marie) and KC2GHA (Terry). We talk on amateur at 1600 hours at 7.230 MHz. Terry is on SSB at 2000 hours. 451,452,453 from 2000-2005 - 651,652,653 from 2005-2010 - 851,852 from 2010-2015. He also tunes into 14.300 (ham) from about 8:15-8:30 pm for traffic to our boat. Love to hear from you.