Maine Cruise 2005
Week 3

The day dawned lazy, hazy, hot, and humid, the result of last evening's heavy southwest flow.  There was no rush to go anywhere.  I sounded part of the inner harbor to determine how far we might be able to go in in the future (I love my new leadline), and relaxed with coffee and book, as usual.  There was no wind, and little prospect for any.  It was just one of those days--surely you know the type.

By late morning, we decided that the wind was  probably not going to come up much, if at all, so we prepared to leave.  We were looking forward to a series of short days that would take us deep into Blue Hill Bay, an area that we briefly explored a few years ago, but had not really taken advantage of.  At 1145, we raised anchor and departed, motoring the 8 miles across Blue Hill Bay to Seal Cove, located on the western side of Mount Desert Island.  There was no wind.

Inside Seal Cove, we found another Triton (unnamed, though I thought I knew who owned her), and we anchored nearby in 26' at high water, just after 1300.  Later in the afternoon, I rowed all the way up the estuary at the head of the cove, as far as a tunnel beneath a road on shore; beyond the tunnel was an inland brackish pond, but I couldn't get there since the tide had dropped enough that the water was too shallow for the dinghy just this side of the tunnel.  Still, it was a pleasant row on a hot summer day.  I was glad to get back to the boat, where there was a slight breeze, a thermal kicked up by the nearby shore; the outer bay was still glassy calm.

With the wide open exposure to the west, the cove would hardly be ideal for some winds, but the vistas were beautiful, and it was fun to be somewhere different.  The sunset was gorgeous, but the mosquitoes came out in force and were the worst yet, excepting Harmon Harbor.

The morning dawned foggy and calm.  That was OK, since our planned journey to Pretty March was only 4 miles or so, so there was no problem waiting out the fog.  The fog was at times extremely dense through the morning; other times it would open slightly, allowing perhaps 1/4 mile visibility.

Late in the morning, the fog finally began to clear in earnest, after a few false hopes.  By 1130 or so, it was pretty much on the way out, so we departed at 1140 for the short run up to Pretty Marsh, our hopeful anchorage.

Pretty Marsh is a wide-open, broad harbor, exposed to the southwest.  We explored the cove, but could find no decent protection from the predicted 20 knot southwest winds that afternoon, so we ended up proceeding backwards a short distance to Sawyer Cove, which we had visited a few years ago.  The anchor was down by 1310.

Later that afternoon, we were glad we had chosen protected Sawyer Cove, as the winds gusted strongly.

We took our time departing, looking forward to a pleasant, low-key sail through Bartlett Narrows, running between Bartlett Island and Mount Desert.  We sailed through the narrow pass under main alone, as the wind was dead astern, and the jib would have been useless.  (Wing and wing always creates more stress for me than it's worth...it just doesn't work well on Glissando.)

Our goal for the day was tiny Galley Cove, tucked into the northeast side of Bartlett Island.  Really just an indentation in the island, the cove turned out to be very pretty, with bold rocky shores and a nice gravel beach.  The water was deep all around, with a couple moorings.  We anchored in about 30 feet of water near the western shore.  The views across to the east, including the mountains of Mount Desert, were stunning.

It was foggy to start the day, but by 0900 or so the fog had begun to clear, and it was obvious that it was not going to hang around.  Seeing this, we began to prepare for departure, since we wanted to get to Blue Hill early enough to take advantage of the high tide so we could go into town for shopping.

We departed around 1000 in a light rain shower, and motored the entire distance to Blue Hill harbor in a flat, glassy calm, with fog hanging around on the nearby islands, but perfectly clear on the water.  There was not a boat to be seen.  As we approached Blue Hill, with its distinctive namesake in the background, we started to notice some very nice older homes lining the shores--not the gross McMansion type of nouveau riche homes that we see so often on the coast, particularly on Mt. Desert and other hoity-toity areas, but classy, older-style, perfectly maintained homes that projected an aura of quiet wealth and class.  Very nice indeed.

We threaded our way into the inner harbor, which the cruising guide fretted might be challenging, and with little room to anchor.  We found neither to be true:  the entrance was hardly a challenge and was well marked, and there was adequate room to anchor in amongst the moored boats.  We liked the inner harbor very much.

Shortly after anchoring at around 1145, I put the engine on the dinghy and motored across to the yacht club on the other side of the harbor (the "outer" harbor) to get ice, water, and diesel fuel.  When I got back in the dinghy, which was fully laden with 15 gallons of water, 5 gallons of diesel, and 50 pounds of ice, I started the engine and put it in gear.  I presently noticed that I wasn't going anywhere, and throttling up didn't help:  apparently I had broken a shear pin on the outboard.  Since it had worked fine on the way over, I wasn't sure how this had happened, but surmised that the prop must have run into another dinghy under water, perhaps when I was getting in or out of the dinghy, and had broken the pin.

In the afternoon, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day with a pleasing northwest breeze.  We discovered that the water was 68 degrees--swimable, so since it was hot out we both went for a very nice swim, the only one of the cruise, as it turned out.  Very pleasant.

That evening, I realized that I had forgotten to bring our overflowing trash to shore when I went to the yacht club earlier; we had over a weeks' worth on board, as we had been only in remote anchorages since Heidi got on board in Bucks Harbor.  So I rowed across to the club again with several bags of trash, enjoying the pleasant calm evening and sunset.

After a relaxing morning, we weighed anchor at 1000, finding a very muddy chain--perhaps the worst of the cruise.  There was no wind, so we motored straight down the bay.  Near Tinker Island, a pleasant SE sea breeze arose, so we began to sail, beating into the 12 knot breeze.  Soon, though, the wind lost its strength, and we found ourselves motoring the remaining few miles to Buckle Island, our destination.  We enjoyed a  very pleasant and relaxing afternoon at Buckle, arriving around 1345.

We intended to head to Seal Bay on Vinalhaven today, but it was foggy in the morning, and didn't clear till noontime or so, leaving a very heavy haze behind.  Once it cleared, we considered leaving, but decided that, since we had planned two days in Seal Bay, we might as well take the lay day here, since it didn't really matter where we were.  The afternoon was hot and hazy, and very pleasant with just enough breeze (most of the time) to cool us.  In the late afternoon, the westerly wind picked up, gusting as high as 24 at one point, before beginning to die off around cocktail time.  Later, the wind died completely, leaving an absolutely still night behind.

For the past couple days, we had had a stowaway on board, a little green spider that had been crawling around the dodger.  I had even seen him up by the water jugs on deck earlier.  We adopted the little fellow, who we named "Itsy".

Triton #60, whoever you are, we saw you passing through York Narrows this afternoon.

After a clear overnight, the day dawned with patchy fog and rain showers, some of them rather heavy.  The night had been absolutely still, and it was so quiet that I could hear the rain coming, hitting the water, long before it actually arrived--kind of cool.

We were getting ready to leave around 0930, despite the showers and lack of wind, when an unexpected head clogging caused some unpleasantness aboard.  Despite over an hour' work trying to solve the problem, I couldn't get the head to work, so, disgusted, I cleaned up and we headed out anyway.  I resolved to repair the head once we got in.  We departed Buckle at 1045.

There was no wind, but some leftover swell, and we took advantage of an outgoing tide in Jericho Bay and through Merchant's Row.  I chose a scenic--and, as it happened, slightly shorter--route through the islands, and we made good time under platinum skies and through platinum seas, glassy as a mirror.

We arrived at Seal Bay and proceeded in to our usual anchoring area by Hay Island.  there were 5 or 6 boats already there, however, and after a brief discussion we decided to depart and check out one of the other areas in the bay, to stay away from the boats.  We ended up inside Bluff Head in a narrow anchorage, quite beautiful and deserted, and anchored in 20 feet of water a bit past low tide at 1415.  The wind remained light, with frequent light showers.

I removed the head pump from the bulkhead and, working from the dinghy, opened things up for a cleaning.  I promptly found the problem and soon had the head back in working order and cleaned up.  Yuck.  

Continue to Week 4>

Glissando, Pearson  Triton #381
www.triton381.com 

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