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Maine Cruise 2004
Week 2 (Continued)
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Week
1 | Week 2 | Week 3
| Week 4 |
Thursday, August 5, 2004
Somesville |
| NOAA.
Yesterday, they had been calling for rain today, which was one reason we
came to Somesville when we did. Needless to say, the morning
dawned bright and clear--my kind of rainy day. It seemed the
supposed system that was to bring us rain had stayed further south than
expected, or something. In any event, it was beautiful, and we
looked forward to enjoying our bonus day.
 After
a relaxing morning aboard, Heidi and I headed ashore around 1030
or so for an adventure. Our first stop: the Port in a Storm
Bookstore nearby in Somesville, where not only could we pick up a new
island explorer (sic) schedule (island explorer being the free
buses that run all over Mt. Desert and Acadia National Park, which are a
boon to cruisers looking to see the sights), but also browse the book
selection and possibly add to our collection. (We did.)
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 At
1150, we picked up the bus passing through Somesville, our first of
three different buses we needed to catch in order to get to our
destination: Jordan Pond House, for popovers. The bus was
full, with only one seat, so I stood in the aisle for the relatively
short ride to a stop where we could transfer buses, at Mt. Desert High
School. We were dropped unceremoniously in the empty parking lot
there, where we could wait for several minutes for the next bus--one
heading to Northeast Harbor--to arrive. When it did, we boarded
and then debarked at the town dock in Northeast, where, once more, we
waited a few minutes for our next connection, which eventually dropped
us at the Jordan Pond House. |
 JPH
is renowned for popovers and tea, in a beautiful setting overlooking The
Bubbles (a pair of the many mountains at Acadia). Eventually, we
were directed to the information window, where we could make a
reservation for seating. In only a very few minutes (perhaps 5),
our little pager thing glowed with red lights, so off we went to be
seated by the amiable Abraham. We ordered lobster stew and
popovers, accompanied by iced tea (me) and lemonade (Heidi). All
was delicious, and the stew impressed us not only with its taste, but
with the amount of lobster meat--and for a not-over-the-top price, all
things considered. Yum. Popovers rock! What a pleasant
diversion. |
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|
 Meal
complete, we reversed our course and rode the buses back to the
boat. While waiting at MDI High School once again, I had time to
inspect the sculpture class project, erected on a nearby rocky
outcropping. Not quite ready for the Louvre...
The remains of the afternoon aboard--we
got back about 1500--were typical cruising. Reading,
rubbernecking, chores, etc. I added 5 gallons of diesel to the
tank. Later in the evening, while we were enjoying cocktails, a
small Hunter sailboat with young couple and two small children aboard
passed us by to ask about the holding ground and depths; they had a
huge, brightly colored parrot on board as well, resting comfortably on a
gnarled stick/post mounted to the transom! That's a first for
me. The poor people fought with their anchors several boats
distant from us, setting two anchors (who knows why) but still ending up
way too close to one of the featureless white anchored sailboats nearer
the mouth of the harbor. Eventually, they departed for anchorages
unknown. We sympathized with them--they had seemed nice, and were
obviously just starting out. |
 The
sunset was spectacular.
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Friday, August 6, 2004
Somesville
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| Inertia. No
other word could describe our decision to remain in Somesville for
another day. I woke up late (for me), and after enjoying coffee in
the cockpit for an hour or so, I headed ashore to hike about a mile up
the street to a convenience store for ice--Tim the Ice Hoarder.
They had no blocks, but I bought four bags of cubes and returned to the
boat. Round trip, boat-store-boat: 40 minutes.
Back on the boat, I stowed the ice and
then relaxed in the cockpit, soaking in the day. It was clear and
beautiful, once again. Heidi had just gotten up, and we decided,
after some discussion and justification, to stay put for the day.
We had missed the fair, outgoing tide by this point (not critical, but
still...), and the winds were light to nonexistent. It seemed that
it would not hurt to stay another day, so that's what we
did.
 Little of note occurred this day.
It was clear and sunny till about lunchtime, when it clouded over with
the thin sort of clouds that allow you to still see the sun (and
probably get burned by it), but it was definitely cooler and less
pleasant afterwards. I caught up on photo work and logs, and
realized, once again, the futility of trying to work on the laptop in
the cockpit: the screen just is too dim to see in the light.
After stubbornly working in the cockpit just long enough to permanently
damage my eyesight, I finally gave in and went below to finish my logs
and photos.
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Saturday, August 7, 2004
Somesville - Burnt Coat Harbor (19.0 NM Plotted) |
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Route
Chart
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| We departed on a
beautiful morning under clear skies and light winds, leaving at about
0900 to take advantage of the outgoing tide through Somes Sound, Western
Way, and anywhere else we could. And indeed: we saw speeds
over ground as high as 7 knots in a few places. It's always nice
to get a push when you can. |
At the outer end of Western Way, there was an unexpected--pleasantly
so--breeze, so we were able to sail for a while as we headed more or
less south past beautiful Great Gott, Little Gott, and Black
Islands. Unfortunately, though, after about a half hour of
excellent sailing (70° apparent and about 12 knots--good for about 5+
knots), the wind died again, so it was back to motoring. |
Starting just before I left on the cruise, I had noticed that sometimes
when I would push the starter button on the engine, there'd be no
response; pushing again, and harder, always succeeded. During my
first week of the cruise, I had dismantled the engine panel, looking for
loose connections or corrosion. I found nothing obvious, other
than the trim ring that secured the button in place from the inside was
a little loose. I tightened it, and it seemed better.
Today, again, though, it failed to work properly, though I easily got
the engine started by, once again, pressing the button a couple extra
times and harder. Later, I took the panel out again and played
with the wiring connections behind the start button--there was one
push-together connector that might have been a little loose, but I wasn't
sure. In any event, all seemed well, so I hoped that the problem
was licked. |
It was such a pleasant day, and the air was so clear that we could see
forever. It was so beautiful. I noted with interest as we
passed Green Islands, just seaward of Black Island, that the depths were
nearly 300'--astonishing, since we were close to the islands.
Obviously, the terrain beneath the sea here must be similar to the
fjords and mountains of Mt. Desert Island, except (duh) submerged
beneath the water. |
We entered Burnt Coat Harbor through the "back door"--a
narrow, lobster pot-filled (with toggles) channel to the east of the
harbor. We did this a couple years ago, and it was pretty and
interesting. I love narrow, winding channels such as this. |
Inside the harbor, we decided to pick up one of the Boathouse moorings,
which proceeds go to the fisherman on Swans Island. It was our
first pay mooring of the cruise, so I had no qualms. The mooring
pendant was about 2" diameter. |
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 There was lots to
watch through the afternoon, as Burnt Coat is a busy fishing
harbor. The galley sink had been draining slowly, so I took apart
the drain and hose and cleaned everything out. The sump seemed to
be working well despite it all.
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continue.--->
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