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Cruise Log:
4th of July Cruise
July 2 - 6, 2008
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Friday, July 4, 2008
It was a beautiful morning:
calm and sunny. The forecast for the next few days was
perfect--would we really be that lucky?
We didn't plan any
earth-shattering voyages for this trip, and after a
leisurely morning, we decided to take advantage of the light
northeast breeze and sail down in the general direction of
Pickering Island. Departing about 1030, we sailed out
of the harbor in a very light and pleasant breeze.
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Outside the harbor, however, the wind died completely, but
we still managed to keep moving along in a roughly forward
direction. We passed what looked like a seagoing trail
of bread crumbs that someone must have dropped--although
they were beer bottles. There were several in a row,
all pointing towards Bucks Harbor. Glad to see that
people remember the cardinal rule of marking their trail so
they don't get lost. |
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Presently, a light breeze from the south came up--absolutely
lovely, in fact. It was a brilliant, clear day, with 8
knots of wind, and simply perfect out. We sailed down
the bay, towards and eventually past Pickering Island, and
neared Butter Island before the wind petered out again; we
could see that the wind seemed rather localized to the upper
bay, as it was glassy-smooth over near Isleboro to the west,
and to the south where we could see down the bay. |
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Eventually, we jibed around and headed back towards
Pickering Island, passing Heritage on her way south.
We eventually anchored in mid-afternoon, after taking 4
enjoyable hours to sail a total of 5.5 miles. I
treated us to a hot dog lunch once we'd anchored--it's
always a good day when there's a hot dog lunch aboard. |
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It was a beautiful evening, and got rather chilly as the sun
began to set. I grilled a ribeye, which we enjoyed
with mushrooms, summer squash, and onions sautéed together.
We heard--but didn't see--fireworks somewhere nearby.
Happy 4th. |
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Saturday, July 5, 2008
Another lousy day in paradise.
When I got up at the leisurely hour of 0645, the tide was
low, and a real drainer. I'd anchored a bit further in
than sometimes, and with no wind to speak of we'd swung in
towards the beach, into about 6'-7' of water. The
bottom was clearly visible (you can see it in the first
photo), and I saw some rocks off the western point that I'd
never seen before during the times we'd been in this
anchorage in the past. |
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Comfort, laziness, and lack of wind conspired to keep us
firmly rooted to our spot during the day. enjoying reading,
dinghy exploring, and the like. The harbor filled
right up during the afternoon--a total of 7 boats, including
a small lobster boat that came to camp ashore. I
watched with amusement as these guys anchored their boat.
Their Danforth anchor skipped right across the bottom during
three separate attempts as the skipper backed down; one
time, starting well upwind of us, he dragged the thing (with
no hint of it grabbing in the slightest) way out beyond the
end of the cove. Eventually, they managed to get the
thing to work, though they didn't exactly set it with
authority. With benign conditions forecast, I didn't
worry even though they ended up pretty close to us.
It was another pleasant, calm
evening. We had barbequed chicken and more mushrooms,
squash, and onions. Later, after darkness set in, I
glanced out the hatch and noticed that some patchy fog had
blown in--certainly not in the forecast. |
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
Fog in the morning--quite
thick, actually. So we took our time and waited for it
to clear out, which it did beginning around 1000, though
there were signs that it would happen long before that--it
just wasn't a serious fog somehow, despite its thickness.
With nary a breath of wind,
and 4.4 miles to go back to Bucks Harbor, I broke my own
rule and didn't even bother raising the main for the trip
back. Interestingly, though the lower section of the
bay (by Pickering) was clear, there was still a fog bank up
near the mainland, though visibility never dropped below 1/2
mile as we entered, and it was clearing even then.
We arrived back at the
mooring around noon, ran into some friends of ours who have
a place on Deer Isle, and chatted with them for a bit.
Then we packed up the boat and departed around 1300, ending
a great weekend. |
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