PREPARING FOR THE CAPE COD CANAL CROSSING & ON TO RHODE ISLAND

(Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island )

Here is our route for this blog post

Saturday June 24, 2017: Another fabulous sunny morning greeted us. Our run today was from York Harbour to Newburyport, a distance of just over 24 nautical miles. Our departure was timed for high tide slack water (about noon) so we should not have to worry about the strong current in the river. 

Newburyport Harbour is located on the Merrimack River, about 3 1/2 miles up from the river’s entrance. As we approached the river, we could see miles of beautiful sand beach along the shore, accompanied by spectacular homes. The closer we got, we could see lots of people on the beaches enjoying this first sunny Saturday following the end of school the previous day. 

Cruising guides warn that with adverse winds, this entrance into the Merrimack River can be very treacherous. There is a light on a 47’ tower at the entrance and when the coast guard have it flashing it is considered to be unsafe to enter or exit. There is a destroyed remains of a hull sitting on the break wall as a reminder to all as to what can happen.

For us, while the wind was relatively light, the strong outgoing tide and river current from the narrow river caused substantial “standing waves” at the mouth of the river. This, combined with an endless stream of boats (speed boats, sail boats, fishing boats, slow boats like us, recreational fishing boats criss crossing the narrow channel etc), it was chaos! While we’d booked a mooring ball, upon arrival at Newburyport and seeing the strong current, we changed our minds at the last minute and opted for a dock. A harbourmaster dock hand did a terrific job helping us land, handling our registration and giving us a rundown on the old port area. 

Shoreline homes / mansions

Tuna fishing boat with harpooning platform at bow

Entrance to Newburyport can be treacherous 

Tug'n at Newburyport Harbour

Beaches near entrance to Newburyport 

Newburyport is a small city of just over 17,000 with a rich, history as a seaport that was first settled in 1635. In the early days, fishing and shipbuilding were its primary industries. In the late 1800’s, Merrimack Arms & Brown manufactured the famous Derringer pistols. Newburyport also developed a whaling operation as did many east coast fishing ports. 

Newburyport was also active in the underground railroad, rescuing blacks from slavery and the community was an early adopter of the abolitionist movement. 

Following a relaxing happy hour aboard Wings, we set off to explore the old port area and make a reservation at the Sea Level Restaurant. Newburyport has done a magnificent job of breathing life into what was a rundown section of the community. The old port area is now thriving with a waterfront park, new harbour front docks, moorings, washrooms and showers, renovated / restored historical buildings, restaurants, boutiques, bakeries, ice cream shops, galleries, playgrounds and more. On this first Saturday following the end of the school year, the old port was packed with people enjoying the fine weather, watching the boats or getting out on the water on tour boats. It was great fun exploring the downtown and building up an appetite for a terrific seafood dinner at the Sea Level restaurant. The challenging navigation of the river and docking was well worth the effort.

Sunday June 25, 2017: We were up early and I took advantage of the dock and water supply to give Tug’n a good wash to remove as much of the dried salt water spray on the hull, deck and cabin as I could, followed by a wipe down. After filling our water tank and having a brief crew meeting with Bob and Jan, we bid adieu to Newburyport and were on our way to Manchester by the Sea under a cloudless sky, warm temperatures and an ocean that for much of the run was windless and almost smooth (just a light ocean swell). Who knew the Atlantic Ocean could be so comfortable? Exiting the Merrimack River was almost as chaotic as our arrival with a flood tide meeting the river current and all manner of boats making their way in and out of the river in a very haphazard manner. For others thinking of stopping at Newburyport by boat, we’d recommend a weekday.

To reach Manchester by the Sea, you have to head out around Cape Ann peninsula and the seaport of Gloucester to the well protected Manchester Bay and the town of just over 5,000. Like many communities along the New England shores, Manchester by the Sea was first settled in the early 1600’s and thrived for over 200 years as a fishing community. However, starting in 1845, Manchester by the Sea began to become the summer colony of choice for Boston society.  Its lovely shoreside summer homes (mansions) certainly provides great eye candy for those on boats moored at the Manchester Yacht Club. We felt like royalty receiving a free night’s mooring and having the club tender take us over to the town dock to explore the downtown, pick up some provisions (and a delicious ice cream from Dusty’s) and then get a lift back to our boat in the mooring field. Wonderful treatment. 

A fun float at entrance to Manchester by the Sea

Lots of moorings at Manchester by the Sea

Manchester Yacht Club

Lovely homes around the harbour

Today, most of us think of the movie when we hear the name “Manchester by the Sea”, but our driver on the yacht club tender was quick to point out that the movie does not present the town in a good light and in fact many of the scenes in the film were done in other communities. Indeed, we found he was correct - the town is quite lovely, quaint, picturesque and fun to explore. It is well worth a stop by boat or by car.

Fran bought a coconut crusted haddock fillet in town that we cooked on the BBQ that night. What a wonderful treat. Afterwards, we managed to connect to the yacht club wifi and watch the last two episodes of Season 5 of “Call the Midwife” on Netflix. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, this is a terrific show. 

Monday June 26, 2017: Late last night, we were hit with a 20 minute squall; l with winds up to 35 knows followed by rain. Thankfully it didn’t last long. It did provide a nice wash of our deck and cabin which I wiped down under this morning’s beautiful sunshine. 

After several days of investigation, along with input from our boating friends Lee and Barb, we finally had a plan for transiting the Cape Cod Canal on Tuesday. More on the canal later, but to prepare for the crossing, we were headed to Scituate, Massachusetts today so we’d be in a good position for entering and transiting the canal.

En route today, we’d planned a lunch stop at the town of Marblehead, which is famous throughout the yachting world as the “Yachting Capital of America”. Historically, it was a fishing village and today, the harbour maintains a small fleet of lobster and fishing vessels. But now more than ever, it is a key layover port for cruising and racing yachts from the world’s most serious yachting circles. The famous Marblehead-Halifax race alternates with the race starting in Marblehead on even numbered years. Scanning the harbour, one sees a fabulous array of cruising and racing yachts. 

More than that, the people of Marblehead are the most friendly and helpful you could ever want to meet. The Harbourmaster’s Office were wonderfully accommodating, agreeing to letting us tie up our two boats on their dock for a couple of hours while we went ashore for lunch and a brief walk about the town.  They pointed us to dine at Maddies Sail Loft for lunch and it turned out to be a restaurant/pub frequented by locals, with a great menu and atmosphere. It was almost empty when we arrived but within a half hour, it was almost full with a group of locals who all knew each other, kind of like walking into a yacht club atmosphere. The food was terrific and extremely reasonable and while we didn’t have any alcohol for lunch, we witnessed a bartender poring the most generous drinks we’ve ever, ever seen. One wonders whether the other patrons ever made it home that afternoon.

Tug'n & Wings in Marblehead at the only dock

We enjoyed our after lunch stroll, visiting a gallery that was running an art class, the Ships Lights’s store and snapping photos of some great examples of well maintained New England architecture in this quaint town. By 1345 hours, we were underway again for Scituate on a very calm ocean. We passed Boston off in the distance, not stopping as Fran, Bob and Jan had already spent time there. We will have to return by car some time so I can see this most famous city. 

In Scituate, right after we were settled on the yacht club’s mooring balls, we took the club tender into town for a visit to the grocery store and a walk about town, before returning to our boat for dinner and an early night. 

Tuesday June 27, 2017: Cape Cod canal is a man made canal through the southwest corner of the Cape Cod peninsula, connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south. The canal is 7 miles long, traversing a narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to the mainland. For about 14,000 boats per year, it shaves 137 miles off a journey along the coast. It can accommodate vessels up to 825’ long, 135’ high and with 32’ of draft. The tide on the Cape Cod Bay side is 9’ and on the Buzzards Bay side the tide is about 4’ and this difference creates swift moving currents that reach up to 5.2 knots and change direction every six hours. Apparently, the canal is also used by the occasional whale and dolphin. 

In the year 1623, the idea of a canal was first considered by the Pilgrims who scouted the land for potential routes but went no further with the idea. Then in 1717, the Jeremiah Gutter Canal was created, some distance to the east across a narrower portion of the cape and it remained active until the late 1800’s. 

The first attempt to build the canal in its current location happened in the late 19th century, but the organizers ran out of money and the project was not completed. In July 1909, construction of the canal finally restarted on a route taking advantage of, and widening of the Monomet and Scusset Rivers. Work was slowed by mammoth boulders from the ice age that required divers to blow them up. Also, winter storms regularly halted dredging. The canal was finally completed in 1916 as a privately owned toll canal that was 30’ wide and 25’ deep. The canal was so narrow and difficult to navigate, causing numerous accidents and tarnishing its reputation quickly.

On July 21, 1918, a German U Boat surfaced and sank a tug and four barges in nearby Orleans and this prompted the government to take over operation of the Cape Cod Canal by Presidential Order. The government maintained and dredged the canal until 1920 and then bought it in 1928 to operate as a free waterway. The government undertook widening the canal between 1935 and 1940 to its current 480’ width and 32’ depth. 

During WWII the canal provided safety from U Boat attacks and Patrol Boats and Coastal Artillery provided further protection. On June 28, 1942, a cargo ship grounded and sank in the canal, shutting it down and exposing shipping to increased threat of torpedo attacks. SS Alexander Macomb was torpedoed July 3rd and sunk killing 10. The canal reopened July 31st after the cargo shop was removed with the help of 17 tons of dynamite.

To transit the canal safely, it was recommended we enter the canal at slack water and take advantage of the current that would begin to flow from east to west shortly afterwards. After some investigation and calling the canal engineers to sort out conflicting information, we determined we needed to start our transit at 1311 hours, so we departed Scituate just after 0900 to time our arrival for slack water, just before the start of the ebb current. We actually arrived five minutes early and faced a small current against us, but it turned in our favour right on time and before long, it was pushing us along at about 3 1/2 knots. The shores of the canal were well used with bicyclists, people walking the shoreline trail, fishermen and more.

The other key planning factor is ensuring you don’t enter Buzzards Bay when there is a strong SW wind opposing the outgoing current. Knowing this was going to be the case, we heeded another of Lee and Barbara’s recommendations to pull off the dredged canal near the west end and anchor in Onset Bay. Over the last few hours the day had turned cloudy, drizzly and cool and it was a great anchoring recommendation. However, by 1700 hours the sun was back out, the temperature was up and we got to sit out in the cockpit for happy hour. How lovely!

Location of Cape Cod Canal

Wednesday June 28, 2017: The Elizabeth Islands extend about 14 miles off the southwestern end of Cape Cod. They are of varying size and all are privately owned by the Forbes Family, except for Cuttyhunk Island. Cuttyhunk is the westernmost of the island chain and it was named from the Indian word meaning “land’s end”. It was discovered in 1602 by English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who proclaimed himself ravished” by its beauty. It presents a primitive island atmosphere and an easy stopover for those en route from the mainland to Martha’s Vineyard. 

We were up at 0500 and underway by 0600 for an early morning run from the Cape Cod Canal to Cuttyhunk Island in the hopes of getting there in time for a mid morning brunch at the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club. This club was founded in 1894 and didn’t open to the public until 1998. It is a rustic club with furnishings, fittings and a ancient library, pretty much just like it was when President Roosevelt make the trek here for a fishing trip. We did in fact make it here in time and enjoyed a superb breakfast while sitting on the front porch looking out over the Elizabeth Islands and Vineyard Sound. It was a completely delightful experience. 

Cuttyhunk Harbourmaster's Office

Cuttyhunk Fishing Club - brunch on porch

View from the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club porch

Cuttyhunk Island Postal Service

Just as we were paying our bill, we sighted Encore, a Nordic Tug owned by friends Lee and Barb from Rhode Island, who’d come out by boat to meet up with us. We’d met them in Quebec City last year and cruised together right through to the Bras D’or Lake. 

Today, we met them in the Cuttyhunk Island harbour after they’d anchored their boat and together went for a hike to the highest point on the island to enjoy a 360 degree view to the surrounding waters and islands. It was really quite a breathtaking view to take in as we chatted and caught up with Lee and Barb. Later we enjoyed happy hour together on Wings and Lee helped us mark possible future anchorages on or charts, right through to New York City. After dinner, we had a further get together on Encore for Barbara’s Strawberry Shortcake - the end to another perfect day.

Dessert aboard Enclore with Lee, Bob, Fran & Barb

Thursday June 29, 2017: Today was another early start for the run from Cuttyhunk Island to Newport Harbour in Rhode Island. This is Lee and Barb’s home waters, so we followed them, initially through quite wavy, rolling seas. One knew we were getting close to Newport, the boating mecca of the east coast, as the boats (yachts really) were getting bigger and bigger. Through info we could see on AIS, we passed numerous pleasure craft well over 100’ long. For us, that seemed like an unfathomable amount of pleasure…

Newport Harbour is massive and I’m sure my heart skipped a few beats as we made our way towards our designated floating dock. It turns out, our stay here coincided with a 40th anniversary rendezvous for owners of Kadey Krogen yachts and they had a very large turnout making their section of the docking look like a boat show. The pictures below will tell you all you need to know about the size of the boating community and boats here in Newport.

Encore following a sailboat near Newport

Lots of mega yachts

Wings & Tug'n on a floating dock in Newport

Newport is a seaside community founded on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island in 1639. It is known as a New England summer resort community and it is famous for its mansions. Newport grew rapidly in the 17th and 18th century, its growth spurred on by the arrival of Portuguese Jews who fled persecution in Portugal. They brought capital, business skills, trading contacts and knowledge which helped Newport to become a wealthy trading centre. These immigrants also introduced sperm oil from whaling to the United States. The Aaron Lopez family became fabulously wealthy with 150 ships involved in trade, plus the manufacture of candles, ships, barrels, rum, chocolate, textiles, clothes, shoes, hats and bottles. Rhode Island also became the most active port in all of United States in the slave trade, with 60% of slave-trading sailings launched from this tiny island. Many laws were being broken by this activity and quite a number of Rhode Island families made substantial fortunes in the trade. Many local merchants bought shares in these illegal voyages. 

Today, Newport is a major tourist centre and boating centre with every conceivable boating service and expertise available. Also, the downtown is filled with a wonderful array of restaurants and boutiques as well as companies catering to the boating community.

Kadey Krogan Rendezvous

Upon our arrival, we were met by Danielle in a Zodiac to help us get to our floating dock / mooring. Later in the day we took a tender across the large harbour to downtown Newport to explore the community. Later we met up with Lee and Barb again for dinner at Lucia Italian Restaurant for a lovely dinner. 

Another beauty

Friday June 30, 2017: As planned, Lee and Barb picked us up by car in the morning and took us on a variety of errands before we did a driving tour of the island to see many of the great mansions, parks and different harbour views. The large mansions were really quite mind boggling, both the size and beauty of the structures and the magnificent landscaping that surrounded them. It was beyond our ability to imagine how a family could live in one of these mansions; we think you would feel like you were wandering around in a luxurious hotel all by yourself. 

One of many mega mansions

Mid afternoon we said our good byes and thanks to Lee and Barb for all their generous help and were back on our boats with provisions, a full propane tank and a full tummies. What a great time we’d had seeing Newport and catching up with Lee and Barb. 

Starting the children young in sailing lessons

Saturday July 1, 2017: HAPPY CANADA DAY. HAPPY 150TH BIRTHDAY TO CANADA. Fran and I dressed in our Canada 150 T Shirts for the day. We had a FaceTime call to wish our youngest grandchild Alex a Happy 2nd Birthday. We got lots of “Happy Canada Day” wishes from our American Boating friends and it all felt very special. 

Today we made our exit from Newport. As strong winds and big waves were dominating Buzzards Bay and Long Island Sound, we headed further into Narragansett Bay to the Prudence Island anchorage. It is a large and popular anchorage and this being a holiday weekend, many boats streamed in here all afternoon as we relaxed at anchor on a rather cloudy and dull day. But its always lovely to swing on the anchor in a well protected anchorage and it put smiles on our faces as we reflected on how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing.

Best wishes to all

Happy Canada Day!

WAITING OUT THE WEATHER IN BOOTHBAY HARBOUR

Shoreline of Maine and our route for this blog post

Sunday June 18, 2017 Continued from the previous blog post: Well, the fog would periodically lift for a short while and then fill in as thick as ever, so we stayed aboard Tug’n most of the day, busying ourselves with odd chores amid phone calls with Happy Fathers’ Day wishes and wonderful smells of Fran’s cooking. Periodically we’d look for weather updates, but fog, higher winds and growing waves were all we could see in our near future. We launched our dinghy to join Bob and Jan on Wings for Happy Hour and later, a trip to the marina facilities for showers. 

Monday and Tuesday June 19 and 20, 2017: Not much change in the weather. On Monday, we had very strong winds through the harbour with quite a chop making us raise our dinghy every evening. Monday we spend a few hours doing more walking around Boothbay Harbour. We visited a gallery/shop with the most unique collection of things we’d never seen. We’re beyond the stage of wanting to collect more “stuff” but this shop really did have some tempting objects d’art begging to be held and purchased.

Beautiful / Unusual Object d'Art

Lunch Tuesday was at The Boathouse Bistro where we shared a Lobster Club. While the service was mediocre, the lobster was cooked perfectly and was terrific. As we’d split the lunch we felt completely justified in returning to Kailer’s for another piece of warm blueberry pie and ice cream that we’d enjoyed so much a few days ago. Once again, it was a heavenly experience…

Later, we managed to get reasonably close to the site of a rebuilding of a wooden schooner to take a few photos. It was a very impressive site and it is marvellous that the tradesmen skills for this type of work are still alive and well. It is hard to imagine the expense of such an endeavour.

Schooner Rebuild

Wednesday is looking like our weather window to start moving further southwest along Maine’s coast as the forecast shows the winds subside and the waves are down to the 4 foot range. In the meantime, we’ve had very strong winds right through the harbour. Thankfully, the shape of the harbour has kept most of the wave action away from us.

Panoramic shot of Boothbay Harbour

Wednesday June 21, 2017: Its the summer solstice (longest daylight hours of the year). Here the sun rose at 4:59am and it sets at 8:26pm - that’s 15 hours and 27 minutes. What a wonderful thing. Back at home in Oakville, Ontario sunrise today is at 5:38 and sunset at 9:03 for a total of 15 hours and 25 minutes. So we got an extra two minutes of daylight in Maine and we enjoyed every one of them.

Today we cruised from Boothbay Harbour to Portland, Maine. We had a 10 to 15 knot breeze and 1.2 meter swells on our beam that were quite well spread out. The occasional swell was about 2 meters, but all in all, it was very comfortable. We saw far more lobster boats than pleasure craft, but the closer we got to Portland, the more pleasure craft we saw out on the water. 

Portland, with a population of almost 67,000 is Maine’s largest city. The Greater Portland Area has a population of over half a million people, more than one-third of Maine’s total population. Originally, the peninsula Portland is located on, was settled in 1632 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, the town’s name changed to Falmouth. The town of Falmouth was destroyed multiple times in various conflicts. On October 18, 1775 in its final destruction, Falmouth was burned to the ground in the Revolution by the Royal Navy. Following its rebuilding, it was initially named The Neck and it began growing as a commercial port and shipping centre. In 1786, the citizens of the former area called Falmouth formed a separate town and named it Portland, after the Isle of Portland off the coast of Dorset, England. In 1820, when Maine became a state, Portland was its capital, but 12 years later the capital was noted north to Augusta. In 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol except for “medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes”. 

In 1853, upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, Portland became the primary ice-free winter seaport for Canadian exports and in the process became a significant railway hub and shipping port. Following nationalization of the Grand Trunk is system in 1923, Canadian export traffic was diverted from Portland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, causing a significant decline in the Portland economy.

Portland’s “Old Port” area went through a major transformation in the 1970’s when developers bought up derelict buildings and refurbished them into apartments, condos, offices and retail space. The “Old Port Association” was formed and they helped halt the city’s demolition of historic buildings. The end result is a wonderful district with cobblestone streets, renovated 19th century historic buildings, restaurants, boutiques and offices. Today it is a magnet for people and tourists, boats, marinas, yacht clubs as well as commercial vessels and lobster boats. 

Two tugs in Old Port 

Tug with extra tall "bridge" used when pushing a barge 

The Centerboard Yacht Club (CYC) was the most economical downtown choice for us on the South Portland side of the harbour. A terrific staff of young people operate the tenders to bring you ashore from the mooring ball. They kindly took us across the Fore River to Portland’s Old Port where we spend about three hours wandering the streets, window shopping and exploring. We had a desire for a hamburger for lunch and found a place (new to us) called Elevation Burgers. Their ads of grass fed beef, ground fresh on site and Peak Organic Beer won us over and it turned out to be an excellent choice. Later, we were repeat after an ice cream from Mount Desert Ice Cream. We met some lovely people at CYC in their lovely clubhouse, learning that the clubhouse was brand new this year. We can highly recommend the club with its reasonably well protected moorings and its great view of Portland across the narrow river.

CYC Tender bringing us back from the "Old Port"

CYC Yacht Club

Schooner entering Portland Harbour

Sunset over the Old Port 

Thursday June 22nd, 2017: Bob & Jan weren’t with us last night. They needed to replace their dinghy as their old one, at 16 years, was past its “best before” date and multiple seams were failing. They’d ordered a new Zodiac from a dealer in Yarmouth, Maine and spend last night there, with a plan to meet the dealer this morning and make the switch. Hopefully we’ll meet up at the next stop.

We woke up to a beautiful morning. The deck was covered with dew, which had dissolved all the dried salt spray from yesterday’s run. A rinse with our fresh water wash-down hose and a wipe made our decks, cabin and windows look and feel fresh again.

We were underway by 0920 for Biddeford Pool or Wood Island Harbour. It was a picture perfect day on the water with a light 10 knot breeze from the SW plus a < 1 meter ocean swell from the south, which was all very comfortable (at least for cruising on the open ocean). We passed mostly lobster boats, one fishing trawler and a couple of pleasure craft and dramatically fewer lobster pot floats. Biddeford Pool is a reasonably well protected basin made by Wood Island, Stage Island and Fletcher Neck. Biddeford Pool Yacht Club is further in, through a narrow channel but we found the Pool to be suitably calm and chose to anchor there. It is a very pretty location with lovely homes around the perimeter and a large beach to the north. Here it feels like the boating season is well underway as sailboats and small fishing boats are coming and going regularly from the yacht club. 

Stage Island Monument 

Stage Island has an unusual cone shaped monument with an interesting story. There had been so many shipwrecks on Stage Island’s shallow waters, as the shoreline in this area was quite nondescript, so the government decided a “day mark” was needed as an aid to navigation. In 1825, they awarded the $1,200 contract to three Portland stone masons, specifying the tower be 60’ tall. It was to be built from stones blasted from the shores of Stage Island. The tower reached 54’ when tragedy struck. The foundation had not been built on solid stone and when it gave way, the tower collapsed killing one of the three contractors and injuring three other workmen. The remaining two contractors were held responsible to rebuild the tower at their own expense. The second tower was successful and once completed, it was painted white. Today, the white paint is long gone and it is no longer considered an aid to navigation. 

In the 1800’s the island was used for grazing sheep, for drying fish plus a two family home was built there in the mid 1800’s. It was owned by two fishermen brothers and their families. One of their son’s was Waldo Verrill, born in 1858. He went on to become a lobsterman and a highly regarded Poet, publishing over 200 poems. Waldo was also an eloquent speaker and lecturer, who never strayed far from home. In a reminiscing article Waldo wrote in 1930 on lobstering in the early days, he said:

“Maybe it was 55 years ago I started in the Lobster business here, I operated the smack Etta B. Rich between here and Portland.  There was no well in the craft but lobsters were so plentiful and the run was so short, we got along all right without one.  I would frequently take from 600-800 lobsters in two or three hours that would average two pounds or more a piece.  I also bought from other lobstermen.  Maine’s lobster business really started here at the Pool.  Uncle Frank Verrill began way back, he would fill an 18 foot boat to the gun-whales and he did not save a lobster that weighed less than 2 pounds.  That was the smallest while most of them weighed 3 or 4 pounds.  Today, the demand is for the one-pound nine inch (sic) Canadian lobsters which have almost ruined our fisherman and their markets.   

     There used to be wonderful fishing right around the river mouth. The mackerel fleet all came in here, but it was the herring that made things hum.  I have seen as high as 200 sail of herring fisherman anchored off there in Winter Harbor.  The buyers used to speculate in herring just as one might in wheat or corn.  Sometimes a big catch would change hands several times without being moved from the vessel.  Fortunes were made and also lost in the business--Waldo Verrill" 

Regulations have changed dramatically and lobstermen report they only keep about 1 in 10 lobsters from their traps due to the narrow size range they are allowed to harvest, plus no female lobsters are taken. Their strategy seems to be working as the industry is thriving and the lobsters are well fed and reproducing rapidly. However, an article sent to me by my friend Bob in Poland talks about changes to the timing of lobster moulting (shedding their shells as they grow) due to warming of the ocean and the author wonders whether the strong controls Maine has in place will be enough for the long term health of the lobster fishery.

Later in the afternoon we launched our dinghy and explored the community of Biddeford Pool. We visited the yacht club, the local general store and did some beach combing at low tide while neighbourhood children with bathing suits on, played about in the shallow 14 degree C water. 

Sunset at Biddeford Pool

Bob and Jan aboard Wings made it to the harbour by 1830 hours having obtained their new dinghy. As the late day wind died down for a quite evening, we had brief discussions with Bob and Jan confirming plans to depart at 0730 tomorrow for York Harbour.

Friday June 23, 2017: We were up and underway by 0730 with very light winds and a modestly rolling sea for our 25 nautical mile run from Biddeford to York Harbour. It was a pleasant and uneventful run with the highlight being passing a 102 Windjammer named SSV Harvey Gamage from Portland Maine. This schooner is dedicated to your programs on the water and she looked extremely well cared for. 

SSV Harvey Gamage 

York Harbour has a narrow dog leg kind of entrance and we’d read during flood and ebb tides the current can run as much as 4.5 knots, so we timed our arrival at high tide and secured mooring balls from the town in the small basin. It is a very attractive harbour and both sides of the shoreline before the harbour and further on up the York River were lined with exquisite homes nestled among large trees with lovely landscaped properties. A very friendly harbour master came out to ensure we got safely secured to the mooring ball and to process our paperwork and collect our mooring fee. He also volunteered to drive one of us to Hanaford’s Grocery and as Jan had the longer list, she took him up on the offer and took Fran’s list to shop for us at the same time.

Bob and Jan launched and successfully tested out their new dinghy but managed to get soaked in a fairly heavy downpour. After they dried off, the sun came out again and they joined us for happy hour as we discussed tonight and tomorrow’s weather and our destination options for tomorrow.

What a night we had with the evening flood tide while moored in the York Harbour river. We faced the full brunt of the 4.5 knot current with both our boats swirling back and forth, often burying the mooring ball 1 1/2' below the water's surface. The force of the water was so strong, our prop shaft began spinning (free wheeling), which is not good as the shaft seal was not getting its usual water lubrication from the engine. To stop the free wheeling, after a few attempts I managed to get a line around one of the shaft coupler bolts and secured it to one of the very stout engine mounts. As the current continued to batter us, I regretted putting the mooring line over a bow cleat instead of the much heavier bollard. I set the alarm for 2330 hours, just after high tide, so we could relocate the mooring line making it more secure for the next flood tide beginning at dawn. In the morning, we learned Bob on Wings got up at 0230 hours as their mooring ball was banging against the side of their hull in the slack water. When up on the bow of Wings, he noticed our two boats were starting to swing together (stern to stern) and he dashed back to the cockpit and managed to separate them when they were only one foot apart. Then he lined the stern of their boat with fenders in case the two boats came together again. 

We continue to learn...

Wing's mooring ball pulled under the water

Two light houses from today. We love lighthouses!

ROCKLAND, BOOTHBAY & BEYOND

(Remember - you can click on any picture to see a larger version)

Here's a map of the coast of Maine & our route for this post.

Wednesday June 14, 2017: It was another beautiful morning in Camden and we are feeling this weather could become habit forming. We ventured over to the dinghy dock around 0900 for a little exploring around downtown Camden before meeting up with Bob and Jan for brunch at Boynton & McKay Restaurant. It was a fine recommendation from Charlie, a very friendly and helpful staff member at Wayfarer Marine. Upon entry, Fran and I were studying the blackboard menu when three friendly bikers whose dolled up Harley Davidson’s were out front, spoke up and raved about their breakfast choices. Their recommendations influenced us to order the “Two Eggs & Slow Cooked Beef Brisket on a Bed of Local Greens”. Fran also ordered their Blueberry Pancakes and Crispy Bacon and as is our usual practice, we shared the choices 50/50. What a first class breakfast. I’m making myself hungry again, just writing about it.

Camden's Harbour

Later, we met up with Ben Ellison again and he very generously provided us with wiring for two solutions to my cell phone signal booster, which I hope will work when we are in an area with some AT&T signal we can actually boost!! Thank’s very much Ben

Afterwards, we made a brief stop at the Camden Yacht Club dock to rinse off a rather thick layer of pollen on our decks, followed by a holding tank pump out at Wayfarer Marine and then we headed off to Rockland, Maine, a further 9 nautical miles down the western shore of Penobscot Bay. 

Cruise Ship in Camden's Harbour

Boating friends Laurie and John on Nordic Tug “Mirto”, whom we’d met last summer in Rimouski, Quebec had called us recently to see if we could meet up. They keep their boat in Rockland and they were about to head out for a week of cruising in Penobscot Bay. They very kindly offered to let us use a mooring ball they have that was not in use this week and upon arrival in Rockland Harbour, we spend a while cruising up and down the aisles of mooring balls looking for one with their name on it. We are still learning how to approach and connect to mooring balls and this attempt was not the most elegant, but we managed. 

Thursday June 15, 2017: The sun is shining again this morning, putting smiles on our faces. Rockland is the home port of a number of the great Windjammers in Penobscot Bay and there was one in particular we were interested in seeing - The Heritage, a 95 foot schooner, that was in port today. The Heritage is a 95’ long, 24’ wide schooner build by Captain Doug Lee and launched in 1982 as a purpose built vessel to accommodate passengers in comfortable lodgings while coastal cruising in Maine and giving customers an authentic schooner sailing experience. Unlike some of the older, converted “working boat” schooners, the Heritage has full headroom and plenty of below deck space for comfort. Her more traditional elements are, she operates without a motor (they use one of their tenders with a motor as a “push boat”); they cook for the 36 guests and 9 crew on a wood burning cast iron stove/oven and the sailing rig is an all authentic traditional schooner rig. We had a fantastic one week cruise aboard The Heritage in 1997, 20 years ago this summer. 

After breakfast, we headed off to see the Heritage and found three crew aboard her on their day off. Captains Doug and Linda were not on board, but the crew kindly invited us aboard for a visit and we got to look about and marvel at how well she has been maintained. At 35 years old, she looked magnificent. Wandering about her decks made our hearts beat just a little faster imaging her under full sail making good speed in a 20 knot wind….

Pics of the Heritage

Cast Iron Stove in The Heritage's Galley

One of 2 small cannons aboard The Heritage

Daydreaming....

Heavy duty gear for anchoring

Afterwards we headed off to Journey’s End Marina to find John and Laurie aboard Mirto. Later that morning, Wings arrived in port and the six of us went off to lunch at Cafe Miranda for a wonderful meal. We are continuing our tradition of trying out the local chowder along the coast and today’s Haddock Chowder was right up there with the best. Over lunch John and Laurie answered all kinds of our questions about our route down to New York and up the Hudson River that will be very beneficial in the weeks to come. It was great to be able to spend these few hours together with John and Laurie and we’re hopeful they will make the trek to Georgian Bay and the North Channel in the next season or two from now. 

Lunch at Cafe Miranda with Bob, Jan, John & Laurie

What a great Haddock Chowder looks like

We spent the balance of the afternoon exploring Rockland and picking up a few provisions, including a magnificent, small blueberry and peach pie with a crumble topping from the Atlantic Bakery Company. Wow, what a treat that was.

Friday June 16, 2017: As we contemplate moving out of Penobscot Bay and moving further down the coast of Maine, weather forecasts become more important as the open ocean conditions need to be taken into account. Today looks like the best travel day of the next few days so we were off our mooring and under way by 0645 hours for a 37 nautical mile run to Boothbay Harbour, under cloudy skies with a light drizzle. It was comfortable for the most part with some rolling sections from waves on our beam. The most protected part of the harbour from the forecast strong winds was at the Tug Boat Inn (appropriate for us in a boat named Tug’n). We took a mooring ball very close to their docks for very easy access to the downtown Boothbay. 

Antique cars in Boothbay Harbour

Fran taking a break in the lap of a local moose

Boothbay Harbour’s economy is primarily driven by tourism as crowds arrive to go on boat tours to coastal islands, go on whale watching outings, art galleries, boutiques and restaurants. Special events include “Schooner Days” when the Penobscot Bay fleet all descent on Boothbay Harbour.l Earlier in its history, in the mid 1800’s, the town was a significant fishing centre. In bad weather it could hold 400 to 500 vessels seeking refuge. It had a fishery, a fish oil company, an ice company, two marine railways, a fertilizer manufacturer and a factory for canning lobsters. During WW11 and up to the 1950’s, the town build mine sweepers for the US Navy

After lunch on board Tug'n, we went ashore to register with the Tug Boat Inn and explore the town. While the town clearly caters to the tourist trade, the streets are loaded with a wide range of boutiques, shops and restaurants and we had a lovely time wondering about and stretching our legs before retreating back to Tug’n  the as the rain began falling again.

Saturday June 17, 2017: We’d had quite a bit of rain overnight, which is always welcome as it rinses our decks and they demand a wipe down in the morning, making Tug’n look her best. Gradually the sun emerged and it became quite warm as we headed ashore to do more exploring before our pre arranged lunch out. 

One of our first stops was a shop called Eventide Specialties who carry the most amazing selection of Extra Virgin Olive Oils from around the world, fused and infused olive oils, specialty olive oils and aged balsamic condiments in endless flavours etc etc. Initially, it was a little overwhelming when you stared at the five or six dozen stainless steel containers from which you could draw samples to taste. We really did not know where to start until one of the sales staff took us under her wing and got us a couple of samples and explained the contents of the cards on each one. The flavours caused us to emit many oohs and wows as we sampled their wares, eventually selecting a few purchases for our galley. 

Lunch today was at Kaler’s, “Your Local Crab & Lobster House”. Yelp reviewers raved about their award winning Spicy Lobster Corn Chowder, so that is what we ordered, along with their Shrimp & Lobster Cakes. Both were breathtakingly good. Thankfully we still had room to share a piece of their blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream. It too was among the best we’d ever had (that’s two seniors who've tasted a lot of blueberry pies in their lives). It was really great! This boating and eating out in local seafood restaurants could get habit forming…

We spend another few hours exploring downtown Boothbay Harbour before returning to the boat and later, enjoying a game of Sequence with Bob and Jan over a happy hour refreshment. We also discussed the next leg of our journey, deciding on Basin Cove at Potts Harbour for its great protection from strong south east winds and over 2 meter waves forecast for Monday and Tuesday. The entrance to Basin Cove is rather shallow, so we decided we’d be best to enter it closer to high tide than low, necessitating an early start, so we planned on leaving at 0630 hours tomorrow. 

Sunday June 18, 2017:  Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads reading this. We were up at 0530 to prepare for our departure, but the morning did not look too promising - fog, thick fog, with visibility of about 200’ at best. At 0600, on a brief radio call with Wings, we decided it was best to stay put. Normally, fog wouldn’t be a big deal. Two boats travelling together, both with their radar going, can provide for quite safe and comfortable travel. But, here in Maine, with lobster pot floats everywhere, we were nervous about the prospect of running over their floats and getting a line wrapped around our prop shaft, so we decided to sit tight.