Rockland to MDI and Back

This summer Rockland has become somewhat of a "base" for us. For several reasons we keep returning every week or ten days. There are prettier and better protected harbors, but Rockland stands out for having convenient stores and marine services as well as good connections to the big city (Portland) which we have needed. It also has some good restaurants and an excellent art museum.

In other harbors the sunsets are spectacular. In Rockland it is the sunrises over the breakwater and Penobscot bay to the east that are the most beautiful. Of course, one has to get up very early to see the sunrise at its best (before 5 AM).










Since the last post, we spent several days in Seal Bay on Vinalhaven Island with friends on their boats. (There really are a lot of seals there, see photo to left.)










S/V TROPICBIRD anchored in Seal Bay.













Goose Rocks Light (Photo to left) is in the Fox Island Thorofare, a narrow waterway between Vinalhaven and Northhaven Islands on the way to Seal Bay.










After Seal Bay and a brief return to Rockland, we went further east to Mt. Desert Island.

Bass Harbor Bar Light (photo to left) is the "landfall" on Mt. Desert Island coming from from the west.









We anchored in Cranberry Harbor (adjacent to MDI) the first night, and then spent several days on a mooring at Northeast Harbor.

(Photo to left, view of the mountains on MDI from Cranberry Harbor with our friends Block Island 40 sailing.)





There is a free bus service that provides good connections around Acadia National Park and other locations Mt. Desert Island. We took one day to go to Jordan Pond and hike the trail there. (Photo to left, Jordan Pond and the "Bubbles")

Another day we took the bus to Bar Harbor.















After a few days at Northeast we moved a couple of miles to a Hinkley mooring in Southwest Harbor where we met friends who stay there for the season. Hinkley has very nice facilities and surprisingly is not particularly expensive.

(Photo to left, view up Southwest Harbor from Hinkley Moorings.)





We stopped in Buckle Harbor and Pupit Harbor on the return to Rockland. A line of heavy thunderstorms came across Penobscot bay and over Pulpit Harbor just before sunset. Just as the storm passed, the sky to the northwest over the Camden Hills cleared for another spectacular sunset.

Boothbay, Tenants Harbor, & Rockland

This is the fourth summer we have spent in Maine. Each seems to have a unique character. This year we have generally had rather warm weather with fast moving weather systems giving us some great sailing days as well as some impressive storms.

One of the best days sailing has been from Snow Island past Cape Small to Boothbay Harbor. We had a broad reach all the way with about 10-15 kits of wind and bright sunny skies. Those of you who are cruisers will recognize how unusual it was since we had the engine turned off almost all the way and still made the 25 miles in 5 hours.

Boothbay Harbor (Photo 1, to left) is a classic Maine "tourist attraction" and many local sailors avoid it. But, it does have a certain charm, as well as a nice marina with reasonably priced moorings, laundry and shower facilities. We also have two amateur radio friends who live there that make the visits especially enjoyable.





We made a short run to East Boothbay on the Damariscotta River, and then another very pleasant long run past Pemaquid Point, across Muscongus Bay, past Port Clyde to Tenants Harbor.

(Photo 2, Fisherman's Island Light on passage between Boothbay and East Boothbay.)








(Photo 3, Marshall Point Light at Port Clyde.)












A highlight of this trip was a visit to Eastern Egg Rock (a small rocky island). This is a preserve in Muscongus Bay where many seabirds nest especially the Atlantic Puffins. These were extirpated in the US many years ago, but have been reintroduced at Eastern Egg Rock. We found large numbers of them. The closest were swimming only a 20-30 feet from the boat.
(Photo 4, Puffins at Eastern Egg Rock.)






I think Tenants is one of the prettier harbors in Maine. The South island Light at the entrance is especially picturesque (Photo 5). It is the subject of paintings by Jamie Wyeth and is now owned by him.









The harbor is small with many lobster boats as well as yachts. White clapboard houses and inns overlook the harbor (Photo 6).
The second night we were there a very strong storm system came through, probably the most intense we have seen in Maine. Over 6" of rain were reported, winds were over 30kts and the thunder and lightning were virtually continuous from about 6:30 to 9:30 pm. We were glad to be on a good mooring in a well protected harbor.


But, the next day was mostly sunny with a NW breeze as we sailed up the Muscle Ridge Channel and around Owls Head into Rockland Harbor (Photo 7, Owls Head Light).









As we approached Rockland we found ourselves among a fleet of Friendship sloops racing to a rendezvous in Rockland (Photo 8). These are classic gaff rigged sloops originally developed around Friendship, ME. The wind was 20-25 kits so they were not carrying topsails but were still beautiful to see sailing.












Photo 9, Racing a squall into the harbor past the Rockland Breakwater Light.













Later in the afternoon the Friendship sloops were all moored at the Rockland Public Landing, for the 50th annual "Friendship Sloop Days" (Photo 10).

(Tropicbird is out on one of the moorings in the harbor beyond, but there is also a dinghy dock here where we come in.)

To Snow Island, Quahog Bay, ME

Monday the 12th was a beautiful clear day with the wind south at 10kts. With the near perfect conditions we left the Royal River and decided to pass up our usual first stop and push on around the Harpswell Peninsula and Bailey's Island on into Quahog Bay and the anchorage east of Snow Island.

(Photo 1 to left -Tropicbird at anchor near Snow Island.)





This is a beautiful and well protected spot. Snow Island is perhaps most noted because it is the home of Dodge Morgan who sailed his 60' cutter "American Promise" non-stop around the world in record time in the mid 1980's. He is now a columnist for the New England sailing magazine Points East. (Photo 2 to left - Dodge Morgan's schooner "Eagle" at its mooring off Snow Island- photo to left.)


Although it is not a "wilderness", there is also a remarkable amount of wildlife. There are Ospreys (Photo 3 to left) and Bald Eagles nesting in the area (we had a great look at the eagle as it came by the boat about 50' away, but of course, my camera was not at hand). Lots of Common Eiders (diving ducks) and Double-crested Cormorants are around as well as the ever present Herring Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls. We have also seen from the boat, Snowy Egrets, Common Terns, and a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers drumming on a large dead pine.


We have spent a number of days here, some because of fog (Photo 4 to left) and rain. But, even in poor weather it is a great place to be.









(Photo 5 - Sunset over Snow Island.)

Finally Afloat

Yesterday the day of launching finally arrived. We had accomplished all the projects we really needed to complete.

At about 9:30am the truck with hydraulic trailer arrived to load the boat.

Being hauled away from our "home on the hard".

Going down the hill to the launch slip.

Loading on the Travelift.

Stepping the mast.

Almost complete.

Sunset from the boat now afloat in the marina. We plan a few more days here calibrating, testing, and provisioning.

Summer Solstice

One of the pleasures of being in the North at this time of year is the extended daylight. The sun reached its most northerly declination (solstice) and the longest day of the year about a week ago (about 15-1/2 hours). At this more northerly latitude, the length of twilight and the duration of sunsets and sunrises is also extended because the sun intersects the horizon at a more acute angle (about 50% longer in Yarmouth, ME than in Houston, TX).

Sunset from Pulpit Harbor, ME (2007). This spectacular sunset seemed to go on forever. I took more than 50 images over at least an hour. In 2007 the sunsets seemed to have much more color than in more recent years.

At 4:30 AM when I started writing this post, it was already light enough to see things clearly. The birds had begun their "dawn chorus" (I heard 5 species before 5:00 AM). We are not normally early risers, but on the boat we tend to go to bed and arise with the sun. The quiet time between twilight and sunrise is almost magical. Few other people are up, and I can be alone with my thoughts and the bird songs.

Sunrise in the Royal River Boatyard, Yarmouth, ME 5:30am 06/25/2010. Just the birds and I were up.

Home on the Hard

The view from the deck of our "home" in the boatyard at Royal River

We have been here almost a week now working on the boat, with probably a week to go before we get in the water.  We have a couple of big projects to do including installing an electric anchor windlass (a concession to age and infirmity).   The surroundings are scenic and the boat is comfortable, rather like an RV campground, with showers and bathroom a few steps away.  The toughest part is climbing a 12-foot ladder.  But we don't have to worry about the anchor dragging in a blow.

Perhaps the best part is the friends that are here working on their boats or who, with their boats already launched, have stopped by to say hello.  Spring fitting out in Maine is different than just working in a boatyard in warmer climates.  Many other boat owners are  here painting, varnishing, etc. and a sort of camaraderie and sharing of experience develops.   Many of the same people we met and enjoyed in past years are here again.

 

Along the waterfront at the boatyard.

The surroundings of the yard are also unusually scenic with the opposite banks of the river completely wooded, and a nature preserve just down river.   In the morning and evening we have also seen many different bird species including osprey fishing the river, ducks, great blue herons, yellow warblers, northern rough-winged swallows, goldfinches, several kinds of sparrows and many red-winged blackbirds.

At the boat in Maine

We arrived yesterday (Friday 4th) on a beautiful clear warm day (70deg not typical early June in ME).  Now moved onto the boat in the yard.  It is a rainy weekend so we left the winter shrink-wrap cover on.  120VAC power, the batteries and charger/inverter hooked up, and refrigeration working.  On the hard, it's like living in an RV, except for having to climb a 10' ladder.  But, it seems more like home than the apartment.  Now we are just getting things organized aboard.  It looks like we will be here 10 days or so working on the boat.

 

Near Earlville, NY

 

We had a good trip from Atlanta via I-77, I-81 to Harrisburg, PA then on US-15 north to Corning, NY an Ithaca where we stopped at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary.  The next day on 2-lane blacktop roads across Central NY near where I grew up.  Everything is so green there in early June.  The trees are freshly leafed out, the grass is still green, and first hay being mowed.