Saturday, July 30, 2011

Plan B

There were a few of you observant friends who noticed that the “SPOT” didn’t turn up in exactly the location advertised in my last post. Indeed, I published the last blog I had written, knowing that our departure was not going to occur as planned and that we had big problems to deal with before leaving. Somehow I just couldn’t bring myself to throw away, or even alter, the feelings of well-being and happiness that I felt I’d captured-- so I decided just to post anyway.
We had noticed a week earlier that we were having troubles keeping our battery banks charged up to snuff, despite running generators considerably longer than usual. The situation deteriorated further a week ago Friday until it became clear that we needed to plug in to shore power, to preserve what battery life was left and also to perform a procedure suggested by the battery company tech to see if we could rehab our batteries to a workable level. We made way to Northeast Harbor in the heat of late afernoon on Friday, the hottest day we’ve had all summer. Despite Paul’s attention to battery temps every hour well into the night, there seemed to be little change in charge levels. On to Plan B.
Scene in Passing to the Gulf of Maine

Early Saturday morning, we moved down to Belfast, where Paul had already talked with the boat yard about ordering new batteries if necessary and having them installed. We got in late Saturday afternoon, feeling pretty stressed out and fairly discouraged about once again delaying our carefully planned trip across the Gulf of Maine to Shelburne.
The one bright spot was meeting our new friends once again for another wonderful Sunday morning breakfast at Chase Daily in downtown Belfast -- great food and great talk.
The boat yard mechanic visited Carry On early Monday morning and did not have a definitive diagnosis, only that replacing batteries would be in our future-- exactly when was an open question. We could continue our travels, carefully watching our power usage, finding docks to plug in more frequently and using generators as necessary to keep our battery levels from sinking-- or we could stay in Belfast for the week, then wait for another weather window which looked at the earliest to be August 1. We decided to opt for the first and deal with the battery issue when back in Salem after Labor Day.
Light at Port Mouton Head
We left Belfast Tuesday morning at 10:30 and arrived in Shelburne, NS around 6 pm local time (5 pm Eastern Daylight Savings). It was a long trip and exhausting. We were fighting ocean swells the entire way and traveling in fog much of the time. I didn’t feel well and couldn’t really stand my share of watch, so Paul had to take up the slack. Late in the afternoon the fog cleared and we saw whales blowing and diving all around us in the distance-- quite a majestic sight. We made it safely into Shelburne Harbour, tied up to the dock and had a quick dinner while waiting for customs officials to come aboard to clear us. Their visit went fairly smoothly and quickly; we had a dish of ice cream to celebrate our arrival and fell into bed.

We did a quick regrouping the next day, cleaned up the boat and ourselves and our Phippsburg friends joined us late in the afternoon. We had expected to meet them a week earlier, but luckily for us they were driving and sightseeing, and they and their schedule were flexible. I had been so afraid we would be so delayed we would miss them entirely. We had a lovely dinner out that night, another good night sleep and we were well on our way back to almost normal.
Rocks off Carter's Beach
The weather today is rainy and windy and we seem to be in a spell of foggy days. We ran yesterday in fog again until late afternoon when we rounded Port Mouton Head to anchor off Carter’s Beach. Carter’s is one of our very favorite anchorages, a beautiful white sandy beach with rocks around the shore and salt marshes that fill and clear with the tides. We picked up sand dollars, explored the small life in the standing water and had a long walk on the fine, warm sand.

The weather today is rainy and windy and we seem to be in a spell of foggy days. We ran yesterday in fog again until late afternoon when we rounded Port Mouton Head to anchor off Carter’s Beach. Carter’s is one of our very favorite anchorages, a beautiful white sandy beach with rocks around the shore and salt marshes that fill and clear with the tides. We picked up sand dollars, explored the small life in the standing water and had a long walk on the fine, warm sand.
Fog Creeping In
It’s hours later now, almost bedtime, the weather is greatly improved and we’ve had another lovely meal on board after a long walk around town. Plan B seems to be workly out nicely.

Oh, almost forgot. Again, for you SPOT watchers-- the SPOT seemed to drop the entire first half of our trip out of Belfast  to Shelburne. The track appears to start in the middle of the Gulf of Maine. We think we exceeded the number of available track points after the first 18 hours of our trip and the software deleted all the previous points. We haven't quite figured out a way around that other than turning the SPOT on and off periodically. Maybe we'll try that next time-- but then, maybe not.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Downeast

We’ve been hanging out Downeast style on a town mooring in Southwest Harbor for a little over two weeks now -- and will be hanging out here a few more days waiting for a slot in the marine forecast that will allow us to make a safe and comfortable passage up to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. It’s about a 28 hour trip and the current (pun intended) plan is to leave about 1 pm Sunday. We should have reasonable seas then in the Gulf of Maine, through Lurcher Ledge off NS and be in position to take advantage of the strong currents around Cape Sable, or at least not to be hit too hard by adverse currents.
Sunny Morning, Mount Desert
We’ve finally had time to catch up on our lists-- somehow we had planned to do so many things during our month in Salem, but were waylaid by two weeks of rain followed by bad colds. In fact, cleaning the flybridge cushions, covers and then waterproofing them has been on my list since we were in Florida and I’m delighted to say that everything is shipshape above. It seemed only fitting to tackle the table next and scrub and scrub and scrub to remove the dirt accumulated over the last three years. Then a couple of coats of teak oil, more rubbing and voila-- beautiful like new table! I can hardly stop admiring it-- and the muscles in my right arm which seem to have grown.
The 12 KW generator is running like a top and Paul’s rewiring job seems to be robust. The oil has been changed on both generators and cleaning the air filters is on my list for tomorrow. Lots of other scrubby projects complete on my part and lots of other below the decks projects completed by the skipper. I’m looking forward to a little vacation time in Canada with guests and to having fingernails again.
Rocky Shore, Acadia National Park



We’ve also had a good time. We’ve had a string of lovely days, warm but no where near the heat the rest of the country is experiencing. Most mornings we look at each other and say ”Just another beautiful day in Maine”,  a phrase coined by a friend from our sailboat days-- as if that explains it all. 


My usual morning walks take me past spectacular perennial gardens in town, shopping or post office errands if required or rocky shored beaches if I head away from town. Last week I took an easy hike with old friends to the Jordan Pond House for lunch, where Paul met us in their car. Jordan Pond is famous for its popovers and is a must for any visitor to Acadia National Park. We’ve had dinners out, done some entertaining, been entertained and enjoyed being here for Flamingo Days last weekend. 
Popovers Ahead

Bright pink plastic birds popped up all over town with many activities scheduled, all to benefit the community house and children’s center here. We arrived early at the library sponsored paperback book sale (we bought 7 books for $7) last Saturday morning and in the afternoon went to the Coast Guard Open House. We toured all the boats, including one brought in for the day from Portland, from nav (navigation) stations to engine rooms, Paul’s favorite. 
But the highlight was the steel band concert Monday night. We’ve long been fans of the Flash in the Pans Steel Band, a community band based out of Blue Hill and we were delighted to see them again. 

The 30 or so musicians are all amateurs (one told me they all learned to play in Adult Ed) but are pretty amazingly musical and extremely high energy. Before too long, the young people were up and dancing, next the toddlers with mom or dad and by intermission, even the old people were out. Lots of fun!

Showing off my Table

I promised a shorter post this time, but just a little aside on boat names. If we were in South Florida, this could easily become a rant. I am so incredulous that people would name a boat Wet Dreams, Pole Dancer, Liquid Assets, Capital Gains, etc, etc. Not to mention Momma’s Mink or another name I can’t bring myself to write here. I actually think this one is a great name-- or at least I smile every time we go by this handsome lobster boat. Its name-- use your best Maine accent here-- is “Flo-Rida”. Cute, huh.


Well, enough for now. The latest marine forecast is looking good and looks like Sunday will be a good day. You can watch our progress from Southwest Harbor to Shelburne, NS on the “SPOT” link (upper right hand side of every post) hopefully starting early afternoon this Sunday. Next post from Canada!


Saturday, July 9, 2011

Fish Tales and Schooners


Our day back to Rockland stretched comfortably into a week. The repaired part was reinstalled in the 12KW generator, but as these things go, or at least this generator goes, another part was required-- and finally reinstalled on Friday. As far as I’m concerned, there’s never a problem staying amused in Rockland-- there are good places for long walks, interesting shops and a couple of bookstores to browse in, good restaurants, not to mention the Farnsworth Museum and its huge collection of Wyeths.


Rockland Breakwater Light
In describing Rockland to one of our guests the week before, I had used the word “gritty” and began rethinking my comment. Rockland is thriving-- a couple of restaurants have turned over, but Main Street has new galleries and jewelry stores since we were there last year. There are lots of tourists, from the coastal cruise ships that dock there twice a week this time of year, ferry passengers and visitors from the smaller towns farther down Rt 1. There is still a working waterfront, with a deep sea fishing fleet, several boatyards and a smelly plant producing carrageenen, a seaweed extract used as a gelling agent in food. Downwind of the plant on a warm or humid day is not a good place to be. I know-- we had a mooring there for a season some years ago.
4th of July in Castine
At the end of our week in Rockland, in preparation for our trip to Nova Scotia, we took on over 1000 gallons of fuel. Needless to say, Paul shopped for the best price, which was lower if we went to the dock to be fueled by truck, rather than serviced by the company’s boat. Approaching the far side of the harbor where the dock was located, we were happy to have GPS data on its location, as it was a 45 ft rickety dock with no one in sight other than a bare-chested young man with multiple tattoos and body piercings with a fishing pole and bucket and a crying toddler running around behind him. 
I asked if he could move his energy drink which was sitting on a strategic cleat and unwittingly started a flow of conversation. Docking requires our full attention, particularly when it’s just the two of us, but the one-sided nature of the conversation didn’t seem to hinder him. When we were safely docked, he offered us mackerel, which he declared he didn’t eat, but often gave to his friends, cleaned and gutted. We declined. 
Schooners' Morning
Speaking of fish, we had quite a surprise recently when Paul found an 8 inch fish, still alive and unscathed, in one of the strainers. (Strainers remove large particulate matter from the water taken in to cool generators, refrigeration, water maker, etc.) The strainer in question has often been clogged with handfuls of sea grass, also intact, and a small crab or two, but never anything so sizable as this fish.So yesterday Paul removed the strainer, packed it up and with the use of a friend’s car sent the it back to Maryland where it was rebuilt in October-- more on this fish tale later!
It’s raining here this morning in Southwest Harbor on Mt Desert, a beautiful spot even in the rain. I’m determined to finally finish this post which I started days ago.

We had such a good time in Belfast on our first visit this year that we decided to go back for a second overnight trip. Again we saw friends, had another breakfast at Chase, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant where you don’t even miss the bacon-- and thoroughly enjoyed the vibrant small town atmosphere with its proactive, environmentally friendly attitudes. We regret that this was our last visit to Belfast this year as we’ll be coming back down from Nova Scotia in one long haul straight to Salem. 
Perry Creek Boathouse
It seems that the last few weeks have involved a lot of backtracking, and indeed we decided to go back to Castine for the Fourth of July holiday. Castine, one of the oldest settlements in the country, is a lovely small town, with a long military history well back before the Revolutionary war. Despite the historical markers around town and a quick look at Wikipedia, I am at a loss to describe its complex history further! More relevant to us was the reputation for a wonderful small town celebration for the Fourth. We took the little boat in to town from the mooring loaned to us by friends, arriving just in time for the afternoon band concert. It was a wonderful scene with people of all ages spread out on the grass on the town common and a particularly funny and charming toddler who amused us all with her dancing and conducting. The band itself occasionally made us wince, but it’s hard to be too critical of an all volunteer band in a mostly summer community playing lively Sousa marches!
We opted out of staying in town for the fireworks display, as the sky was beginning to look threatening and also knowing that our mooring would make a fine vantage point. As we were approaching our mooring, we saw several schooners arriving in our cove to anchor for the night and we could begin to see the masts of many windjammers already at anchor. What a sight-- we counted 15 schooners-- something which we have never seen before in all our time in Maine! 
Schooners in a Row
As happens in Maine, a dense fog dropped down and within an hour visibility was reduced so much that we could see only our own lifelines. At the appointed time, we heard a few isolated pops of firecrackers, but saw nothing. Then silence-- and I’m sure the fireworks were rescheduled for another, clearer evening. We were very happy to be snug aboard Carry On and not facing a long trip back to our boat with no visibility.
Leaving the next morning, we took a photo op detour and I took many, many pictures in an attempt to capture the schooner scene. Without a wide angle, it was clear to me that I couldn’t really convey what my eyes could see, so I’ll ask you to use your imagination when looking at one mass of boats laying at all angles in the still morning air. Several were already beginning to haul their anchors and get underway, and we heard discussions on the radio of a race planned for later that morning.
Stonington Harbor
Our plan was to visit two of our favorite anchorages before heading to Southwest Harbor, with Perry Creek, just off the Fox Island Thoroughfare (the passage between the islands of Northaven and Vinalhaven), our first stopover. We arrived in just a couple of hours of leaving Castine, and amazingly, found room to anchor before any other boats arrived. We have always loved to take the dinghy in a high speed run across the thoroughfare to the small village of Northaven, which never seems to change much.
Next stopover was a group of rocky islands off the Stonington shore of Deer Isle, long a favorite of mine for the beautiful, smooth rocks sloping up to the pine trees which cover the interiors. Guess what we saw as we made our way past the harbor? Yes, the schooners en masse again, this time laying in a neat line. 
We had a mostly quiet afternoon and a lovely evening, once the lobstermen had buzzed by our anchorage and headed home, creating some ferocious wakes. Breakfast in the morning at a small cafe in Stonington, a long walk afterwards for me and then we hauled anchor for Southwest Harbor. 
The sun is shining here now-- it’s afternoon, and as much as I’d hoped to publish this post, now there’s marginal internet. Tomorrow then-- and a much less verbose post next time, I promise.