DAY #74 - TENANTS HARBOR TO OPECHEE ISLAND

SEPTEMBER 23, 2007



This morning we woke to a bright, crisp, windy, morning (last night a cold front went through).





We rose early and as we were leaving the harbor, with the brisk northwest wind to our back, we caught the fever and could not resist the temptation be a little crazy. We decided to sail back to Southwest Harbor and have our traditional last lobster & clam feast.



We had a great reach and run back through Muscle Ridge Channel, across West Penobscot Bay, through Fox Island Thoroughfare, across East Penobscot Bay, through Merchant Row (past Stonington), across Jericho Bay, and through Casco Passage.





It was getting close to sunset so we reluctantly pulled into Opechee Island Harbor for the night.



Now this is what sailing is all about.



39.4 NM

DAY #73 - HIGH & BIRCH ISLANDS TO TENANTS HARBOR

SEPTEMBER 22, 2007

Today we headed over to Tenants Harbor.



We had anticipated having our last dockside lobster & clam feast before leaving Maine for the season. However, much to our surprise, the Cod End lobster dock was closed for the season. Apparently, all their help goes back to college in the beginning of the month so they close down.



Since bad weather was predicted for the night we stayed in the harbor anyway.

8.4 NM

DAY #72 - HOLBROOK ISLAND TO HIGH & BIRCH ISLANDS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2007



We woke to another bright sunny day.



We sailed down West Penobscot Bay and entered Muscle Ridge Channel to anchor at High & Birch Islands. As we were passing Rockland the fog moved in and we saw next to nothing until we arrived at our destination.



37.5 NM

DAY #71 - HOLBROOK ISLAND SANCTUARY

SEPTEMBER 20, 2007









Today we paddled to shore and explored Holbrook Island Sanctuary (part to the Maine State Park System).









We hiked several of the trails around the park. It was a very beautiful spot with a large diversity of ecosystems. We saw very few other people.

DAY #70 - SOUTHWEST HARBOR TO HOLBROOK ISLAND HARBOR

SEPTEMBER 19, 2007



Time to move on. Today we set out across Blue Hill Bay and sailed across Jericho Bay, up Eggemoggin Reach, and turned north up Penobscott Bay towards Castine. We anchored in Holbrook Island Harbor.





We had very nice views of the sunset over the hills of Camden, across Penobscott Bay.





35.1 NM

DAY #69 - NORTHEAST HARBOR TO SOUTHWEST HARBOR

SEPTEMBER 18, 2007



Today we motored a few miles over to Southwest Harbor to scope out reprovisioning opportunities and to feast at our most favorite of all lobster docks.





As expected we found nothing affordable in the town of Southwest Harbor itself but a half hour walk north of the town we found a regular large grocery store with a large selection and normal prices (Wow - what a difference a short distance makes).



Despite the fact that we saw flowers in bloom everywhere we also saw occasional hints of Fall.



After taking our groceries back to the boat we paddled over to Beals for our lobster and clam feast.



4.4 NM

DAY #68 - BAKER ISLAND TO NORTHEAST HARBOR

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007





We headed over to Northeast Harbor to take some long awaited hot showers and see if we could do some reprovisioning.



It is late in the season so there are significantly fewer boats in the harbor and we purchased nearly the last of their block ice. Since the beginning of the month the schedule of the free island buses had been cut way back so venturing by bus far from the harbor was limited to the middle of the day. We hiked up the hill to the small grocery store in town which by mid afternoon had closed up their meat and deli counter. Generally the prices were ridiculously high so we decided to look elsewhere. Previously, we had always used Northeast Harbor as our primary base of operations in the area, but we had always had ground transportation to get to Ellsworth where all the major stores and services are. Now that we are mostly limited to boat transportation we will have to look elsewhere.



We spent the remainder of the day walking about the town and paddling around the harbor.



5.7 NM

DAY #67 - WEST BAY TO BAKER ISLAND

SEPTEMBER 16, 2007



Boy what a mess --- this morning when we went to haul our anchors we pulled up a major snarl. A day and a half of storm conditions with two anchors down and constantly shifting winds and currents swinging us around among the lobster pots bouys resulted in a hell of a mess. We spent a good hour getting it all untangled. The lobster men should appreciate the fact that I did not cut a single one of their lines although I really was tempted to.



We carefully motored out of Gouldsboro Bay and set sail for Baker Island (just south of Mt. Desert Island). As we rounded Schoodic Point we passed several fishing vessels heading out to sea.



It was getting late in the day and Baker Island is a great place to stop since it has wonderful sunset views.



Looking back on our travels past Schoodic Point I have to say:
There are no less houses along the coast.
There are hardly any recreational vessels and no services for them.
The currents and winds are stronger and the seas larger.
The distances are shorter than we expected.
Wireless reception is actually better than further west on the coast.
There are more lobster pots and fish pens.
The shore is more bold and rocky.



22.9 NM

DAY #66 - WEST BAY

SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

Last night was not a typical night. A strong front and its associated storms moved through. The wind was very strong and the entire boat was humming. In addition to that, there proved to be a strong current in the bay which kept the boat sideways to the wind. The wind was so strong that the boat was heeling over even though there were no sails up. Despite it all we slept well knowing we were secure with two anchors down.





We woke to wind, rain, and fog so we decided to stay at anchor in West Bay. We passed the day getting caught up on chores.





The late afternoon rewarded us with clearing skies and a beautiful sunset.