15 August 2012 Somes Harbour to Buckle Harbour, Swan Island, Maine
It was a lovely day and the forecast is for worsening weather over the next few days, so we couldn’t bear to waste the day in a launderette. We pulled up our anchor and motored down Somes Sound which was lovely in the sunshine. Our route took us past South-west Harbour, which didn’t look very appealing although others have told us that it’s a nice little town.
We travelled 20 miles to the anchorage next to Buckle Island at the north end of Swan Island. The wind remained light and very fluky as we passed various islands. We tried to sail a couple of times, but only managed it for ten minutes at a time. The anchorage is lovely being surrounded on three sides by wooded islands.
After lunch, we went for a walk on Buckle Island which is a private island, but there’s a path that wanders around the shoreline. Some wag has installed a wooden door across the path on which they’ve painted “Etheria” going in to the woods and “Reality” when coming out. I must admit that it’s a lovely path – real Hansel and Gretel stuff.
A few more boats arrived in the afternoon including an old schooner that ferried everyone ashore for a beach barbeque. It must have been freezing as the fog rolled in at six o’clock.
16 August 2012 Buckle Harbour, Swan Island, Maine
It threw it down last night and was still raining and foggy in the morning. We declared the day a write-off and pottered around. We had a bit of a squall come through in the morning giving us 25 knots from the east and cleared away some of the fog, but it was still grey with drizzle.
Glenys spent a few hours on the dinghy cover, which still needs some edging tape around the eight or so cut-outs that she made for the handles. She wasn’t able to buy any grey edging tape and so she has to make her own edging tape which is proving to be a mission.
I spent some time getting our website up to date and three hours practising my guitar. I’m slowly getting better and my left hand fingers are getting toughened up now, but my little finger won’t move independently and waves around everywhere as I move my left hand ring finger. I’ve only been playing for a month, so I guess I’m doing okay.
It rained in the evening and most of the night.
17 August 2012 Buckle Harbour to Castine, Maine
We woke up to glorious sunshine and blue skies – what a difference a day makes. We now need some provisions, so we headed off towards Bucks Harbour in Penobscot Bay with the light wind dead against us. As we motored up Eggemoggin Reach, the wind picked up a little and backed to the west so that we were able to sail for an hour until we approached the road bridge and the wind died again.
Bucks Harbour is absolutely heaving with moorings. There was a spot where we could have anchored anchor at the eastern entrance to the bay, but it was ten metres deep and it didn’t look like there would be a decent grocery shop ashore. We decided to continue on to Castine which we’d heard was a bigger town.
There were no moorings available off the town of Castine, so we anchored in Smith Cove and had a one mile dinghy ride into town (after I’d stripped down the carburettor to get the outboard going again). There’s not much in Castine – a book shop, bakery (closed after three o’clock), grocery store, a very small boat yard and a few small restaurants. Castine was a very major shipbuilding and fishing port in the late 1800s and there are many large houses that were built for sea captains and merchants. Unfortunately, it’s now a sleepy little summer vacation place at the end of a road. We had a short walk around the town – “Oh look! There’s another house that was built in 1865”.
We gave up and went to the grocery store which was very basic – we’ve seen better stocked stores in small Caribbean islands. Their meat counter was particularly poor – a few packs of sausages, a sorry looking steak and a few fish steaks of dubious quality. They didn’t even have any chicken – it was all frozen in a big block and would be defrosted by tomorrow. However, they did have large fridges packed with beer and drinks.
We carried our provisions back to the dinghy and Glenys went off to the boat yard to buy some lobster for $4.50/lb. I chatted to the harbour master and asked about buying lobster directly from the fishermen. He said sure we could and called over a fisherman who had lots of lobster which he would sell me for $3/lb. Unfortunately, it was too late to stop Glenys. Ah well, we’ll know next time.
Back on the boat, we chilled out in the cockpit in the sunshine. There’s a big power boat anchored next to us called “Blue Guitar”, which belongs to Eric Clapton. We've seen the boat before in Isla Culebra in Puerto Rico – I suspect that he’s following us because he’s heard about my guitar playing…
It soon became chilly as the sun dropped, so we retired below and put up the mosquito nets before the sun went down – good job because a swarm of mosquitos descended on the boat. We had about fifty of the little buggers trying to get through the cockpit hatch screen at one point. I’m surprised that there are so many in this relatively cold climate.
18 August 2012 Castine to Pulpit Harbour, Maine
It wasn’t too bad a morning - overcast with some light mist. We motored over to Pulpit HarbourPulpit Harbour in the glassy seas – is there ever any wind in Maine?
We anchored in ten metres of water close to the shore and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. It is a very pretty bay and is also very popular, so our afternoon entertainment was watching the new arrivals anchoring in the deep water. It was made even more difficult because there was little wind and the anchored boats were swirling around.
19 August 2012 Pulpit Harbour, Maine
I went over and chatted to Richard and Sue on “Brigatta” about the island and they confirmed where we could go ashore to walk into town. They have their boat moored in Southwest Harbour, so I invited them over for a beer so that we could pick their brains on good anchorages as we head west.
Glenys and I walked into the nearby town, which is 2½ miles away, but it was a pleasant hike in the sunshine. The town of North Haven is very small with a sandwich bar, a small ferry dock and a couple of gift shops. We had a sandwich and walked back, calling in at a supermarket near to the anchorage to stock up with a few more essentials. Even though it’s in the middle of nowhere, it was a much, much better store than the one in Castine.
“Brigatta” came for a beer or two and we discovered that they live in Boston. They have kindly offered to show us around Boston when we get there.
20 August 2012 Pulpit Harbour to Harbour Island, Maine
We headed south west out of the anchorage, motoring again because there was no wind. Just before lunch, we had a slight breeze from the south west, so we were able to plod along at three knots for a while, but soon had to turn the engine on again. The weather forecast is for another week of these light variable winds. I guess that we shouldn’t complain too much because at least it’s sunny.
We had look at a couple of anchorages (Burnt Island and Allen Island) but didn’t like the look of them, so we continued onto Harbour Island which is very nice. As we were wandering around to find a place to anchor between all of the lobster pots, a guy on another boat called us over and pointed us at a free mooring. Apparently, the owners of the island have installed the moorings on a first come, first served basis. The mooring we picked up looks a bit tatty, but the wind will be very light tonight, so hopefully it will be okay.
21 August 2012 Harbour Island to Christmas Cove, Maine
We didn’t break free of the mooring, but we were very close to the rocky shore when we woke up. The tide had gone out, exposing the kelp covered rocks and the shallower water meant that we were moving around the mooring in a wider arc. I pulled in about six foot of mooring line to get our rudder away from those nasty rocks.
We motored round to Christmas Cove – yep, still no wind. It’s a very tight entrance into the cove between two rock outcrops only 20 metres apart. There’s absolutely no room to anchor, so we had to pick up a mooring for $25, but it’s a very pretty place. We went for a walk into the local village of South Bristol where there’s a swing bridge separating the island from the mainland. We discovered a fisherman’s cooperative, so we bought three lobsters for $3.95/lb. There’s a red tide at the moment, so they didn’t have any clams, but we found some in another store.
Glenys cooked the lobster in the afternoon, and then we went for a beer at the bar to sample the local ale. I had a nice clear IPA and Glenys opted for a light wheat beer which was an unfiltered beer i.e. cloudy. The bar maid let me taste a few of the local unfiltered beers while I joked with a couple of locals telling them that I’d send cloudy beer back in the UK because it can make you go to the toilet more than you would like...
Back on the boat, Glenys cooked a fantastic Paella with lobster.