Castine to Buck’s Harbor

We met our new friends for a final send off at 9:00AM at Bah’s Bakery.  Diane and Ralph joined us for coffee and some freshly baked sweets.  We then walked down to the public dock to see their kids and say our last “goodbyes”.  I think it’s a tradition for that family to grab some coffee and breakfast “to go” and sit at the public dock to have breakfast and more importantly just “get together” and watch the world go by.  We were going to miss these people as they were fun, full of life and had a great sense of humor. 

It was time to go though.  We exchanged addresses, phone numbers and even recipes and talked about possibilities of getting together for Maine’s Blue Hill County Fair or maybe in the far future in California. 

SCARED MYSELF TO DEATH

We went back to Dennet’s, settled up our bill and got the engines running.  I took her out of the harbor, which has become my job now, and as we left we could hear them yelling “goodbyes”, the whole family, from all different locations along the shoreline.  I gave the horn a couple loud toots and almost scared myself to death, as the horn sounded so loud in that peaceful harbor.  It sounded like a cruise ship was leaving.  I officially apologize to all other boaters there for that loud display.  Anyway, it was a great time.  We waved as we left and rounded the great ship State of Maine. 

As we headed out we passed their house on the shore.  It’s the one just past the old Catholic Church and the picturesque yellow colored inn.  We took some last pictures of the shoreline and the lighthouse.  We headed past our little cove where we went with the dinghy one day and had a picnic.  We could see a schooner at anchor. 

WE NEED PUMP OUTS, PLEASE!

As we headed out to deeper waters we were faced with something we didn’t like and that was a pump out.  Castine had no pump out facilities and we were told you just pump it out on the waters.  How could this be?  It’s a terrible thing to do in these wonderful waters that we were cruising but it was obvious that that’s what you’ve got to do as we could see that many others had done the same. 

All of us who appreciate the ocean have really got to do something about this.  Even during our stay at the dock it was obvious that people were pumping out in the harbor as it would accumulate by the dock in the most disgusting grey goop so characteristic with those slimy brownish mini bubbles.  I’ve seen it before in many places and there’s no excuse, we’ve got to stop this and get more pump out facilities.

Buck’s Harbor

We were wondering why Buck’s Harbor got 5 stars in the cruising guide.  The harbor is sheltered around a small island called Harbor Island.  There are no docks for transient boaters just moorings.  The only dock is pretty much a small working dock and where the marina office and store are.  We hailed them on the radio and got our mooring assignment.  Our mooring location was fairly far from the center of the mooring field and had a nice view out into Eggemoggin Reach. 

We got the dinghy down right away and motored in to the marina office.  There was a small store and office just above the docks with not much of anything that would interest tourists.  As we arrived at the dock a lobster man with his two dogs came in and unloaded some crates of lobsters which was fun to watch but that was about all the excitement there was. 

NOT MUCH

We then walked up the dusty road following two lobstermen going home after a days work.  Once to the main road we headed down in the direction of the general store.  We had to ask directions because there were no signs.   It was a small walk down the country road and you had to stay to the side as the locals would whiz past in their pickups.  We could see the little intersection where a very small cluster of buildings were.  The main one was what used to be a church and is now converted into a small shop and gallery that was closed.  It seems we now head into territory where many of the churches no longer function as churches but are converted into someone’s home or store.  There was a small store and café and a restaurant down behind the buildings and that was about it. 

We stopped in the little store and had lunch.  There’s nothing much going on around here.   We walked down to the little yacht club just down the road from the stores and decided we’d move on tomorrow to a more interesting place. 

Went back to boat and settled in to rest as there didn’t seem much else to see.  I saw no reason to get off the boat again. 

THE BEAUTY OF “NOT MUCH”

Late that afternoon the winds died down to 2 knots and we had a wonderful view of the bay and the lighthouse that was slowly becoming enshrined in a light mist of fog.  It looked so romantic.  By the end of the day the sun was just setting over the thickly forested hillside.  The sun was intensified and made the shadows long and the last bits of light highlighted the boats and houses with a warm yellow golden glow.  We heard the low putter of a courteous dinghy driver, slowly motoring by so as not to create a wake, probably heading to the marina.  Maybe they were going to the local restaurant for dinner tonight. 

We could hear the laughter of children playing on a nearby dock at a summer cottage and a dog barking excitedly at their play.  It carried far across the water that now was flat like glass.  Ahead of us were too antique looking fishing boats that in the Chesapeake would be put away in the maritime museum but here they were docked for the evening ready to set out in the morning for a days work.  We are protected in this harbor by the small island.  You feel safe.  Our mooring location allows us a good view protected but able to peek out through the entry channel and watch as the outer world goes by, whether it be a Grand Banks, sailboat or huge motor yacht heading to other ports than this. 

We sit up on the fly bridge and watch as the shadows lengthen on the wooded hillsides and enjoy our glass of wine, not wanting to miss a minute of this beautiful peaceful place.  We decide to delay the preparation of our dinner.    We see the other boaters sitting in their cockpits too, doing the same, nothing but enjoying the moment.  Life is good and could not be better than this for the night.

As the late afternoon ends, I get the dinner ready and we decide to enjoy the end of the day on the back of the boat on the cockpit.  Larry sets up the table and two chairs and covers the table with a table cloth.  We sit out on the back and feel like we are the only ones here.  Funny, all the boats now seem like they are empty.  Maybe they have gone somewhere in their dinghies.  Maybe they’ve gone to dinner or maybe they have gones to homes nearby.  Maybe some of the boats stay here, empty, waiting for their owners to come from a place far away. 

THE FOG IS OUR COMPANION

The fog has completely filled the outside channel by now.  We can see the top of the fog bank moving down Eggemoggin Reach.  It’s behind the tree cover hills.  It’s silently traveling fast and twirling as it moves in closer.  The sun is going down quickly now and the colors have turned in a progression from violet to purple then orange and finally pink.  The clouds are swirling around the silhouette of the sun as it goes down. 

And soon poof! It’s gone!  The last glimmer of sun on the boats and other reflections are gone.  We see a small lobster style pleasure boat, with its running lights on, slowly puttering through the moored boats near the shore.  Now the anchor lights on top of the masts of the sailboats are the most visible thing.  Soon, warm lights start to glow from inside the many cabins of the moored and anchored sailboats that we previously thought were empty.  The hills, though sparsely settled, start to have patches of warm soft glowing lights as their occupants turn their lights on in their living rooms and kitchens.  The night becomes white and grey as the fog engulfs us and then suddenly dark as it becomes thick.   We no longer can see the Eggemoggin Reach that the boats travel on.  We no longer can see the lighthouse with any directional light.  The fog covers everything like a blanket.  It becomes silent and lonely and yet peaceful.  Our burgee is lightly flapping in the trickle of wind and that’s all we hear.  This will be a nice night to sleep and breathe the fresh air. 

Yes, this is a five star place.

BUCK’S HARBOR TO SW HARBOR

We awoke to the peaceful sound of absolutely nothing, no dinghies, cars, tractors, people’s voices, nothing.  It was the best sleep we’ve had for weeks.  The fog had cleared from the previous night and the temps were much chillier this morning.  Larry took Zig in for his morning ritual and I stayed on the boat.  Seeing Buck’s Harbor Marina once was enough for me.  I stayed on the cozy warm boat.  We were headed to SW Harbor today.  We put the dinghy up, had breakfast, got the engines started and headed slowly and quietly out following the old wooden sailboat that slept next to us last night.  We could see that their home port was Rockland.  They were an older couple, locals, who probably have been sailing this area their wholes lives. 

They reached the end of our protected channel and headed out into the Eggemoggin Reach.  We were the only two boats leaving so far this morning.   They opened up their sails and let them slowly fill with wind, at first flopping and then pulled back tight and trim, full and efficient.  It looked like they were going to have the Bay to themselves for awhile at least.  My they were a pretty sight.

THE SUN WAS PERSNICKETY

The day was cloudy with beautiful cumulus clouds, puffy and twirled up on one side as the wind whipped it up.  The clouds were scattered and the sun was persnickety today as it would only light selected patches of landscape.  Maybe it was because it had to struggle to find an opening here and there through the clouds so it could show off its brilliant rays.  At this particular moment it was highlighting the old wooden sailboat like a spot light on a stage. Wow, it was beautiful, it was its moment in the spotlight as everything else was dark and grey.  The surrounding areas looked dark and moody, as if they were pouting and jealous of their lack attention. 

PUMPKIN ISLAND LIGHT

The sun’s spot lights were stingy with their time and would move quickly searching for something else interesting to highlight.  This time it decided to choose the beautiful lighthouse straight off our bow.  Pumpkin Island Light it was called and it looked like the perfect painting with just the right lighting and composition as it sat balanced on a small nudge of rock back dropped by perfectly placed pine trees.  The natural back drop of the dark trees highlighted the light’s stark whiteness better than any painter’s canvas.  This small rock of an island was just a short dinghy ride away from the small lovely village of old homes.  The nearby village looked full of history like it’d been there since these islands were first settled.   It’s easy to dream of days gone by here as the landscape seems unchanged unlike the real world we all live in.

BEAUTIFUL STRETCH OF EGGEMOGGIN REACH

We make our turn and head towards the one and only bridge that stretches across Eggemoggin Reach connecting Deer Isle to the main land.  Cruising down Eggemoggin Reach is like cruising down a wide river with contrasts of between open meadows and hills thickly covered in pine, cedar and birch trees.  The shores are chiseled from giant granite masses of rock.  The tide is on its way down.  It exposes newly revealed dark wet granite edges along the shoreline interrupted occasionally by thick patches of yellow sea weed.  Here and there as we travel down the reach we see a wonderful old home or farm in the distance and beside them an occasional cleared meadow scratched out from the surrounding wilderness.  

EASTERLY-TRENDING COAST

We are officially “Downeast” now.  We’ve been wondering about the term having heard it so much this trip.  Downeast this and downeast that.  Some say it’s because the coast geographically turns east and west.  But I like the definition derived from an old sailing term.   “The prevailing winds run SE on the coast of Maine in the summer months.  This allowed the old schooners and ships from Boston to Maine to sail with a downwind heading with an easterly-trending coast.”  Thus the “Downeast” term.  It has a historical meaning which I like.

To be proper, the geographical location officially begins on the eastern shores of Penoscobet Bay and stretches all the way to the Canadian border. It’s supposed to be a rugged area, much colder, and the tides are some of the strongest and most extreme in the world.   This is the area we are now heading into.  Wow, it sounds exciting.

WHERE’S THAT DOWNWIND? 

It’s a beautiful cruise past farms and forested hills.  We’ve got about 12 knot winds off our bow and the water is now exposing a little chop as the tide is going out and bucking the winds.  I read that it can be treacherous here on a windy day and the cruising guide reminds us all of its dangers which always tend to make my day a little more scary than necessary, especially when you are unfamiliar with these waters…….. 

“In September 1984, the 65 foot schooner Isaac H. Evans was knocked down by squally winds just south of Gary’s Point near Bucks Harbor.”  That’s the beautiful place we came out of after our peaceful night’s mooring.   “She sank in 60 feet of water, showing only the tip of her mainmast and the peak of her gaff.  Most passengers and crew swam ashore and the rest were saved by local rescue groups.”  Oh well, so much for the beauty and peacefulness of the place or so much for these darn cruising guides. 

In August, this Reach is also the sight of the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta where 120 of the “fastest and most beautiful wooden boats” race.  Mmmmm, what a sight that must be.

PIP SQUEAK GIVING US A RUN FOR OUR MONEY

We see a small little pip squeak of a sailboat having a ball today in the Reach with the strong winds.  Her sails are a beautiful rusty red color and the boat is wooden.  She’s really giving us a run for our money. 

We are careful not to get too side tracked by the beauty of the place and ignore the ledges in the Reach which are marked.  We are facing the sun now and the water is sparkling like jewels on the sea.  It’s quite a sight.  The air is cold and brisk and the sky clear and crisp.  Eggemoggin Reach is gradually widening up as it heads out to Jericho Bay and is more exposed to the open ocean.  We have Deer Island keeping us company on our right.

CENTER HARBOR FULL OF CLASSIC YACHTS

We’re just going past Center Harbor on our port side.  Guess that’s why we’ve seen so many beautiful sailboats lately.  That little red sail boat is probably from that harbor.  The harbor is known to have a fleet of gaff-rigged Beetle Cats and “astoundingly beautiful bigger boats”.  This harbor is said to have “one of the most concentrated pockets of classic yachts on the coast”.  Too bad we aren’t going in there.  Maybe we’ll come back and visit by car.    

IN THIS NECK OF THE WOODS IS THE FAMOUS WOODENBOAT SCHOOL

We’re also in the neck of the woods of the famous WoodenBoat School known so well by their wonderful WoodenBoat Magazine. 

We pass Conary Island. It is so beautiful.  Its conifer trees are stunning and the islands soft mounding hills roll down, boulder like, to the water.  These hard granite mounds are covered in green low growing ground cover.  It’s truly a spectacular sight. 

We are now entering a wider area of the reach.  It’s filled with a scattering beautiful little islands and on the main shore we see huge stone houses, stately and somewhat stoic as they face this rugged landscape of a sea.  This truly is spectacular cruising grounds.  You wonder how those conifers are growing on these small islands which are nothing more than stony mounds of granite with not a visible speck of dirt or soil that I can see. 

But suddenly the relaxation and enjoyment of it all is halted as we are now entering a mine field of lobster pots, not nearly as dense as the lower areas of the Maine coast but with the sun glistening off the choppy waters, it’s very difficult to see them as we meander our way through.  It’s hard to take your eyes off the water even for a few seconds to see the surrounding scenery because if you do you surely will run over those lobster pots and cut their lines or worse, snag one.

JERICHO BAY

As we leave Eggemoggin Reach we enter Jericho Bay.  The cruising conditions immediately change as we are exposed to ocean swells and have now lost our protection of the islands.  We slowly pass a pretty ordinary sailboat and wonder if he is having as much trouble as we are trying to see and avoid these lobster pots?   I would’ve hated to have come through this area in the fog we had yesterday afternoon and evening.  We would have missed all this scenery and probably would have snagged a good share of these pots. 

LIKE A SNOW BLIND, A SEA OF SILVERY JEWELS

The water has become totally blinding.  It’s a mass of silvery reflective patches full of lobster pots.  It’s like being in a snow blind.  You can’t see them until they are right in front of you.  Instead of lying them stretched out in sensible lines with spaces they have clustered them in unorderly masses so you can barely escape them.  At least if they were laid in lines you might have a chance of making your way through with some sensibility and order. 

Today reminds me of a day when we were cruising in Glacier Bay, Alaska.  We were heading out John Hopskins Inlet to Glacier Bay and the sun was dead ahead, hitting the water in the same blinding way.  We were having the same difficulty trying to watch for ice chunks.  It was equally nerve wracking but at least if we snag a lobster pot we just cut the line which is much less dangerous than hitting a block of ice. 

SWAN’S ISLAND

We are quickly approaching Swan’s Island.  Larry is getting tense because we have a narrow passage to traverse through the scattering of little islands and rocks at the northernmost tip of Swan’s Island.  It’s called York Narrows. It’s very narrow and has a few sharp turns and you have to rely closely on staying within the markers because the area is surrounded by rocky ledges that are under the water.  The current is a bit strong through here also so you have to take that into consideration too.  We could’ve cut through a more northern route that would’ve been much easier but Larry wanted to see a couple possibilities for future anchorages and the only way to see them was to cut through this passage. 

YORK NARROWS

We kind of slowed down to allow the sailboat to head in but he was dilly dallying around so we decided to go around him and head in through the narrows.  Because of the sun in our eyes and the choppy waters, it was a bit hairy trying to even find the markers.  It seemed like we’d see just at the very last minute.  And of course as is always the case, here comes a boat, full blast, whizzing right through the narrows making us very nervous and creating a wake making it even more difficult to see the markers.  Couldn’t he slow down and be courteous?  I guess he doesn’t know we don’t know these waters and can’t see a blasted thing with the sun in our eyes.  I managed to get a quick glimpse in at Buckle Harbor for Larry to tell him if I thought it was a good place for a possible future anchorage.  He didn’t take his eyes off our course through the narrows so I did my best to describe it to him.  There was one sailboat inside and it looked very lonely. 

RAFTING BIRDS AND LOUNGING SEALS

Once around and out of York Narrows we were greeted by lots of interesting sights.    First off was a huge mass of floating birds.  They rode up and down the swells in unison.  It was the most amazing sight.  There must have been 3 or 4 hundred of them all floating together, maybe more.  And as were peeked into Mackerel Cove we were overwhelmed by masses of seals sunning themselves on some sun warmed granite rocks that were exposed by the low tide.  Mackerel Cove looked more active and interesting.  We could see several masts of boats anchored behind a long exposed ledge off Roderick Head.  I think the ferry goes in there too.  Might be a fun spot to go.

BLUE HILL BAY FULL OF WIND

The wind was much stronger as we left York Narrows and entered Blue Hill Bay.  We could see several sailboats heeling over dramatically getting the most out of the wind, speeding impressively across the water.

BLACK ISLAND and GOTT ISLANDS

Larry decides to head outside of Black Island for our approach to Mt. Desert Island and Southwest Harbor, our final destination today.   We wanted to take advantage of the great weather to explore the islands from the open ocean side.  You have to take advantage of the good weather when you get it around here.  Though we were warned by many of the terrible foggy conditions we’ve been very lucky to not have had to travel in the fog here yet. 

SHORES DEMANDING RESPECT

Aah, this Downeast Maine has a rugged coast.  It demands respect from the Mariner because you don’t want to kiss that granite etched shore with the bow of your boat.  The shapes and size of the granite is impressive and extremely beautiful.  The islands here are much less settled and completely thick with evergreens.  If you did see a house it was stark and simple, no fluff on these structures.  Whoever chooses to settle on these exposed shores of these outer islands isn't here to show off their worldly possessions. 

We began to make our approach past Cranberry Islands on our starboard.  I glance back and can see the tell tale sign of fog behind us.  The crisp clear colors and edges of the shoreline are becoming muted into a whitish grey color.  There are two power boats behind us coming much faster and gaining on us.  They may catch us today but I don’t think the fog will.  Out raced the fog again. 

BEAR ISLAND GREETS US

We pass wonderful old white cottages and the beautiful Bear Island light as we finally begin to enter Southwest Harbor and hail the marina on the radio.

We are given directions as to how to proceed through the harbor and specific instructions on how to avoid the ledge just outside Great Harbor Marina.  We had met Bruce Kessler of Zopilote in Camden and he recommended this marina and had warned us about the ledge also so we were extra careful.

We were only spending one night here as we had to get to NE Harbor to meet our friends that were flying in but NE Harbor was full today.  We plan to come back to SE Harbor to spend more time but today it’s a one nighter.

WELCOMED BY BRUCE KESSLER

We got our dock assignment and settled in right away and were greeted by Bruce Kessler                                                                      http://www.trawlerworld.com/features_bkpy.htm

 who came by in his dinghy to welcome us.  Ziggy just hopped right in his dinghy and decided to take a nap while we caught up on cruising stories with Bruce. 

We found a little small café at the top of the dock, got some wine and food and had a quiet evening.

 ON TO NE Hbr