August 1, we were up and off a bit later today. There was no hurry to leave early in the morning as I generally like to do, getting miles underway early. We are now entering the Bay of Fundy area, and the tide is as important as watching the weather. Tides here are the highest in the world and you have to pay close attention to this. The currents will fight you making the trip difficult if not impossible. We are off to Cutler today and it will be our last American stop before we cross into Canada. A cold trip again today across the long coastline of the Gulf of Maine, but calm. We are very surprised that we have not encountered any fog along our trip so far. We had expected to have some heavy fog days as we travelled the Maine coast. Nobody likes being in fog, and it can be dangerous, so we are happy with having clear weather daily. I don't have radar installed on the boat yet, but it is a priority. We entered the picturesque little harbour and chose a mooring ball to spend the night on. It was heavy with sea growth and after Suzanne and Mike had us secure, I think we had half the ocean on our bow deck from the lines. It was a bit calmer in the harbour and it had protected us from the cold wind, making it more enjoyable to sit out in the cockpit. We had supper outside, as we usually do. Sitting with a sundowner after supper, Suzanne was excited to be snapping pics with her phone to capture the views of this pretty little stopover. I thought I had a great pic from my side, so Suzanne handed me her phone to capture this moment. I took the phone, leaned back to press the the button for the capture, ....and the phone slipped from my hand. Bounce, bounce, ....splash! Uh oh!! It fell out of the cockpit, and slipped off the deck into the ocean. I glanced over and watched it swirl around as it drifted to the ocean floor. I'm in trouble, I thought! I looked back at Suzanne, who I expected would be upset. She was giving me the death stare, but surprisingly calm and much better than most would be. It is an addiction for many and the most important thing some people feel they own. I am very happy that I had taken Suzanne's phone and downloaded all the pics from our trip off of it the day before. Having a phone for keeping in contact was no big deal, as we rarely had any service while travelling, at any part of our trip. We will be doing it in a different manner when we travel again. Maybe pick up an American SIM card at our first stop, and use that while in the US. The phone was overboard, and it was deep with no chance of recovery. It wouldn't work anyway and would only be a SIM card recovery. After several apologies, we moved on to enjoying the night looking at the Cutler harbour. Yes, upon return home I did buy her a new IPhone 11, so an upgrade from her 6. A very pretty stop, but as with Winter Harbor, there is no services here. This is a small fishing village, with no stores, washrooms, or anything except a small fuel dock that the local fishermen offload their catch. I have attached pics, but some are from the internet. Another day done and tomorrow we will be in the province of New Brunswick, Canada and happy to be nearly home.
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July 31, early mornings are the theme in boat life and I was up making coffee, happy our new solenoid was working wonderfully. Appreciate the little things in life! Suzanne had breakfast made shortly after and it's nice to have the stove working again and having a warm meal. We were ready to move on again, so I went ashore to pay for the mooring. I brought the garbage with me to dispose of, then went inside to find a building steeped in history. The desk was in a wooden room filled with bits and pieces of hardware for boating, mostly fishing hardware, etc... I paid the lady the $30 fee and headed back to the boat, ready to get a little closer to the Canadian border. We were close now and getting eager to be home. It's great to be out to see new parts of the world, but the longing to be in your own home always returns. We headed East out of the channel into Penobscot Bay and towards our stop for the day at Winter Harbor dodging the insanity of floating lobster pot buoys in our path. The weather was fair and the day uneventful.
Entering Winter Harbor, we headed towards the inner harbour to the fish Co-op to fuel up. This was obviously a working dock for fishing boats with the dock being a steel grate with pieces of rope tied in the grate. We tied up, with more care than usual to ensure the fenders protected us from the steel. We filled with diesel and asked the guys about where we could tie up for the night. He gave us the phone number of the guy in charge of the harbour and he allowed us to use the big yellow mooring ball at the beginning of the inner harbour. No charge for using this. It was a big rolly being a bit exposed, but a safe spot nonetheless. It was light winds and definitely colder in Maine than the other States we had passed through so far. These little towns along the coast are very scenic and enjoyable to pass through, but be prepared to show up well prepared. There are generally no services to speak of, with the only things to go ashore for is a nice walk along the beach and to enjoy the scenery. COVID is still spreading and we were happy enough to stay onboard most of the time in our own little bubble. The winds eased through the evening and it was a calm night on the water. July 30, it was an immensely better start to the day today with fresh brewed hot coffee. Mmmmm. Why do people start their days with no coffee? It's dire times when we don't begin this way. With breakfast finished, I called the Boothbay Harbour pump-out boat at 8 am sharp , on channel 9 when they started their working day. No problem! They did not take long to arrive and the little boat showed up with 2 guys and we were done. The US seems to have a lot of boats like this for use as pump-outs that I don't see any of in Canada. I wonder why? Afterwards, we tossed the mooring line and we were off to North Haven. Now that we have been in Maine for a bit, I will talk about the lobster pots. Oh my goodness, the lobster pots! You can nearly walk on the buoys for these pots from one side of the state to the other. The big thing to watch for with these is that there are two joined buoys for each, about 20 or so feet apart. Between these two buoys the line lays like a skipping rope under the water, just the right depth for your propeller to snag. Snag one rope and you are done for the day, till you either dive on the prop, or get towed in and have the rope removed. The entrances to harbours and in the harbours are littered with pots. Maine has an exceptional number, much more than the other states we have passed through. They are randomly placed, so it is an obstacle course, and you are always on watch. I understand that each resident is entitled to have 6 pots set, and I am confident even the newborns have their 6 out.
We entered the channel of North Haven from West Penobscot Bay and made our way into the harbour in search of a mooring ball. The mooring field was pretty full up, but we did locate a ball after a couple passes and called in to Brown's Shipyard. After a few calls on the VHF, I got someone to answer and they said to just come in to pay for the mooring, no hurry. There is no reservations here and it is $30/night. They also run a ferry service across to Vinyl Haven. Sounds like a tomorrow job, I thought. No Dockwa, this shipyard is definitely old school. The channel is very busy and there is an assortment of powerboats, fishing boats and sailboats, both wooden and otherwise. It was now late in the day, and supper, a few sundowners, and the night was on us. Tonight we tried 19 Crimes wine, and this red was our favourite. We would be happy to have 19 Crimes be a sponsor. Mmmmm. Suzanne was much happier with the weather today and had full confidence she would survive till the morning being gently rocked to sleep by the soft waves. July 29, early mornings usually start out the same now, waking just after light and heading into the galley to turn on the kettle, filling the french press with fresh ground coffee beans and hot water. There are several different methods for coffee, and everyone has their own "correct" way to do this, with even instant being an option. Today when I turned on the propane stove, there was no flame! Fuse panel propane switch on? Check? Wait a bit to let propane through? Check. Could I be out of propane? I didn't think so, but I have a spare tank, so no worries. I went on deck to check the tank to get my day running again. Looking at the tank, I found my problem quickly. Near the tank top is the propane solenoid and the magic smoke was coming out of it. Oh no! Once the magic smoke comes out, that's it for electronics. You can't put the magic smoke back in. No coffee this morning! We set off for Boothbay Harbour as it had services and supplies available and we were on the hunt for a new solenoid. Cold breakfast and no coffee today, but I will sort out a better morning tomorrow, somehow and someway! It was very calm seas today as we travelled and it was not a long day to our new port.
Once in the harbour, we topped up with fuel and were told how to schedule a pumpout; call channel 9. They have a boat that comes around in the mornings, 8-12. We picked up a mooring ball from Boothbay Harbour Yacht Club for $40, and set off ashore. Suzanne and I started laundry at the yacht club, then walked towards town in search of parts....and coffee. We went to Boothbay Harbor shipyard and walked into an open building that I saw a wooden boat under restoration. I explained what I needed, and the technician phoned the parts manager. He came by and met me, taking us to his office and sourced the part. He had 2 places and it could be delivered in the morning maybe. Rockland had it, but could not deliver till Monday, darn. I can pick up today till close, but I had no car, obviously. A young couple having a late 1800's boat restored overheard and after a brief conversation offered to drive to Rockland and pick it up. Wow! They were off and Suzanne and I walked the short distance to downtown, grabbing a bite to eat and, of course, coffee. We shopped for a few trinkets in the very touristy area and headed back to the boat in a cab. It was raining heavily on and off. We sorted more laundry and talked with Mike, who stayed onboard. Another cab out to meet the young couple, who refused even gas money, and we had our part. It's rare to find these people nowadays, and they were certainly appreciated. The shipyard and our cabbie here were fantastic, as was the store cashier. Great people in this town. We bought a hot supper to return with at a local food stand near the shipyard and we, just barely, made it back for the final 7 pm water taxi. Whew! We ate supper from the food stand while it was still hot and I set off to install my new solenoid. I was determined I would have hot coffee in the morning. Solenoids are simple devices and installs, so I got it wired up quickly before it got dark. I was back down to the stove and "click...poof", we have fire! The world makes sense again. Tomorrow there will be hot coffee. It's a happier place. Celebratory wine was had by all. The weather front that was bringing all this rain brought lots of wind as well and it was an uncomfortable nights sleep. Suzanne was undecided on boat life at this point and wrote this to her mom......in case she didn't make it. :) "Thought you might enjoy my midnight ramblings. Your photos and videos won’t load and it’s hard to stay connected other than to post updates to FB on my roaming plan. Free wifi is impossible out here. I will look at all your photos when I can. Here is some reality from my boat. Another loppy night. This time in Boothbay Harbour, Maine. The boat is secure on a mooring, but my stomach is really uneasy , as the rain pelts down on the boat, and the wind swooshes her around in a up down, up down, crazy eight, up down, up down motion. Joe's sleeping soundly... Of course he is! Lol He could probably sleep just as soundly in a ditch, under a plastic tarp, with a wet log for a pillow, but I wake him. It’s shake him gently, or crawl over him to get my seasickness pills, and I figure shaking him is the lesser of the two evils. He has unbelievable patience and I know he wants me to enjoy this boat life with him. I do so far, for the most part, but let’s just say, there is a price to pay for adventure! All those sunsets and beautiful afternoons in a hammock, and candlelit dinners under star filled skies, come at a price and I’m paying right now! The winds pick up even more, around 57 km/hr, the weather network said, and even though we are in a protected harbour, it doesn’t feel, it as the winds whip through and around us. I hear the splashing of the waves against the hull. I’m not too scared yet, but I’m writing to my Mom so its certainly a rough ride and very unsettling with all the hard rain and tossing about,I just can’t settle enough to find sleep. Up down, up down, splash splash, crazy eight, crazy eight, swirl, swirl…repeat. The wind is loud and there is creaking that I’m unfamiliar with, as well as some banging that confirms I didn’t stow my galley away as well as I should have… I start burping. The first signs of seasickness Mike told me the other day, so I eagerly chew on the little orange pill Joe offers me. Unfortunately its the non-drowsy formula. It’s 12:15 and I need sleep. Joe suggests turning on a movie to keep me distracted. Great idea! I pick The Bourne Identity, low and in the background. I’m thankful we have a TV in our little aft cabin. I can barely hear it, but I don’t need to. I love all Matt Damon movies and can glance over at any time and know what’s going on. It’s a good distraction but it’s not great that it starts out with him floating lifeless in an angry sea…lol I snicker to myself as I realize most of the other movies we brought onboard are all sea related adventures gone badly. lol Master and Commander, Jaws, Cast Away…Geez Suzanne, what’s the matter with you?! This was the least tragic at sea movie if you can believe it! I need to rethink my move collection. A good cartoon would be really nice right about now. A Bugs Life, Toy Story or that movie with Scrat chasing the acorn..Something funny…*gulp* The wind is just howling now and bashing us around. I wonder what force waves these are. Bounce, bounce, bounce, pull pull pull to the port side. We swirl into another couple crazy eights. I think this is the worst storm yet but I can’t see out it’s just dark and water splashing. I turn on my cellular data to check the weather. No service.... what a shocker! lol I bet it’s pretty spectacular though! Whitecaps and all! Joe’s heavy rhythmic breathing tells me he’s sleeping again and I’m so jealous. Glad though, for there is no need for us both to be tired. We hope to travel 43 miles today in the direction of home. It’s almost 2:30 now and we’ve settled into a more gentle rocking motion. I like that, but it’s short lived. And the howling winds and turbulent seas continue well into the night. I didn’t get sick and I’m safe and sound. By 3:30 the boat has settled into that familiar gentle rocking motion. My eyelids are feeling heavy and I know I will be able to find sleep soon. I feel like I’ve gained experience points today, but if this is what it’s like more often than not, it’s a deal-breaker. I won’t tell Joe that though. I imagine having the animals onboard during that, all the sickness, and scared little guys. It would be cruel to do so. Thanks for keeping me company during the storm. Turns out, writing was the best distraction. Xx" July 28, we were up and went outside to assess if there was any damage to the boat as it got dark after last nights storm and this was our first chance to get a good assessment of how we faired. Other than a missing boat hook, it was in good shape. The main sail halyard did come unhooked and was now a bit of a snarl. Freeing itself on one end, the wire halyard had been tossed even more than the boat had been and was now wrapped around the backstay, mast, spreaders, etc. This was a snarl that would take some time to straighten. The weatherman from each service all disagreed on how our day would be today, and we headed out with a loose plan of where we would finish our day. We were now in Maine, and that state touches New Brunswick. Yay!. Maine does have a lot of coastline though. Wells, Kennebunkport, and Biddeford Pool, were all options. It was poor weather as we left and the winds made it pretty lumpy, lessening later in the day. As the weather improved, we opted for Biddeford Pool. We entered the harbour and picked up a mooring ball. The Biddeford Pool Yacht Club has fuel and water available, but no pumpout. Due to the strong current, they only do this at slack tide. Water was all we decided on as the fuel was $6.40 a gallon. No thanks, I'll wait till the next place. We paid $40 for the ball on Dockwa and went ashore in the water taxi. There is a cute little clubhouse with lots of trophies inside from it's history, as many clubs have. We showered and walked a short distance to a small store that had fish and chips and a few grocery items called Goldthwates. It was okay, but took an awful long time to come. We sat outside at a picnic table with a lot of people there having take-out and ice creams. It is a very scenic place and it was now a warm and sunny evening. This is a small town and not a lot in this area if you need to come ashore. We got back on the water taxi, no charge here, and were back on board. Another enjoyable evening and ready for the next days travel.
July 27, coffee and breakfast at a bit more leisure pace today and we got ready to pass through the Blynman Canal which is certainly worth a trip through if you can. This is a pretty, although short journey. After breakfast we threw off the mooring lines and made our way over, calling on the VHF to ask permission to enter the canal. There was some bridge construction as we entered, but easily passable. Through the canal there are many waterfront homes, and moored and docked boats. It was very scenic and one of our favourite spots to pass along during our trip.
We exited the canal and made our way to the Isle of Shoals, to moor in Gosport Harbour. This tiny group of islands, ten kilometres off the US coast, straddles the border of both New Hampshire and Maine. We arrived here noonish and picked up a mooringball. No charge for the balls, but there are not many of them. Now moored, we had lunch and enjoyed a lovely day of sunshine and a warm breeze. Suzanne tried out her new hammock we bought, on the bow, lightly swinging while reading a book. We all enjoyed the afternoon and by now needed a break in our schedule to recharge. We then had a BBQ and supper in the cockpit, watching the skies darken. There were several tour boats that came in to the dock here and they went ashore for brief periods. There are no services available here for transient boaters we were aware of. There was also a large wooden training boat there for most of the day, that left around supper. It seemed to have a bunch of late teens aboard, and they were swimming around the boat when we arrived. Work and play helps learning and it's good to see young people involved in sailing. After supper, the skies were getting pretty ugly and we watched a group of boats which looked like it was doing a yacht club race night (Portsmouth maybe) in the distance. Mike and I, watching the race night mentioned they must have been getting their butts licked as the storm front passed over them. That's when we noticed that this big ugly shelf cloud was heading directly at us. Oh my! We were up and getting things tied down and tidied up. All hatches closed and it was not long before it was on us. We went below decks as the torrential rain hit us, and the wind grabbed the boat and threw it wildly in all directions. I was glad I was on a mooring at this point, and hoped it held. We held on below and watched the other boats swing with the wind. It was our first big storm to be caught in and luckily we had been prepared. Although exciting for a brief period, it was mostly uneventful with nothing broken, or lost other than one boat hook that I had missed stowing properly. Night came and we stayed below. Stories were told and the seas calmed to give us a good nights sleep. July 26, we were up and gone early before coffee this morning. Suzanne got it brewing and breakfast made underway as we headed out to meet the tide to push us through the Cape Cod Canal. One of Suzanne's big worries was that she would be seasick below decks underway. The canal system is no true indicator as it is always calm compared to the ocean. She was very happy to learn, as we had made our way through Long Island Sound, that it did not bother her being below decks. Good news for us guys as well. The meals would have been downgraded significantly. We had looked at where we would spend the next night's mooring, and after looking at Sandwich being another $135, we tentatively planned for Provincetown. The seas had calmed since yesterday and it was a good plan that we had stayed over. There was almost no wind, but it was a beautiful day to be on the water. We motored between the channel markers in Buzzards Bay that slowly narrowed approaching the entrance of the CCC. We knew we were getting closer, as you can see the train bridge preceding it quite a ways in the distance. We entered the CCC and knew we had timed the tides right. We were pushed through the narrow channel at over 11 knots at times. It took us only 45 minutes to get through the canal. The US Corps of Engineers built the canal, and they have available on their website the tide tables so you can ensure you show up at the right time. Our trip was much better than we hoped for. We got through into Cape Cod Bay earlier than we expected before noon, so we had to decide to have an early day and stick to our plan, or take advantage and push for a long day. This is still a delivery trip after all. We opted to push on. Glouscester, MA will be our next tie up and we made the big jump across Massachusetts Bay. There was a light breeze and warm even though we were pretty far off shore. The surprise was annoying black flies, around the size of a bluefly, that swarmed and bit at us. We had one person on bug patrol with the electronic fly zapper most of the trip.
It was late as we fuelled up in Glouscester harbour at the end of their day. The attendant offered us to stay on the dock for the night at $3/foot. We called the harbourmaster on the VHF instead. He directed us to Dockwa to pay for a mooringball; $30 was a better plan. There weren't many balls available as this is a busy working harbour, but we found one to our liking. A BBQ aboard and an evening in the cockpit. We would've liked to have time to go ashore here. Suzanne really wanted to see the pub from "The Perfect Storm" movie, which was within sight, but we were beat after a long day. Another thing for the to do list. July 25, we were off early into town for breakfast which was a bit of a walk but was worth it. Margaret's was a small cafe but had very good food and a pleasant atmosphere. From here, we called a cab and headed to West Marine in Faihaven and got the remaining charts we needed for the trip, and a few other things. After this, we walked to the nearest Walmart, which again was a bit of a trek, but we made it. We got some needed supplies here we did not want to pay West Marine prices for, such as jerry cans and things like that. We then headed to a grocery store to get the fresh items, and cabbed it back to the shipyard. We got some lunch and were planning to leave after. We did not leave early today as we had to get through the Cape Cod Canal, which was our next big bottleneck. We have to watch the tide tables here to ensure we hit the tide and make it work for us. There was no hurry to leave till in the afternoon, and then the weather decided not to cooperate. The wind picked up, and outside the harbour was much worst. We decided we would stay, but I had no interest in paying the $135 fee again. Fairhaven Shipyard had no mooring balls, but a little further in the harbour Pope's Island Marina did. We threw off the docklines and motored into the harbour a few minutes and grabbed a mooringball. It did take a couple of attempts as the winds had picked up quite a bit. To pay for the ball, it seems much of the USA has moved to using Dockwa as the way to reserve and pay for slips and balls. Once booked, thy send you any info needed such as ball number, slip location and wifi passwords. Note that the use of internet is required to be able to book and get the info needed. $35 was a much better fee than the previous $135. There are services available here, such as showers and laundry in the yacht club and a water taxi is available as a pay per use fee. Now tied up and not going anywhere, we settled in to rest for the evening. The night remained windy and was a bit lumpy for sleeping.
July 24, up and on the move early after coffee, with breakfast underway, was now the common start to the day. We headed out from Fishers Island, and found it's name is truly reflective of it's area. Lots of fishing boats everywhere as travelled, with them going about their day of setting nets to eek out a living off the sea. It ended up being a big day and we made it to Fairhaven, MA. We decided to top up the diesel and I asked for a slip for the night. The dock attendants did not seem to have much knowledge of being around boats. We threw them lines as it was a pier that was above us being able to step off, but they didn't know what to do with the lines once they had them. With a brisk wind, this was worrying till we got tied off. Fairhaven Shipyard has all the facilities you need, whether you are a small boat, or a large ship. We needed to do laundry again at this point, and they have a small building that holds the laundry, showers, internet, sitting area, and dock staff in one location. They even have coffee and doughnuts available in the morning. There are no moorings available here and the slip ended up costing me $135 for the night. Ouch! Electricity and water was available on the slip. This was more than I liked paying, but it was done and I wasn't moving now. The fuel price was better here and near half what it was at Mt Sinai Yacht Club. There were some pretty big boats here, as I'm sure some of them were in need of shipyard services. There are several travelifts here, with one that was monstrous. See pic below. Oh my! It was late in the day, so we got some laundry done, had a great supper and settled into a few sundowners. It is close to town, so in the morning we planned to head in and get what we needed for the next few days. Another uneventful day with a safe place to tie up. Boring is best when sailing as exciting and eventful are usually tense situations you don't want to be in. We expect to have some tough situations, but an easy day certainly works well for me.
July 23, up and off early as usual, but this time we are in search of fuel to ensure we don't have issues at a later time. Try to always be prepared, as the boy scouts teach you. We were told that there was fuel in Mt. Sinai a short sail away. We headed out in that direction, which turned out to be a pretty lumpy trip as the waves were hitting us side on. It wasn't a long trip, and not worth extending it to make it a smoother ride. We entered Mt Sinai harbour and quickly found the gas pumps and before long, the attendant came by and we filled with diesel. It was very pricey here and the most we spent per gallon through our travels. I'm not sure if they were benefiting from the ongoing issue with Port Jefferson harbour pumps, or they are just expensive as a rule. Next, try to get a pump-out. None was available at the marina, but there was a boat that came around that did it....if you knew who to call. Nobody knew. We tried the radio, phone, etc..., but to no avail. The attendant thought there was a dock, and we set off to look for a dock that might have a pump-out boat attached to it. It's a small harbour, and we found it before long. We tied up behind it, and went looking for the responsible person. No luck finding anyone, but then I thought back to my technician days for the answer; find a break-room door. Sure enough, a door was propped open and inside... the pump-out crew. A guy came with me and we got the tank pumped and we were ready to get moving again. We headed out of the harbour, and into Long Island Sound again. The waves were not as big now and we were headed into them, so it was a smoother ride. We were definitely making way much later than we wanted, but the tides were with us, It was around suppertime when we arrived at Fishers Island, and we checked out the East and West ends and decided to anchor in the West end. Quite a few people were in the anchorage and there was a fair bit of traffic and music into the night. The wind died completely past dark, and boats bobbed facing all directions. I was not a fan of this in the anchorage seeing boats get pretty close in the mist. No damage would come of it at bobbing speed, but I don't want to hit another boat, or be hit. The music did die down later and we got a nights rest at anchor.
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AuthorMy name is Joe, and we are a couple travelling with our furry friends. Exploring East Coast Canada from Grand Lake, New Brunswick to where the world takes us. Archives
January 2024
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