We entered the
United States of America southwest of Grand Manan Island. We called in to US
Customs and Border Protection and were informed our user fee decal was not the
most convenient choice and that we should just get a Cruising Permit. The officer was very helpful, and went beyond
his job to accommodate us, and not require us to go against the tide to Lubec
to pick the permit up.
We came into
Cutler, Maine (funny after leaving the club near Cutler, Ontario 103 days ago),
anchored and got ready to go into town for provisions, since we had no meat,
fruits and vegetables in order to prepare for a clean entry into the States. We
dinghied into town and asked some lobstermen where the supermarket was and they
gave us blank stares. “The nearest one is a half hour drive away… but you can
borrow my truck if you need to…keys are in it by the yellow house over there.”
And they continued sorting lobsters on a storage pen with their boat tied
alongside. We declined the offer of his
truck, and asked if we could buy a lobster. He gave us two, saying one isn’t
enough. How much I asked? He said “no charge – welcome to Maine!”
The next
morning we woke up to fog, intermittent showers and winds that we decided the
best place for us is here. We dinghied into a nearby dock to walk to the library
for their free Wi-Fi. We found a dock to leave the dinghy, and crates of
lobsters were being loaded into a transport truck. Further up the dock, 2 boys
were stuffing salted herring into little nets for bait balls to be used in the
lobster traps. It was messy, very smelly, and oh the flies! Do you remember some summer jobs you did as a
kid? Anyway. The walk to the library was short, and the lady there arranged for
her gransdson, the harbourmaster’s son to drive us to a nearby General Store
where we could pick up a few things to tide us over until we found a bigger
town.
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| Downtown Cutler, Maine |
Currents not
being as strong here, but still a friend if going in the same direction, we
planned our departure from Cutler for one hour before slack high tide and set a
course for Jonestown, Maine. We picked up a mooring there in the protected
harbour, and it was quite an experience! It was a mooring with a floating dock,
and we tied to the mooring and the dock and swung with the winds and tide. And
the tide… went out to show a depth of 5’6”, and our boat needs 6’3” to float!
Thy said we would set a bit in the mud, but it was soft. Timing of the low tide
did not permit us to leave in the morning, as we were stuck in the mud, so we
dinghied in to the floating dock to do some laundry while we waited for the
water to come back in. We ran out of water short of the dock, an I jumped out
(reluctantly) into 8” of sea mud and pulled Karen and the dinghy closer to the
dock… but the dock was dry, so let’s just say it took some work and was messy.
While we were
doing laundry we had WiFi, and we welcomed our new granddaughter Ginevra into
the world, born on August 25, 2017!
We left
Jonesport, Maine around 11 a.m., and headed for Southwest Harbour on Mount Desert
Island. We sailed off-shore but the Maine lobster season never ends and the
number of lobster floats we encountered made navigation very difficult. We
eventually nailed a float and it fouled our propeller and the day was getting
long and we were tired…. We made to Southwest Harbour and grabbed a rental
mooring. The high hills of Mount Desert
Island made a beautiful backdrop to the scenic harbour.
In the morning,
we dinghied into town and took advantage of the free island bus, thanks to
sponsor LL Bean, and saw the sights of the island. Hats off to LL Bean for their long-term
financial support to keep cars off the roads and help the environment in this
National Park.
We stopped at
West Marine to pick up a chartbook, and prepared to leave the next morning by
taking on fuel and water.
We moved
southwestward to Vinalhaven Island’s Seal Cove for the night, and moving
further to Rockland the next day. We were already out of fresh water, which
really concerned us, as we had a leak and had to find it! Fortunately, Rockland
had several marine stores, and we ordered a new hot water tank, the culprit of
our fresh water leak. The next day,
after many frustrating hours, we had the new water heater installed. On August
31, 2017, we filled our water tanks to the brim, with fingers crossed, and left
Rockport.
We sailed to
Tenant Harbour in 20 to 27 knots, and all the stuff we had left around while
waiting to check for further leaks got dumped on the salon floor. We went into town to see what the local store
had to offer and to stretch or legs, but much wasn’t to be had, other than
lobster for $5.50 each.
Friday,
September 1st, was even windier, and we tucked into New Harbour’s
Long Cove in a nice anchorage. Well so we thought… the swell came in and halyards
were clanging in the mast all night, then the lobster boats started early and
created more waves…. So, we left for Boothbay Harbor.
Boothbay is the
most happening place between Rockland and Portland Maine! You may be surprised, and so were we! It was
a major tourist town with many hotels, a downtown shopping and restaurant area
with scads of people. What impressed us
about Boothbay, was that they had a free trolley giving tours of the town, and
we got dropped of at a grocery store and picked up 35 minutes later! Another
amazing thing, was they had a free pump-out dock floating in the middle of the
harbour, and in addition, the Harbormaster drove a pump-out boat in the morning
and would visit your boat, for free, of course! Maine goes above and beyond to
ensure their coastal waters remain clean!
We moved on to
Harpswell Harbour, after a rough day sailing downwind in 3m waves with the remnants
of the extra-tropical depression of hurricane Harvey, and the next day
continued on to Biddeford, south of Cape Elizabeth, where we stayed two nights
waiting for favourable winds. We visited
their sand flats at low tide, serviced our winches, and took advantage of the
time to get caught up on several other jobs. With flat seas but several thunderstorms
rolling through the day we moved south to Portsmouth Harbour, and anchored off
Kittery Point. We would soon be leaving Maine, and her pesky lobster floats,
having eaten our share of the critters ourselves!
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| A Kittery lobster dock |
And as category
5 hurricane Irma blasts through the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean far to the
south, we know we are moving away from some of the best hurricane hiding holes
on the east coast, keeping a daily watch on the storms and their tracks
northward.
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