Sailing

 7/5-Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island ME

   Well we finally set off on an adventure having to pull us off the flypaper that is Rockland. It seems when we get into Rockland it gets really hard to leave. There always seems to be one more thing that would be fun to do or person we would like to see. Anyways we tore ourselves away finally. 

   We had a very nice sail across the bay and sailed all the way through the Fox Thoroughfare. What was kind of amazing about this was we hardly adjusted the sails at all even though it was a twisting and winding passage. We ended up anchored in Seal Bay close to our usual spot. We were joined later by 3 or 4 other boats. It was a windy night but we were dug in and it calmed a bit in the morning. 

    Again this morning we had good wind coming from the southwest which propelled us nicely across the bay. We got a little confused as to where to enter Merchants Row because the fog was slow to lift here. Eventually we got it figured and had a robust sail through the islands. Jericho Bay which always seems to give us trouble faded the wind a bit but it soon came up nicely and we scooted along arriving at Buckle Harbor. We were the only boat there but Nutmeg got caught in the falling tide and we struggled to get the boat to back up. She soon spun close to the way we wanted and we backed down on the anchor. We took a nice walk around the island which was one of the first MITA sites. After the walk I dinghied in to the beach to look for the leak in our dinghy. I successfully found it dragged it up on deck and repaired it. This was one of the first places we have been at in some time where we could see no lights on shore. 

   Ever onward we went headed north into Blue Hill Bay. We had a very nice close reach all the way up the bay. The wind shifted just enough that we just squeezed by each corner and sailed on. We pulled into KYC yacht club in Blue Hill harbor. I can neither spell nor pronounce the actual name of the yacht club. We met up with our friend Nancy who lives nearby and chatted for a bit. She drove us into town to pick up a few grocery items. It was very hot we didn’t feel like moving. 

    The next morning we caught another nice breeze and were headed over to Pretty Marsh harbor when we decided that as long as the wind was with us we would head to Acadia. After rounding the point at Long Island the wind died but we were moving at around 2 knots with the tide. After about 45 minutes of this the wind came up and we had a broad reach running down the bay to Bass Harbor bar. The wind petered out here and of course every boat in Maine had to go by us. The sails slatted and we rocked but we still moved so eventually the wind piped up behind us. That drove us all the way right to Northeast Harbor where we picked up a mooring. 

    We spent three nights here as it was hot and being the 4th of July. The bus schedule was screwed up so we wouldn’t be able to see fireworks. Alas !!?? We did grab the bus over to Jordan Pond and found the trail to walk back here. The marina may not have been crowded but the park sure was. The next day the buses were running normally so we hitched a ride to Jordan Pond and walked around it for a nice walk. We rode the bus on the loop to see the park and that used up most of this day. 

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