August 2019

In which we complete two cruises in company, returning to New England.

We started August anchored at Le Have River Yacht Club, Nova Scotia. The next stop of the OCC cruise was a small back-track to Lunenburg.  We picked up anchor at 09:50 on the 1^st and headed into the dock for a top-up of water then motored down the river. After an hour, the wind picked up to SW’ly 3 so we sailed for a while but it soon died so we had to motor again.  We were still in company with the RNSYS so the harbour was pretty crowded but, with six alongside and most of the others on moorings, we had little difficulty finding a good spot to anchor. Following a leisurely lunch, we dinghied ashore to have a little look around and greet a few people we hadn’t seen for a couple of days.  Once again, the temperature was in the mid 30s so we soon returned to Ruby to relax.

Lunenburg

To beat the heat, we went ashore earlier on Friday to walk through a different part of town then along a loop of old rail track through woods and past another sea inlet to arrive back near where we had started. A little light shopping and back to Ruby for the afternoon.  Another ‘Pot Luck’ was planned for that evening and, wishing to be seen to participate, we went a little over the top.  Elsie made an guacamole dip (a lot of work) and I made another rice mix (planned to be served cold this time, I managed to stop the rice cooking with cold water, so it wasn’t so pudding as the last effort) and baked a tray of flapjacks (which turned out a little sticky – more like oaty fudge). Not as relaxed as we should have been, we took our offerings ashore at the appointed time, together with a few beers.  We had taken over the municipal finger dock, which had fixed benches, tables and chairs and the organisers had organised a table each for starters, mains and sweets so we were able to smugly put a contribution on each.  It turned out to be a good social and, a week later than hoped, we actually managed to speak with a few of the squadron. 

On Saturday, the OCC and RNSYS fleets separated, with the squadron heading towards home and the OCC moving West.  It was a ‘free’ day as our next gathering was planned for Sunday.  Most of the OCC boats elected to just go back to the Le Have islands but, with a forecast of SW’ly (head) winds, we elected to go a little further.  After an hour of motoring to clear Lunenburg, we managed to hoist sail, initially on starboard tack, then on port, to pass inside West Ironbound Island.  A further tack, separating from S/V Grayce, who joined other at Cabbage Island, took us well offshore then back to the entrance to Port Medway as the wind built to F6.  A ‘spirited’ sail after a few weeks of gentle cruising, to blow away cobwebs.  Another short tack and we popped into Dogs Hole, a little bay outside Medway for a comfortable night.  A check on the bilges confirmed that they were dry and our fears of a month earlier were finally laid to rest.  Our hard sailing work was vindicated the following morning when we heard the ‘Cabbage Patch Kids’ motoring into wind after a dawn start.  We had a lazy breakfast, headed out and sailed the rest of the way to Port Mouton.  We were the last to arrive but we had another great sail, beating into a SSw’ly F3-4 with full main, Genoa and inner jib. This evening’s social was canapes and drinks aboard Twin Cove, a 60 ft Motor Yacht owned by George and Frances, recently gone over to ‘The Dark Side’. A beautiful, comfortable boat but not one we could ever afford to buy or fuel (average consumption at ‘economical cruise’, 1 MPG).  Elsie made us some mini pizzas on tortilla bases; others had taken huge amounts so, after a couple of hours of socialising, we returned home too full for a proper meal so continued snacking until bed time. 

On the 5^th, we headed to the final stop for the cruise in Canada, back at Shelburne.  We managed a couple of hours sailing but it was mostly a motor.  As we arrived at the entrance, we met the ‘Salty Dawg’ Rally coming the other way so there was a long stream of yachts heading for the Club.  The new-comers had to go alongside to check in, so we got our previous anchor berth back and let them squabble over moorings and other anchoring space.  We all repaired to the ‘Sea Dog’ pub that evening for a great meal and chat, re-meeting Babs and Paul from Lyra, not seen since Christmas day in Antigua, who were with the Salty Dawgs.  Tuesday was spent with Laundry and shopping.  In the evening the sailing club held a barbeque so another social evening.  We had long chats with Alan and Jan, now local residents but English sailors who had ‘swallowed the anchor’ here.  We listened carefully to how they had managed to get residency here, and tried not to ooze too much envy. 

On  Wednesday 7^th, we got up early, 06:00, with the promise of a sailing wind back along the coast.  The promise was not fulfilled and, with a brief sail, it was a day of motoring in fog along the coast down to Cape Sable Island.  The rest of the OCC fleet continued on towards Maine, still motoring, but we elected to go into the entrance to Clarkes Harbour and anchor clear of the fairway, still in the fog.  This lifted a few times, briefly, to reveal the town, Brigadoon like.  The fog was a very thin layer so we were sun-warmed on deck but the cold water chilled the cabin down.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed a quiet evening after all our unaccustomed socialising over the last couple of weeks. 

Crossing the Bay of Fundy is one of those steps, like crossing Biscay or passing Cape Hatteras that, for good reasons, holds fears for sailors.  It is only about 120 miles wide at the mouth but there are strong currents and the prevailing win d blows right into it so that uncomfortable seas can build. The rest of the fleet had gone over in light winds, and we knew that they had had to motor most of the way. We elected to wait, to catch a following wind.  To get best advantage of the tides, one leaves Cape Sable at low water, which was at 10:00 on the 8^th. As we got reports that ‘the fleet had had to slow down to make a daylight arrival, we delayed a couple of hours and left at midday. The fog had lifted, the winds was, as predicted, ESE 5, so we put 3 reefs in the main, rigging a good preventer, set ¾ genoa and headed west.  The wind was forecast to ease and veer so the plan was to make a gentle curve, starting west and finishing NW. All was good for the first hour, then the fog returned.  As Elsie put the radar on, she saw rain approaching and had a fairly miserable watch.  With the poor visibility, she had to spend most of it watching the plotter for AIS and radar target, so could take no shelter from the continuous heave rain. She did make good progress and by the time I came on watch at 17:00 the rain had stopped and the wind had started to decrease and veer as forecast.  I shook one reef out at 18:00 and another at 22:00 and kept the wind 30 degrees behind the beam.  Unfortunately, the fog continued.  It lifted at times during Elsie’s night watch and again on my morning watch but then thickened as we approached the Main coast.  20 miles offshore, we encountered the first fishing buoys.  This far out, they were large and spaced several hundred yards apart but it was a full time occupation dodging them.  The boats were out, too.  They would haul up and re-set the pots at one location and then charge off at 15 – 20 knots towards the next.  Most did not transmit AIS, so I had to stay glued to the radar to know which wat they were heading.  We do have an automatic radar plotter but, without gyro stabilisation, it is far less accurate than AIS so it took a minute or so to be sure when a target had stopped or which way it had started to move.  I was sounding our fog signal but all I heard in return was the occasional roar of engines.  I never saw another boat, even though some of them passed less than ¼ mile away. At 08:00, the wind suddenly dropped, so I put away the genoa, sheeted the main tight and motored.  The fog persisted until we were within a couple of miles from our destination, Bar Harbor, then lifted to show wooded shores and islands.  And many, many, pot buoys. 

We had chosen Bar Harbor as our destination as it is an official port of entry. We weren’t sure how it would work as there did not appear to be a local CBP office but, after a lot of searching, we found a spot amongst the lobster pots to drop the anchor and phoned in.  The officer I spoke to said that he could take my details if I insisted, but then might have to wait for hours for a field officer to visit.  I should, instead, use the ROAM ap.  Previously, I had thought that this was only useable by U.S. citizens but I installed it and, after half an hour of button pushing and a wait while the details were checked, we were cleared in.  The spot we had chosen wasn’t suitable for an overnight stay so we picked up and headed a couple of miles north to Hulls Cove. Here we found a float-free spot and spent a comfortable afternoon and night. A disappointment was finding that our propane tank, only refilled in Halifax, was empty so I had to change over top the emergency campingaz bottle.  Our stores, especially beer, being depleted, we needed a good provisioning run so on Saturday we headed back to Bar Harbor, re-anchored and dinghied ashore.  We spent an hour wandering around this very touristy town then had a good shop and took an Uber back to the pier. Then it was weigh anchor and head out again.  I expected to have to motor and just dumped the dinghy on the foredeck without lashing it down.  The wind did pick up, however and we elected to have a little sail.  We headed south on the starboard tack for a few miles but then needed to come about.  Elsie was still stowing stores so I tacked by myself.  I managed to get to the foredeck to grab hold of the dinghy as the genoa sheet got underneath and started to lift it but the wind caught it and overboard it went landing upside down and shedding the oars.  I managed to hold onto the painter and made it fast to a cleat.  Elsie was on deck quickly and we stowed the sails.  It was then a ten minute operation to recover the oars, which were lying vertical and just bobbing the handles a few inches above the water.  Dinghy back on board and properly lashed down, we sailed a few more miles then motored into Cranberry Harbor locating, after a search, an area big enough to anchor in overnight.  

Sunday was the official end of our Nova Scotia cruise, with a reunion on Mount Desert Island at the home of Susi, the local OCC Port Officer.  We motored the few miles across in the morning and took our offerings for the inevitable ‘pot luck’ ashore in the afternoon.  We were joined by many locals in addition to our fleet members.  It was all superbly organised, especially the dismantling of the gazebos, etc, at the conclusion.  I, correctly, deduced that Susi had been a primary teacher from the way she calmly organised random inebriated sailors in the task. On Monday morning, she kindly lent me her car to get the propane tank refilled.  It only took half the usual amount so I was confused as to why the gas had not been flowing.  We then went ashore and caught the free bus back to Bar Harbor for a better look round and a little country ‘hiking trail’.  We had not bargained on there being 2 cruise ships in and the joint was heaving. 

On top of a Maine mountain.

Having armed ourselves with maps and passes, we decided to do a serious hike on Tuesday.  Using Susi’s dock again we walked to the trail head again, only to discover that the route we planned to take was closed for maintenance, so it was up and over a hill.  I was wearing walking boots but Elsie was in her beloved Crocks.  Not suitable footwear for this trail, so it was slow going up and slower going down.  At the next hill, Elsie took the level route while I climbed over.  It was then a gentle climb on the third side of the original hill and a scramble down to our starting point.  On Wednesday, we lifted the anchor at 08:00 and had a gentle sail, into wind, to Isle Au Haute, anchoring at the northern end. 

Isle Au Haut.

We dinghied ashore the following morning and had a level 6 mile walk along trails and unmade roads.  Up anchor on return and then a 9 mile motor to Kent Cove on North Haven Island where we spent a peaceful night.  Friday was again  calm, so we just motored a few miles west through ‘The Thoroughfare’ past North Haven, to anchor in Southern Harbour, where we found just one other British boat, Zwailer.  We dinghied ashore to Thayer’s Y-Knot Boatyard and walked the mile back to North Haven in the hope of finding some milk and internet and some internet.  We were out of luck with the former but did manage to find some WIFI at the public library.

OCC gathering in Camden.

On Saturday, 17^th, it was time to head to Camden for pour next social event, an OCC rally, followed by a ‘Mini-Cruise’.  We were hopeful of finding somewhere to anchor in the outer harbour but all available space was taken up with moorings.  The inner harbour is filled with ‘floats’, 30 ft pontoons for boats to moor on either side.  Most are operated either by the Yacht Club or a commercial operator and we had already checked with them, with no luck as there we re 30 other OCC boats already booked in.  Fortunately, the harbour master had one vacant slot for us.  Ashore, to pay for this and to walk a mile up the hill to a supermarket to provision for the week ahead.  We took another walk around the town that afternoon.  Very touristy, but upmarket with some nice arts and crafts on display.  We also found a pair of walking sandals for Elsie: her last pair had disintegrated and her Crocks were really not suitable when we went hiking in the hills. 

Seal Bay.

Sunday was the OCC rally, with some 130 members turning up to meet, greet and see some slides of the South Pacific.  There was then lunch: pot luck appetisers followed by catered lobster rolls. Elsie wore her new sandals.  She also wore them to walk back to the supermarket later and wore holes in both of her heels. On Monday, we set off on the cruise, heading back East through the thoroughfare to Seal Bay in Vinalhaven Island.  There was thick fog most of the way and we considered dropping back into Southern Harbour to wait for it to lift but, just as we arrived there, the visibility improved to ¼ mile, so we continued. There were 2 other boats there, probably hoping for a quiet evening, only to find themselves joined by the 32 OCC boats.  That evening we all took our dinghies over to a catamaran, Gemeaux, for inevitable ‘pot luck’ appetisers and drinks.  On Tuesday, more motoring: first to Hurricane Island where we took a mooring buoy and went ashore to see their sustainability projects.  These would be pretty unremarkable in Europe but seem pioneering in the ‘States.  We also had a little presentation on farming scallops, which was interesting.  Then another 10 miles on to another anchorage where we anchored amongst the lobster pot buoys and dinghied to a beach for, you guessed it, pot luck appetisers.  Landing was easy, with no surf but, by the time we left, the tide had dropped a couple of metres so it was a long carry for those with heavy dinghies or big motors. 

Sunset at Dix Island.

On Wednesday, it was a 15 mile motor to Maple Juice Cove, stopping at a convenient lobster boat to buy a couple of his catch to have for supper.  We arrived with the rain and settled in for a quiet afternoon.  There were 2 activities planned for Thursday: firstly, a visit to The Olson House.  This was where Andrew Wyeth spent 30+ summers painting, including most of his best known works such as Christina’s World and Wind from the sea.  Thick fog in the bay made navigation interesting on the way there but, fortunately, I had my phone with electronic charts on it.  Once there, it was nice to be able to use Wyeth’s viewpoints from the house, with handy prints available for reference.  In the afternoon, ashore again for the final ‘pot luck’ of the season and a farewell to the friends we have made over the last few weeks.  As Elsie mentioned, when we started on the Nova Scotia rally, this has been an experiment to see how we would cope with the enforced socialising and has worked better than either of us had expected; we enjoy solitude and quiet but have managed to get (almost) enough of this while enjoying the company of others.  What has not worked so well is having to be in certain places at certain times.  This just doesn’t go with sailing and we have burned a lot of diesel over the last month.

The Olsen house.

 View from Christina's bedroom.

The weather looked good to head south, with several days of wind from the north west starting on the following Sunday so we took advantage of a morning weather window on Friday to sail down to Boothbay harbor.  We found a good spot to anchor and went ashore for a recce and provisioning.  On Saturday, ashore again for laundry and later for a walk round a very pleasant town.  One of the local tours is a boat ride to talk about lobster fishing and demonstrate lifting a trap.  We decided that we didn’t need this so returned to Ruby only to find, an hour later, the tour boat next to us lifting a float 20 feet off our stern and telling us all about it.  A check on the weather showed all change: a storm was heading up offshore changing the winds from Monday onwards so, instead of heading down to the Cape Cod Canal in 4 easy days, the plan was changed to a 24 hour voyage.  The wind was forecast to be 15 – 20 knots behind the beam so it looked like being a fast passage.  And so it proved; we lifted anchor at 09:00 and headed south with one reef in the main broad reaching with 15 knots of wind from the NE.  As forecast, this increased to 20+ knots so we put in the 2nd reef for Elsie's watch.  Even so, we were making over 7 knots and, for a while, it looked as though we would be arriving before dawn.  Again, the forecast proved correct and the wind dropped back to 15 knots.  We entered the canal at 07:00 on the 26th, just as the current changed in our favour and exited an hour later, making a turn to starboard to anchor at Onset.  Neither of us had slept well on passage, so we had a lazy day.  On  Wednesday we dinghied ashore, tying up at the yacht club.  We took a shuttle bus back to the canal and walked about 8 miles along and back, before catching the bus back and doing a little shopping at the local store.  I also bought some muriatic (hydrochloric) acid, to try cleaning the head plumbing before it became clogged.  Much foaming and release of gas but looking at the pipes afterwards showed less than complete success.  Maybe go for the full gallon rather than a quart, as used this time.

Cape Cod canal.

We wanted to spend more time in this area, exploring places that we missed 2 years ago so, on Thursday, we picked up and headed south towards Woods Hole.  Our planned timing was to take advantage of the current from the canal, have a lunchtime stop, then go through the Woods Hole passage after the change of tide.  We encountered one rain shower en-route but got to Hadley Harbour in the dry at 13:30.  This is a delightful little lagoon surrounded by private property but provided with free mooring balls.  We managed to get the last available one and, as the rain looked set to re-start, decided to stay.  Friday was again forecast wet so we just sat it out.  On Saturday we had an early start, lifting anchor at 06:30 and had favourable currents through Woods Hole and all the way east to Nantucket.  As it was the Labor Day weekend, we expected the harbour to be full and anchored just outside, but well protected by breakwaters.  We were inside the ‘no wake’ buoys but it was still a bit rolly at times with ferries etc.  having made good time, we had an early lunch and motored the mile to the town dock.  We guessed the town centre was to the left and set off towards the one site I had identified, a supermarket.  Wrong guess – we walked through a lot of suburbs, did a bit of shopping, overshot on return and within 200 yards found tourist centre, bus station and all the information that we needed.  Ashore on Sunday, we bought day bus passes and headed out for a six mile walk round a nature reserve which is being managed with different habitats to encourage the return of native species of flora and fauna.  We took advantage of the passes to travel round the rest of the island with stops at western and eastern ends.  It is interesting how the interior of the island is totally different from its neighbour, Martha’s Vineyard.  That has been shaped into an English rural idyll, while Nantucket is much more natural, albeit with a generous supply of golf courses.

Monthly stats:
Over ground     604
Log                   652