Our Summer Cruise 2019

 

Sunday, July 28

Up early today and saw Dean and Charlotte off this morning as they head back to Chicago; we will miss their company for the next six weeks or so. After doing a few chores on the boat, we took the dinghy out to take a ride up the creek at the head of the Harbor. Quite a scenic ride with just a few houses before the creek ends at what appears to be a dam with a dirt road atop it and a small pond on the other side. On the way back, we made a detour to the market to pick up a few things we missed on Friday. On the bad side, our dinghy motor is showing some of the same symptoms we had last year - starting fine but then the idle slowly dying down to the point it dies. It restarts OK and will idle but still a little roughly. We have not been able to get non-ethanol fuel for a while and have been blending our remaining non-ethanol with ethanol gas and suspect it is giving us the problem.

 

Pulpit Creek Looking Out to Harbor

The weather was perfect again so we took the opportunity to just relax and read in the stern cockpit for most of the day.

 

Monday, July 29

Pulpit Harbor to Holbrook Island - 13 nm

Woke early this morning as the sun was still low in the sky and enjoyed coffee as the sun slowly climbed into the foggy sky to the east.

Since we were up early today we decided to get a jump on the day and cast off at 7:15 am for a couple of hour run to Holbrook Island to the north. Although the fog was still thick at the mooring, about half a mile away, it was totally clear as we passed by "Bowdoin," one of the Maine Naval Academy training vessels.

It was dense fog just past the Rock as we headed north but at least we had a foretaste of the real sky and were looking forward to a very calm trip. For the next ninety minutes, we were blanketed in white with only a quarter of an mile visibility. Our radar did a stellar job in identifying nearby traffic that was exclusively lobster boats that rarely are on a straight course darting all over the water. It is amazing that they can keep track of where their floats are in dense fog.

Tracking the Nearby Boats Using Radar

The fog lifted in a matter of minutes to leave us in dead flat water under a brilliant blue sky for the remainder of our ride. Since it was so calm, we took the opportunity to recalibrate our compass/heading sensor. This involves running the boat in a very tight circle several times as the electronic wizards do their thing and ultimately give us the "Calibration Done" message. It must have tweaked the calibration slightly as our autopilot has been running more accurately since.

Our spot of choice at Holbrook, the lone mooring ball was in use so we anchored close by. Within an hour the sailboat on the mooring left, so we quickly relocated on to the mooring that was situated a little further from the shore and we had no worries about having anchoring in 30 feet of water at high tide.

Our Mooring at Holbrook (with multiple colored floats)

Tides as well as sea bottom have a big impact on anchoring. We have 250 feet of 5/16" chain as our anchor rode and a 55 lb. Rocna anchor. Depending on the wind conditions, we may use anywhere from 3x to 7x the water depth. If we anchor at say 12 feet at low water and the tide is 12 feet, we have to allow for a 24 foot water depth. At a ratio of 5 to 1, that means we have to lay out 120 feet of chain and could swing in a circle with a diameter of about 200 feet. If we don't allow for tide in the calculation, we would only have a 2.5 to 1 ratio which is a little on the sketchy side. With our heavy anchor, 2.5 would be OK, if guaranteed no wind, good firm mud bottom, and in daylight. We would not want to do so overnight!

The sea bottom can make a big difference. From our experience, firm mud is the best and our anchor will bury itself very well. Sand is OK and the anchor will bury well but as the boat swings in the wind, the anchor can swivel more easily; the same with gravel. A rocky bottom can be difficult to anchor in as the anchor has to find a crevice to grab hold of. An apparent firm hold can disappear when tension on the anchor is relaxed. Alternatively, the anchor can get jammed in the crevice and be difficult or impossible to free. Grass, weed and kelp are typically not good to anchor in as the anchor will often skip across the vegetation and, even when it buries, it may not reach the underlying bottom.

Fortunately, almost all of the places we have anchored in Maine so far have had good mud sea bottoms and with a firm and sustained pull back on the chain while anchoring we have felt very confident in our anchor's ability to hold us well.

By 10:00 am, the laundry was done and drying on the upper deck in brilliant sun. The forecast for the next two days is 90 deg. F and moderate winds so it will be a matter of a couple of hours to dry things off.

While Judy was occupied reading a book, I went ashore at the dinghy dock to take a short walk around the Island.

Holbrook Island is just one parcel of the 1,230 acres that make up the entirety of the Holbrook Island Sanctuary, a state park that is also supported by the Friends of Holbrook Island. Although only a mile long and less than half a mile wide, it has a variety of terrain and coastline. The easy access of the Island from Castine makes it a popular spot for local day boaters and the occasional boater that anchors here. The Island has a series of short wooded and open trails around the perimeter of the Island with great water views and a couple of trails across the interior.

Smart's Island as it was originally known was occupied in pre-Revolution days by the Smart family that operated a farm, became Bakeman's Island with a change of ownership, and was again renamed Holbrook when Captain Jesses Holbrook purchased it in 1783. The land was farmed by the Holbrooks and many virgin pines were felled for masts for Holbrook's ship building businesses in Maine. It was eventually sold to the Harris family that maintained a summer cottage of 16 rooms on the island until Anita Harris gave the property on her death in 1985 to become part of the mainland part of the Sanctuary (also donated by Anita Harris).

The sole building remaining on the Island is the renovated “old cow barn" or horse barn that is over 100 years old; it has been used for both in the past. It is now used to house maintenance equipment and provides a residence for summer interns that work in the Sanctuary.

One of the Original Meadows

Northwest Cove

 

Some Remaining Evidence of the Farm

Foxgloves in the Woods

One of the trails lead to a nice bay facing NW that looked as if it would have good protection from the northeast to west. Will have to check that out.

Later in the afternoon when the heat was at its peak, we took a long dinghy ride around the area bounded by Holbrook and the mainland and the small bay would be a possible anchorage for one boat tucked in close to shore with good protection. On the way back, we stopped at a 37 Fisher motor sailer "Fred L. Baxter," made in the UK in the 80s and chatted for quite a while. The owner was very interested in our prop cage as he has had a number of encounters with lobster floats/lines. By the time we left and had taken a couple of photos he had already been in contact with Esposito Welding who made our cage.

37 Fisher "Fred L. Baxter"

Even at 5:00pm today it was still around 90 deg. F and the boat was cooking even though the wind was blowing at 15kts. Took the opportunity to run the genset and get some power for the A/C for a while and also make fresh water. The water maker we installed in 2016 is still working well and producing around 44-50 gallons per hour of soft, taste-free water depending on the salinity of the sea water we are in.

Tuesday, July 30

Hot, hot, hot says the weatherman, no rain, 15-18 kt. winds. The dinghy, although not running the best still made short shrift of the 3 nm run to Castine to the north. At a mid-tide or better we can cut over what would be land at low tide. We needed dinghy gas and unfortunately Eaton's Boatyard does not carry non ethanol gas - it won't help our outboard much but a good dose of Seafoam, a fuel additive, may minimize the impact. By this time we were hungry and had a good breakfast at the Castine Inn, one of the few places to get breakfast.

One of Many Castine Buildings Dating to the 1700s With One of the Many Surviving Elms

 

With the temperature around 90 deg. F it was good to be out on the water where it was a little cooler as we rode back on the dinghy. We took advantage of the heat to wash the bed linens and dry them on the upper deck; bone dry in an hour.

While Judy read for a while, I went back on the Island to walk some more of the trails.

The Newly Renovated Barn

Need to Be Careful Here

Much Cooler in the Shade

West Shoreline

East Shore

The East shore trail completed my short hikes over about 7 miles of trails on the Island and amazingly there were very few bugs to bother me; unlike last year when we only got 50 yards from the dock before we hightailed it back.

Wednesday, July 31

The temperature has not dropped with 70 deg. F at 8:00 am and the barometer at 1015, the highest we have seen it this year. Outside the anchorage to the south there was zero visibility but Castine direction was completely clear. The winds picked up as the day went on which cleared the fog and made it feel cooler. Took the opportunity while inside to do a few boat jobs and get some work done on the blog. Other than that it was just a day to relax and enjoy the views.

Thursday, August 1

Holbrook Island to Barred Island - 9 nm

We left Holbrook early with an excellent forecast but were still discussing our destination as we headed south. Based on the weather, Barred Island looked a good choice based on its description in the Maine Cruising Guide and discussions with George Knapp. It was not far and if we didn't like it or it was busy, we had some nearby alternatives.

The anchorage is formed by three islands and some rocks forming a tiny archipelago. The small lagoon between them is one of the prettiest anchorages in Penobscot Bay and also one of the most popular. At low tide, sand and rock bars appear linking the islands and rocks to form the lagoon; only a dock is visible from the water. Unfortunately, a mooring was recently installed in the center of the lagoon that does limit anchoring somewhat. The Guide indicates that on most summer evenings, the anchorage will be shared by several boats.

To our surprise, when it came in view, we could only see one sailboat and it was leaving! The Guide description on entering is a little daunting with a couple of ledges and rocks to avoid but the chart is very accurate and it was not the challenge we expected.

One of the Ledges to Avoid at Low Tide

We found a good anchorage in about 12 feet at mid-tide close to what would be the South bar later at low tide. The Guide did not exaggerate the anchorages tranquility and scenery and it was even better being the solitary boat.

All That's Visible of South Bar at High Water

 

Same Location at Low Water

 

 

A View Around the Barred Island Anchorage at Mid-Tide

Before long, we had a visitor in a sailboat that wrapped a lobster float in his prop just after entering the anchorage. Fortunately, he has had a lot of experience of this and was soon in his wet suit and cutting line away.

Our Neighbor for the Day

Another Neighbor for the Day - Loons Have Been Quite Rare This Year

A very peaceful, relaxing day was had by all as the sun began to drop.....

Big Barred Island to the East of Us

 

With Barely A Ripple, the Sun Disappeared for the Day

Friday, August 2

After a very quiet night, we were off early to go back to Atlantic Boat on Herrick Bay .

Barred Island to Herrick Bay - 22 nm

After heading north for a few miles, we turned into the Eggemoggin Reach past the Pumpkin Island Light which always looks so perfect on a sunny day.

Pumpkin Island Light

and then down the reach under the Deer Isle Bridge ....

Deer Island Bridge Linking the Island to the Mainland

By noon we were on our preferred mooring ball, No.4, at ABC and heading onshore to do some laundry, have long showers, pick up a few parcels, and then go to Ellsworth to stock up with provisions for the next couple of weeks. It must seem like we are always shopping but we really aren't as we typically only do a big shop every two weeks. We also took the opportunity to dump our dinghy gas into the Land Rover which does not care too much whether we feed it ethanol or non-ethanol gas and stock up with the good stuff. I'm not sure it's going to make much difference as the dinghy is still experiencing the problems with dying at idle. Things were relatively quiet at ABC with low tide in progress; a very low tide indeed at -2 feet from chart datum. The docks were in mud for the most part!

There was a new addition to the yard, a 1930s 6 meter in sad need of repair. Brion Rieff, the boat builder in Brooklin, is going to rebuild the boat this winter; about the only thing that will be saved is the cast iron keel.

Our calm weather of the past four or five days had passed and we had some good wave action in Herrick Bay by the time we returned and we suffered some that night.

Saturday, August 3

Saturday dawned with much better weather and, after ferrying Brion and his son, Brandon, to "Wizard" a boat that Brion restored a couple of years ago for a client we took off. Wizard was the boat I crewed on last year in the Eggemoggin Reach Race and Brion was again skippering the boat for the owner later in the day. Unfortunately, I did not get to race again this year but we instead headed around the corner into Blue Hill Bay and then up to the Inner Harbor at Blue Hill.

Herrick Bay to Blue Hill Harbor - 13 nm

Inner Harbor

In the past, we have taken a mooring at the Yacht Club but were feeling more adventurous this time and made our way cautiously into the Inner Harbor; the route is well buoyed and not too challenging. The real challenge was finding room to anchor as the Inner Harbor is full of mooring balls but less than half are in use. In retrospect, we should have just taken an open ball and been prepared to move to another if the owner showed up. We did find a small space to anchor in and, with a light wind forecast, went quite light on our anchoring scope. Our nearby neighbor was a beautiful 75 foot ketch designed and built by Brooklin Boatyard in 1994 and subsequently refitted by them around 2009. Two of the crew worked all day on the boat, including climbing to the top mast spreader that was probably more than 50 feet high - no harness!!

Dragonera - 75ft overall, 15 ft. beam, 7.5 feet draft

Come low tide we were quite surrounded by rocks.

 

and big homes on rocks....

 

The good thing about the Inner Harbor is the absence of boat traffic and great protection all around from wind and so we spent a peaceful day at anchor.