Back in maine

6:30 AM and the wake up alarm goes off, time to get on the road because today is the day we sail back to Maine from the sleepy little town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. When we were in Deer Isle in mid-June, we met a couple who said they spend their summers in Shelburne and winters in Deer Isle. The two of them always sail directly to and from Shelburne and it takes them 24 hours. When we crossed before we went from Frenchboro Long Island to Yarmouth NS which took us 17 hours so we figured we could do the 24 hour and skip the crazy tidal currents between Cape Sable and Yarmouth. Also, the couple we met were older than us, so if they could do it so could we.

When we awoke in Shelburne the fog had settled around us but was slowly lifting so it appeared........ We headed out only to get in thicker fog as we went. Our plan was to head for a few waypoints we had done on our way east and once we rounded Cape Sable we would start our journey across the Gulf of Maine.

On our journey towards Cape Sable we spotted another leatherback turtle quite close to us. In our previous encounter with a leatherback Carey had relayed info to woman who conducts research on leatherbacks. The researcher asked us if we had recorded the water temperature where we had seen the turtle, which we hadn't, but this time we did. As we got closer to Cape Sable we saw yet another as well as many more Mola Mola (ocean sunfish) so we recorded the temp then too. In Shelburne the water temp was around 20 C, off Cape Negro where we spotted to next turtle the water temp was around 15 C and at Cape Sable the temp went from 10 C to 0 C quite quickly. The waters around Cape Sable are a convergence of waters fed from the north by the cold waters of the Labrador Current, and from the south by the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream. The mixing of these two water flows creates a nutrient-rich ecosystem for species such as cod, which has attracted a large fishing industry in this region. The convergence also makes for some dense fog and high seas during flood and ebb tides which can create walls of raging seas that can be most unpleasant if crossed when the winds are strong against the tide. As we passed Cape Sable and headed out to sea the water temp went back up to 15 C.

From Shelburne to beyond Cape Sable took us about 11 hours in thick fog, the next segment would be another 16 in fog but when we got offshore and away from land the fog lifted and we could see the nearly full moon rising behind us in the east and the sun setting right in front. Soon the sun had gone down and the moonshine was bright making the evening passage spectacular. About halfway across, as we approached the Gulf of Maine shipping lanes we saw another ship on our AIS (Automatic Information System) and could see the name of the vessel, how fast they are going, where they are going etc. We could also see the ship which turned out to be a large tanker headed to St John. We saw another at about 2:00 AM that turned out to be the Nova Star headed on its daily trip from Portland to Yarmouth. We saw a fishing boat cross our bow and another trawler fishing as we approached the Mount Desert Rock area. Most of these vessels we could only see their lights or on our AIS and radar but never in plain sight. Thankfully we have this equipment, unlike the days of the tall ships when vessels frequently ran aground or into each other.

Just after the moon set on the horizon and the sun was beginning to rise (near Mount Desert Rock) we saw a pod of White-sided Dolphins swimming together and one jumped out of the water and dove back in again. A spectacular sight and a sign that whales might be around. We had read that white sided Dolphins and humpbacks are often together feeding in the same area. Unfortunately we did not confirm seeing any any whales, but the first sighting of this pod was a large animal with a fin (finback perhaps).

Making long crossings like this can be very tiring for the one steering, needing to stay on course and steering by compass or a star or planet ahead. Fortunately we have an autopilot that can steer for you so you can keep an eye out for other boats or take frequent stretching brakes. As we approached the Mount Desert Rock area our autopilot jammed in the on position which wasn't a bad thing at this moment but dodging lobster gear was getting a little bit of a challenge and we knew we would have to dock when we arrive in Northeast Harbor so having a stuck autopilot was going to make this difficult. We could physically steer with it stuck on but it took a lot of strength to move the wheel from side to side and we couldn't stop to pull it apart to fix it so we persevered.

As we got closer to land the fog got thicker. We never saw Mount Desert Rock even though we were right next to it and several buoys we were passing by also were shrouded in fog making them hard to see. As we made our way past Little Duck Island and Great Cranberry Island in route to the "Western way" pass towards Northeast Harbor our engine died! We were in thick fog with about 20' of visibility (you could see the bow of the boat but not much more), the lobster gear was thick and hard to see and this is a busy spot to be futzing with engine problems....... We determined that we had run out of fuel. Luckily we had one and a half jugs of fuel (approximately 7-8 gallons) so Peter madly dumped the remaining fuel in the tank, pulled the engine cover off and bled air from the fuel lines to restart the engine, while Carey sailed with the main. It did start back up and we proceeded towards Northeast Harbor dodging buoys, lobster boats and a few sailboats headed out into the wall of fog. On our approach to Northeast Harbor we knew what to expect since we had been there before but as any situation in fog things can get disorienting. It wasn't until we were about halfway into the harbor when we could actually see land! This was our first sight of land since we left Shelburne at 7:00 AM the previous morning. Once in the harbor the sun was shining brightly and it felt like a completely different day. The launch driver in the harbor mentioned that many people who had been there for the night ventured out into the fog only to immediately return to stay another night and wait for it to lift.

Our last task for the journey from Nova Scotia to Maine was to clear Customs. We had heard stories about US customs and how hardcore they can be. Fines for bringing in citrus or produce from foreign countries, searching your vessel for contraband etc. When we arrived we tied up at a float away from the main pier because there was no room to dock. We explained that we needed to wait for a customs officer and one was on his way and they would let us know when he arrived, approx 2 hours out. We had gotten rid of all our fruits and veggies along the was but when we cleaned up expecting to be boarded by customs we found a single lemon in the bottom of our fridge - yikes!!! Are they going to find the one piece of citrus and give us a fine? Were we in big trouble?? The fatigue made us nervous about our inspection and what were we going to do with that stupid lemon!! As it turned out the customs guy and the harbormaster were trying to contact us on our radio for some time so they sent over someone to get us. We had been sleeping and never heard them calling us and our radio volume was turned down. We nervously met the customs officer who was so decked out in bullet proof armor, guns, radios, handcuffs and other "stuff" that he said he never goes in a boat because with all that gear if he were to go overboard into the water he would sink. He also was Mr. No-Personality and kinda rude but he basically looked at our passports, asked a few questions, reamed us out for not having our radio on and sent us on our way.

27 hours, little sleep, fog, lobster gear, rude customs guy etc but we're happy to be back in Maine. In about a week we will meet up with our two sons in Deer Isle and sail together back to Freeport.