How time flies when one is idling about Maine taste-testing wild blueberry pies and dodging lobster buoys in the fog. Almost a month has passed since my last post yet we have visited many towns and harbours we missed back in 2012. Over the last few weeks we’ve anchored at North Haven on Vinalhaven, Stonington on Deer Island, Holbrook Island near Castine, Eggemoggin Reach, Rockland and Ebencook Harbour near Boothbay. All of these anchorages are perfect with great views, great restaurants nearby and solitude which suits us to a tee. The great thing about Maine is how the sea is such an integral part of everyone’s lives for young and old. Every type of craft is on the water in summer with opportunities to entertain friends and relatives on everything from chartered schooners to classic beautifully made wooden sailboats, and everything else in between.
A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of joining David and Barbara Marlow, the Owners of Marlow Yachts for dinner in an excellent restaurant near their summer cottage in Maine. It was a wonderful lively evening with much laughter and boating stories from both sides of the table. They have been extremely supportive of all our adventures and everything we’ve done on Vanish.
Our dinghy has proven to be a little trooper when it comes to covering large distances away from Vanish. Boothbay is in an adjacent harbour to where we were anchored yesterday, and taking the dinghy 6 miles to town through the Townsend Gut is easy and a very pleasant trip. A 140 ft superyacht decided to take a shortcut through the swing bridge on Townsend Gut, a narrow waterway which joins Boothbay to Ebencook Harbour. It’s not something we would have done as the clearance on either side of their vessel was only around 10 ft and the current was 3 knots with lobster buoys in the middle of the channel however, they made it through with some bow and stern thrusting along the way. The tides over the last couple of days have been huge with the full moon, this one being called a super moon with super high tides as the moon is so close to the earth. Near our anchorage at Ebencook Harbour is another interesting waterway joining the Sheepscot and Kennebec Rivers called the Sasanoa River. Maynard and I took the dinghy through two sections called Lower Hell Gate and Upper Hell Gate where we saw currents of 8 knots with overfalls, whirlpools and rapids on our way to the town of Bath for the Saturday morning Farmers Market. On the way, we were searching for a red channel marker but it was completely submerged and an obvious danger to navigation for any boat passing over it at high speed.
On Sunday we returned to Lower Hells Gate for more whirlpool dinghy excitement and while taking photos, we noticed a cabin cruiser being swept rapidly down river in the massive current with smoke billowing from his engine. He was busy looking in the engine compartment while heading towards the rocky shoreline and other vessels were passing him at full speed without noticing his predicament. He seemed very distressed so we sped over to him and ended up towing him 1-1/2 miles downstream to the Robinhood Marina where he could assess his next move. His little family looked very grim as the engine looked well and truly fried.
A few nights ago we heard Canada Geese honking nearby. Is this a sign that winter is coming? Already, boats are being hauled out of the water and stowed under plastic in the shipyards. Their summer is now over so soon it will be time for us to follow those geese and start our journey ourselves. Until then, we’ll make the most of every day in our favourite State of the USA.