Day 166 - Wed 9 Sep 2015
Moored - Buck's Harbor, ME

[photo: passing other boats in the fog; this is after we deviated sharply to starboard]

It finally cooled down a bit overnight in the cabin because it got a bit chilly outside. That's what a mild cold front will do for you. We got underway at 0730 with the tide 1.5 hours before high. The river looked much wider with the water about 8 feet higher than when we came in, but I remembered all those rocks jutting out from the shore and stayed near the center.

While the forecast was for the winds to build later in the day, we enjoyed very calm conditions and essentially no wave action as we headed S. It was less than an hour into the 4.4 hour run that we hit dense fog and the visibility went quickly down to 100 yards, and at some points 100 feet. When we got to areas with numerous lobster buoys, it was challenging to dodge them, all the while watching the RADAR for signs of other boats. There were a number of lobstermen out there working, but we stayed clear of them all by a safe margin.

It was very disappointing to be traveling up the famous Eggemoggin Reach when you could not see anything but fog. It was there, however, that within 30 minutes we had close encounters with 3 other pleasure boats and not so close encounters with 2 lobster boats. Despite the RADAR, we got within 200 feet of a head-on meeting of 2 cruising boats moving closely in tandem. I saw them first visually and turned sharply to starboard and managed not to snag a buoy. It wasn't as scary as it sounds because we were all traveling slowly enough.

We had to pick our way into Buck's Harbor where the visibility improved a bit. We had no cell service and the wrong VHF channel listed in our guide, so I could not hail them with our arrival. The dock was open, so a staff member directed us to a nearby buoy and we tied up. It was noon and we were relieved to be there safely and we were hungry.

I pan-toasted some good bread and heated the lobster meat in butter for the "roll" while Diane made a quick salad. It was a scrumptious meal. Then I lowered the dinghy and went ashore to pay. I got a glimpse at the Buck's Restaurant menu and decided that Diane might need to check this out before we committed. The marina also sells love lobster (currently $8.99 per pound and you have to cook them yourself).

I had come ashore with all the gear to buzz my head and trim my beard and that went well. I decided to try one of the famous outdoor showers and had great water pressure and temperatures. Back on Diva Di, I was able to log into Wi-Fi from the marina and showed Diane the restaurant menu. There was nothing that appealed to her, and we had just had fresh lobster for lunch, so buying some to cook wasn't appealing, either. We pulled out some lasagna from the freezer.

We read and relaxed for a bit and then we took Clyde for an excursion around the harbor, stopping at a gravely beach. He was pretty interested in the walk, but wanted to go into the woods more than stay on the beach, so we had to keep herding him. After a fairly long time on shore, we headed back and all took a short nap.

By 1600, we went ashore to see what the little town of Brooksville offered. Unless we missed something, it was the smallest town we have ever seen. Other than a church, a small market, a fancy restaurant, and one or two shops of some kind that were not open, we saw nothing else. It was nice to stretch our legs and after a while we headed back to the marina to sit on the deck overlooking the harbor as the sun was low in the sky.

Back onboard, we fired up the generator and used the microwave to heat the lasagna. It was not the best after being frozen for a few months, but it was tasty enough. We did more reading with the breeze blowing and the air cooling down even more to the point that even I was chilly. It is getting dark lot earlier now and our sleep cycles are being affected.

Tomorrow, we plan to make a very short hop up to Castine and check that out for a day. The weather is somewhat unsettled for the next week, with some rain in the forecast for most of the days, but we'll hope for the best.