Day 177 - Sun 20 Sep 2015
Anchored – Cliff Island (Casco Bay), ME

[photo: a tiny island at the mouth of the harbor at South Freeport]

The wind blew a bit last night and there was some spotty rain. It felt a bit cool with the NNW wind after the frontal passage when we got underway at 0800. The first 15 minutes were tranquil, but as we left the protection of the high hills to our N and headed down Casco Bay, the whitecaps built quickly with the wind blowing almost 20 kts. It was all at our back, so other than the ocean swell pitching us up and down a bit, the waves were comfortable.

I may still be wearing shorts every day, but I had a foul weather jacket on to combat the cool wind. I would not have wanted to be traveling far in any other direction today. We tucked in between Cliff and Jewel Islands and could see that Cocktail Cove on Jewel was full and not that protected from the NNW to NE winds expected today and tonight. I continued to the S side of Cliff Island where the charts indicated it should be a great spot.

It was, but like so many places in Maine, all the best spots for anchoring are already taken up by private moorings. In this case, a few had no large boats on them, but they did have small, working skiffs. That implied to me they were likely for lobster boats out working. We backtracked a few hundred yards past the last mooring and set the anchor in 16 feet near low tide. I adjusted the amount of anchor rode for the 9 foot tidal rise we expected and we settled in.

We had no intention of getting off the boat and were just going to relax and enjoy the rest of the day in relative quiet. There are so few boats here that we didn’t expect much activity, noise, or wakes, and we were right. The harbor was fairly tranquil, but we could see the tops of the trees on the low hill were moving noticeably in the strong breeze. We felt a few really strong gusts, too, and were glad for the spot we chose.

One of our activities was to strategize options for cleaning the boat, packing up what we need to take off the boat, the minor repairs needed, winterizing the boat systems, and the logistics of our life aboard for however long that takes. Circumstances conspired to delay our important conversation with the yard manager where this will all take place, so all of our questions must wait until (hopefully no later than) tomorrow. It was fine to make contingency plans and discuss options, but not all that helpful until we know exactly what we can, cannot, and must do.

We both had engaging books to finish today so it was supper time before long. Outside showers preceded that and despite the gorgeous blue skies and warm sun of the afternoon, the wind made our wet bodies quite cool. Diane retreated to the warm cabin while I dried off in the breeze on the flybridge with the last 20 pages of my book.

Supper was half of the pasta with sausage and veggie, plus fresh broccoli. We are still eating well, but using up the last of our perishable food rather quickly. It got dark quickly and the stars were bright despite the waxing quarter moon.

Tomorrow, we should have good weather for the 4 hour run to Kennebunkport.