Fall Cruising in Maine
21 September 2014 | Pleasant Bay, Damariscotta River, Maine
Windy, wet, cold
Other than the weather, all is well. Here's a summary to date:
Sept 16th: We arrived at the boatyard to find Estelle tied up at the dock, waiting for us. After a quick dinner, we started unloading, and finally dropping off with the boat still in a minor state of chaos.
Sept 17th: Stocking and packing continued through the day, and by days end we were coming close.
Sept 18th: This morning we finally finished our stocking and packing. Of course our good intentions of documenting where everything is stored were long abandoned, and by days end, we were muttering "Where did you put.....?".
By mid-morning we had taken the car to Haynes Garage for storage and at 11:30 am we were finally off down the Somes Sound and underway, destination, somewhere south, keeping ahead of the cooling weather.
With a light headwind, we just motor-sailed through the afternoon. We headed out Great Harbor on Mt Desert Island, across the bottom of Blue Hill Bay, through Casco Passage, across Jericho Bat, through Deer Island Thorofare, across East Penobscott Bay and into Fox Island Thorofare. Here we glided into Perry Creek where we picked up a vacant mooring.
Sept 19th: We spent a cold night with strong north winds screaming through the rigging. But in the excellent protection and with the excellent Espar heater, all was comfy and quiet below.
Today we got underway early to take advantage of the remains of the north winds. Although cold, the breeze gave us an excellent days sailing, taking us across Penobscott Bay, Muscongous Bay and down the Thread of Life into Christmas Cove for the night.
Ashore for a walk, dinner in the Coveside Restaurant (excellent Caprice salad and grilled swordfish) and back aboard for the night. Weather forecast not helpful.
Sept 20th: We woke to a cold S-W wind, blowing straight in the entrance to the cove. Rather than face the prospect of bashing to windward into 20-25 kt winds, we elected to run up the Damariscotta River, wind at our back to the village of Damariscotta.
Here we wandered the main street, glanced in a few shops, found an excellent market and had lunch. Back aboard, we motored down against the still strong southerly winds and anchored in the shelter of Pleasant Bay.
Sept 21st: From here plans are, as usual, weather dependent. Looks like we will not be making any major progress for a few days, waiting for the winds to abate and shift to a more favorable direction, probably a few days. So today, a short hop to Boothbay Harbor area.