The adventure continues with more sailing! We woke up at 8 am to sunny skies and a southerly breeze and pulled up anchor right away to make for Mount Desert Island. I texted Steph so we could wave as we left Blue Hill. It was a perfect morning with a cool breeze, clear visibility, and still not another cruising boat in sight. At this point, we are trying to figure out if it’s the pandemic or just a quiet spot on a weekday in Maine.
We are going back down south but took the eastern shore of Blue Hill this time and had to sail up wind past many small islands all with cute Mainer names: Tinker, Hardwood, Moose, and Bartlett and another Long Island. Keeping an eye out for lobster pots is a constant task and no one was exagrtstting when they say it looks like you could walk across the water on them. They are everywhere and very colorful but could also ruin our day if we snag one. We tapped a few and as you hear it bob under the boat you just hold your breathe it pops out on the other side.
We passed through the Bass Harbor Bar which is a dredged pass over a sandbar to head for the entrance to Mount Desert’s largest harbor. We passed by the Cranberry Islands then the Southwest and Northeast Harbors. Then we turned north into Somes Sound – the only fjord in North America.
This had to be one of the best sails of my life, we were cursing downwind at 6.5 knots with mountains on either side of us. (Yes – they are East Coast “mountains” which constitutes a hill anywhere else in the world but still…)
We cruised the 3 miles up the sound all the way to Somes Harbor where we dropped anchor next to a navy blue beautiful 78’ Swan named Aquila. (So we had pretty neighbors who looked a lot like our friends onboard Nai’a 🙂 )
I never thought we’d go swimming while in Maine but it was hot after that downwind sail so a plunge into 64°F didn’t seem so bad. And it wasn’t. Brandon joined me and we took a few minutes to clean the bottom of the dingy which had acquired a few barnacles this summer and was no longer planing when we tootled around.
After some boat showers, we fixed ourselves a cocktail-to-go and hopped in the dinghy to explore. Around the corner was a campground (part of Arcadia National Park) with many pitched tents on decks with lavish setups (its this what they call clamping?) but also a swimming area, dock, and great views. Tucked around every corner was another summer home with a dock and many of those docks had people dipping their toes or swimming. So it is nice to see so many people enjoying summer admist everything going on.
Speaking of that… I just want to mentioned that at this time. Maine still has a mandatory 14-day quarantine for Rhode Islanders unless you get a Covid test. Brandon and I didn’t want to risk it and because getting tested is so easy in RI, we opted to get them done just before the wedding. So we have the results in hand in case anyone ever asks. However, we are anchoring everywhere and keeping to ourselves so we haven’t even had to don a face mask in 5 days which is nice.
A few people told us to check out “the restaurant” up Somes but it turns out 1) its called Abels (no one could remember the name) and 2) only open Thur-Sun. We still went over there and we happened to notice a boat from JBY on the dock there. So we said hello. Turns out they were actually leaving the day we were getting married and saw us doing photos.
We headed back to the boat for dinner and relaxing watching another gorgeous sunset with a plan to wake up early for the next day’s adventures that would include a hike, a fuel/water stop, and then a big sail uppwind.
Food:
- Breakfast: Egg Sammies on English Muffins with Cheddar Cheese
- Lunch: Leftover Chicken Stir-fry in Wraps (so good!)
- Dinner: Tri-Tip steak and corn on the grill with wild rice