Roque Island, Maine

 Location:  Roque Island, Maine (12-Sept-2012)

We spent the last two nights anchored up in The Cow’s Yard, a small harbor between Head Harbor Island and Steele Harbor Island, near Great Wass Island and south of Jonesport.   There were several recommended anchorages amongst these islands so we tried the Mud Hole first, but it was too close to low tide and the entrance was too shallow for us to get inside.  Then we motored over near Knight and Mistake Islands but there was a sailboat anchored in there so we decided to let them have the anchorage to themselves and turned towards the Cow’s Yard.  There was nobody in the anchorage when we arrived so we had the place to ourselves for the night.  This area of Maine is called the Bold Coast and is truly “Down East”.   Another powerboat came into the anchorage early yesterday evening and a sail boat came in after dark.  You’ll get a good idea of how many islands and how much coast line Maine has by looking at a map of this area and the Maine coast.  Someone told us there were 3500 miles of coastline in Maine if you count the islands.  I've included a link to Google Maps here; search for Roque Island and/or Great Wass Island.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en

Great Wass Island, Maine

There is very little boating activity amongst these islands, with the exception of the lobstermen and women working the area and there are plenty of lobster buoys.  We did happen to catch some buoys on the way in, a pair on the starboard stabilizer and a single on the port stabilizer.  In order to get them off, Dave went for a swim the next morning.  As you can imagine, the water is not very warm up here so he was a little chilled by the time he got out.  We have a mask and fins on board, but no wet (or dry) suit, so that is now on our shopping list.  Somehow the list keeps getting longer and longer.  We did read one article that recommended putting things on the list and after they showed up on the list three times, then it was ok to buy.  Otherwise you end up with lots of stuff on the boat that you don’t use and have to stow.  

Weasel's Lunch Table

After Dave’s swim, we had nice hot soup for lunch and then went exploring with the dinghy during low tide and took it up on a rocky beach on Steele Harbor Island.We hiked around through the woods on the island and along the shore.While on the island, we saw a weasel and we saw a few deer from the boat.The picture here of the “weasel’s lunch table” shows a mound of moss with remnants of crabs, clams and mussels. 

 



Razorbills near Steele Head Island



We have been seeing lots of wildlife including seals, dolphins, birds like seagulls, loons, gannets, and a new one for us, razorbills, a member of the auk family. We have a US East Coast bird book on board as well as a Sea Mammal book, so we have been enjoying trying to identify the different species. If you look really close at this picture, you can see the razorbills.

 

This morning we moved over to Roque Island and spent the afternoon walking along the beach.  On the way here, we had a bald eagle hovering over a fish right off the bow, saw two in the trees coming out the north side of Eastern Bay and then saw two more in the trees when we arrived here.  Once again, we are the only boat anchored here, so it is very quiet and peaceful.  We saw deer tracks on the beach, so will watch from the boat around sundown to see if we can see anything.

Since the last post (from Rockland) we have been quite a few places.  From Rockland, we moved over to Pulpit Harbor, named because of the rock located at the entrance to the harbor.   The wind was fixing to blow and the rain was on the way in so we anchored up and stayed for two nights.  We arrived there early in the afternoon and watched while several other boats, including a large windjammer, came into the harbor and anchored or picked up a mooring for the night.  We did a few chores like checking the seawater strainers and some cleaning while waiting for the weather to pass.  This is a picture of the rock at the entrance to Pulpit Harbor with a windjammer crossing behind it.

Pulpit Harbor Entrance with Windjammer

From Pulpit Harbor we moved further north to Belfast.  Some friends recommended Belfast as a funky/fun place to stop and wander around.   We anchored just outside town and took the dinghy in to explore.  The town is very welcoming with a public dock and easy walking to all the amenities.  We wandered around some of the shops, including our favorite, the hardware store, had a beer near the dock and then went back out to the boat to bring in our laundry.   After laundry we stopped at the local Thai restaurant and had dinner and went back out of the boat for the night.  The next day, Friday, was a farm festival along the main street, so we brought in our shopping bags and picked up fresh veggies and some homemade baked goods.  The farmer’s market is the first Friday of every month and they had some good quality products so our timing was right to be in town.   We left Belfast on Saturday morning and headed east towards Blue Hill through Eggemoggin Reach.  We motored into Blue Hill Harbor but there was no obvious room to anchor, so we motored back out and anchored in Morgan Bay for the night.  It was foggy when we left the next morning and as the fog opened up, we saw about 15 sailboats in a race headed in generally the same direction we were headed.  With the wind behind them, they were faster than us so we got out of their way and then headed for the Bartlett narrows on the west side of Mount Desert Island.  This was a nice passage to cruise through, very high granite hills and several small harbors.  Our plan was to go into Bass Harbor for the night to wait out the north wind and the southeast swells.  When we got near Bass Harbor, we decided the available anchorages were too exposed to the swell, so we continued to Northeast Harbor and picked up a mooring for two nights. 

Northeast Harbor Sunset

This is a well-protected harbor with a nice town dock, showers and restaurants and groceries within walking distance.  The weather cleared on Tuesday morning, so we headed out of NE Harbor and cruised up Sommes Sound.  The guide books rave about how picturesque Sommes Sound is and how it is just like the Norwegian Fjords.  It was pretty and interesting but not as nice as the books made it out to be and we didn’t think it was comparable to Norway.

I think the last blog left off with us in Boothbay Harbor visiting friends Brian and Kathy, so I’ll just do some final catching up from there.  We had a great time.  Both Brian and Kathy had Friday off, so we went out in their boat and cruised amongst the small harbors in the Boothbay area.  We had lunch at Oliver’s in Cozy Harbor and then motored up the Sheepscot River and around McMahon Island to Robinhood Marina.  This is a picture of somebody’s “pirate ship” in Cozy Harbor.

"Pirate" ship, Cozy Harbor

Every Friday afternoon at Robinhood Marina, they have a small jazz band playing near the waterfront, so we had happy hour cocktails and snacks and listened to the music.  This is a very quiet, laid back place in a beautiful setting.  From there, we went around Southport, down Boothbay Harbor and back over to Brian and Kathy’s place on Linekin Bay.  Kathy and I went to the grocery store and got marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers while Brian and Dave gathered firewood for the fire pit.  The neighbors, Jane and Leo came down to join us and we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.  This really reminded me of my dad.  He loved campfires and while RVing would spend afternoons gathering wood.  His last few days in the hospital, he talked about wanting to build a campfire and wanted to make sure that Mom and I had everything set-up so that we could have one. 

Saturday and Sunday Dave and I borrowed Brian’s truck and went into town to get supplies and groceries.  Kathy met us for lunch on Saturday and then we went for a hike in the woods near Damariscotta.  Kathy swam out to the boat from their dock and Dave jumped in the water with her.

Dave and Kathy swimming, Linekin Bay, Maine

 

Sunday we met Brian at the yacht club where he was helping them out with the launch.  He took us out in the yacht club mooring field for some boat handling lessons and let me practice my docking skills.  Brian is a marine surveyor and had just finished a survey of a lobster boat turned racer when we arrived.  If you are ever in the Boothbay area or know someone who needs a marine survey there, please look Brian up at Brailsford Marine Surveying.  He has a site on Facebook, so if you have a chance, please “Like” his site.  

From Boothbay, we went out to Sequin Island and picked up a mooring for the night.  It was a little choppy out there but it settled down in the morning so we went ashore and hiked around the island.  Sequin Island has volunteer lighthouse keepers every summer.  The keepers this year were Bo and Beverly from North Carolina.  Beverly’s father was an assistant keeper when she was a young girl.  The next afternoon we went up into Pemaquid Harbor and stayed for two days.  Our insurance broker, Spencer and his wife, Laura have a “cottage” there so we stopped in for a visit and then cruised up to Rockland.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned maintenance this whole blog so for those of you who are interested... While we were in Rockland, we worked on the stabilizer system.  The plan was to change out the hydraulic fluid, repair a couple of leaks and replace the level gauge.  When Dave disassembled the unit, we discovered that there was a pinhole leak in the heat exchanger.  In order to disable the system, Dave removed the center belt on the main engine that drives the Vickers hydraulic pump.  Then we had to isolate the salt water supply and discharge to the system.  We did some research and have a replacement heat exchanger on order, scheduled to arrive at Pa’s house sometime this week.  We’ll pick it up when we head back south and then finish the repairs.  We have also passed 1600 hours on the main engine, so need to do some routine maintenance on it.  We’ve also changed out the shower heads to a more “low-flow” model to conserve water and have started insulating the hot water lines.  We’ve decided we’ll stay here one more night in order to do a few things:  test out the passive stabilizers (flopper-stoppers) as we’ve never tried to deploy them and this is a nice quiet place to do it and organize the lazzarette (the storage area near the engine room).  It is blivetized (has too much stuff and is not well organized) so we need to spend some time getting it in working order. 

Since writing the blog above, we have moved again and are now in Southwest Harbor, using the internet at the public library.  More on that in the next post.