Position           44:20.17N 068:43.92W

Date                2000 – Friday 15 July 2011 (UTC -4)

What seems to have become our usual ‘prompt’ start at just after midday allowed time for some wind to appear.  We are having another short session of high pressure which whilst giving warmth and clear skies does involve not much wind.  The decision as to exactly where to go was left until we could see to where we could most easily sail.  Ideally we wished to head due north to the top of the Eggemoggin Reach and surprisingly that is precisely what we were able to do for most of the 16nm to Bucks Harbor which lies at the north of the Eggemoggin Reach and to the east at the entrance to Penobscot Bay.

Bucks Harbor hides behind an island in a 270 ° bay and so is hidden until you are almost entering it.  The Pilot describes it as a busy yachting centre filled with moorings but there is still room to anchor to the east and west of the mooring field.  We slowly picked our way around the bight and at the eastern end found a very large unoccupied area and anchored at the edge.  We subsequently found that the area is left for visiting charter schooners, there had to be a reason; fortunately none where due, but possession is 9/10ths of the right and all that.

View over the mooring field from the Bucks Harbor Yacht Club

Looking around we were admiring a smart Nordic Tug, planning for the next stage of our retirement already and realised that there was an OCC flag on the bow and then saw a figure at the stern waving her arms – another OCC member.  It turned out to be Mary Hallman-Lee on her and her husband Peter’s ‘Annie B’.  Even more of a coincidence, she then flew an Amel flag, her previous boat had been an Amel Super Maramu 2000, the previous model to ours.  When we went over to say hello we received an invite to drinks with Dick and Suzi Guckel on their Monk 36 motor cruiser ‘Cerca Trova’ (Seek and ye shall find).  Dick is an OCC institution and produces the monthly email newsletter.

First however necessities.  It is now 11 days since we were able to get rid of garbage; whilst it was well secured the removal of this toxic and hazardous waste was getting to the stage of being a humanitarian requirement.  The Buck Harbor Yacht Club kindly obliged with the use of their dumpster.

Going ashore we passed the pretty New England Church

and found an excellent store and deli purchasing bread for collection on Saturday morning and a bottle of wine to take to Dick and Suzi’s.  These were our first shop purchases for eleven days – must be a record.  It certainly is a testament to the Mate’s provisioning skills.

After a short therapy walk we returned to ‘Cerca Trova’ and had a very jolly couple of hours in the company of Dick and Suzi and Mary and Peter and of course the Maine Coon skipper of the boat, Oliver.

Here seen with his crew and attendant Suzi.  Both Annie B and Cerca Trova are kept in Buck’s Harbor although their respective owners actually when not aboard live in Kansas and Texas respectively.  This was another chance meeting which is one of the great pleasures of long-term cruising.