44.34.650N   067.31.044W

42.6 Miles Logged

Wednesday we woke early with the sun streaming in. The forecast was for Northerly winds so we extracted the anchor ( with difficulty ! ) and set off back down Somes Sound and headed east past Schoodic Point which is a local “Ardnamurchan”. Although only a few miles east of Mount Desert Island there are fewer boats and facilities and you do not see day sailers and small power boats.

Once again despite the forecast the wind was light SW so we motor sailed east ; the tide was wrong for Mud Hole anchorage so we carried on to Roque Island. We slipped though the Thorofare into a lovely bay with a mile long beach and protected by a line of islands to the South.

We anchored off the beach with 8 other yachts including the Fife “Sumurun”, a 70’ Frers Ketch and a 60ft Aage Neilson Sloop.

“Sumurun” drifts out of the bay

A quiet night and we decided to stay for the day and explore the beach and some of the small bays within the big bay.

This is as far North and East we will travel on the coast of Maine and now we will turn and visit some more anchorages to the South. We have had superb weather throughout July and while it would have been interesting to head further north we know the weather in Newfoundland has been bad!

Friday – jumped out of the bunk to the alarm clock at 0500 to a bright morning. By the time the kettle had boiled the fog started to drift in and by 0530 you could just see the bow of Moonbeam so there was no point in leaving just yet!

By 1000hrs the fog had cleared so we set off but after an hour the fog just got thicker and visibility was down to 100metres so we headed into Head Harbor and anchored in the Cow Yard!

A really remote spot with one cottage and some summer shacks as well as the inevitable lobster pots. In the anchorage the sun was out but we could see the fog on the coast and at 1300hrs we lifted anchor and headed out and within half an hour we had reasonable visibility but we headed offshore to get away from pot markers and improve the angle for a sail. Eventually we were able to have a glorious beat back towards Mount Desert and although the wind abandoned us for the last hour we picked up a mooring in Seal Harbour about 1900, amongst the Rockefellers fleet of yachts!