Our position is: 44:05.204N 68:48.689W

We left Castine fairly early on Thursday to take advantage of the northerly wind which was forecast to go round to the south later. In fact there was never enough wind from any direction to do more than motorsail, although there was some excitement as we caught a very brief glimpse of a seal as we were leaving Castine Harbour and later some porpoises as we threaded our way between the islands, heading for Vinalhaven Island.

A little over 5 hours after our departure and we were feeling our way through the rocky entrance to Seal Bay, however we didn’t see any seals. Our anchorage between Hay and Burnt Islands was completely sheltered and very peaceful. There were only a few other boats in the bay and it was surprisingly lobster pot free.

The following morning it was foggy. When it was clear at the anchorage – around 11am – we set off to sail to Matinicus Island. This is the only off lying island with a year round population and has a very close knit community, so I thought it would be interesting to see at firsthand how they dealt with the difficulties attached to that sort of life. However when we arrived at the entrance there was still thick fog out to sea and we could barely see the many pot buoys that had arrived since the day before. We decided discretion was the better part of valour and retraced our steps a short way to anchor behind the Hen Islands (in bright sunshine) and wait for it to clear at sea. The fog came and went while we had some lunch and by 3pm it was clear enough for us to set sail but by then there was not enough time for us to get anywhere with good shelter before it got dark, and there was a strong wind and storm forecast for later on Saturday. After some discussion and consideration of possible destinations we went back into the bay and re-anchored in our previous spot.

This proved to be a good decision as the next morning was also foggy. Later that day quite a few boats joined us in the anchorage, seeking shelter from the forecast bad weather. Margaret, from a J120 anchored next to us, stopped on her row round the bay (for exercise) to invite us over for tea later, so I made some Betty Crocker brownies to take over. Margaret and her husband Lloyd live in Brunswick in Casco Bay and were on a fortnight’s holiday cruise. Some interesting discussion ensued as well as the opportunity to see below yet another design. They said they had never seen so many boats in the anchorage as that day, so we knew we were in for bad weather.

Safely back on board Moorglade we battened down for the promised storms, which duly materialised around midnight with torrential rain and howling winds. The result at least was that the next morning there was no sign of fog and we were able to get going early. Seals were waiting for us at the entrance but they let us pass uneventfully.

Approaching Seal Bay                                                                                    Turning Rock on our way to our chosewn anchorage

At anchor celebrating Kay's birthday                                                           But there's always a blog to be written

Views from our anchorage

Waiting for the fog to clear out to sea

With Margaret and Lloyd aboard their J120.