43:45.6N 70:00.2W

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday – 8^th ,9^th &  10^th September

The weather for the next week looked very unhelpful for our plan to get south, but along with Balvenie we decided to make a break from Round Pond which was a really nice spot, to Harpswell Sound that would make a good jumping off point for the next leg of our travels and provide us with good all round protection from the series of lows that were due to sweep over the region.

We set off around 0830 hours and motored for the first couple of hours that took us past Boothbay Harbor where the wind began to pick up as forecast. We then had a great sail for the next few hours as the wind gradually increased and the seas began to get a good deal more grumpy. We had to reef the sails at this stage as we were now enjoying 25 plus knots of wind, but still making great progress, but finally we had to round one last headland and we left with 10 miles close hauled, beating into what was now gusting up to 34 knots. This is all fine and very manageable except out in Maine where the white horses and building waves make the spotting of our old friends, the ever-present lobster pot buoys very tricky indeed. Our solution is for me to helm the entire time as Sarah cannot stand on her little ‘pot spotting’ stool and steer round the b’stards when the boat is healed over and taking waves over the coach roof!  We managed to make the first 8 miles almost able to make the bearing we needed, but of the final leg where we had to turn dead into the wind, we dropped the sails and motored up into the entrance to the sound.  Balvenie were a few miles behind us and found they could not make the bearing at all and were now experiencing nearly 40 knots across the decks, so they too were now using the ‘iron topsail’.

The lobster buoys here in Harpswell are rather different as they all have a short stick on top which does make it easier to spot them all, although it can be even more intimidating as you approach areas that are so thick that you despair as to ever finding a way through, but it is always OK if you take things carefully and stay light on your toes! (Famous last words….?).

We made our way up the sound to a big bay which provides superb protection from both the north westerlies and south westerlies that we were expecting and as a twin bonus the bay was almost completely empty of boats and even more exciting – pots buoys. Not quite sure why this one bay should have absolutely no lobsters in it, but probably best not to ask.

Monday and Tuesday were spent emailing friends and family about our big change in plans and then dealing with the flood of responses which were all very heart warming and supportive which has been a big boost so our self-esteem and morale. (We will post a separate blog after this to explain this change.)  On Monday evening we rode over to the eastern shore (Orrs Island) and left the dinghy at the Orrs-Bailey Yacht Club and then walked over the wonderful idiosyncratic and unique cribstone bridge to Bailey Island where we had a great lobster supper at Morse’s Cribstone Grill. This is a must visit spot and the staff and food at this little bar and restaurant were fantastic and the best value anywhere in Maine (read cheapest).

The Cribstone bridge was built in 1927 with 10,000 tons of split Maine granite laid in an open cribwork (granite slabs with sort of legs stacked up) held in place only by gravity.  The graceful span is engineered to allow the free flow of tidal currents and to withstand the corrosive effects of salt and the abrasion of ice. It is the only bridge of this type in the world and is a registered historic landmark in the USA. There was one other that was the inspiration for this, but that was in Scotland and was destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War. (More info and pictures if you Google Bailey Island Bridge)

On Tuesday afternoon we decided that we needed to replenish our water tanks and take on some fuel, so as the weather was pretty still we motored round to Dolphin Marina in Pott’s Harbor by way of Pott’s Point which is a very narrow and VERY shallow twisting break in the granite outcrops. Despite phoning ahead asking for fuel and water, our arrival at this near empty floating dock was something of an unwelcome surprise it seemed. Sarah had to wander around for a while before she found someone in the restaurant who was prepared to help. He semi-reluctantly agreed to come and turn on the fuel pump but said that the island’s well was pretty dry and that he was not too keen to let us have water! This is something they might have mentioned several hours earlier when we called. So we helped ourselves to 20 gallons of diesel and then once more begged him to let us have some water at least and he finally turned on the system and pumps and we were able to get a reasonable fill in the end. We do have a watermaker on board but this cannot really function in the bays in Maine as the general levels of plankton etc  in suspension in the water here simply clogs the filters almost immediately.

We made our way back to the big bay again and went over to Balvenie for a pizza dinner and a game of Mexican Train – something they had not done since they were in Thailand. Balvenie are currently in the 10^th year of their circumnavigation with possibly just two years to go before they reach home again in NZ. They are of course full of beans as Team NZ seem to be in full control now of the current America’s Cup series and we are the only folks around who they can tell it all to.

Looks like we will be here until Friday now, when with luck the winds should swing round to the north and help us on our way in a few hops to Cape Cod.