44:17.28N 68:18.86W

Sunday & Monday 12^th & 13^th August

On Sunday morning I had to press the handheld GPS from the grab bag into service so I could take the dinghy ashore at 0700 hours to pick up Seth who was coming to cast an expert eye over canvas dodger that we feel needs replacing. Super dense fog meant that without the GPS device I would never have found the dock and certainly would never have found my way back out in minimal visibility.

Seth was very helpful, but managed unwittingly perhaps, to talk himself out of a job as he was also of the opinion that we need a new dodger and he simply is unable to do this in the time frame we have – though Lord knows he tried to find ways! But he gave us loads of advice about the job and recommended the company that we had already been in touch with in Annapolis. I then took Seth to Il Sogno who also had need of his services.

Around 0940 hours Il Sogno and ourselves, set off into the rapidly improving foggy conditions heading for the Eggimoggen Reach, but within only a mile or two, the fog closed right back in and we motored carefully close together picking our way through the invisible (but very verbal) traffic around us. It was not unlike a good old fashioned traffic jam in Italy in terms of horns sounding and before long one becomes a bit immune to the cacophony of blasts from all around. The Americans are keen to use the radio and sometimes this can be very helpful, such as when  a boat announces where it is and its course. Less helpful is when they declare their position using local place names and omit to say where they are headed. Sarah particularly enjoyed one exchange recently when someone asked what the visibility was out there and the reply was three boat lengths – there was a short pause then the first chap thanked him for the information and suggested that this might be more useful information if we had any idea of how long his boat was!!

They say that Maine is beautiful and that light is an artist’s dream, but since we have been here, we have seen almost nothing other than nice looking islands peering out of the murky mists. We reached the Eggimoggen Reach in good time and opted to head down this lovely stretch to Torrey island. The reach earned its name as it is the most wonderful place to sail as the wind is always over the beam, so a perfect reach – except of course today, when it opted to blow at 12 knots directly towards us, so we continued to motor to the end where we dropped anchor in a delightful spot (the fog had cleared) surrounded by islands and almost no signs of civilisation anywhere. No phone signal of any type, but wonderful wifi from somewhere!

On Monday morning we woke to fog of course but we had planned for this today and Craig and Karene kindly picked us up in their rib and we set off to Center Harbor (Spellchecker does not enjoy American spellings too much!!) and as we made our way slowly in, across a mirror smooth bay, we were treated to what must rate as a wooden boat Nivarna. The mooring field here is uniquely populated by the most wonderful array of classic wooden yachts of all shapes and sizes. There is absolutely no doubting that they have the most wonderful eye hereabouts for beautiful lines and form and the USA is certainly home to some of the world’s most elegant yachts. Center Harbor is also known as Brooklin and it is home to Brooklin Boatbuilders who are a specialist wooden boatbuilding company (one of many hereabouts).   We went ashore at their dock to see if we could have a look around and were warmly greeted on arrival and told that we were very welcome to go anywhere we liked without restriction in the yard and sheds. Each member of the company that we met, took time to talk us through what was going on and told us all about the boats that they were currently restoring. It was fascinating and so strange to be given total access to the place without regard to H & S and all that guff. There was a beautiful small English  yacht that was some 80 years old and was ready to be launched following a near complete refit. No regard had been given to cost and so the boat with a local value of perhaps $30,000 had just had $130,000 spent on it. Alongside it was a 70ft yacht that was only built in 1990, but that was in for a total refit which meant that it had been completely gutted with every single item being replaced. The instruction to the yard was that she was to be finished by April next year and was to be rebuilt so as to be exactly as if brand new.

Full of all this we then took the dinghy round to the Wooden Boatbuilding School in a nearby cove. This was rather less of an experience as we were not allowed in during ‘classes’. We were a little underwhelmed by what we saw and presume that these were holiday classes as the average age of the students was some 40 years more than I had expected.

We returned to our yachts at anchor and with the fog clearing quickly, we headed off at 1050 hours heading today for Mount Desert island, which is an island, but has neither a mountain or a desert of course. Virtually no wind again and when we did get chances to sail it always seemed to coincide with narrow gaps (or a hewn channel of 14’ through the granite) in the rocks or islands, or in one case we met a huge regatta heading up a narrow passage between islands as we headed down with a thick fog bank rolling rapidly in behind us.

Finally we arrived at Soames Sound which is talked up in the pilot books as a beautiful fjord and we were very fortunate that the fog finally vanished and a beautiful clear blue sky opened up as we made our way down the sound. It is very pretty indeed, with yet again stunning houses alongside, and is similar in many ways to parts of Scotland, but we all agreed that the tourist books may have slightly over egged this place.

We retraced our steps back down the sound and dropped anchor in a big bay near the entrance, close to SW Harbor and would have sat back to enjoy the view, but we had guests for dinner…..