Great Cranberry Island, Maine

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 28 Jul 2013 13:16

44:15.6N 68:15.9W

 

Friday & Saturday – 26th & 27th July

 

What a difference a day makes!

 

Friday was a dreadful day as it rained all day alternating between very heavy and heavy.

 

We went into town on the Yacht Club’s launch service and whilst Sarah indulged in some gently retail therapy, James and I wandered aimlessly and took our time in a nice coffee shop. We did however go aboard the Grace Bailey which is a lovely old windjammer based in Camden, where we met up with a distant relative of Sarah’s. (Her cousin’s cousin).

 

In the afternoon we tidied Serafina up and prepared things for entertaining Sid and Rebecca from Dovka for dinner. At 1700 pm, Erica and Chris from Patronus came over for a cup of tea and we heard about their one year out, cruising with their three kids. (www.conwaysailors.com) but this chat ended with the arrival of Sid and Rebecca as arranged at 1730 hours. The rain did ease up at this point which made lighting the Cobb BBQ a bit easier!

 

Saturday dawned sunny and dry with a light breeze from the WSW, so with 40 miles to cover today, we headed off at 0820 hours and we soon flying along with Flossie performing really well again.

 

The route from Camden to Great Cranberry island is very tortuous as it winds through countless islands and rocks with the ever present fields of lobster buoys. James – who has barely let go of the wheel since arriving 10 days ago, is now a dab hand at weaving through these impossibly closely packed obstacles as we are flying along at speeds that again reached 8.9 knots at one stage. The leg down the Eggemoggin Reach was a disappointing downwind run which was a shame, but we did divert briefly into Brookyn Harbor to look at some of the beautiful yachts moored there.

 

As soon as we cleared the Reach though, the wind filled in again and we had ripping sail over to Great Cranberry Island passing several yachts along the way before we had to put Flossie away and use the smaller foresail as the wind was now in excess of Flossie’s design limits!  Then as we were sailing up between Mount Desert Island and Great Cranberry Island, James telephoned his friend (Jamie) who helpfully talked us into the anchorage and we picked up a mooring belonging to a friend of his.

 

Jamie then came out in his launch and picked us up and took us ashore to his wonderful house overlooking the bay. Here we mounted bicycles and he gave us a tour of the island. The additional excitement today was that they were holding the annual Ultra Marathon event which is a 50k running race which attracts athletes from all over the USA. Of course by the time we were there, the event had been going for five and half hours, but still there were 90 runners out on the course! Being a tiny island the runners had to complete 16 laps up and down the only road round.  The women’s winner was a friend of Jamie’s who eventually joined us for dinner with her running mate who came 2nd in the men’s – they had had to hang around for the presentation in the cooling evening and the massing mosquitos.

 

Cranberry Island was renowned for its Cranberries and mosquitoes, but in the 1920’s they carried out an extensive program of drainage and sadly the mosquitoes came back but the cranberries didn’t! Sarah ventured down to the shoreline later to catch the sunset and returned with tales of huge mosquitoes – not for nothing has it been suggested that they should be declared the state bird of Maine.  The winter population on the island is around 25 and this climbs in the summer months to 240, but there are few cars (no ferry!) and to do their food shopping, Jamie and his family have to take their launch across to the mainland.

 

We cycled back to the house and after having some very welcome showers, we were given a wonderful supper and eventually, Jamie ran us back out to Serafina in the launch.