Seal Bay, Vinalhaven, Maine

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 11 Aug 2013 01:59

44:05.3N 68:48.5W

 

Thursday & Friday – 8th & 9th August

 

Thursday started grey and wet with very little wind and so we made a slow start as we only had 22 miles to cover.

 

We got under way around 1000 hours and after a short motor through some very picturesque islands, we sailed the rest of the way generally at 7 knots with occasional bursts of 8 knots. James again could not be wrested from the helm as we sailed through more islands and then across the more open waters to the Island of Vinalhaven.

 

The wind dropped pretty much on cue as we approached the island and so we put the sails away and threaded our way carefully past the rocks and islets that make up the rather tortuous but visually stunning entrance to Seal Bay, which is a beautiful wooded and landlocked anchorage.

 

There were only a handful of other boats here and so we were able to select a nice protected spot to anchor and prepare for the dose of bad weather due to pass through Maine over the following 24 hours. We barbequed home-made burgers with James’ ‘Justine Chips’ and rounded the evening off with Mexican Train which James won with consummate ease.

 

Friday was a long cold wet and windy day – exactly as forecast and frankly little happened. Our nearest neighbour sounded his distress horn repeatedly in the late morning, drawing our attention. We got him to call us on the VHF and he explained that his dinghy had broken free in the night and was now bouncing off the rocks on the lee shore beyond us. We had seen the dinghy but had assumed that it belonged to a crew who had gone ashore to walk one of the trails.  Anyway, we offered to help him by launching our boat which was strapped down on the foredeck, but suggested that he might try the Dutch yacht moored not too far away as their dinghy was already in the water and ready to go. In the end it was the Dutch who went off and dragged the dinghy back, in the torrential rain although James had observed that it might have been easier if they had just picked up the kill cord from the Americans and driven the dinghy back!

 

The rain intensified in the afternoon so we sat down and watched ‘Lincoln’ (thank you to an unnamed Sadler 34 for that) and spent a fruitless hour trying to get the Navtex unit to function.

 

We do at least have a plan for the next few days which should see this burst of bad weather peak late tonight and then things should improve for a few days.