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Maine Cruise 2004
Week 3 (Continued)
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Week
1 | Week 2 | Week 3
| Week 4
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Thursday, August 12, 2004
Seal Bay - Bucks Harbor (16.3NM Plotted)
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Route
Chart
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| It was a long
night, with howling winds that continued through most of the night
without lapse. After a full night and day of this already, it was
definitely wearing. Still, I hoped that the morning would bring
changing conditions that might allow us to depart and head
elsewhere. We were about a day away from the end of our ice
supply, and had little fresh food left--though enough to warrant a need
for continuing ice. The forecast had been so dismal for the next
several days, predicting some effects from not one, but two tropical
storms (Bonnie and Charlie), that it looked like if we couldn't leave
today, we might be stuck for the entire weekend. |
| The morning
forecast wasn't much better than the one that had depressed us so much
the previous evening, but it did offer some hope. Still, first
thing in the morning it didn't look so great for a departure, with
evidence of fog and continuing gusty winds. |
 The
NOAA marine forecasts are split into two zones covering the Maine coast,
and we were right on the border between the zones. Therefore, it
was hard to know which of the two forecasts to pay more attention to;
the forecasts were different, but neither was terrific. Still, by
0800 it was looking a little better, and I started to seriously consider
departing. Worst case, we would end up heading back in if it was
nasty outside. Being so far in an enclosed bay, it was tough to
truly judge what might--or might not--be going on outside.
At 0830, I decided: time to head
for it. What did we have to lose? The highest wind gusts
were only about 20, and there seemed greater time periods between
gusts. The sky had brightened, and what fog there had been had dissipated.
After awakening Heidi, I prepared the boat for departure, and we weighed
anchor before 0900. |
 As
we exited the bay, the wind seemed stronger; with the wind strengths we
were seeing, I decided to tuck two reefs in the main, figuring it would
be easier to shake one or more out rather than tuck them in later.
That done, we headed out to find fog in the distance offshore, but
generally clear; the sun even shone overhead. And, despite
appearances in the more sheltered bay we had just left, the winds were
actually quite light, though with some sloppy leftover seas. (We
would have been fine with the full main, as it turned out, but the
double reef worked fine the whole way.) |
 As
we continued on, the fog slowly dropped on us, though it was
inconsistent in its coverage--and relatively short-lived, as well.
I felt, for once, that NOAA's description of "patchy fog" was actually
accurate in this case. In any event, at worst the visibility
decreased to 1/8 mile or so, with clear sky overhead so I didn't worry
that the fog might close in for real. |
 Our
journey up East Penobscot Bay was uneventful and quite fast, with
a fair wind and favorable tide. The seas were a little sloppy here
and there, but nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated--and the wind
was far lighter than I had expected it to be. It essentially died
once we were north of Eagle Island, in the upper portion of the bay,
about 6 or 7 miles from Bucks Harbor. |
 At
Bucks, we picked up the same mooring as during my last visit, and, after
putting the boat away, headed for shore to the nearby Bucks Harbor
Market, where we stocked up on groceries and ice (and ice cream!).
On the water, friend Andrew's boat was nowhere to be seen...we had hoped
to run into him during this visit, as he had been busy during my last
several days here a couple weeks ago, and hadn't had much time to catch
up. |
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| Later, though,
Andrew showed up, and we relaxed in the cockpit for a while
chatting. He was house and dog-sitting for someone, but would be
back on Friday, so we made the typical cruiser's loose plans to get
together then. |
Dinner was an outstanding rib-eye steak from the store that I grilled
with garlic, along with fresh foccacia bread and sautéed mushrooms and
onions. Mmm...perfection. Afterwards, we settled in to await
the supposed bad weather, though it seemed questionable given the clear
skies and pleasant weather we experienced all evening. But Maine
weather is nothing if not quickly changeable, so who knows what tomorrow
might bring? |
Friday, August 13, 2004
Bucks Harbor |
| A southeast wind
picked up overnight--as predicted, amazingly. I had to get up
twice--once to tie off some slapping halyards, and a second time a short
bit later to do something about the way our mooring line was catching on
the stored CQR anchor. Later, in the morning, I moved the mooring
line to the other side, which took care of the problem for good. |
 Shortly
after I got up at 0700, it began to rain, joining with the 20-25 knot
wind to make for a most lovely day. Actually, I was almost looking
forward to the rain and wind; it's almost as if one gets psyched up for
the bad weather when it's been forecast for several days, and I would
have almost felt disappointed if the wind and rain had not
arrived. Weird, I know. |
 For
a while in the morning, after the rain began, I managed to sit cozily in
the cockpit, snug beneath the dodger and awning. It was fun to
watch the wind and rain, but after a while the rain really picked up,
and the whole cockpit began getting wet, so I had to move below. |
 The
rain was extremely heavy through the morning, flattening the harbor chop
and sweeping through the anchorage in sheets. There was little
movement on any of the boats, though I did notice a couple boats come
into the harbor around 0900; I wondered where they had come from. |
I was pleased with the heavy rain, as the decks were salty and dirty, so
they received a good rinse and washdown--just what the doctor ordered.
In any event, since we had been counting
on the rain and nasty weather for today, and even into the weekend, it
was an enjoyable and cozy day aboard. Rain and wind are not
problems when you have planned in advance and are secure in a nice, safe
harbor. Still, we both managed to feel a bit stir crazy by the end
of the day, after being cooped up for much of the day down below. Late
in the day, the rain petered out, leaving behind clouds and fog.
There was more rain overnight. |
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Bucks Harbor |
 The
day began with fog, but by late morning the fog had burned off, leaving
an unexpectedly beautiful day in its wake. The skies were clear
and dark blue, the air crisper, and the winds light. Listening to
the forecast, however, we decided to remain in Bucks Harbor, since the
forecast for Sunday was for rain and wind, the remnants of tropical
storm Charlie. NOAA confidently predicted winds of 20-30 knots,
and 100% chance of rain for Sunday. Choosing a safe harbor over a
new destination seemed the right thing to do, so we relaxed, ate
blueberry pancakes for breakfast (excellent), and enjoyed a very
pleasant, low-key day. The wind was virtually nonexistent all day,
except for some light zephyrs. |
 I
took care of some boat chores, including filling the diesel tank and two
jugs in preparation for our final week, and also filled the water jugs
on deck, leaving us with nearly a full tank plus the 15-gallon reserve
on deck. I finally found eggs in stock at the market, which was
good since we were all out. I took the dinghy out into the bay,
and around Harbor Island to see what was going on. |
 Late
in the day, as we were enjoying cocktails, our young friend Andrew
stopped by for a visit, and we made some tentative plans for dinner on
Sunday night, since we would still be around. The sunset was
intense and incredible, with a unique vertical strip of light that I had
not seen before--a trick of the clouds, no doubt.
Please click here to
continue.--->
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