day three - fog

Early morning I wake to fog.  Cries of seagulls, rumble of diesels at idle speed, I can see nothing.  Stow sleeping gear, put on the drysuit to wait out the fog.  Drift off to sleep.  Wake at 8:00.  Fog has lifted some but not enough for me to sail on unknown waters.  Chilly, layer on a seater under the drysuit.  More fog, less fog, it comes and goes.  10:00 some gusty wind.  More fog.  I make some hot chocolate to keep warm.

Noon, still waiting.  I hear loud blasts of a fog horn.  Look out the back of the boom tent, the fog has lifted.  I can see the boats in the mooring field and the shorelines of the Cranberry Islands.  

Sail off anchor 12:30, east wind and making 3.0.  12:45 the Cranberry Island island mail boat passes by, passengers seated on the aft deck.  Making 3.6 with Sutton Island to Starboard.  Sun breaks through, still fog ahead.  

I use the Navionics app to pass between Sutton and Bear Islands on the way to Somes Sound.  

More fog, Mount Desert Island disappears in the grey mist.  Sooner than expected, 1:25, I see the entrance to Somes Sound.  Turn to starboard, wind on the beam and making 4.8.  Soon less wind and on the stern, making 2.0 passing Valley Cove.

Wind fills in out of the southwest, 3.9.  Circle around a mooring field and tie up at the dock at John M Williams Co, a boatyard, in search of friends working on a Friendship sloop.

I duck my head into the boatyard office to make sure I am ok tied up at the dock, telling the man at the desk I'm looking for friends working on LOON.  He tells me they just left for the day but I'm good with SPARTINA at the dock if I want to have a look around.

I visit the LOON, a beautiful boat that has not been in the water for maybe 15 years.  I can see supplies, tools and two chairs set out in the shade of the hull.  I leave a bottle of rum with a note in one of the chairs.

Cast off 3:30, great afternoon wind with steep mountains to port and starboard.  An excellent run north on the sound, slipping through the narrow, rocky entrance to Somes Harbor.  Anchor down 4:30.

While putting out the anchor light for the night I look south and there is a wall of fog moving up the sound.

10.06 NM