"When I think of all the fools I've been, it's a wonder that I've sailed this many miles." -Guy Clark

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

day five - escape from Somes Sound


Wake at 7:00, fog clinging to the mountain tops.  A peaceful, calm night.  Change to a new set of clothes, feels good.


Sail off anchor 7:55.  One large cruising boat says "Good morning," another asks "How was your evening?"  Making not quite a knot, easy tacks out of the anchorage.  Blue skies and getting warmer at 8:25.  Not much wind but that is ok.  Hook my first lobster pot float at 9:00, raise both cb and rudder to slip free. 


Look south to Southwest Harbor to see a wall of fog coming up the sound.  9:30 more fog and it slides up through the trees along shore.  10:00 return to Valley Cove to wait it out.  Anchor and relax.


Raise anchor 10:55, round the point at the base of Flying Mountain to see the fog is gone.  11:30 making 4.0 and leaving Somes Sound.  Blue skies and cool, slip on a sweater.  I can still see a fog bank to the southeast.



Noon fog lifts from Sutton Island.  12:20 off of Northeast Harbor, then slip inside between Bear Island and Mount Desert Island and cross the shallows.  1:45 near East Point.  Wind comes and goes.  Look to the east to Moose Island.  Just 8 miles away but the wind in faltering.  Fog moves in and the island disappears in a grey wall.  

Wind swings around, fills in, dies, then returns.  Suddenly the water is very choppy.  Maybe wind against tide.  Just trying to catch the wind find myself rounding East Bunker Ledge.  Still not getting any farther east.


Decide to anchor inside of Bunker Neck on the east side of Little Cranberry Island.  Anchor down 3:15.

14.61 NM


 

1 comment:

Tom said...

Steve, I'm enjoying your photos and trip log, as always. Looks like you really got a full dose of Maine fog, but good weather too. I was really wondering as I followed your track (and backtracks) every day - "Is that current or weather beating Spartina back?" But she found her way, as we all knew she would!

In meantime, looks like I'll only be sailing via your blog pages for a while. The storms that went thru the Carolinas today took down two big ol' pin oaks on my property - one onto my house and the other onto my boat. No-one hurt thank heavens, and everything repairable. Except my old girl - 1958 O'Day Daysailer - done for, back is broken and hull is wracked. So sad to see another of the "originals" go, but such is life. And I wasn't IN HER when she died, not many sailors can say that! Anyway, the boat-building itch was starting up again, so we'll see. After we fix the roof....

Keep the stories coming, please!