Dawn comes thick with fog. The sun begins to break through. 6:15 under power.
Motoring at idle speed. Clark Point at 6:30 the fog sets in again. Drop anchor to wait it out. 7:00 can see the western shore of Great Cranberry Island. Under power. 7:35 can see nothing but fog. Tracking on Navionics and the gps, we turn southwest at 7:40 to the channel that separates Mount Desert Island and Great Cranberry Island. I can see the rocky shoreline to the west. 7:55 I can hear a bell. Soon I see green marker "1" and know that I am off Long Ledge. 8:10 nothing but fog, water, lobster pot markers. 8:25 crossing Bass Harbor Bar, must be slack tide as the crossing is calm.
A red and white marker emerges from the fog, telling me we have crossed over the bar. Two lobster boats cross ahead of SPARTINA coming from the south, headed to Bass Harbor.
Wind comes at 8:55, full sail and glad to no longer listen to the outboard. 9:10 I hear a horn in the fog bank ahead. A ferry comes out of the fog 200 yards ahead. Making 1.9 against the ebb tide. 9:30 making 0.0 against the ebb, not gaining ground but not losing any. 9:50 the fog disappears, blue skies and doing 2.1.
10:20 getting warm and slip off the drysuit. 11:00 1.2 off of Goose Cove.
Very pleasant sailing, glassy water and working against the tide.
Easy, relaxing sailing as a loon swims ahead of SPARTINA.
11:45 at Dodge Point turn into Seal Cove. Thinking I might anchor and dry things out, I look around for a good spot to drop the hook. I see a figure on a Pacific Seacraft Dana 24 getting ready to raise sail. Sailing closer I see it is a woman wearing a bandanna with long grey ponytails. The boat is named CHRISTINA and they are about to sail off of a mooring ball. She glances at me and says "Nice boat!" I thank her, then ask if she minds me tying to her mooring while she is gone. "Not at all," she says. As she is sailing away she looks back over her shoulder and says "no more than two hours." I tell her I'll be gone in one.
I spread out the sleeping gear and drysuit in the sun. Nothing is really wet, just kind of damp. There is a nice breeze and with the sun the gear is dry in minutes. 1:30 sail off the mooring.
2:05 off Moose Island, headed to the east side of Hardwood Island, 3.0. 2:45 sailing east of tiny Folly Island. Pass to the west of John Island at 3:20, leave the Narrows and sail out on to Western Bay.
A glance at Navionics shows a beautiful little anchorage at Galley Point on the northeast side of Barrett Island. I turn to the west and have a direct tack to the anchorage. I look aft and see a sloop following me. I sail into the cove and round up, dropping the anchor in about 12 feet of water.
The sloop BLUE STAR is close behind. The man on board shouts "What are you doing here?" I tell him I am anchoring. "For a few hours? Or for overnight?" "Overnight" I tell him. There are two moorings in the cove. "Why don't you take a mooring and I'll anchor out?" I tell him I am already anchored. So he takes the mooring.
Soon he rows over in a dinghy. His name is Larry and he is from Florida. He keeps BLUE STAR up in Maine, comes up for two months every summer to sail. We visit for a while and then he rows off. I sit in the shade of the boom tent and enjoy the afternoon.
20.89 NM
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