The working harbor of Port Clyde wakes at 5:00 a.m., and so do I. Rumbling diesels and rolling wakes. Anchor up at 5:50 and under power to the very nice and new town dock. Take care of business first: get rid of the trash, empty the head and top off the gas can.
I had hoped to visit the general store but a local just pointed to a fenced off area where the store was located before it had burned down.
I pick up some crackers and drinks at the ferry landing, then get breakfast at the Ocean Inn. Cast off from the town dock at 8:30.
8:45 a light mist hangs over the water, blue skies, no wind. A breeze at 9:10, sails up but struggling to sail. 9:45 making 1.8. 10:45 making 2.7 downwind, wing and wing. 10:20 waves from the lobsterman on the very nice lobster boat KISMET, "Want to trade?" he shouts and he gestures to my boat and then his. I tell him I'll think about it.
I am in no rush as I am thinking of anchoring at the Dix Island anchorage and it is not too far away. It is a group of islands that would offer plenty of places to drop the hook and enjoy the day.
11:00 I receive a text from friends Paul and Edwina on the Island Packet BAKHITA. They had been out to Matinicus Island, Maine's most offshore populated island, for a couple of days. We had anchored in Roque Harbor the same evening last year, though I didn't know it at the time. We met later when I was leaving Orono anchorage just north of Swans Island that same trip. And then by chance we met again when they sailed into Portsmouth this past summer. Paul tells me they are headed for Seal Bay on the east site of Vinalhaven Island. I tell them I will meet them there. I turn north east to sail around the south end of Vinalhaven.
11:50 Stallion Ledge to Port, 12:00 passing Two Bush Island. Sailing at 3.3 with a fog bank offshore. 12:50 better wind, 3.9, then 4.3. The fog moves in. 1:20 motorsailing in thick fog.
Have the fog horn out. Using the Marine Traffic app on my phone to look for large ships, I'm crossing the shipping channel into Penobscot Bay.
2:00 less fog and getting brighter, sailing at 3.8. Can hear but don't see lobster boats. Fog moves in again, thicker this time. Lose the wind and motorsailing. I get a text from Paul, we seem to be sharing the same fog bank.
3:10 inside the rocks and ledges at the south end of Vinalhaven. Can't see Vinalhaven, can't see the rocks and ledges. Using gps and Navionics to navigate.
3:15 passing Carvers Island. Can't see it, then suddenly it is there, just a dark shape in the fog. Motorsailing, grey all around. 3:45 better wind on the stern.
5:00 fog begins to clear near the entrance to Seal Bay. I've been sailing around Vinalhaven for a few hours and finally get a glimpse of the island.
Round up, drop sails and motor between Big Hen Island and Bluff head. It is low tide and lots of rocks showing at the east end of Big Hen Island. I look past the point and three boats are anchored there. I see Paul waving from BAKHITA.
Rafted up with BAKHITA at 5:30, I expect we'll have a glass of wine and visit a bit. Paul and Edwina tell me to raft up for the night, we are having dinner.
It is a great evening, a wonderful dinner and a few glasses of Chianti. Though I have only met them twice, it feels like I am with old friends. We talk about our trips - they live aboard and have been cruising the east coast for a couple of years - and our boats. And we find we have some friends in common.
Talking about Island Packets and Nantucket, where BAKHITA had recently visited, I mention about story about a woman on an Island Packet who had sailed with me briefly on SPARTINA when she was wearing her pajamas. It seemed like she may have been from Nantucket. I can't remember the woman's name, or even the boat's name, and Edwina mentions a sailing friend from Nantucket and I say "That's her!" and we all laugh. They had become friends with the woman and her husband as they cruised up and down the coast. The coastal community is smaller than I thought.
It is lots of fun and we talk late into the evening. Then I climb back aboard SPARTINA for the night.
31.10 NM
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