Trip Summary:
Port LaTour to Northeast Harbor, Maine
Trip Distance of 139 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 617.3 NM
Departed at 0645 hours and arrived at 1230 hours + 1 day
Crew Log for September 4th, 2022
We woke early in nervous anticipation of our trip across the Bay of Fundy. The days were getting shorter, which meant "first light" was a little later than we expected. We also had to time our departure with the tides to ensure it was slack low tide when we reached Cape Sable Island. Not only would this smooth out the ride, but we would also maximum the advantage of the tidal currents to push us across the Bay.
We treated ourselves to a "departure day pastry breakfast" of cinnamon rolls and blueberry cake, while we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. All three boats in the anchorage departed at about the same time. We were making the passage with Adanaco, but we weren't sure where the other boat was headed.
Two hours into the trip, we were passing by Cape Sable Island, the most southernly point in Nova Scotia and made the turn "up" towards Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. We were starting to relax and settle in to our routine. We ran into a fog bank off Cape Sable and visibility dropped to less than 0.5 NM. We switched on the radar in order to maintain a fix on Adanaco. The sea was completely flat and we saw what looked like a fog rainbow.
Our course took us between Mud and Seal Islands off the end of the Tusket Islands chains. As we made our way through the Islands, the push from the incoming tide increased our speed by over 2.5 knots. At one point our boat speed was over 8 knots per hour. Of course, had we not timed the crossing right, we could possibly have been facing a 2.5 knot current pushing us back. We were grateful for good planning.
For the first part of the crossing we had very little wind. Given that there was little to do in terms of managing the sails and course, I went below to make some bread to go along with the pasta salad Judy had made the night before.
Later in the day we spotted something with a large dorsal fin, most likely a sailfish, given it's awkward movement through the water. We also were entertained by a pod of several porpoises who played in front of the boat. Every now and again one of them appeared to swim under the bow of boat and squirt up the other side. They stayed with us for several minutes and it was incredible to watch.
The only other wildlife we spotted was "The Cat", mv Alaki, the high speed ferry going from Bar Harbor back to Yarmouth. I checked the ferry's speed on AIS and it was doing 33 knots per hour. We were doing 6! We also spotted a couple of tankers heading to St. John and a cruise ship.
We sailed off and on most of the evening but used the motor whenever our speed dropped below 5 knots. Shortly after midnight, the winds shifted as predicted and we sailed the rest of the way to Northeast Harbor. We sailed on a full main and reefed jib, but we were doing close to 7 knots and would arrive before daylight, so we brought the jib in completely and sailed on the main only.
We had heard, and been warned, about the Maine lobster traps, but you really have to see it, to believe it. They are literally everywhere including harbor entrances, shipping lanes and there is even the odd one in the mooring field. At about 0600 hours we were happy we slowed the boat down because we spotted the first of many traps. Initially there seemed to be pattern to them and so they were relatively easy to navigate through. However the last 3 hours of our trip, it was like sailing through a minefield. There was no pattern, no logic and they were everywhere.
Fortunately, we arrived without and incidents. We operated on a three hour shift schedule on the way over, and while we got some sleep, we were both tired. We checked in with US Customs and Border Protection using the CBP Roam App on our phone which worked great. We received our cruising permit and even were enrolled in the verify traveler program, which allows us to check into the US anywhere we want.
To think that 12 years ago when we purchased our first boat, we were terrified to do a 30 mile crossing to Charlottetown, and we had just come down the entire coast of mainland Nova Scotia, and crossed the Bay of Fundy to a different country. To say we were relieved would be an understatement. But, we also were very proud at what we had accomplished.
It was a good passage. In the words of our dear friend, "we fought the dragon, now we get to kiss the princess".
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