Crew Log for September 9th and 10th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Northeast Harbor to Perry’s Creek (Vinalhaven Island)
Trip Distance of 30.8 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 648.1 NM
Departed at 0900 hours and arrived at 1500 hours
Vinalhaven Island is Maine's largest off-shore island community, known for its striking natural beauty and for being home to one of the world's largest lobster fishing fleets. The Island has a year-round population of about 1,200, which increases significantly with in the influx of summer residents and tourists.
If there were any doubts about the size of Vinalhaven’s lobster fleet, they were quickly put to rest shortly after leaving Northeast harbor. Thank goodness the winds were light, since it made it easier to see the lobster pots. It almost borders on ridiculous how many traps there are in the water. If you asked me what the Maine coastline looked like, I can honestly say, I have no idea. You literally have to constantly be on the watch for pots, and we have certainly seen lots of them!
We left the mooring at Northeast Harbor right around 0800 hours and headed over to the Clifton dock for water and fuel. We are quickly finding out that boating services are closing, due to staff shortages and summer residents heading back home. It reminds me of the PEI service industry. Fortunately, we carry extra diesel cans and we did manage to get our water tanks filled.
We had to motor sail most of the day, which added to stress of negotiating our way through the pots. Despite not having to manage sails, it really was exhausting to constantly be watching for bouys. Unfortunately, we did manage to snag one just after we passed Stonington. However, we did have the motor off at the time and we eventually freed ourselves. Thinking back, we really did have a nice sail across Penobscot Bay.
There are dozens of beautiful, well protected anchorages on Vinalhaven. We opted to go the Perry Creek, given it was well protected and surrounded by good hiking trails. A local resident maintains 4 moorings for transient boats and only asks that you make a donation to the Vinalhaven Land Preserve.
Once we got settled I enjoyed an American Pale Ale called Smiling Irish Bastard that was in the care package that Andy and Maura had given us. It was very good, and seemed the appropriate beverage given I was smiling and half Irish.
I dozed off after supper in the cockpit and woke a bit later to a amazingly beautiful orange moon. Sadly, I don’t have a picture since I dropped my phone into the water. I had been threatening to toss the damn thing to Neptune for weeks, but I would have liked to retrieve the SIM card and SD card with all my trip pictures on it before I sent it to the murky depths. Replacing it and restoring my life in a digital world would prove to be a painful process over the coming days, that at times, consumed all of my time. It was painful.
In the morning, we hiked up to Fox Rocks, the highest point on Vinalhaven Island. We met several other cruisers on the trail, including a couple from Florida who were on a Rosborough and another guy from Farmington, Maine who was on a Paceship 21. Both boats were built in Nova Scotia.
We were in pretty good company in the anchorage. The boat next to us was a Hinckley 34 Pilot, sv Lyric, built in 1966. It was an amazingly beautiful boat in perfect condition. Folks here seem to have a real appreciation for classic boats. They obviously love them, because they all look brand new.
Earlier in the day, a boat came into the anchorage flying a Canadian courtesy flag, which was a bit unusual given we were in the US. Normally, you fly the flag of the country the boat is registered in off the back. If you are in a foreign country, you fly that country's flag from your starboard (right) flag halyard. It turns out, they were friends of a friend of the crew on Adanaco and were aware they were in the area. They were flying the flag to indicate they were looking for Canadians. Who knew!
Later that afternoon, a dinghy with 2 couples motored up to our boat and invited us to their boat for “nibbles and drinks”. They indicated they were friends with Steve and Judy’s friend “Andy”. Steve and Judy met Andy 12 years ago in the Bahamas and kept in touch ever since.
As promised, we went over to their boats, a J120 and a Pearson 30. They sail out of the Brunswick, Maine area. The J120 was in Canada earlier this year. They sailed up the Nova Scotia coast, in through the Bras d’Or Lake at St. Peter’s and out the other end, across to Newfoundland to the end of the west coast. They came back along the Labrador coast. It sounded like quite the trip.
Rarely a day goes by that I am not humbled at the adventures and experiences people we meet have had. It is exciting to hear their stories and learn from their experiences.
However back to my more mundane reality, I need a new phone. We are off to Rockland in the morning.
But more about that, next time!
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