Wednesday, August 16

22.7 Nautical Miles | Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island

Enough of Blue Hill! We hadn't planned on staying another day anyway, so we set our sights on Mount Desert. As loyal readers of my logs may know, we always spend at least a couple of days on Mount Desert. Especially with Gavin, its a great place to cruise to: lots of things to do ashore, and convenient busses to get you there.

Hey! We're Famous!

After the obligitory morning coffee, we made ready to leave Blue Hill under leaden skies. The forecast was for very light westerly breezes, but I hoisted the main anyway and we were soon underway, dropping the mooring at 0840. We motored along the shoreline then out across the bay to the north end of Long Island. We turned down the east branch of Blue Hill Bay, coasting along Long Island past some floats that looked like they might be used for mussel aquaculture, then across the bay and on toward Bass Head. Along the way we noticed a fire belching thick black smoke from one of the islands, but as we got closer it appeared to be some sort of intentional burn.

As we passed Goose Cove Rock, we were hailed on the VHF by Eric Johnson, the owner of the Triton Sophia, which he keeps moored in Seal Cove on the western side of Mount Desert. He had seen my sail numbers as I motored by him and recognized my boat, presumably from the website, though I didn't ask. We had a nice chat, and he graciously offered to help us out with transportation or anything else we needed while we were on MDI. I had hoped to catch up with him while we were there, but our time ended up being pretty well filled during the two days that we were there.

Eric, if you read this, sorry we didn't get a chance to meet. Perhaps next summer?

We Heart Northeast Harbor

Soon we made a somewhat lumpy passage across Bass Harbor Bar, then had a nice ride down the Western Way on some large but gentle ocean rollers at 7 knots. As we approached Northeast Harbor we passed an immense mega-yacht from London called ANIX. Wow. This one was very classy despite its enormous size.

Heather hailed the Northeast Harbor mooring agent on the VHF. He recognized the boat name and welcomed us back to Northeast. He then said, "You guys know where the 200 series moorings are. I'll meet you over there." While he was collecting the money for the mooring he chatted with Gavin, and apparently remembering how excited Gavin was about the bus last year, he asked, "Are you excited about riding the bus again?"

"Where everyone knows your name..."

Yes, it strikes me as kind of ridiculous that the mooring agent remembers us so well. I mean, it's not like we have some mega-yacht, nor are we celebrities. Or, frankly, that friendly. But I'm not complaining.

I'm not sure what it is about Northeast, but we--and Heather especially--really love going there. It's kind of strange, since I normally would rather be where there are fewer people and less civilization. But there's something about the place that we really like. I can't put my finger on it.

Maybe it's the internet access. This year we were able to pick up an open wireless network from the boat. What is this world coming to?

A Bit of Gardening?

Once I got the boat put away, we headed ashore. We were still trying to locate butane canisters. No luck. I did get some Sailkote dry lubricant for the companionway hatch slides and the sailtrack though. Heather got a coffee and we returned to the boat so that Gavin could nap. Surprisingly, I decided to read while he slept, and Heather went ashore to work for a couple hours.

After Gavin finally woke up from his nap at nearly 1800, we dinghyed over to the little dock at the Asticou Landing, and walked up the terraces to the Asticou Gardens. Very nice. We spent a while in the gardens before beginning the trek back down the steep hillside to the dock. I walked ahead a bit, and spent some time gazing out from one of the little wooden "lookouts" along the way that provided a lovely vista looking down to the harbor full of boats, and out the Western Way towards open ocean.

What is it that makes people carve their names into gazebos, lean-tos, and toilet stalls?

Back at the boat we enjoyed a nice, if late, family dinner before getting Gavin ready for bed. It was another very cool evening, but I bundled up with a heavy wool sweater, fleece pants, and wool socks and sat in the cockpit with a flashlight reading until quite late.