July 23 -- Valley Cove in Somes Sound to Carrying Place Cove, Surrey

Underway from 8 to 1, on all points of sail and winds from 15 to zero knots with all different sail configurations, dressed in very heavy duty foulies, a gift from Eve Feinstein, widow of Selwyn Feinstein. These are excellent and have a bottom opening fly zipper in the trousers so one can micturate without getting completely undressed.  The rain varied from almost none to near torrential. We made speeds of up to eight knots without the engine when the wind and current were right, and used the engine to supplement our speed when it dropped below five knots. About 26 miles in a "U" shaped course, south, west and then north. it would have been a beautiful sail past wooded rock islands if the sun had been shining.

Mendy came out dressed to work (except you cant see his sea boots in this shot) and helped me until about two hours before the end, when he got cold and I sent him below to warm up.

How did we get to Carrying Place Cove, a place not mentioned as an anchorage in any of the cruising guides? It's a long story.

Our first proposed destination was to anchor off the east shore of Union River Bay, in front of Barbara's house there and dink in and land on her beach, to enjoy a home cooked meal at her beach front summer home. Using Google Earth, with her street address, we got the Lat and Log of her house and put it in as a waypoint. But that proved a bad choice of anchorage for two reasons. First, the chart showed a rather narrow shelf of land with 30 feet of water at low tide, bordered by less than six feet on one side and 60 on the other. So putting out 100 feet of chain on the anchor ran the risk of getting stuck on the rocks if the wind blew us toward the shore, and drifting away if the wind dragged our anchor off the ledge. When we got there, by car, another problem emerged. If we had dinked in at low tide and secured the dink to the bottom, we would have had to wade/swim out at night to get to it at high tide, when it would be afloat. Or if we arrived at high tide and wanted to leave at low, we would have had to carry the dink across 40 yards of a flat of slippery seaweed covered small rocks to get it to the water.

Where else could we stay, nearby? Well the cruising guide said that Patten Bay, which includes the town of Surrey at its head, had a decent anchorage at 9 to 15 feet at low tide and gave the phone number of a local establishment. So there must be some way for visiting sailors to get ashore there. But several phone calls established that this town dock has very little water at low, and it being a full moon, the low would be very low. The dink would he sitting in the mud at low and we could have to wait there several hours in foggy cold weather. This would be a ten mile drive each way for Barbara to pick us up and bring us back.

Her other dinner guests included two neighbors who are sailors and their wives, from New Hampshire, and her daughter and granddaughter, who drove up from NY today. One of the men suggested Carrying Place Cove, in the town of Surrey, on the opposite western side of Union River Bay, two miles across the water, but fifteen miles each way for Barbara to drive. There is a lobster pound there, he said. Its proprietor let us use his mooring, only 30 yards from his floating dock. No charge!

Excitement toward the end of the journey, however: Ilene has been nicking herself with the small sharp kitchen knives, but this time she sliced off about a bit of the end of her left ring finger! Between 1/16 and 2/16". While making lunch. No arterial spurting but Barbara drove us to her local excellent new hospital in Ellsworth, where it received medical attention. And Lene is to do no work with her left hand for the next few days, so nurse Roger gets a chance to help her. And she is forbidden to use knives until she takes a knife safety training course, Captain's orders!

The dinner party was excellent both regarding the food and wine and the conversation. Barbara uses small flat irregular pieces of slate rock picked up from the beach, each with a guests name written on it, as place cards, a delightful decorating touch, listening Martha Stewart? And during the afternoon I got yesterday's blog out, did a small load of laundry, and took a shower. No showering for Lene for a few days. Also, during the afternoon Mendy expressed the wish to go back to Brooklyn, and because Barbara is driving to Bangor to pick up her sister next day, she volunteered to drop him there for a bus to Boston, his first leg home. Lots of phone calls established the times of the bus, railroad and their costs and reservations made. So when Barbara drove us the dink, Mendy got his things and returned in her car to sleep at her place. We will miss Mendy's inquiring mind and helpful attitude. He will be back in Israel by the time we get back to New York.
We hope to hook up with Barbara and her guests for a day sail in a few days.