August 6 -- Roque Island to Cutler Harbor

It was only 21 miles today, half of yesterday’s distance, so we took it easy in the morning. First came the blueberry pancakes for six of the seven people on our three boats (Ilene’s food plan prohibits such) including more than a quart of blueberries.  Then Maggie and Al invited us to tour "Sweet Dreams". It looks small from a distance because you expect the ports and dodger to be “normal size” relative to the rest of the boat, and the length to be shorter for a boat of normal freeboard. Like ILENE, Sweet Dreams has zero exterior teak and a power windlass, but Sweet Dreams’ winches are all powered and she boasts in-boom roller furling for the main and every comfort and all maintained in pristine condition.

 But nothing on “Sweet Dreams” is normal. Her freeboard is about six feet high, giving seven feet of headroom, and she is 16 feet in the beam. A joint design by Stevens, of Sparkman Stevens, and Robert Perry, who designed “ILENE".

Saying goodbye to these new friends, Bennett and I took a dink ride around the huge bay. We also toured Lakeman Bay a rather large side bay near the Northeast corner of Great Bay, where President Roosevelt liked to stop over on his way to Campobello, Mr. Gardner told us. About a third of it is deep enough and it is big enough to harbor quite a fleet on its own, with two "exits" to the sea, to the east but too shallow for a sailboat.

After lunch we raised the main and set out for Cutler. The wind seemed strong so we used reefed main and small jib and this made for a slower trip, from 2 to about 6 pm. We passed the light, near the entrance to the Cross Island anchorage, where our new friends had said they were going, 

and Cutler peninsula, where our government maintains a forest of about 30 radio towers, each 1000 feet high, which, working together, permit reception of signals from submarines from around the globe.

By this time, the tide had turned bad and the winds lightened, so we put up the Genoa to complete the passage. We entered around Moose Peak Light

and anchored in 21 feet of water at low, meaning 34 feet at high. Pasta dinner aboard, our third meal in the cockpit today.

Cutler is a small town with no restaurant, food store or dinghy dock, but many lobster boats. We did not see any signs of a village such as schools, fire house, city hall or stores. They must be on the other side of the ridge; the harbor is ringed by single family homes set perched on hills arising from the water. Beautiful.

About 1 am I woke up and put on the anchor light, oops for not doing so before. And I couldn’t sleep for worrying about the tide, which Maggie had suggested we pay attention to for the passage to Eastport. So I got up and figured that if we left as late as 7 am we could have good tide all the way for the five hour trip, arriving before 12:15 when the high was predicted. Sleep then came easily.  The lobster boats in Cutler are gentle to sleeping cruisers on sailboat. Thanks guys!