August 7 - 9 -- McGlathery to Northeast Harbor to Somesville Harbor, 20 and 6 Miles

I've been told that diesel engines like to be run hard every once and a while -- to burn off deposits that build up at slow speeds. ILENE's engine got her workout between McGlathery and NE Harbor. We departed at seven and from a call to the clinic learned the last availableappointment was at 10:30, not 11;45, shortening our window. We saw no wind more than two knots so it was up to the engine. Our course took us across Jerico Bay, through the Canso Passage, across Blue Hill Bay, through the dredged channel off Bass Point (here is Bass point Light and it shows the smooth waters)

and then along the south coast of Mount Desert Island to the Western Way where we turned north and through the Great Harbor into Northeast Harbor, a long thin bay in the northeastern corner of the Great Harbor. Good tide or at least not adverse. Lots of lobster pots and here they "toggle" them, which requires dodging both ends of each pair.  during our 20 miles we passed close to thousands of them and only nicked one. The channel through the shoals off Bass Point is said to be dredged to a depth of fourteen feet, plenty for us if we stay in the channel. It is marked by a pair of red and white buoys, one at each end. Stay in line between then, like we did, and you will have no problems. It was easier on a day like this when there were no side winds. Waching the depth though it and we saw no less than 22 feet of water.
We took a mooring from Clifton's Dock. This is the fuel dock at which we waited for two hours last year for an agent of customs and immigration to "inspect" ILENE. Lene had called them and after we had lowered and started the dink and drove it to the dock, the manager drove us the five minutes to the clinic in her jeep-like car. The doctor on duty applied plastic strips which he "glued" on. He said they will fall off in ten to fourteen days and I'll be ok.
In Northeast Harbor we went to the only-game-in-town market, and paid the exhorbitant prices charged. We dropped off four days of garbage, took showers, visited the hardware store and lovely rare used book store and some gallerys and ate lobsters. "Rebecca," 140 feet long, was at the dock for the several hours it took her to take on 2500 gallons of diesel. Acres of gleaming varnished teak topside!

In the morning we brought ILENE to the dock for a more modest drink of 11 gallons of diesel and full water tanks. Since Boothbay she has burned .62 gallons of fuel per hour. Returning to the mooring we discovered a leak from the cockpit shower when the fresh water pump was on and fixed it.  Then we dinked over to the public landscape architecture. The estate, with a lovely though not ostentatious wooden house, overlooks the town from the east side of the harbor.

The house is open to the public, which asked not to handle the books in its library.

The gardens, one could see, required a lot of gardeners time to keep looking perfect ech day. They had many flowers and a section in milkweed. That is what monarch butterfies like to eat and they were present in both caterpillar and butterfly form.

We motored out of Eastern harbor and then, with the mild wind still from the south, were able to sail on very broad reaches up Somes Sound to Somesville Harbot at its head, two gybes required. I think this is our fourth trip to Somesville. I like the fact that we always find a free mooring here and Lene likes the Adadia Repertory Theater, about half a mile away. We saw Sacha Masha etc, a comedy by Chris Durang. A silly little story that gives its actors the opportunities to turn in larger than life, over the top performances. Two ladies gave us a lift on the way back to the dock at 10;30 P.M.
We had planned go three miles south to stay on our anchor at Valley Cove on the west side of Somes Sound, with its hike to the top of Flying Mountain that we have done several times before, but that was always in nice weather while today had a lot of rain. And I had fallen way behind in the blogging, so we kept the boat in Somesville and took the free public bus to Southwest Harbor where I used the wifi in their library to get caught up. We also had lunch in the Easyside Cafe, a lovely little family owned diner with great food at good prices served by members of the family and others. The only mistake I made here was eating so much that I had to turn down the blueberry pie, which was calling my name to me very loudly.  I am going to publish this post before the day and night are over, because we are heading east tomorrow to Sand Cove in Winter Harbor and then to Roque Island, for two days each, and I may not be able to post again until we get back to MDI.