July 29-30 -- Hog Is. To Clyde Harbor, 12 Miles, and Lay Day for Ferry Ride to Monhegan Island

We spent more time in the Mid-Coast region of Maine, marked by Casco Bay to the west and Penobscot Bay to the east. On our four prior Maine cruises we zipped past this region, dashing to ports east or west, with stops only at Five Islands, Bath, Boothbay Harbor and Christmas Cove. But this year we added an equal number of new stops: Linekin Bay, Hog Island, Port Clyde and Monhegan Island. And there are several other great spots noted in the cruising guide.
Before our pancake breakfast with Anita

I heard a loud splash. I saw a ring of waves spreading from the spot. We have seen fish jump but this was big. With more focus, when it reoccurred I saw it was ten fish, each perhaps eight to ten inches longin a single spot which made such a big splash. And then a new lobster float popped up, and then it began to swim away: the head of a seal with a belly full of fresh fish.
The route to Port Clyde should have been sailed because there was mostly enough wind. We did sail for a bit, with genoa only, but furled it when the wind died and used only motor the rest of the way on a course that passed between various tight spots between islands and submerged reefs. We had problems due to my inexperience with the MFD. when heading south "head up" display is easier to use than the normal "north up", but we could not remember how to get to it on the fly. One of us had accidentally turned off our pink "track" but I got that on again. And somehow, while we used the information in the "route" as a series of waypoints, we could not get "onto" the route itself. But the crew does not really care.

The most interesting thing was that my geographically challenged mate helped with the navigation, using her iNavix. Unfortunately one page of the 82 pages of the chartbook for New England had gone missing since we got the book on 2002 -- the page for Muscongus Bay. iNavix shows a replica of the actual government paper chart, the gold standard, and so we were using that program in addition to the MFD on this passage. Using the suggestion of the cruising guide, I had routed us through the gap at the southers end of Davis Island, which seemed a bit wider but had no buoys to mark the deep water. Lene suggested the gap at the north end of Davis which had a red nun (and was a half mile shorter) and we took it, successfully.
The excitement was when we heard a single loud knock. It seemed we had nicked a lobster float with a blade of our propeller. We seemed to slow down; maybe we were dragging the trap? I turned 360 degrees, sharply, trying to shake it off. but not sure so out where there were no obstuctions, we cut the engine, lowered the dink and I took an icy salt water bath. Fortunately, only seaweed had to be cleared from the prop and rudder.
In Port Clyde it was sunny and we viewed the Wyeth gallery, and walked to Marshall Point lighthouse,

about a mile and a half. For the return trip a group of four generous folks from Missouri/Kansas gave us a ride in their Prius. How can six people fit in a Prius? One of the ladies sat in the trunk!! I said they were generous.
The cruising guides all praise Monhegan Island as a destination, but warn aainst sailing there. No anchoring because the bottom is too fouled; and getting a vacant mooring used by lobster boats is an iffy proposition. The harbor is acually a sound between Monhegan and its much smaller neighbor, Manana Island, and that sound runs SW to NE thus exposed to the prevailing winds and the big waves thay can kick up. And the place is ten miles out to sea so if you can't find a lobsterboat mooring it will be quite a long trip to an alternative port in the storm. Finally, there is no dinghy dock so if you do get on a mooring one person can drive the dink to the beach to unload the other but is not allowed to stay more than 15 minutes. So we did what we have done before at destinations where sailboats will be uncomfortable (from Sint Maarten we visited Saba and from Key West we visited the Dry Tortuga): we took the ferry. Here is Lene admiring her namesake fron the cargo laden deck of the ferry.

Yes, we took the first boat, the 7:00 am "mail run" on the 100 year old "Laura B" with Captain Nick,

shown here all serious but who has a winning smile.











We had breakfast (and lunch) at the Island Inn. It is the large building between the lighthouse, from which this picture was taken, and and the harbor with Manana in the background.

We walked a few of the 17 miles of trails that circle and criss cross this small island (about 1.5 by .5 miles) from the ends of the unpaved roads that fan out from the dock. The trails are narrow, hilly and involve climbing across rocks in them. But the views are spectacular, especially from the cliffs at Whitehead on the east side.

And the island has been a magnet for artists since about 1900, when tourism overtook fishing as the main activity. The works of many famous artists who have painted here are in the history and art museum in the old lighthouse keeper's houses, and many, less famous atrists, set up easels here to paint "en plein air" as Monet did.

We caught the 4:30 return on the "Elizabeth Ann" and were back in Port Clyde by 5:50, after a full day followed by dinner at the restaurant on the dock. So all three meals were on land today.
A highlight of the day was the many nice people we got to know. The island is so small that one tends to meet the same people several times. At breakfast we met TonyAnn and Mattis, from Philadelphia. Rusty, the captain of the Laura B in his youth was retired as an airline pilot and with his wafe Sharon, now live in Minnesota but travel a lot. Rachel, a young veteranarian was hiking on a recently recovered broken ankle and Ginny, out of Stratford CT, was one of the painters whose easel we admired. I was wearing my Antigua tee shirt and on the return ferry ride Tim and his wife Carol, who sail a Tartan 41 out of Stratford CT, told me of his recent cruise there. Turns out he knows both Bob and Gregg, with whom I crewed on a memorable delivery of  Bob's "Pandora" from Essex CT to Hampton VA a few falls ago.. At dinner we were seated next to a couple whose ketch, out of Perth Amboy was moored next to us. And near dinner's end someone called my name. It was Jesse, off the other ketch moored next to us, which he is racing the next few days in a series of three "destination races" for wooden boats, like "Abigail" in Penobscot Bay. He lives in our apartment house in New York City!!! We hope to connect with Jesse in Camden in a few days. If you ever think that ours is not "a small world after all," forget it!