First an apology for any readers who expected more prompt posting and worried about us. The culprit has been lack of internet and it may get worse. I have some photos I’d like to share with you but may have to edit this and other posts later when internet is more available.
We were underway from 8:00 am to 1:20 pm, 5.33 hours, mooring to mooring. But motoring all the way, because the wind was directly behind us, too light, so while we put out the main with preventer and Genoa they did no good and we furled and continued motoring — and rolling as happens on a dead run. The distance is from the tracking feature of the chart plotter. It’s funny, because I laid out a course on paper charts that included a shortcut (behind Thacher lsland, that we did not take because of the wind and fog). So the “long cut” we took should have longer, not shorter. Another mystery of the sea.
The fog off the Cape, gave interesting pictures of the tops of the two lighthouses.
Once past some junk off the tip of Cape Ann, it was a straight shot to White Island, at the SW corner of the Shoals with its lighthouse, seen over Lene’s right shoulder during our ramble over the wild southeastern part of the island.
Auto performed perfectly while Lene maintained the watch during which I got a chance to clean ILENE’s heads and interior and we showered.
The shoals are a delightful favorite on the Maine-New Hampshire border but six miles off shore. It is a convenient stop (though not midway) between the Cape Ann MA ports and Casco Bay ME ports. And it has free moorings, courtesy of the Portsmouth YC, if you can get one, which we somehow always seem to be able to do, including this time.
The largest island in the group of tiny ones is Star Is. Which has a large old hotel that books week long spiritual retreats for groups that come out by ferry from Portsmouth. It started and remains partly as asset of the Unitarian Universalist church and shrines and monuments are situated in various places. This year a large new solar paneI field and a placard memorializing the female slave owned by the founding minister. The hotel has a huge “Mess Hall” style dining room for up to 300 guests. Boaters like us are permitted to roam the island after landing our dinks, but must be off the island by 5 pm, so are not able to buy dinner at the hotel; we have plenty of food.
We hiked the rugged bird covered rocks, pounded by the ocean.
There is a monthly column in Points East magazine written by the Captain of the ferry, who also does maintenance projects here, especially in the winter. I thought of him because there is a maintenance project noisily clanging here with bucket loaders moving boulders to repair and reinforce the seawall between Star Island and neighboring Island, a bit of which appears to the left. But first, a view of the back end of the hotel between a monument and Lene.
The seawall creates the harbor. But the noisy operation ended at night, leaving only the gongs created by the movement of the buoys.
Tomorrow: on to Casco Bay— Maine proper.
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