Today was a day of joy! Sunny, pleasantly warm and, after a while, windy; and a day of discovery. It erases the last two day’s dreary fogginess. We began with Lene’s favorite: breakfast sandwiches ashore, at the Port Clyde General Store, which rented us our mooring, sold us diesel to fill our tanks, and gave us water to fill ILENE’s fresh water tanks. I then raised the dink while we were slowly underway from the fuel dock and set off.
I had measured off the distance from Port Clyde to three different ports, all of which involved crossing the West half of Penobscot Bay and making it through the Fox Island Thoroughfare which runs between Vinal Haven to its south and its other half, North Haven Island. All proposed ports thus got us into the East half of Penobscot Bay. Depending on how well the wind would blow us, we could go to the highly recommended Perry Creek (24 NM) where we have never been; we could go a bit further to the open and welcoming Carver Cove (25 NM); or we could push on across East Penobscot Bay and enter the Deer Island thoroughfare (the E-W passage past the south side of Deer Island) to anchor in Stonington (31 NM). It has access to a grocery to satisfy Lene’s shopping addiction. Hey Roger, be grateful — better groceries than diamonds!) we ended up at Wreck Is., even further.
Wind had been promised from the South at ten to fifteen knots but it started much more slowly so although the mainsail was up, we were motorsailing. But then it came up and we sailed without engine the remaining 4.5 hours, including through the entirety of Fox Is. Thoroughfare. There we say the rocks called Fixes Ears, this gorgeous Freedom sloop and a BIG trawler.
Before the thoroughfare we had shut off the diesel, sailing slowly, at 4-5 knots, but wind and boat speed picked up as the day wore on until we were making 7.8. I love speed but the problem was the fields or patches intensely strewn with lobster pot floats. Dodging them is like the arcade game of driving an icon of a car, faster and faster while trying to avoid obstacles which pop up. Going faster makes it harder to dodge the damned things. Unbidden by my mate, I rolled up the Genoa and put out the small jib to slow us down. Before getting to Deer Island Thoroughfare, (with Stonington on the north side (above the top red line in the chart)Lene asked if we could go further than that with such wonderful wind. What about Swan’s Island? Sure! We have previously visited three good harbors on that island.
So we diverted to a bit more southerly course toward the east. We were headed for Merchants Row, the red line near the bottom of the chart, south of which sits Merchant Island. The Row is another “named” E-W passage. But I espied on the chart yet another E-W passage, south of the Deer Island Thoroughfare and north of Merchants Row. Unlike those two, the chart gives this passage, that I have marked with a green line (with a clockwise hook down to Wreck Is) no name. It has few buoys, only one, and we had never been through it before. We took this “road less travelled”. But half way through it, looking south between St Helena Is. and Bare Is., we saw some boats at anchor. The chart said they were at the north side of Wreck Island. Hmmm. The Maine Coast Cruising Guide is great in describing lesser known beautiful anchorages. I’d never heard of Wreck Is. Before but it became our destination. We anchored in 18 feet of water with 70 feet of snubbed chain. We were the third of three boats, one this classic Concordia. Alphie came out to play and we enjoyed the sunset. [Last 3 pics to be added when internet permits]
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