A slow 11:30 start due to the short distance involved. But the 11 miles took four hours, so average speed was 3.5 knots. Part of the slowness was because the Admiral pleaded for me to use the small jib, not the genoa, which was not enough canvas with the leisurely winds. But she is a good mate in every sense of the word and I like to keep her happy. And we were in no hurry, with the primary attractions of Five Islands, on the east side of the Sheepscot River, being (A) the possibility of a free mooring and (B) a lobster at the Five Islands Lobster Company shack, the only business in town, other than a greengrocer about a mile walk away.
We passed this pretty light on Burnt Island early in the passage and later, the light on The Cuckolds.
But the 3.5 knot average speed does not tell the story. The first half of the passage was SSW out of Booth Bay, with the second half being NNW up the Sheepscot once rounding The Cuckolds, off Cape Newagen, at the southern tip of Southport Island. That large island divides Booth Bay from The Sheepscot River. During the first half of the passage we made more than 3.5 knots but once we turned west, preliminarily to turning northward, someone turned off the wind machine. (At that time we also saw another Saga 43 going the other way and hailed her on the VHF, but lots of boats do not turn on their radios and she was not near enough for me to see her name.)
The trip up the Sheepscot was s-l-o-w, with no wind whatsoever at times and lots of making only 1.5 knots speed over the ground, or less. Of course that is fun too -- trying to get every tenth of a knot out of your boat when there are precious few of them to be had. It was even more fun when we found another boat a quarter mile behind us who was, I assume, trying to overtake us. No way, small jib or not!
We did get a good mooring and I fixed a few things, cleaned a few things and lowered the dink in anticipation of the lobsters.
Two young lobsters gave up their lives for our gastronomic pleasure and nourishment. With corn on the cob and cole slaw, dinner for two cost $35.
Back on the boat as i'm hauling the dink up on its davits, a lobster boat came by and the Captain said that he had passengers to offload at the dock but would need his mooring in a few minutes. I have never been chased off a mooring by its owner before, however politely, and the problem with such situations is that dark is usually, rapidly approaching. A thought flitted momentarily through my brain: How do I know it's your mooring? But I sure did know that it was not my mooring. We motored around looking for another, but then left Five Islands for its neighbor to the south, the large very well protected Harmon Harbor. It's narrow entrance is indicated by a single not-lighted red buoy and coming in at dusk with low tide we saw the rocks all around it. Not a good idea coming in after dark. (This is looking out next morning at near low. The red buoy is the little dot seeming to protrude below the rocks at the right.)
A very calm night except for the dance music of the wedding at the hotel on the bluff overlooking the Harbor from the other side, a bit to the left of this photo.
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