Days 53-54, August 9-10 -- Shelburne NS to Eastern Cove, Long Island, Maine -- 165 NM

     "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to             fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in               miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current         when it serves, or lose our ventures."  Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3

William Shakespeare knew a lot about life and the sea, more than just writing plays. He knew that there is a moment -- that one must "strike while the iron is hot." Our moment (thanks Bill for your help) was 11 a.m. on August 9; less wind the next day.  And the wind and tide were favorable, at least during parts of the passage. Our track described a great big curve: south then SW, W and finally WNW. All was good on the southbound part of the passage out of Shelburne. A last good look at Nova Scotia.

The next seven hours as we headed southwest and west were tough, with big ten foot ocean rollers plus the wind trying to push us backwards. We were motoring here with the reefed main up for stability and there were some foggy patches. But all went well especially with two hours of favorable current pushing us west from the buoy south of Cape Sable to the one at Blonde Rocks, giving us an extra two knots above boat speed through the water during that thirteen miles from the Cape Sable buoy to the Blonde Rock buoy. We passed Blonde Rock at 7 pm. (It is white with the froth of the breakers on it) We turned WNW and sailed without the motor first with small jib and reefed main and later with genoa and reefed main -- a straight course of 308 degrees magnetic, for 112 nautical miles, with actual course adjusted slightly as the currents in and out of the Bay of Fundy, pushed us from side to side. Sunset on the Bay of Fundy:

Good wind until 5 a.m., when I was on watch. Then it died so we had to motor sail the rest of the way arriving 25 hours after we departed.

It was cool at night but we bundled up.

Lene looks happy; maybe it is because she is headed for the good ol’ U.S. of A.

I thought we had fog again approaching Maine, but it was in front of us and as we got nearer, it did not get nearer to us, perhaps a hazy smog.

A boat passed two miles further off shore from us near Nova Scotia. The lights of another unidentified one loomed up on our starboard side during the night, believed to be several miles away, and then drifted passed down to our starboard quarter. Not much traffic out there. Approaching Maine we saw several dorsal fins of unidentified creatures and in the bay where we anchored a seal lay on his back basking in the water and gave us a good friendly look.

First sight of the US was the huge mountains of Mt. Desert Island, seen here from 25 miles out as just a different shade of blue gray above the horizon. Our three prior visits to Maine all involved coast-wise approaches so we never saw the mountains from this far out and haze usually obstructs such views. The next sight of the U.S. was the unfortunate appearance of lobster trap buoys, set in water 350 feet deep, way off the coast!

In Nova Scotia, the lobstering season does not include the sailing months, which is one of the major attractions of cruising N.S. as compared to Maine. This is one trap, with two floats, a barrier when the wind and current place them perpendicular to ones course, and worse when there are hundreds of pairs. it is just not as much fun cruising amidst them, like those video games where you are driving a race car and obstacles loom up before you in rapid succession.

We made a change of plans during the passage. We had planned to visit Frenchboro, the lobstering port on the north side of Long Island, a favorite of ours for its lobsters, cole slaw, corn and blueberry pie, now an inflation adjusted $27 US. When you order, they bring them up from the lobster boats unloading their catch to the "Deli," as they call it, and cook them for you. But U S Homeland Security, who we had called before we left N.S., told us not to set foot off the boat until they visited us, in Northeast Harbor and cleared us in. So we diverted to a different cove on Long Island, Eastern Cove, much larger and well protected from the expected SW winds, and as deserted as many harbors in Nova Scotia. No other boat came in. There, the allure of lobsters would not tempt us to break the law.  In Eastern Cove we replaced the Canadian courtesy flay with the yellow Q, for quarantine, flag which will be removed,

once homeland security “visits” us and clears us, in Northeast Harbor. We have never been boarded by the officials of any nation, a first for us. We certainly have nothing to hide.

The first time we set our anchor here in Eastern Cove, it did not set right at the start and we ended up too close to some suspicious rocks, so after lunch we moved to a place with lots of deep water all around, starboard, forward and port:

And we caught up on lost sleep. Next morning the view aft: It's Morning in America!