Tuesday morning, we were up early to make the hop down to Little Cranberry Island. Windara felt super sluggish, and we were down about a knot from where our boat speed should be as we motored in the morning calm. We were worried that it might be an engine issue (we’re just past the 4,000 hour mark, and we know a repower is likely in the not-so-distant future), but later in the week it seemed to have cleared itself up, so we suspect we may have picked up some kelp.
There’s something different about island life – each island has a vibe all its own, but there’s an interconnectedness too, no matter where you happen to be. Little Cranberry Island is no different. While it’s absolutely its own place, it reminded us a bit of some of the out islands in the Bahamas mixed with a bit of the old Cape Cod and the Islands we knew as kids. We didn’t get to spend a ton of tie ashore, but we did get to take a nice walk one morning and we enjoyed a great dinner at the Islesford Dock Restaurant, which also serves as an art gallery. The restaurant was formerly a working fishing dock, and it’s situated for a perfect sunset view (plus there’s dock space for guests arriving by boat). Next door is Little Cranberry Lobster, the retail outlet for the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-Op, and Chris got us some lobsters for dinner and lobster rolls.
We had hoped to stay longer, but with a subtropical system passing offshore, we sailed up Somes Sound after work on Friday to hide from the northerly blow and picked up one of the moorings at Abel’s just in time for sunset. It was cool to sail up a fjard (a more irregularly-shaped, smaller version of a fjord) – the only one on the east coast. We had our lobsters for dinner, and this was the first time I’ve ever really successfully cracked a lobster myself (although we won’t talk about the mess I made).
It was quiet and so well protected that we didn’t feel the effects of the storm at all. Saturday was foggy and rainy off and on, but we still dinghied ashore to have lunch at Abel’s (highly recommended) and afterwards went to check out Somesville, mainly to hit an ATM and get a few things at the convenience store. Later in the afternoon we had a lazy sail under just the jib down to Mill Dam. The air was lighter than we expected, but since we were in no rush, we really enjoyed our slow sail and taking in the scenery. We briefly considered anchoring at Valley Cove, but given the wind direction and challenges of that anchorage, we didn’t feel comfortable so we continued on to Mill Dam. This time the anchorage was much less busy and we had our choice of spots. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds just in time to treat us to a gorgeous final sunset in the MDI area.
The next morning, we had breakfast and got under way, sad to be leaving MDI. Our plan was to head to Burnt Coat Harbor on the south side of Swans Island. The breeze was forecast to build through the morning, so we tucked in a reef and got under way. It was gusty until we got clear of land, alternating between 5 in the lulls and 15 in the gusts, and it was like someone was flipping a switch between the two. Those are never my favorite conditions, as the boat’s speed, motion and angle of heel change so drastically so quickly and I can’t say I was particularly enjoying it. As we made our way out towards Little and Great Duck Islands, the wind built to a steady 20+, which was not at all in the forecast. We were beating directly into the sun, making the lobster buoys and their corresponding toggles almost impossible to see – and they were everywhere (somehow we managed to avoid them all). Add to that a 1.5kt current on the nose sweeping us to leeward, and it wasn’t a particularly pleasant sail. Given the wind speed and direction, we decided that Burnt Coat wouldn’t be pleasant and that it didn’t make sense to sail to the Merchants (which was our alternate plan) since we didn’t have long before the wind and current would be opposed, which always makes for sloppy seas. We’d have been perfectly safe, but there was no reason to push with more comfortable options at hand.
Mackerel Cove is on the northeast side of Swans Island, and while it wasn’t on our list of places we hoped to get to this season, it turned out to be a perfect refuge. The wind continued to gust up for the rest of the day, but we were comfortably protected at anchor and had the anchorage to ourselves. We didn’t get out to explore much, but we did take a quick dinghy mission and saw a seal sitting on one of the rocky outcroppings and a bald eagle in a tree on one of the islands to the west. Our plan from here is to spend some time exploring Merchants Row, which was recommended by all our cruising friends.
