Early Monday morning, we said goodbye to MDI, cautiously optimistic that in a couple of days, we’d be able to cross off one of our Maine cruising “must dos”. As I took in the parting views, I couldn’t help but notice how perfect of a subject the hazy mountains of Acadia would be for a […]
Our first day in Bar Harbor was foggy and chilly, and we spent a lot of time relaxing in the cockpit, watching the fog come and go. One of our goals this season is to break out all the stuff we’ve been lugging around and decide whether or not it’s worth keeping, so we finally […]
Saturday’s forecast was miserable and we were getting low on provisions, so we took advantage of the Island Explorer bus system to go grocery shopping in Bar Harbor. It would have been a relatively quick trip, but we misread the schedule and ended up waiting on the side of the road for an hour, then […]
Before kicking off my work day, we made the short hop on a windless morning past Stonington and over to Hells Half Acre. I was curious to see whether I’d love it as much on a second visit, and the answer was a resounding “Hell yes”. Windara was the only boat there, and I was […]
So many of our cruising friends told us Seal Bay needed to be on our list, and we were excited to visit a new-to-us anchorage (my only “requirement” for this trip was to get in at least one new anchorage, so mission accomplished). Tucked into the Vinalhaven coastline, the deep water channel is relatively narrow […]
Splash “We’re clear” – words I haven’t spoken in about nine months. As the mooring line slipped clear of our bow, a weight slipped clear of my soul. We motored out the channel and past the scattered lobster traps, then rolled out the jib for a lazy sail to Castine. There was patchy fog – […]
I’ve been sailing for most of my life. I started out sailing sunfish on Lake Wequaquet on Cape Cod, later graduating to faster, more tender boats like the Sidewinder 16 that Melissa not-so-affectionately named Miss Manners. Eventually we bought our first keelboat – a 1974 O’Day 23 Sorcerer’s Apprentice – named for the many buckets […]
With provisions secured, we had a wonderful sail through the Deer Isle thorofare, past the lighthouse on Mark Island and over to Calderwood Island. We anchored between Calderwood and Burnt Islands just in time for golden hour. There were more boats there than we were expecting, but we found a great spot to drop the […]
Anchored off Hells Half Acre in the Merchants, I realized I’ve run out of adjectives for the beauty of this place. Hells Half Acre is a small, granite island with a little forest, wild flowers, wild raspberries and a surprising number of birds. The Maine Island Trail Association maintains three primitive camp sites, and small […]
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 […]