Cruising the Coast of Maine

Our New England cruising season is a wrap!

I’m posting a week later than planned. Once I’m on land I get right back into my land life and lose the desire to blog about cruising. (Note: The picture at the top of this post is of Whaleback Light with Wood Island Life Saving Station behind.)

We did, in fact, start our return trip to our home mooring on Sunday 8/27. It was a gorgeous day, both atmospherically and on the seas. It was sunny and warm with a light breeze and almost glassy seas and a gentle, long-period swell. We’d planned to stop at Damariscove for the night if it wasn’t too crowded. It was too crowded. We decided to see if any of the four mooring balls at Seguin Island, 7nm further south and within site, were open. (No anchoring allowed at Sequin.) With the binoculars, we could see there were two open balls, but it was such a calm, gorgeous day to be cruising, that we decided to just keep going. We eventually dropped anchor in Harpswell Harbor in time for afternoon drinks. It was about a 50nm day.

Monday morning we hauled anchor after an early breakfast and had another lovely cruise to Saco, ME and picked up one of the town moorings up the river. It was almost lunch time, so we splashed dinghy and headed up river to the public town boat launch/dock, tied up, and walked to Run of the Mill for lunch. Yummy! We walked about town a bit afterward and stopped for ice cream at The Saco Scoop before returning to Dumbledore.

We were treated to a third consecutive lovely cruising day on Tuesday, leaving Saco at 8:00am and arriving at our home mooring by 1:30pm. We popped up to our friend Mike’s dock that afternoon for drinks and conversation, then returned to Dumbledore for a late lunch. We decided to stay aboard at our mooring (which is a floating dock in the middle of Back Channel) until Friday as consolation for having to end our cruise early.

Wednesday was overcast and rained off and on until late afternoon. We spent the day reading and chasing leak paths. Dave recorded 11 different leak paths. Oh goody. Our boating club dinner & meeting were that night, so we dinghied to Mike’s house to hitch a ride to the restaurant. The meeting followed at his house, and we dinghied back to Dumbledore afterward.

Thursday was bright, sunny, and windy. The seas were going to be up, so we decided to cruise up the Cocheco River to Dover. We invited my folks to come along. Dad couldn’t make it, but Mom joined us. We rode the tide up the Piscataqua River to the Cocheco. We had our engines set for 7 knots, but at one point the tide & current had us going almost 12 knots- wahoo! It was VERY windy, the hold-on-to-your-hat kind of windy! There is a marina near the part of the Cocheco River that enters the town of Dover that used to have a dock for day visitors. It’s still there, but it’s smaller than it used to be and there were already two day boats tied up. So we turned around and dropped the anchor out of the channel about 0.5 mile down river and ate lunch aboard before returning to our mooring. We got to ride the outgoing tide, although it wasn’t as fast-flowing as the trip up. It was also less windy on the return trip. When we got to our mooring, we returned Mom to the boat launch where Dad picked her up, and Dave & I returned to Dumbledore for our final night aboard.

My dad came to collect us Friday morning (thanks again, Dad!) and brought us to our house where we picked up our car and returned to Kittery to unload a good portion of our stuff off Dumbledore. We would complete the rest of the unloading another day. We’ve been on land since September 1^st. We’ve done some boat work since, and by “we” I mean mostly Dave. I’ll tell you about that another time. I need fodder for additional blogs.

Until next time, stay safe and take care of each other!

We made it as far as Rockland, ME!

With our alternator finally sorted and our electrical gremlins somewhat under control (though still not completely eradicated), we set off again on August 15^th to cruise up the coast of Maine. To ensure the alternator was charging the batteries and not overworking itself, we made only a short hop to the Isles of Shoals that first night. It performed admirably and has continued to so throughout this trip. Yay!

Our first two nights at anchor were rolly. Gosport Harbor at the Isles of Shoals is only exposed to the NE and that was the direction of the fairly short-period swells that first night. Our second stop was at Cliff Island, about ½ mile NE of Jewell Island. There was plenty of room to anchor at Jewell, but we wanted to try a new spot. It was nice and calm until high tide around 6pm. At high tide, the exposed ledge that breaks the incoming swells is under water and not breaking anything. We rolled quite a bit for about 4 or 5 hours. Mid-tide falling to mid-tide rising is the sweet spot at this anchorage. Fortunately that encompassed enough of the night to get some sleep at least.

The following day we set out for Greenleaf Cove in Muscongus Bay to visit with my cousins, Richard & Sharon in Bremen, ME. The day we travelled to Cliff had been overcast and cool. This travel day was overcast and misty when we woke up in the morning and it didn’t get any nicer. We donned our foul weather gear to keep our butts dry driving from the wet seats up on the fly bridge, and to keep warm. Eventually it started to rain lightly. The rain stopped just before we rounded Pemaquid Point, but then there was fog. Fortunately the fog still allowed for about ½+ nm visibility. The middle part of the ride was also bumpier than we’d expected, but not too bad. We made it to Greenleaf Cove in front of my cousin’s house around 3pm and settled onto one of their neighbor’s moorings. Then we dinghied ashore for some visiting and a yummy, warm soup that was perfect for that day’s weather.

We spent four nights in Greenleaf Cove, sleeping onboard Dumbledore and visiting with my cousins during parts of the day/evening. Friday was another overcast, showery day that started with me reading and Dave doing some boat tasks before we popped ashore after lunch. We ended up going to an art show and then out to dinner with my cousins and had a really good time. Saturday, Dave & I borrowed my cousins’ car so we could go to Dave’s family reunion in Greene, ME. It was a cozy group of 10 and we enjoyed several hours of conversation and food before heading back to Bremen. We arrived back to find that my parents had arrived. We shared another dinner ashore, courtesy of Sharon. Then my folks stayed at their house while Dave & I returned to Dumbledore for bed. Just after noon on Sunday, everyone packed up lunch and piled onto Dumbledore for a trip 7nm south to Harbor Island for the afternoon. We anchored before 2pm and ate lunch. Then Richard, Sharon, Dave and I went ashore to walk the public trail that the very kind owners of the island maintain. It’s lovely that so many private owners of Maine islands allow public access. If you ever have occasion to visit such an island, please respect the rules and privacy of the owners. We returned to the house for another shared dinner, this one courtesy of my folks. Then they returned to Dumbledore with me and Dave for the night, because we were heading off the following day.

Just after breakfast this past Monday, Dave and Richard drove to Rockland to park my folks’ car, then returned in Richard’s car. This allowed us to spend a couple of nights with my folks without having to retrace our steps back to Greenleaf Cove. We spent Monday night in Tenants Harbor, going for a short walk about town after lunch (and buying delicious muffins at the general store). The next day, Tuesday, we headed over to Warren Island State Park and spent a night on a mooring there. Warren Island is the only ME State Park designed specifically for boaters. The only way to access the island is by boat; there is no public transportation (ferry) there. We went for a walk ashore, but we had to rush it because we forgot our insect repellent and those mosquitoes were voracious! It is a lovely island that Dave & I hope to return to one day, better prepared for the insects. (The picture at the top of this post is looking from Warren Island to Dumbledore in the mooring field.)

Wednesday morning we set off for Rockland Harbor to drop off my folks so they could head back home to NH. We enjoyed a lovely lunch ashore together before they set off. Dave and I have been here since. Over two days we visited the Lighthouse Museum, the Sail, Power and Steam Museum, and the Coastal Maine Islands National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. All were wonderful and we highly recommend all of them! We enjoyed another lunch ashore and a walk along the water on the Harbor Trail.

This trip started with several overcast, and lightly showery days (although Saturday’s rain was brief and we did have sun). Then we had a nice run of three sunny, warm (but not hot) days. Yesterday we had hoped to set off for the west side of Vinalhaven to ride out some predicted bigger winds. It was drizzly when we got up, but we donned our foul weather gear after breakfast, headed over to Journey’s End Marina for fuel and water, then headed out of the harbor. That didn’t last long. Although the harbor was calm, the exposed part of Penobscot Bay was not, and it was full on raining. So, we turned around and re-anchored, spending the day inside and closed up, chasing the numerous leaks that reveal themselves when it rains all day. (I’ll gripe about that in another post.)

It’s now Saturday, and though the day started gray, overcast and cool, around 3pm the skies became about half cloudy, half clear and the sun is out. Wonderful, right? Well, it is, but we still are likely to start our 3-day trek back to home port tomorrow morning, earlier than planned. Why? Tropical Storm/Hurricane Franklin will be passing between the US East Coast and Bermuda impacting our area mid-week. Don’t panic! the hurricane is not going to hit us. But a hurricane out at sea sends out swells and sometimes higher waves, and those could impede our progress home if we wait too long. It’s still not certain what the effect of Franklin will be, but we can’t afford to wait until the last minute. If it turns out that Franklin doesn’t raise the seas much, we can always dub around our home waters before returning to our dock and land home.

That’s my update. Given the timing of our return home and the holiday weekend, I will probably post again the weekend after Labor Day and let you know how the end of our trip panned out. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!

We are not in Penobscot Bay

Not only are we not in Penobscot Bay, we’re not even on Dumbledore. We are still land bound.

We took Dumbledore and his new alternator for a test run up to Little Bay (near Durham, NH) on Thursday and spent the night on a mooring up there. The alternator performed admirably. So why are we not out on Dumbledore? We were having electrical issues. These manifested in two ways. First, the old microwave that came with the boat had stopped heating things, at least not consistently. We figured it was old and wanted to replace it with a microwave/convection oven anyway, which we did. Dave installed it several days ago and used the microwave feature successfully. On our alternator test run trip on Thursday, the microwave did not heat his lunch, nor did it heat something I tried to warm later in the day. Yet that night the air fryer function cooked our sweet potato fries perfectly. Hmmm. Friday morning I tried to turn on the solenoid switch that turns the propane to the stove on & off. It worked fine the six days we were onboard in July, but Friday morning the switch wouldn’t even turn on (you turn it on, then push the gas button to turn on the flow). What the heck??

Long story short, Dave didn’t think it was a good idea to set off up the coast of Maine with wonky electricity, a sentiment with which I agree. He has never been pleased with the haphazard mishmash of wiring on Dumbledore anyway. He describes the wiring as abysmal; sometimes he calls it a “rat’s nest.” The picture above is only the wiring that’s not in the engine room. The wiring down there isn’t much better. Bottom line, for now he has ordered what he needs to create a monitored bus bar distribution system. It won’t solve all our electrical issues, but it will be an improvement that also provides data that will allow him to suss out additional problems, and it will be significantly safer.

Looks like we won’t get our extended cruise up the coast of Maine this year, but we’ll eek out some time once this piece is taken care of, which he’ll tend to as soon as all the parts arrive this week.

I will keep you all posted. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!

We interrupt this Maine cruise…

On Friday, July 21^st, we set out on Dumbledore for a 6-week cruise up the Maine coast, heading for Penobscot Bay. We enjoyed a lovely couple of nights on a town mooring in the Saco River (picture at top of post), then a night at Jewell Island. We backtracked a bit and spent a night on a friend’s mooring at Cousins Island so we could visit our friends at Greene Marine, the boatyard that helped us convert Indigo Lady to solar electric, and who have become lasting friends. From there we were heading to Damariscove, but the seas were uncomfortable, so we bailed and went up the New Meadows River to one of our favorite Midcoast stops- The Basin. We hiked the Micah Trail that afternoon, which turned into a foraging expedition because we found a bunch of black trumpet mushrooms- score! Dave also found a handful of yellow-foot chanterelles, which he ate for breakfast the next day. He dried the black trumpets.

Thursday morning was a lovely, calm day. So, we set out to meet up with friends at Damariscove. One mile out of The Basin, our alternator stopped working. Uh oh! Can’t cool the engine if the alternator isn’t spinning that belt. Fortunately, the New Meadows River was calm, and it is wide and we were in a channel between the rows of lobster pots. I kept watch above while Dave did some troubleshooting. He was able to get the alternator running, but it needed repair or replacement right away. We were only 8 hours cruising from our home dock, so we decided to take the risk and head there. Worst case scenario, if the alternator stopped, we’d call for a tow. If we got lucky, we’d make it all the way home before sunset and not have to pay for a marina or rent a car while we sorted our alternator (it is a model that is difficult to find).

We got lucky. We were docked by 6:30pm, and my cousin, Bob, was there at the dock (having been working on his boat) to help with the lines. We all had some drinks and dinner aboard Dumbledore. Bob went home and Dave & I stayed onboard for the night. After breakfast the next morning, Dave called the alternator repair guy whose voicemail indicated that he was at his daughter’s wedding that day and heading off for vacation the following week. Yikes! He’d be in the shop Friday. So Dave left a message, removed the alternator, and we crossed our fingers that the guy would get back to us Friday. Fearing we would be homebound for over a week, we packed up stuff we didn’t want to leave aboard and met my Dad at the boat launch so he could drive us home. (Thanks, Dad!)

We got lucky again. The alternator guy called back that very afternoon (daughter’s wedding was in the morning) and told Dave that if he could get the alternator to him, he’d fix it Friday. Dave left immediately. Friday morning, alternator guy called around 9:30am to say the alternator was done. Woo hoo! Again, Dave left immediately.

As I type this today, Saturday, Dave is out at Dumbledore installing the repaired alternator and doing a couple of other boat things. We decided not to give ourselves whiplash and head back out on our trip right away. We’re taking this weekend and at least Monday to tend to a few things locally, then we’ll restart our trip Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll probably even still make it up to Penobscot Bay.

I will try to continue to post weekly for the duration of our cruise. Hopefully next time I’ll be writing to you from Penobscot Bay. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!

Meet Dumbledore (our boat, not the Hogwarts headmaster)

We finally made it out on Dumbledore! We set out yesterday from our mooring in Back Channel and picked up a town mooring in the Saco River last night. We will spend the next 5-6 weeks cruising the coast of Maine up to and around Penobscot Bay, then back home. Since we just started this trip, I don’t have much to write about. Then I remembered we haven’t told you all much about Dumbledore. So, to help you get acquainted, here’s a video tour. Enjoy!

(The feature photo at top of the post is from when Dumbledore was put on the hard for this past winter. I was just having a little fun with the orange cones and Dumbledore’s speed bulb.)

Hello from Saco, ME

Yup, still here.

We returned from closing up Lady in the Bahamas and set about getting Dumbledore ready to launch before Dave headed to Nashville in late July (conference). Once he was back we took a couple of weeks to prepare ourselves and Dumbledore for his first shakedown cruise. So here we are on day one, en route up into Casco Bay, going as far as The Basin up the New Meadow River.

Good night from the Saco River!

Jewell – Saco – Home

Thursday morning we filled our water tanks and dropped off our Garbage at Brewer’s Marina before leaving South Freeport in a little fog, and had a good trip over to Jewell Island, beating the predicted rain. There were 5 other boats there already, so we anchored at the back of the line, still sheltered in the little cove, with only a little wrap-around swell from the point to the west. To the east it was blue sky with a few clouds. To our west, coming from the mainland (off Portland), there was fog and rain heading toward us. It finally reached us in the afternoon, but then it cleared again, stuff dried out, and we were able to eat out in the cockpit. We watched the sun set and the full moon rise, and Dave pointed out Venus, Jupiter and Mars on the ecliptic with the moon.

Moon rising over Jewell

Friday morning was beautiful and I even got to do yoga on the bow walkway. We set out for Saco mid morning. There were some 6 foot ocean swells, but the weather stayed clear and we picked up a mooring at Saco mid afternoon. We did a little cleaning inside and out then enjoyed the warm weather (no overshirts needed!) and nice breeze up in the tramp. My friend Heidi was able to join us aboard for an early evening drink before heading out to a friend’s birthday dinner. The four of us took her ashore and headed to dinner ourselves at Huot’s. The rain even held off until after our return, and the thunderstorms stayed away from us.

This morning was another beautiful morning (Saturday). With a long ride ahead of us to our home dock, and thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon, we dropped the mooring and set off by 8am, having breakfast while underway. Initially we had 4-5 foot swells, but those have since dropped to 2-3 feet, and we’ve had mostly sunny skies. At one point we briefly entered a low fog bank, so our driving visibility was limited, but the sun was shining overhead!

In about an hour we should make Pepperel Cove where Mom & I will go ashore to get the car and bring it around to the boat launch at Traip Academy to meet the boys. Then we’ll start the business of sorting stuff and going ashore.

Or maybe we’ll leave the sorting for tomorrow and go get dinner at Warren’s 😉

This trip may be coming to and end, but I’m not done blogging. There will be more (shorter) excursions on Lady this season. I will also continue posting at least weekly while we’re ashore over the fall and winter months. There’s more to ‘life on Lady’ than actually being aboard her 😊.

Dirty Boat

When the weather is nice I want to share the amazing scenery and our fabulous experiences. However, I hope I’ve been reasonably representing some of the challenges of being aboard for 3+ weeks, which is easier to do when the weather is less than ideal.

My friend Courtney posted some ‘reality’ pictures on Facebook the other day- no makeup, clutter, crying child- the stuff we rarely see on FB. It inspired me to do the same here in pictures. Unfortunately, I cleaned just a couple of days ago, so Lady’s looked worse than what follows. It’s challenging to capture how dirty and cluttered this boat can get with four people aboard. Just keep in mind that (a) the exterior is bright white when she’s clean, (b) the interior salon/galley space is about 15′ x 8′, and (c) the cabins are 7.5′ x 8.5′.

dirty cockpit floor

footprints at the wheel

external clutter (shoes, boat rags, laundry)

internal clutter

cluttered nav station

cluttered galley

cluttered spare cabin

this is how dirty the floor is

like the frizzy do?

Mom’s cheating 😉

Salt water wash, fresh water rinse

I mentioned in another post that we hold 160 gallons of water on board. We have purchased a water maker which Dave will install when we return. So until then we have what we have and fill up when we can. So we are frugal in a couple of ways (sometimes more than we need to be; I worry about running out). Our galley sink has a valve to run either salt water or fresh water. So we wash our dishes with salt water and dish soap, then give them a final rinse with fresh water. Sometimes we do that for our ‘showers’ if we know we can’t refill our fresh water for a while. Our heads (boat word for bathrooms) only have fresh water, so if the ocean water temp is 65F or more (that’s warm for Maine) we’ll don our swimsuits, jump in and soap up with an ocean-friendly soap, rinse it off, then use the fresh water rinse hose on our starboard stern. Fortunately we have water heaters, so the rinse is warm!

Which leads me to electricity…

One thing I like about living on a boat is the reduced footprint. We are solar electric, which greatly reduces our use of fossil fuels. We only have to run the diesel generators (which charge the batteries that run the electric motors) when we travel more than 20-30 miles at a pop, or if we want to go faster than 5 knots, or if we’re traveling into head seas (waves & wind in our face). When we’re stationary, the solar panels keep the batteries charged nicely. We can run a coffee maker, a bread maker, an instant pot, a microwave, charge our electronics, run power tools, etc.- just not all at once 😉.

Ah, July in Maine

At least when it rains in the Caribbean, it’s still warm. Not so in Maine. The air temp might be 62F right now, with rain and an easterly wind (so coming across the even cooler ocean). Dave and Dad don’t seem to mind so much. Mom & I are holed up inside with all hatches & portholes closed save one small one that, for now, the rain isn’t coming through. It feels more like April or early May rather than July.

I know I’ve posted a bunch of idyllic pictures of the Maine coast and islands with the sun shining. And I know there has been a long hot and humid stretch for you all back on land. But we’ve been in long pants and chamois or fleece almost every day, especially when we’re underway, and certainly every evening. Our on-the-water temps have averaged high 60s-low 70s. When we go ashore on the mainland we can feel the heat, and we shed layers quickly. Even the interior of an island is a little warmer, but as soon as we’re back aboard we break out the warm clothes.