Maine and on to Canada

It has been nearly a week since I have posted, for various reasons. We have been busy with chores, we have visited places ashore, we have been at sea for a couple days, and I have been cold and pouty some of the time. We are in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia now, but I will go back seven days to give an overview of our activities.

On Wednesday, July 2, we cast off the dock at DiMillo's in Portland, having run a couple more errands, me for wine and Peter and Enis for boat-related items. I came back from Old Port Water Merchants to find Enis and Peter transferring line from a large spool to a water hose reel. We plan to deploy these lines in Greenland in deep anchorages.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil statue in front of the wine store

Enis and Peter working on the dock

After a bit of motoring before the wind picked up, we were sailng on a starboard tack on a beam reach at over 6 knots in 2-4 foot seas and 8-10 knots of SSE wind. Our course was set for Seguin Island in the Gulf of Maine, which we had tried to visit in August 2022 but found the outermost, largest mooring ball--the only one large enough and with enough swing room to accommodate a boat our size--taken, so we sailed on. This day, near 4 p.m., the mooring balls were all free and we used the large mooring ball in order to visit the island for a couple hours.

Seguin Island

Approaching Seguin Island

Peter and Enis paddled the dinghy to shore, where a few volunteers and guests were disembarking from a small boat via dinghy. 

Peter and Enis paddling to the shore of Seguin Island

Cove at Seguin Island

Boat house by the cove's beach

We met the caretaker, Maureen, who was very gracious, and we helped carried supplies up to the lighthouse and keeper's house. Then Maureen gave us a tour of the lighthouse, the highest one in Maine. This is the second lighthouse, built in 1857. The first was commissioned by George Washington and built of wood in 1795. The current 53-foot (16 meter) tower's light is 180 feet (55 meters) above mean sea level, with the only first-order Fresnel lens currently in use in Maine. 

Spiral staircase inside the lighthouse tower

Outside vegetation and buildings reflected in the Fresnel lens

Maureen telling us about the light

The first order Fresnel light

The 1857 lighthouse tower

It was a clear day, and the views from the tower were expansive. After our tour, we walked along a trail to Cobblestone Beach. On the way back to the rock and sand shore where we had left our dinghy, I slowed down to listen to the bird songs and was lucky to spot a yellow warbler quite close to the path.

View towards the mainland to the west

View to the south

Flowers and glacial scarred rocks above Cobblestone Beach

Rock formation above Cobblestone Beach

Cobblestone Beach

Yellow warbler with an insect

At 6 p.m., we cast off the mooring and headed for a quiet harbor at the mouth of the Sheepscot River in Pierce Cove. As the day ended, the sun became an enormous fiery red ball above the tips of the conifers on the far shore.

Red sun over the treetops, Sheepscot River

During the day, Peter had made contact with fellow OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) members Bill and Lynn on the sailing vessel Blue Highway, whom we had got to know in 2022 in Maine and in 2023 in the Exuma Islands of the Bahamas. They were headed for Boothbay Harbor for the Independence Day fireworks, and we decided to delay our departure for Canada by a couple days to go there also. 

The anchor was hauled on board at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 3, and we passed beside the Southport Island Swing Bridge at its 11:30 opening, dodging lobster pot buoys in the channel. We picked up a Carousel Marina mooring ball in Boothbay Harbor around noon. 

Mooring balls in the Southport Island Swing Bridge

Mantra passing by the open bridge

With the smaller Tohatsu outboard engine, we tootled over to a dinghy dock and walked around town, looking for a place to have lunch. We finally chose a picnic area with a permanent food truck run by the Footbridge Fish Company. Peter had poutine while Enis enjoyed a large lobster roll. I had the only vegetarian options, four-bean salad and french fries. 

Enis picking up a mooring ball in Boothbay Harbor

Enis by a display of lobster pot buoys

Fragrant white lilac blossoms in Boothbay Harbor

Garden with a pine cone sculpture made from shovel

We then went to Grover's Hardware store, where Peter found a couple things he needed. It started to rain, and we spent more time than necessary in the hardware and then darted a few doors down to a touristy shop called Mung Bean to shelter, but the rain only lasted about 20 minutes. Our next stop was the Downeast Ice Cream Factory for cones. Then it was back to the dinghy.

We stopped by Blue Highway to say hello, and Russell and Lynn invited us over for drinks and hor d'oeuvres at 5:30. 

Peter being greeted by Russell and Lynn's 5-month-old kitten Micco

They served their new culinary find, Williams Sonoma popcorn as well as Stormy Weathers to Peter and Enis, a beverage from Bermuda, which was a first for them. We enjoyed a couple hours of lively conversation before returning to Mantra before sunset.

After looking at the weather, we decided to make the crossing to eastern Nova Scotia beginning the evening of July 5, so it worked to watch the fireworks in Boothbay Harbor the next day. We dinghied to Carousel Marina to take showers. Unfortunately, all the mooring balls were booked for that night, but the marina manager was very kind and allowed us to tie up at the far end of the fuel dock for the same rate as we paid for a mooring ball. This provided us with yet another work day. I sewed on chafe guards on blocks beneath the vang and did other tasks while Peter and Enis worked on the manual bilge pumps in the cockpit, taking them apart, inspecting them and putting them back together. This took them several hours. At the marina, just down the dock from us, the 131' gaff-rigged schooner Harvey Gamage was having an open house from 2-6, and I let the two guys know about it and then waited for them to be ready to go. I guess I should have been assertive or perhaps just gone by myself, as they found time to take an afternoon tea break but totally forgot about the open house or spending any time with me at all. Grrrr!

Before the fireworks began

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

Fireworks and their reflection among the boats in the harbor

More in a subsequent post . . . . .