Camden to Perry Creek and North Haven

Day 25: July 23, 2015

We slept well last night.  Out morning nourishment was blueberry pancakes and bacon.  There was a slight breeze so as soon as we finished breakfast and cleaned things up, we weighed anchor and headed for Perry Creek near the village of North

High class neighbor in Camden Harbor

Haven.  We had stayed there before and found it to be a pleasant secure anchorage.  We had originally planned to go into Rockport but the tour books were not encouraging with regards to anchorages.  Also, we sort of had enough of large tourist towns so we headed east to Vinalhaven. 

The breezes were light and we sailed along at about 2 mph.  Our total trip mileage was only 12 miles so we were in no hurry.  When we were about 5 miles from our destination, the wind had dropped to a level that moved us

This guy passed us on the way out of the harbor

along at about 1 mph.  Also at that time, we encountered a patch of strong current moving in the opposite direction of our travel so we started the motor. 

 

We motored for about 20 minutes and again set the sails. However, there was absolutely no wind so we again fired up the motor. Our route took us back though the Fox Islands Thorofare past the village of North Haven.  We passed this way on our way to Mt. Desert Island.

We pulled into Perry Creek at around

Boat house that greeted us as we entered Perry Creek

2:30 and watched a larger sailboat circle around and pick up a mooring ball.  I knew that the mooring balls in here were all private so while he was securing his lines to the ball, I motored up alongside and asked about the use of the balls and he told me that you just pick one and if the owner comes along, you let it go and find another. I thanked him and as we passed another boat, the woman on board came out and confirmed that system.  She did advise us that there was one ball near her that the owner would definitely be returning, so we were not to pick that one.

We chose a ball off to the side of all of the others and as we were heading toward it, the wind picked up and blew the bow away requiring another pass to catch it.  The wind spoiled our record of perfect catches on the first pass.

The harbor in North Haven

We straightened up the boat, napped and read until about 4:00 when we got into the Dink and headed back to North Haven.  It was a bumpy windy ride.  We were amazed that all day we struggled to get enough wind to sail and once we were moored, we had strong breezes.  

We pulled up to the town dock which was jammed with very different dinghies than all other dinghy docks that we had seen in the past.  The boats tied at this dock were all small hard fishing boats with not one inflatable dinghy parked there. 

As we travel, we add our trash to small plastic grocery bags so that when we come into a town, we drop off these small packages into a dumpster.  We usually scope out the area leaving the trash in the dinghy until we find a depository but we had

Boat works in North Haven  Note no dumpster.

been so successful at finding the appropriate container that this time, we took our little package and headed for town.  We didn’t see any trash receptacles around the dock area so we wandered out onto the main street but again, none were seen.  I saw an older lady from whom I had bought fuel the last time we passed through here and asked her about the nearest dumpster and she sternly told me that there were none on the island.  Getting rid of boaters’ trash was so expensive that they no longer accepted transient trash anywhere on the island!  So, I meekly carried my little bag of refuge back to the dinghy singing Arlo Guthrie’s song, Alice’s Restaurant!

Our intended goal was to find one of the nice restaurants for dinner but all that we saw was a little burger joint so I stopped in a shop and asked the proprietor and he suggested and gave me directions to Nebo Lodge restaurant.  We hiked about ¼

That's Dinner!

mile to this really high end establishment where we sat out on the deck and ate a wonderfully presented ½ chicken. It was the cheapest thing on the menu and, if I could get that price for a hen, I would definite return to Ohio and start up a poultry farm.

During our meal, the wind died, so our one mile ride back to the boat was quite pleasant. We spent the remainder of the evening lounging about enjoying this lovely cove.

Evening in Perry Cove