Harbor Island to Perry Cove

Day 6:  July 3, 2015

When we went to bed last night, the wind was blowing fairly strong but upon awaking we found our anchorage perfectly smooth.  We both slept well.  As usual, I was awake and up by about 5:15.  The pot of coffee was loaded last night so all that was required for our kick start fluid was the lighting of the stove.

I found the bacon so we had bacon along with our pancakes and V-8 juice for our first meal of the day.  
 

This being the  4^th of July weekend, we decided to bypass the interesting towns

One of many lighthouses.  Note the lobster buoy,

and sights and drive straight for Mt. Desert Island which is our planned final destination and then pick up the those places on our return trip.  Mt. Desert Island is a good 2 day jaunt from here. I spent time after breakfast planning a route.  It is an interesting exercise with all of the islands and passage ways between here and there. I found what looks to be a great place to drop anchor about 30 miles from here so we scurried around and got ready to leave by 8:00.

All of the lobster buoys appeared to be free from our path so I began pulling up the anchor.  Just before we got the last bit of anchor rode on board, the boat stopped moving forward.  We realized that we had a lobster float caught on our keel.  We moved the boat back and forth but to no avail. It appeared that I might have to don my skin diving mask and swim down to untangle the mess.  Before that drastic measure (the water temperature was in the upper 50 and the air temperature is in the low 60’s), I tried

and another

to maneuver it free by hooking the line with a boat hook and pulling on it from Damn Dink Too.  Luckily the float line was just draped over the keel bulb and the float pulled free quite easily so we were soon on our way on glassy waters.

We had a wonderful ride.  The wind was flukey so we didn’t sail but motored through gorgeous country for approximately 30 miles ending in a place called Perry Cove.  It is on the east side of Vinalhaven Island.  Getting to our anchorage, we passed between North Haven Island and

Little classic beauty in Fox Is. Thorofare

Vinalhaven in a passageway named Fox Island Thorofare.  It is quite narrow and crammed with boats on mooring balls, many of which are beautiful classic sailors.  

After setting our anchor in the shallow end of the Cove, I took the dink back to the Thorofare into the little town of North Haven.  It is a typical New England fishing town.  I needed some fuel for the outboard and went to J.O. Brown and Sons Boat Yard.  I pulled the Dink up to the floating dock and walked to a huge warehouse type boat shop where two old guys were sitting on either side of the door.  I told them I needed fuel and they said “Walk on through the shop, out the door and take the first door on the right.” Through that first door on the right I entered what to me looked like the back parts room in an old outboard motor repair shop.  In the next room the lady at the counter offered to help me.  I told her I needed fuel and she turned around and threw a switch

J.O. Brown & Son, Inc.

and said “You are ready!  The hoses are on the dock.  When you are finished come up here.  The pump readout is here.”  So, I walked back to the dock, found the gasoline hose, turned on the pump and served myself.  When I walked back into the store, she said, “Yours is twenty three thirty eight.”  I handed her cash and she returned the change and that was it.  No receipt or thanks!  They advertised lobsters and I considered buying a couple but she said that they were all big “shedders” and it would take a big pot to cook them.  We don’t

And the firsts door to the right!

have a big pot on the boat so I had to pass.

On my way back to the boat, I passed the power vessel Last Dance whose skipper was standing on the deck.  I pulled over and had an interesting discussion with Glen Moore.  The Moores have been traveling on their trawler for a number of years.  They have made the “Great Loop” twice and this time, they are taking extended side trips and slowing down their passage.  For those who might be unfamiliar with the “Great Loop,” it starts possibly in Chicago, goes down the Illinois River to the Mississippi.  It then turns up the Ohio River at Cairo IL and then up the Tennessee River to where it meets the Tenn-Tom Waterway which takes one to Mobile Bay.  From Mobile you follow the Inter Costal Waterway (ICW) to Florida then up the east coast to New York City where you enter the Hudson River.  Traveling up the Hudson you meet the Erie Canal at Albany NY.  The Erie takes you to the Great Lakes on which you travel back to Chicago.  Janine and I have traveled probably ¾ of that trip over the past years covering a small portion

I don't know.  Just neat - North Haven Maine

in month long trips.

Back at the boat, Janine had prepared a pork chop dinner with a side of mashed potatoes.  We washed that down with a warming beer.  (Our ice is about gone.) And, after dinner we climbed in the Dink and toured our little cove taking in the sights and evaluating our neighbor’s boats of which there were probably 10 or so.  We read for a while before heading to bed.  It was midnight (9:00)