Lobster scampi ... Friday 31st August 2012

Lobster scampi … Friday 31 August 2012

Today we bicycled the southwest corner of Mt Desert Island (Acadia National Park). As ever, eating featured highly in our plans, and we chose our route at least in part because we knew a fine cafe in Bass Harbor where we could get lunch. The coastline is beautiful and we took a nice walk through the woods at "Wonderland" and then clambered down on to the rocks by Bass Harbor light. "I'm ready for lunch now" I mentioned …. "I was ready for lunch an hour ago" Gloria replied. "Not far now" I mentioned …. "If we make it" Gloria replied. The weather turned showery so we sat inside to eat our haddock sandwiches …. yummy. A short ride back to Southwest Harbor and we're planning dinner. With some helpful directions we found the local lobster pound and bought a couple of 1.5 pound soft shell lobsters from a tank at the end of the dock. As it turned out, this was not an experience to completely get your mouth watering. "i'll help you in just a minute" the man said, "just got to load these two barrels of bait onto the boat". Believe me there's nothing quite like the smell of rotting salted herring! However, it takes a lot more than that to put me off my food. So off we go back the boat with lobsters strapped to the panniers. Before the culinary experience can start the poor lobsters have to endure a photo-shoot, then it's into to the pot to be steamed. You can't help feeling a bit bad about this …(i.e. the steaming, although from Tasha's reaction to my camera you might believe the photo shoot might be harder to endure). Saute garlic in olive oil with a little Alepo pepper and some ground black pepper. Add dry white wine and simmer for a few minutes. (Cover ears while propane alarm goes off - apparently this detects ethanol vapor as well). Add chopped lobster meat and a sizable chunk of butter. Mix with pasta (linguine), add fresh parsley and grated parmesan, and this is a meal for a king!

Mike

Bass Harbor Light

Lobster - fresh from the pound 

The ingredients (minus the butter)

Lobster scampi - the finished meal

The Whiteness of the Whale ... Thursday 30th August 2012

The Whiteness of the Whale      .........     30^th August 2012

Well, the boat certainly seems as big as a whale when you get started on polishing the topsides or fiberglass.  During an ‘interesting interlude’ this morning when Mike and the mechanic Doug from Morris seemed to be doing their best to bring the mast crashing down, I decided that it would be better to work on removing the sticky residue left behind by the masking tape.  We had applied this lovely blue tape to the fiberglass to keep the varnish from going everywhere when we were working on varnishing the toe rail.  We had been advised to use the best quality tape otherwise varnish would be drawn underneath by capillary action.  Well what a product it turned out to be.  Indeed we don’t seem to have had the problem of varnish creeping under the tape.  However, when the tape was removed—presto a sticky residue all along the edge of the fiberglass.  This, as you might imagine, attracted every piece of dust, dirt and bug for yards around.  So I set to work to start removing this with some Marine fiberglass cleaner.  In about an hour I managed to remove perhaps 1 foot of this unsightly goo.  That masking tape was really value for money…

All this led me to thinking about the whiteness of the boat.  What chap (pardon my assumption) thought that fiberglass boats should be white?  Do we not naturally avoid those bright white items like white sweaters and white shoes?  We know that within minutes they will look all grubby and repulsive.  The problem of keeping white things looking good is even more extreme with boats.  All manner of things seem to land on the boat from sky, sea, shoe bottoms or bird bottoms.  Most of these seem to be variations of smudge brown.  So why do we not start off with smudge brown boats and take life easier?  Now that I think about it, did we not start off making boats from wood?  This brown material is well known for its ability to hide ‘smudges’—consider the hardwood floor.  We took a wrong turn somewhere in the matter of fiberglass construction.

 Gloria

Southwest Harbor, Mt Desert Island

Gloria putting on the sail cover

Catching a Crab (pot) ….     Wednesday 29th August

The morning sky was as clear as I've ever seen it and the wind was blowing smartly out of the northwest. Our goal today was to sail over to Bass Harbor and check in with the Morris service facility. We decided to start out with a reef in the main and partly unfurled genoa, and this proved to be a good combination as we made speeds of 6 to 7+ knots. Yesterday, whilst sailing downwind in lighter air, we had found it difficult to maintain good manouverability and avoid the lobster pots. We did end up snagging one, but with a bit of a wiggle of the rudder we were able to get it off. Today with whitecaps on the water it was tough to see all the pots - some of which are mostly submerged. Again we did run over and snag a pot, but were able to lose it. Towards the end of our trip today we decided to shake out the reef and in so doing lost some speed and direction and ran over yet another pot - this time with more serious consequences.  We couldn't shake it off and quickly ground to dead stop with the pot acting as avery effective stern anchor. Recognizing the risk of winding the rope round the prop, but short of options, we turned on the engine which stalled immediately we engaged forward. We furled the genoa, but had a terrible time getting the main down as it was pinned downwind and we couldn't turn in any direction. Having finally accomplished this through perseverance and brute force, Mike donned his shorty wet suit, and tied to the boat via a harness and rope, took to the water. It was pretty choppy and unpleasant. A quick look under the boat showed the pot float jammed between the propellor and the hull with the pot rope tight out the other side. Efforts to use a boat hook to dislodge the float failed and with some reluctance Mike dived under the boat and cut the pot rope. The boat was now floating free but with sails down and prop still jammed. Fortunately when we re-started the engine and put it in reverse we were able to dislodge the float. I suspect if we had done this before it is likely we would have wound the line around the prop. In any event, somewhat shaken we motored the last couple of miles into Bass Harbor and took up one of Morris's moorings. Tomorrow they will check out the engine and do preventative maintenance.

On a happier note, we were delighted to hear that Tash arrived safely back at Pomona College. We think she showed great resolve under challenging circumstances.

Not too many photos today - so here is one I took yesterday of an interesting character I met on the dock in Stonington. I presume he is either "Sid" … or a very good friend of his!

Mike

Sid's shitter

Something Old, something New … Tuesday August 28, 2012

It rained during the night and was all overcast when we got up.Another shower passed through as we were eating breakfast.  As Gloriahad a migraine, our departure was delayed for a couple of hours.Setting off finally at the Crack of Noon, we motored out of Seal Baypast the site of the mis-adventure from the “Dreamcatcher” days.  Evenlooking at it again today we couldn’t pick out exactly where westarted off or where we wound up.Once out of the bay we hoisted just the main sail for a down wind runto Deer Island.  As we got further out a swell (what is so swell aboutit?) started to build.  In a short while the wind started to diminishleaving us feeling at the mercy of the waves.  We restarted the engineand brought in the mainsail to attempt a motor- sail.  After a bit wethought there was more breeze and let the main out again and slowedthe engine down.  Sadly we soon encountered an area of fierce lobsterpot density.  Without the power of the engine we didn’t have themobility that we needed to negotiate this stretch of water and thus weexperienced Something New.  Yes, we ran over a pot.  Mike had thepresence of mind to take the engine out of gear.  However when heleaned over the side he could see that the rope was caught on theprop.  Now when this would happen to us in the little boat it justwasn’t a big deal.  If we had caught the pot on the centerboard, wewould just lift up on the centerboard and voila.  Similarly, if therudder got caught it would pop up and the pot would float away.Sometimes this led to a loss of steerage at bad moment but usually allwas well.  A pot caught on the prop is another thing.  We decided totry to steer back the way we had come in the hope of freeing the rope.Pulling in the main, we tried to double back on our tracks.  Luckilyit worked.  We avoided having to dive under the boat to free the rope. While we were headed to windward we took down the sail.  This initself was plenty exciting as the swell was causing the boom to flailfrom side to side as Mike was trying to tie down the sail.  Probablyshould have had the harness on for that job.  We continued under poweralone and negotiated the Deer Island Thoroughfare. Passing Stonington,we began to realize that there were some very dark clouds over theland. We rounded the southeast corner of Deer Island and headed intoWebb Cove.  The first rumbles of the thunderstorm were heard as wewere trying to set the anchor.  We managed to get squared away—evengot the sail cover on before the storm hit.  Thunderstorms—SomethingOld.

The good news we got today from Tash is that she is finally back under way. Presumably the car is fixed and she is one her way to Las vegas to stay overnight with a friend and then on to Claremont.

Gloria

Deer Island Thoroughfare

Schooner off Stonington, ME

Stonington, ME

As the storm passes - Webb Cove near Stonington, ME

Retracing our first ever sail in Maine ….  Mon 27th August 2012

It was close to 10 years ago that we left Rockport in "Dreamcatcher", our 16 foot Wayfarer, and sailed across Penobscot Bay to the islands of Vinal Haven, through the Fox Island Thoroughfare and spent the night by Hen Island. It was the very first leg of what was to become a long term project to sail the entire coast of Maine in stages. On that occasion we had a strong winds and a scary sail in a small boat. We dropped the pee bucket overboard in Fox Island Thoroughfare and had to engage in "man overboard" manuvers. In the evening we put the tent up on the boat and settled down for the night. The tide came in, the wind picked up, the rope securing us to rocks on the shore came loose and our anchor dragged. We ended up being swept down a channel and I had to go into the water to stop us being pushed up against a ledge. Eventually, we managed to stabilize the boat and get some sleep. It was a traumatic first night - from which we learned a lot. In the morning a a very thoughtful couple (Ken and Thora) who were sailing round the world from South Africa came to see how we were, picked us up in their dinghy and took us back to their catamaran for coffee and biscuits. It really helped us get back on track.

Today we left a stunning anchorage amongst tiny islands to the south of Rockland and sailed across to Vinal Haven and through the Fox Island Thoroughfare, before heading south and past that same cove where we had spent the fateful night all those years ago. For the first time since we arrived in Maine on this trip we had really good winds and on the most favorable points actually hit 8.3 knots. The Fox Island Thoroughfare, Northhaven and the bay and islands where we are now anchored are every bit as beautiful as I remember. Shortly after we arrived a bald eagle flew right over the boat. We took good care in setting really solid anchor as the winds are supposed to blow strongly this evening. Let's hope things go better than last time!

Also to keep you updated on Tash's progress. The garage told Tash this morning that the car would be ready to go today, but we just heard from her that the mechanic was off with food poisoning and now it will be tomorrow (Tuesday) before it's finished. All being well, she will be back on the road tomorrow and back at college by wednesday evening or Thursday.

Mike

Our neighbors in Dix Harbor

Sunset from our back door

Fine sailing through Fox Island thoroughfare

Mike

Surprising gross occurrences  ... Sunday 26^th August 2012

Just before bedtime last night Mike popped his head out of the companionway to find a surprise visitor.  A cormorant had decided to settle for the night on the cabin top.  Both of us took a dim view of this development.  But Mike being a true photographer thought to grab a couple of photos before chasing the dreaded bird off the boat.  Much poking and prodding could just about get Mr. C to remove his head from under his wing but not for long.  After Mike had got a few photos he commenced in earnest to try to rid Cotinga of her dark passenger.  No dice.  That bird was not going to budge until daylight.  At daylight his unlovely contribution to the top of the cabin was revealed in all it’s horror.  I’ll spare you the descriptions.  Cleaning it up was quite the undertaking involving buckets of water, scrub brushes …  I am led to believe that we are now more likely to have another such visitor, perhaps based on some residual odors.  Must get out there with some Mr. Clean.

Today we had a lovely sail from Muscongus Bay to Dix Island in the Muscle Channel.  We sailed in calm waters, some of it in light breezes to begin with but the wind built slowly on the downwind leg.  Just fantastic.  Put the engine on to come into the Dix Island harbor and anchor.  We did have a late lunch as a result of the sail.  Poor Mike had a nasty experience after lunch.  He was munching down a Starburst when he choked on the candy.  He managed to cough up the bit –but into his nose!  He was able to forcefully expel this foreign object but described it as a ‘painful experience’.  I guess a bit like getting a fit of the laughter when you have a mouthful of soda.  That seems like enough gross for any day

Before we go I should mention the excellent blueberry pancakes we had for breakfast and also the visit this evening form the "Mainestay Provsion Company" run by Reilly Harvey out of a lovely looking wooden skiff. She provided us with home grown tomatoes, an excellent sesame noodle saddle and a blueberry pie, that we have yet to eat.

Gloria

Marshall Point Light

Mainstay Provision Company                                 Sleeping Cormorant

Sleeping Cormorant - close up

The lobsterman and the doorknob …. Sat 25th August 2012

The lobsterman and the doorknob  ….  Sat 25th August 2012

The day got off to a great start when we were able to meet up for breakfast with our friends Cindy and Bob and their friends Gail and Marty. Marty has a Cape Dory 33 that he keeps up in Robinhood Cove and I was lucky enough to spend a day sailing with him and Bob last September. Gloria had never met Marty and neither of us had met Gail before, so it was great to get together as a group at the Bridge Street Cafe in Boothbay Harbor. By pure coincidence this turned out to be the day that they were catching the ferry to Monhegan for a long weekend that had been booked months ago - so it all worked out great. After breakfast Gloria and I took the boat over to the fuel dock and topped up with diesel and water. We still need more practice on those docking maneuvers - this wasn't horrible but it wasn't too pretty either! About 10.30 am we headed out of the bay and sailed (mostly) past Pemaquid Point and north east into Muscongus Bay, which  is not only beautiful, but remarkable for the number and density of lobster pots …. (more from Gloria another day).  We arrived and anchored in an idyllic bay outside of Friendship in the mid afternoon and took the dinghy ashore to walk around and take photos.

As some of you know I really like taking abstract pictures, and I'm particularly fond of rusty boats and stuff like that. Yeah  I know it's a bit weird but what can I say. Anyway I was wandering around when I was struck by brightly painted door on an old shed. I was just about to take some shots when along came a lobsterman to close up for the evening. He kindly let me take my "doorknob" photo and then the "lobsterman" obliged by having his photo taken in front of the painted door. The color as a backdrop was a bit much, but it seems to work pretty good in black and white. The resulting two photos are shown below. 

As these sun went down I have to say that this is one of the most beautiful places we have been to so far.

Mike

The Lobsterman                                                              The Doorknob

Under the boardwalk

The Nectarine of Contention

The Nectarine of Contention   ......   24 August 2012

We began the day with bagels and cheese.  Then came a dinghy ride to shore with the bikes for a cycle ride around Southport Island.  For reasons having to do with lots of hills, low air in the tires and the lack of fitness of the riders what was advertised as an easy 10 mile loop started to seem like a miserable slog within a few minutes of leaving the yacht club parking lot.  We had to traverse two of those mesh-deck bridges within the first 1.5 miles.  Those things are un-nerving in the car… Our first stop was the village of Newagen where the lighthouse called the Cuckolds can be seen from the landward side.  Here we talked to a couple from N. Smithfield, RI—if you can believe that. We cycled along to the west side of the island to a place called Cozy Harbor with a lovely little cove and an even nicer café.  We felt a bit naughty eating our sandwiches and granola bars on their deck.  Mike even had the audacity to stop the chef and chat to her.  She asked us what we ate—stunned silence for a few seconds…. 

Many more hills led us finally back to the yacht club.  After rigging up a sunshade, Mike proceeded to a second (or would that have been a third?) course of lunch in the shape of cheese and crackers.  This was followed swiftly by several squares of Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bar.  While reading my book in the shade, I drifted off into a little nap.  I was rudely awakened by a large hooting noise in honor of the winner of the Friday night race—how inconsiderate!  Sitting up I found Mike on the opposite side of the cockpit munching down sections of nectarine.  My request to be allowed to consume one of these sections was met with a stony glare—clearly not okay!  We have now returned from dinner in town.  While walking around, Mike suggested that we buy some fudge for the boat.  I wound up paying for the fudge and now—you guessed it, Mike is eating it all.  When it comes to food those polite British manners can vanish pretty quickly.  Nearly as quickly as the fudge….

Gloria

 Cozy Harbor

 Galley

 Main Cabin

 Nav Station

Forward Cabin (V berth)

Aft Cabin

Seguin Island .....     Wed-Thur 22nd-23rd August

It seems that stress rarely brings out the best in people and so it was as we arrived at Seguin Island. Situated about 10 miles to the south West of Boothbay Harbor this small island has a beautiful lighthouse and is a conspicuous landmark for mariners. It also has a tiny cove that provides some shelter from west or southwesterly winds. The wind was barely blowing when we arrived, but the swell from the southeast was breaking on the rocks at the edge of the cove and making things very bumpy. The two courtesy moorings were already taken, we weren't sure we could tie up to the lighthouse/coastguard mooring, and just as we were setting anchor we noticed that this was prohibited due to underwater cables! Tempers were fraught and the best course of action seemed far from clear. We were just about to give up and head for the mainland when one of the two moorings became free. Another boat that was also looking for a space took the lighthouse mooring and we grabbed the recently vacated spot. A hastily prepared cup of tea, a few quiet moments fishing, and the prospects of marital meltdown retreated! We rowed ashore and walked up to the lighthouse and enjoyed walking round the island. Great views of the coastline and we also saw quite a few birds - red breasted nuthatch, cedar waxwings, sharp shinned hawk, common yellow throat … loads of gulls.

About 25 years ago, shortly after we were married, Gloria and I were camping in Yellowstone and were invited for breakfast by an elderly couple in a camper. Feeling self sufficient and perhaps shy, we politely declined. It's interesting that we both remember this experience so many years later and that we both look back on it as a lost opportunity. As we rowed back to "Cotinga", the owner the power boat tied up to the lighthouse mooring, called over to us to join him for a cocktail. Our immediate inclination was to say no thanks, but we didn't. We went back to our boat, grabbed a couple of beers and joined John and his son William on the fly deck of "Renegade". It was a real pleasure to chat and share our experiences.  After drinks Mike rowed back to shore to take some evening photos. Once back on the boat we realized that our hopes that a falling tide would reduce the rocking and rolling were not to be. We had a quick dinner and took some more sea sickness pills and passed the night in a pleasant drug induced coma! In the morning, with the boat still bumpy, we ate a quick breakfast and headed out early for the short journey to Boothbay Harbor, where we took mooring at the local yacht club. We walked in to town, had a fine lunch (blackened salmon sandwich), and spent the late afternoon doing laundry and sorting through and making an inventory of the spares we have for the engine. As the sun set we saw and heard a pair of ospreys in arial battle with a bald eagle. Showers at the club house and dinner back on the boat finished up a fine day.

p.s. We have had a request to show some pictures of the inside of the boat. I've taken some photos and will post over the next couple of days.

Mike

Seguin Light as dusk

1st order fresnel lens

 

Sunset over Cape Small

A very fine lobster stew ...... Tuesday 21st August

We started the day with a tour of Great Island Boat Yard. Jeff Rice, the broker who helped us find "Cotinga", introduced us to the yard, and the people there could not have been more friendly. Graham Wright showed us round this morning, and the facilities are impressive, and the setting in a cove at the northern end of Quahog bay is beautiful. After the tour we jumped on our bikes and headed north to stock up on supplies at the supermarket in Cooks Corner, just east of Brunswick. Our bikes are great. They are 7 speed, made of salt resistant metals, fold down to about the size of a small suitcase and fit into cloth carrying cases. (You could fit four of them into the size of suitcase my sister travels with!). We keep them in a large locker in the cockpit and ferry them to shore in the dinghy. It literally only takes a couple of minutes to set them up. Anyway the ~6 mile ride to the supermarket went fine, but the return was hard work with the added weight of all the groceries. Fortunately, about half way back we reached the "Gurnet Trading Company" that sells excellent seafood. So we stopped for lunch and ate some very fine lobster stew and seafood chowder. We had eaten here a few months ago on a day trip to the coast. The business is run out of a quaint wooden shack next to the road and you sit outside and eat the food on paper plates or styrofoam bowls. We got chatting to some interesting people and the food was great! Does cycling 12 miles offset the calories of a large and very fine lobster stew? We will add this to the list of other key questions that we have been pondering ...such as, how many lobster pots are there off the coast of Maine? 

Once back at the Great Island Boat yard we took them up on their offer to use the facilities and had a wonderful shower. We do have two bathrooms (heads) on the boat, one with a separate shower stall, but fresh water is a precious commodity. Our tanks hold 120 gallons - and we try to use it sparingly, so we typically shower with a pump-up garden sprayer that uses much less water. It's a real treat to get a decent shower ashore. we got back aboard at about 4pm and spent the rest of the afternoon making repairs to some of the cupboard latches that no longer fitted well. Tomorrow, if the weather forecast looks good, we plan to go to Seguin Island, a tiny outcrop of land with lighthouse a few miles off the coast. 

Mike