Portsmouth New Hampshire to Sandwich Massachusetts

July 5

Up before 5 am again today.   I got the breakfast and lunch picnics made while Sterling prepared the boat for our departure.

We unhooked from the mooring buoy at 545 am and we were off.  It was smooth sailing all the way to the entrance of the Cape Cod Canal.  Literally smooth sailing, the ocean was like glass.  So calm.

We cruised at 15 knots for 102 miles.  It was a straight line down the coast for 102 nautical miles.  It was another long day but leaving early really helps.  We cruised 10 miles offshore and there were still lobster bobbers, but they were infrequent.  We were also getting into more trawling.

Given that we lost a few days at the beginning due to bad weather we decided to bypass Gloucester and Boston Massachusetts. 

We arrived at Sandwich Marina, the eastern entrance of the Cape Cod Canal at 1230 pm.  We made great time and now we had the afternoon to relax.  It was sunny and hot and we hit the beach.  We found a crab in the water and did some beachcombing and castle building.  So much fun.

After the beach we did our grocery shopping to stock back up the boat.

Then we went out for a nice dinner at the Pilot restaurant.  We had excellent seafood.

Rockland Maine to Portsmouth New Hampshire

Tuesday July 4th

Happy 4th of July. Up at 5 am off the dock by 545 am. This time I have a picnic lunch made for us.

We are heading for Portsmouth New Hampshire.

15 minutes out and we noticed a significant vibration on our port engine. Back to the dock. Great someone has taken our spot so we need to slip in in front of a sailboat. Back on the dock before 7am.

We mounted the Go Pro camera to the boat hook and put it under the boat to film. We discovered that there is a line wrapped around our port engine prop. Great.

We arrange for a diver and he is here is less than 40 minutes. He dives under the boat a cut the line loose. Only $125. Not bad for a National holiday.

So after a later start at 1030 am, we did a 100 nautical mile day and went all the way to Portsmouth New Hampshire.

There is a channel leaving Rockland that was a bit stressful.  It was a fairly high traffic area and it was full of lobster bobbers, so we were back to leap frogging our way through. 

Once out of there it was smooth sailing.  We charted a course offshore that was a straight rip for 80 nm to New Hampshire.

We travelled about 10 miles offshore and cruised at 15 knots.  The ocean was like glass.  We could not have had better conditions.

We arrived at Castle Island at the mouth the Portsmouth Harbour around 630 pm.  We went on a mooring buoy at the Portsmouth Yacht club.  It is a very nice facility and the Island has beautiful historic homes dating back to the 1720s.

There was a 4th of July private party going on at the Yacht Club.  We enjoyed the music while we had a late BBQ dinner on the stern deck.

After dinner, we rowed to shore in the dingy.  It was good to go for a walk and stretch our legs.  We checked out the historic homes.  It was a quaint island community and I expect that the real estate prices would be very high.

Jonesport Maine to Rockland Maine

Monday July 3rd

Up before 5 am. It is a sunny day and the waters are calm.

We slipped the lines at 515 am and headed for Rockland Maine. The winds were moderate and the waves 2 to 4 feet. There was a bit of a swell on. I had to sit up on my perch and watch like a hawk for lobster bobbers. They are everywhere. We have charted a route further offshore to try to avoid them but you can never avoid them. They are just spread out more so that you have better maneuvering.

Noah is such a great traveller. He slept a bit. Played cars and watched a movie.

88 nm and 7.5 hours later we arrived in Rockland and docked at the Landings. While Sterling fuelled the boat Noah and I headed to the restaurant for lunch. We were starving. It was after 1 pm and we still hadn't had lunch.

The weather is great here. Hot and sunny. We had to turn on the AC. After lunch we walked around town. We got ice cream. Went to a puffin preservation centre and a lighthouse museum.

We were at a full service marina so we did some laundry, got water and charged all the electronics. Noah and I even washed the boat while Sterling repaired the dingy. The support for attaching it to the boat has come apart already. Great. Sigh.

Lobster dinner at the Pearl. May as well enjoy Maine's largest export.

Great dinner. Off to bed. Another early rise.

Jonesport to ... Jonesport

Sunday July 2nd

We had a great sleep on the mooring buoy. Woke up to fog. Not any where for a while.

We launched the dingy and rowed to shore. I went for a run while Sterling and Noah walked around the small town. About 750 people live here. It is a lobster fishing community.

Around 2 pm the fog lifted and we decided to head out through Mooseabec reach.   We got in the reach and it was constant lobster pot bouts. What a nightmare. They are everywhere. We got caught up in a bad place close to a navigational aid and there were so many pots we couldn't get out of it. We caught something and our engine was not performing well at 1000 rpms. We had to make our way back through the nightmare reach and back to port.

This was so stressful  

Once we got into the Harbour we did some manoeuvres and everything was working fine. We had however lost our nerve and had to regroup so we tied up to the wharf.

The fog rolled bag in and we decided to wait until the next morning to leave. Better weather is coming.

Sterling did a nice BBQ chicken for us for dinner and the sun finally came out. We ate on the back deck. We fueled up that night at 7 pm. We had to wait for high tide to get to the fuel dock. We went for a little walk before bed and got Noah some ice cream at the corner store. People are very friendly in this town.

We are hoping to leave in the morning. They are calling for good weather. We have charted a route that has us going around an island instead of through the crazy moosabec reach full of lobster pots. The new route adds over an hour to our time but we don't care.

Eastport to Jonesport

Saturday July 1

Happy Canada Day.

It is very foggy here this morning. It was also very cold last night. We needed to bundle up and put the heat on.

We are waiting for the fog to lift so we can head out. We watched a US Navy ship dock as it is in Eastport for July 4th celebrations. It was so foggy that we could barely see the ship and it was only half a km away.

Around 1130 am, we decide that the fog is lifted enough to head out. There is a short cut through Lubec channel but the current is strong there and it has lobster pots in the channel so we decided to go back out around Campobello island. This way is longer and brings us back into Canadian waters for a short time but it is safer to go this way.

Pretty foggy down the coast and there is a lot of current. At one point we crossed over a riptide. It was the strangest thing. I could see a wall of waves like a surf and then after that the water was flat calm. Bizarre.

As we got closer to Jonesport the lobster pots started. Noah and I had to spot them for Sterling. They are everywhere.

We arrived in Jonesport around 430 pm and tied up to a mooring buoy at the Jonesport Shipyard. It was a great mooring it was a small floating dock with a mooring ball. $25 a night.

The owner was a very nice man named Sono. He was originally from Sweden. He and his wife own the shipyard. He was so generous he even brought Sterling a 5 lb bag of mussels.

We put on our Canada Day shirts and got out our basket of decorations. Noah decorated the boat and we had a Canada Party. We played some Great Big Sea and had lots of fun.

The fog rolled in about an hour after we arrived and it is thick.

Very cold tonight. The heat is on and we need to bundle up. They had fire works here tonight but it was too foggy to see them.

Grand Manan New Brunswick to Eastport Maine

Friday June 30

Abrupt 7 am wake up when the fishing boat we were rafting on started its engine.  The Harbour Master had told us that the boat was not moving today but it was. The crew suggested that we move to a floating dock to tie up so we headed over there. As we approached the dock, I looked down and said not much water here. At the same time Sterling noticed that we had about 2 feet of water below us. OMG. Tide was going down and there was definitely no water there. We got the heck out of there and rafted to another fishing boat.

We were waiting for the winds to die and the fog to lift before we could leave. I decided to take a nap since I am not feeling well.

Around noon we left Grand Manan to head for Eastport Maine. We were not planning to go to Eastport as this is back tracking but we were asked to check in there for customs.

It was a foggy crossing and we ran into quite a bit of current off Quoddy Head. Current and wind do strange things to a boat's performance. Rather than going through Quoddy Narrows we rerouted towards East Quoddy lighthouse instead.

We arrived in Eastport around 3pm. But we got an hour back. Time zone change back to 2 pm. We had a smooth customs check in. Sterling had called in advance and given all of our information so we were in the computer already. We had to get a cruising license and we need to check in at every port.

We tied up to a mooring buoy in front of the Eastport Chowder House. ($25 a night). We launched our dingy (this season we have a new dingy) to row in to town to get provisions. Wicked current here (apparently the world's second largest natural whirlpool) so it was very difficult to get to shore.

Guy on the dock selling a 5 horse power propane engine. We are now the proud owners.

We ate dinner at the Chowder House. Awesome chowder and then Bob the owner loaned us his truck to go to the IGA. Such nice people. Very generous and helpful.

Back out on our mooring buoy all stocked up and ready to head out in the morning.

Saint John to Grand Manan

Thursday, June 29
Well after an adventurous start of delayed planes, rerouting through Toronto and lost luggage, Noah and I finally arrived in Saint John at 2 am. We had a sleep in and got me some antibiotics as I have a sinus and ear infection. We are ready to go. Sterling arrived a day before us and has the boat ready to go.

We could go through the Reversing Falls at 2pm so we took our opportunity to head out. Due to the high tides and the current you can only go in and out of the Saint John river twice a day.

We headed for Grand Manan. The trip was about 3.5 hours. The conditions were fair. Light winds at 10 knots and we were able to cruise at 15 knots.

We arrived at the North head of Grand Manan at a fishing wharf. It we rafted to a fishing boat and tied up for the night. The Harbour master was a nice woman. We didn't even have to pay.

We walked up to the local pizza shop and had a delicious pizza for dinner. The pizza shop is in an old post office and there was a cute gift shop and candy shop there as well. We bought a great door mat made from rope for the boat. Noah got a small bag of candy and a wooden fishing boat for his collection.

The pizza shop is family run and a really nice place. Great place for dinner.