When we first planned this coastal cruise, we hadn't thought we would go farther east than Penobscot Bay, but we kept reading and hearing about Jericho and Blue Hill Bays, Merchant Row, and other wonderful destinations. Curtis had been to the town of Blue Hill years ago (by land) and was curious to revisit it by water. On the chart it looked like a very feasible day's travel, so Curtis set up a route in iNavX that would take us from Seal Bay on Vinalhaven to Blue Hill Harbor up at the northwest end of Blue Hill Bay.
 |
| Placid water crossing Penobscot Bay |
The
morning of Wednesday, August 22, there was little or no wind as we
crossed Penobscot Bay, so we motored east through sunshine, flat
water, and colorful lobster buoys. As we neared Merchant Row south of
Deer Isle and the village of Stonington, an east wind was building
(right on our nose), so we put up sails and tacked a few times just
to get some sailing in. When the ledges, lobster buoys, and ebbing
tidal current coming out of Merchant Row began to complicate our
progress, we stopped sailing and motored toward wider Jericho
Bay, where we hoped to sail our way east and north.
Sailing
on a close reach, we neared Southern Mark Island, a low island
surrounded – one might say festooned –
with lobster buoys, where we planned to turn north on a beam reach
toward Blue Hill Bay. Unfortunately, we hooked a toggled lobster pot
warp under our rudder and began dragging it. This was the first one
that didn't just slide off and pop up astern of Cilantro.
Sue suggested getting the boathook and trying to reach down with it.
Curtis wasn't sure the boathook would reach deep enough from the
deck, but it might be possible to climb down into the dinghy (which
we tow at our stern) with the boathook and reach from there. As
Curtis headed to the bow to get the hook, we slid over a second
toggled pot warp. “Great,”
said Curtis. It was beginning to feel like a pile-up. But as luck
would have it, the second line knocked the first one off the rudder
and they both surfaced behind us, only to get slapped by the dinghy.
Take that, we thought, although we don't really harbor ill feelings
toward the abundant traps. Lobstermen are fellow boaters, and
lobsters account for about 80 percent of Maine's total fishing haul.
And we do like eating the giant “bugs.”
.jpg) |
| Lobster buoys in Jericho Bay |
We
continued up through Jericho Bay, keeping a watchful osprey-eye on
all the buoys we passed, and soon neared the bottom end of Blue Hill
Bay. Curtis was at the helm and had started the engine due to
relatively light wind and
Sue's calculation that we were still about 10 miles from Blue Hill
Harbor. It was mid-afternoon, and we'd been on the move since about
nine. ETA at Blue Hill at this pace was about seven o'clock, which
didn't make either of us happy.
Sue
was getting ready to photograph Blue Hill Light, a picturesque
lighthouse set on a low, gravelly bar, when Curtis suddenly groaned
in exasperation, “This current is 1.7 knots against us. It's all I
can do just to keep moving forward.” The water's surface was roiled
by numerous tidal rips, and there didn't seem to be a quick end to
it. We also realized the flow coming down Blue Hill Bay wouldn't be
much better. So Sue scrambled for the cruising guide, and we scoped
out other anchorage options.
 |
| Sue looks for enough wind to sail to Opechee |
Opechee
Island, a couple of miles to the south of us, came well recommended
as a quiet and uncrowded anchorage.. “We could sail to it!” said
Sue, who was tired of motoring. So we turned, put up sails, and
headed for Opechee. Mount Desert Island ghosted along in the distance
to our east. Sue stayed at the helm and managed to scrape up enough
wind to sail within a tenth of a mile of where we dropped anchor. The
anchorage is protected by Opechee Island to the west,
Pond Island to the north, tiny Sheep and Eagle Islands to the east,
and Black Island to the south. It was
quiet (three other boats, no cocktail parties), scenic, and placid.
Sue loved it. Curtis loved it. We took hot showers, ate a hot meal,
snacked on cookies, and took some sunset photos.
.jpg) |
| At anchor near Opechee Island; Mount Desert Island in far distance at left |
 |
| A long day that ended well |
