Tuesday, October 1 - Saturday, October 5, 2013
The latter half of our first week meandering ended just as
wonderfully as the first half. We had
beautiful
winds and weather, the sailing was perfect, and we once again found
ourselves at breathtaking anchorages.
Most days were light and leisurely, but the first day of October brought
a strong, consistent breeze that was perfect for sailing down the Maine
coast. That day we sailed for 28
nautical miles, which is good work for Evelyn as Tahiti Ketches are known for being
slow boats. But we’ve found that even in
light winds, though she may not move along at high speeds, she is very
responsive and handles well.
On Monday we stayed at Long Cove, nearby Tenants
Harbor. After setting anchor we hopped
into the Peapod, each grabbed our oars, and rowed about a mile over to the
Tenants Harbor town dock. We were very
pleased with how quick and easy the row in the Peapod was, and how much
distance we were able to comfortably cover.
Then, we walked around the town of Tenants Harbor, before stopping at
the General Store to help refill our supplies of fresh fruit and
vegetables. We also picked up a nice
treat for ourselves: some Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar (a favorite!) to enjoy
that night. Because we don’t have
refrigeration, cheese is a delicacy we don’t often enjoy.
Tuesday brought a beautiful breeze for sailing, so we sailed
right off the anchor, through the islands in Muscongus Bay, through Boothbay,
and up the Sheepscot River to Ebenecook Harbor, where we anchored in Love
Cove. Love Cove was tucked away, narrow,
and ledge lined, so we were grateful to our cruising guide’s detailed
description on how we should approach.
The gorgeous little cove was a wonderful place to spend the night, and
the next morning when we awoke we jumped into the Peapod to explore the other
coves in Ebenecook Harbor. The middle of
the three housed the Boothhbay Regional Shipyard so we jumped out there to
wander, watched “Ragtime,” a classic old NY Commuter boat that had been
restored by the yard get hauled and cleaned, and looked around at some of the
other boats.

We left Love Cove under power and set sails at the mouth of
the Sheepscot River, to enjoy another day of
perfect sailing with sunny skies
and consistent winds. We sailed out and
around Seguin Island, which was far out and alone, with high bluffs that rose
straight from the water, a windswept top, and a lonesome lighthouse. Its landscape stood out from the surrounding
area, and it looked as if a piece of Ireland had drifted across the Atlantic
and grounded out in the Gulf of Maine.
We rounded dramatic Seguin and then moved into the Casco Bay, turning up
into the New Meadows River in the late afternoon. The river was lovely and the breeze right
behind us, so we lazily coasted upriver towards what we had decided would be
our destination for the night, a place called The Basin.
The entrance to The Basin was nearly invisible, a skinny
little inlet that seemed to dead-end. If
the charts had not promised that it would instead make a sharp lef- turn before
opening up beyond, we would have never turned inside its narrow channel. But the waterway did turn, and though shallow
and narrow we turned with it, and The Basin opened up before us.
It was huge--An open, calm expanse of water. We had been told it would feel like a lake,
and it did. We found a spot to anchor,
made sure it set, and then rowed around the perimeter of The Basin as the sun
began to set, passing around its small island and wandering into other areas
that looked like they too could lead in and out of The Basin, though none
did. The visual trick played by The
Basin’s hidden entrance was impressive, and The Basin could easily be
disorienting. Had we not remembered
where we had entered, it could take some investigating to get back out.
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The Basin |
The next morning we enjoyed another treat that The Basin has
to offer—a section of Nature Conservancy land along its Southern and Eastern
shores. We rowed around until we spotted
a boundary marker, pulled the Peapod ashore, found a trailhead and spent the
next few hours hiking. It felt great to
be back in the woods, and to experience this special place by land and by sea.
And the day just kept getting better.
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Ashore for a hike around the Basin! |
After leaving The Basin we spent the afternoon sailing
around Casco Bay, and then decided to make Jewell Island our home for the
night. Every friend who lives along and
sails the Casco Bay area had mentioned Jewell to us, and we decided we couldn’t
miss this favorite anchorage. Jewell did
not disappoint. The Island lived up to
the hype, and surpassed it. It was such
a mesmerizing place we couldn’t leave—so we spent two nights there.
Jewell Island is a public island, criss-crossed with trails
that lead to sights of natural beautify and sights of history. It was used as a post during WWII to protect
Portland Harbor, one of the closest harbors to Europe, and all around the Island
are scattered remnants of that story.
Two towers peek above the trees to give unobstructed views of Casco Bay
and beyond, and a system of underground tunnels, with many off-shooting rooms,
lies to the South, with the entrances nearly reclaimed by Nature, but not yet
too hidden that they can’t be found and explored.
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Sunset at Jewell Island |
To make Jewell even more amazing is how friendly the Island
feels—it is far out in Casco Bay, but it has a perfect cove for the visiting
boater, and a handful of idyllic campsites that can be used on a first come,
first served basis. The trails are
there to wander, the remnants of its previous use invite you to experience the
Island’s history, and low tide reveals plenty of shore to walk along.
We spent our first evening hiking around Jewell, climbing
the taller of the two towers, and wandering the coastline to a dazzling
sunset. We spent the next morning hiking
again, exploring the other tower and tunnels, wandering some more and relaxing
on Evelyn, enjoying the natural beauty all around us.
In the afternoon, we rowed the mile or two over to
neighboring Cliff Island, one of Maine’s fourteen un-bridged year-round
community islands (between the two of us, we have now visited nine of them),
landed on a Nature Conservancy beach there, and walked around the Island’s dirt
roads, visiting its harbor and ferry pier, and walking past homes, the school,
the post office and a summer shop or two, now closed for the season. We watched the ferry dock at the pier, which
is always a fun event for Lou because he spent time our first winter in Maine
captaining the Beal & Bunker Mailboat, the passenger service that connects
the Cranberry Islands (two more of those fourteen) to Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island (which has a bridge, so
doesn’t count). After wandering until
our legs were tired, we returned to the Peapod for our upper-body work out of
the day—rowing the distance back to Jewell against wind, waves, and current.
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Leaving Maine at Sunrise |
We decided to leave Maine with those experiences as our
last, on a high note—with memories of perfect winds, beautiful weather, idyllic
islands—and let the approaching rain find us somewhere else. We left Jewell at sunrise the next morning, a
windless, overcast day with swell coming in from the ocean, and decided to put
in a long day of motoring to move south towards a new sailing playground. Seals, gannets, and minke whales (our first
whale sightings of the trip) accompanied us across the state’s border, making
sure the Maine portion of our journey was unforgettable to the end. We were in New Hampshire for a brief
moment—at that point we were about 18 miles offshore, and could only see the
Isle of Shoals and the bridge marking the Maine/New Hampshire border as shadows
in the distance, and then came Massachusetts.
And on to the next part of the adventure.
...And here are some more pics from the second half of our cruise in Maine:
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Peapods at the Tenants Harbor Town Dock |
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Tenants Harbor General Store -- our first restock of the trip. |
Lots of lighthouses along the Maine coast!
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The Basin |
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Rowing around the Basin. |
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Hiking around the Basin. |
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The Peapod aground at Jewell Island. |
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Jewell Island |
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There were so many racoons on Jewell Island! |
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One of the towers on Jewell Island. |
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A remnant of the old days... |
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The tunnels on Jewell Island. |
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Cliff Island |
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Cliff Island Harbor |
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An unpaved road on Cliff Island. |
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Leaving Jewell Island at Sunrise |
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