Way Down East - Roque Island, Maine

Monday morning and inspired by our conversations with Maggie and Al about the sorts of places we would find way down east, we had another early start. Oh yes I slept in a bit and Andrew was pleased as he took a few interesting routes through the area known as Merchant Row - I know I am always the wuss who wants to take the easy passages!! The day turned out to be glorious and we had good current all the way through the Dear Island Thorofare, we passed the town of Stonnington, the Cranberry Islands, Mount Desert Island, Great Wass Island and so many more. The scenery was just amazing.

Dear Island Thoroughfare

Russ Island

Camp Island

Lobster Pots - look like 'hundreds and thousands'

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Mount Desert Island (MDI)

Off the Cranberry Islands - I remember lobster boats with sails from the book Secret Life of Lobsters based in  the CIs

Great Wass

Mid afternoon we had just passed Petite Manan Island and remembered this was a puffin breeding site from our visit to the Puffin Project in Rockland, we came in a bit closer to see if we could see any of these famous little birds. Sadly we couldn't so headed back out to sea towards the Bay of Fundy, then about an hour later Andrew spotted one - oh my gosh there was a lot of excitement on board Askari. He (the puffin that is) just bobbed there and I grabbed the camera before he dived down for a fish - WOW!!

Petite Manan Island - Puffin Central

Our first ever Puffin - just a bit exciting

We sailed on for another couple of hours and reached Roque, the swell had picked up but this didn't deter the fishermen. Andrew carefully navigated through the islands into a huge wide spectacular bay.  Seals stared at us as we passed by the entrance on Anguilla Island

Seals on Anguilla Island

There was one other boat at anchor in the bay but otherwise nothing - oh wow this felt seriously remote. The island is private but a walk on the beach is a positive treat. It was low tide and perfect for a cold beer and a stroll. Yes this was what Way Down East meant.....

Ashore at low tide

Askari at Roque

Thorofare between Roque and Great Spruce Islands

Cliffs at Roque

Sunset at Roque

Roque Island on the Map- NorthWest of Yarmouth NS in Canada

Rockland, Camden & North Haven, Maine

We made the 10 mile trip from Tenants Habour to Rockland, via the Mussel Ridge Channel which was narrow and full of lobster pots. We caught up with friends, Steve and Fi on Supertramp who had a big electrical project underway and had a great night out and spent two nights in Rockalnd but decided to escape before the Lobster Festival got into full swing that weekend. We liked the town however we are looking for a bit more escapism and Rockland was full of art shops attracting the very high end tourists heading to the galleries and museums - gilt edged paintings are not really our thing. We did however have a great time at the Puffin Project learning about these amazing birds and where we might get to see them. 

Light House at the end of Mussel Ridge Channel

Big Fishing Boats operate out of Rockland

Rhubarb Daiquiri - yum

Quiet streets after 9pm

A warship arrived for the festivities that weekend and Andrew had to encounter a security screening to drop off the rubbish at the dock - they were running trips to the boat so the dinghy dock was lined with armed officers.....

USS Mahan off Rockland

Foggy Morning

We learned there was a great supermarket nearby and took the dinghy to JJ Lobster where we left the dinghy and the lobstermen directed us to the supermarket, only a short distance. On the way back we of course picked up a couple of lobsters - 2 new shells for $10!

We took the chance to fill up with fuel (cheapest we have seen for a while at Journey's End  Marina) and then set sail to Camden, only another 10 miles.

Rockland Breakwater Light

Fog liftting over Camden

Camden - so pretty

Camden

Steve and Fi join us in Camden

Camden was as pretty as we imagined and was full of classic yachts. We were aware the Eggemogin Reach Regatta was due to take place on Saturday out of Brooklin but didn't realise that the feeder race left from Camden the next day. We called for a mooring and there was none, however LM contacted the Harbour Master who allocated us one without charge but we used the LM launch service ($5 return each). We walked around Camden and had a fantastic lunch at the Rhumb Line restaurant - Steve and Fi had a car so drove around to join us for a drink that ended up being a BBQ on Askari - such fun. The next morning the Eggemoggin fleet headed out and we set sail to North Haven.

Classics in Camden

Sailing out for the start of the race

Even the big boats sailed through the harbour

Eggemogin fleet

We assumed the race was heading East to Brooklin so were a little surprised after we had set sail, hard on the wind on the starboard tack to find the whole fleet heading down on us..... nothing like a cruiser crossing the start line of a yacht race on starboard to annoy the racers!! We wove our way through and left them to round North Haven as we tacked over to islands. The fog came down as we approached the islands however lifted enough to see our way clearing into Pulpit Harbor.

Sailing to New Haven

Top of the mast in fog

North Haven is a beautiful and natural island - not having a bridge makes it so nice as its harder to get there and it puts some people off, our friends Maggie & Al invited us to use their mooring, enjoy a wonderful lobster dinner at their stunning waterfront cottage and show us their island. We bought Oysters from the harbour master and to top off the weekend Maggie and I took in a great yoga class. We had such a great insight into the island culture and learned how the summer people mix with those who live here year round - it really is a special place.

Maggie's Home Cooked Lobster

So tranquil - Pulpit Harbour

Jo Browns

Great Beach

Oyster Store

Selecting Oysters for lunch

Walking on North Haven

Tenants Harbour, Maine

31^st July Andrew got up at 4.30am and motored Askari quietly out of Portsmouth Harbour, it was a light wind day however we were keen to make some progress ‘Down East’ so decided to see how far we could get with a few options for our final destination. We ended up motor sailing for the whole day but were treated to one of the most amazing displays of wildlife we have ever experienced despite sailing over 40,000 miles.

The first thing was a huge shark – Andrew saw come right alongside us; its likely to have been a great white, it was mostly underwater but the shape was unmistakeable. Then there were lots of seals and what we thought was an injured seal but as we got closer we could see it was an Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola) – it just blobbed along on the surface with a floppy fin surfacing.

The whales were the most amazing (about 11 in total) we had both fin and hump back whales all around us, at one point a fin whale surfaced right alongside Askari leaving us both a bit shocked – we love seeing them bit this was a little close given it was almost as long as the boat. The hump backs gave the best display just cruising and arching with the occasional tail splash but not breaching.

Over the last year we have got used to spotting boats built by Austal (the Company Andrew used to run) but hadn't expected to see any on this coast of US, so when we saw Alakai appear on our AIS during this trip we were kind of excited. She was one of the first boats built by Austal USA for Hawaii Superferry - her story is the subject of an interesting book and she ended up being owned by the US Government now leased to a Canadian operator.

Alakai 

We dodged lobster pots all day and finally made it into Tenants Harbour, about 90 miles, around 4ish in time to walk ashore and explore this beautiful quiet spot. We found the Quarry Tavern after being caught sneaking through a pile of lobster pots and the owner asked us if we were lost!?! We had a fantastic dinner that night after watching the sunset on the deck of the hotel.

The hotel was an old Sail Loft

Tenant Harbour Dock

Sneaking between lobster pots

Beautiful Tree in Tenants Harbour

Sun Downer at Tenants Harbour

Tenants Harbour on the map