Home at last.. Maine to Baddeck

As I write this I"m sitting in the comfort of my kitchen, nice & warm, Pizza in the oven , & reflecting on the last whirlwind stage of our trip home.
From Maine to Baddeck in less than 2 weeks is very speedy for us. We usually like to do about 200 miles in one week, this was way more than that, so we are well pleased as we managed to be ahead of the strong winds & crappy weather  that was on the menu for the beginning of June.
Our run was from North East Harbour on Mount Desert Island ,Maine to Shelburne via Cape Sable (  a nasty place with huge tital rips & notoriously bad seas) So, weather is all important here. I was hoping for more time in Mount Desert to hike & hang out, but if the weather gods say "go" then go we must!
 We left at 7 am to catch a fair tide around the Cape & had a very good 30 hours crossing. We hit a bad patch of fog shortly after leaving , & did a lot of dodging around the lobster pots. There are so many I'm sure you could walk across them!
 I don't think there is a lobster "season" in Maine & the pots seem to be there all the time. I'm trying to figure out why there are pots in water that is 300 feet deep!! Imagine how much line they have to use. Must cost a fortune.. Fortunately its "sinking" line so it does not float on the surface. Still. getting  a pile of fishing line twined around the prop is not something I want to experience.  
We emerged from the fog into a day with bright blue skies, a calm glassy sea & whales blowing around the boat. A magical moment . We turned around to see the fog bank hanging over the water like a layer of cotton & dolphins jumping around.

Next morning we were closing on the Nova Scotia coast, picking up the Canadian weather service & hearing Fundy coast guard on the radio. Almost home.

In Shelburne , we did all the passport stuff & had a visit from the customs people. Usually we mange to do all the formalities by phone, but there were 2 boats in from the US so the authorities were in a very official state of mind. They didn't see my basil plants so I got lucky I guess.
After a good sleep & a visit to the supermarket we watched the Shelburne yacht club weekly race night, complete with burgers, cheap beer, friendly faces & dense fog. Hard to see the course from the upper deck, I don't know if they ever managed to figure out where the course was or who won.
After 2 days in Shelburne it looks as if we are going to get a very nice 2 day spell of weather to move north. If we don't take advantage of this break it looks like we will be in Shelburne for the next 2 weeks. So an executive decision was made to make a big push for St Peters even though the crew is still a little sleepy & 2 weeks in Shelburne doesn't sound too bad.......... Sometimes it doesn't pay to have a nap, because when you wake up the decision has been made...........
Anyway... it was a great sail up the coast, light winds, no fog, warm, great visiblilty.... must be some kind of record for the eastern shore. We got into St Peters 40 hours later ,just before dark, a big spaghetti dinner & boat drinks to celebrate .

All we have to do now is get across the lake & we are really home. Of course, this is our hardest sail for a long time.. wind on the nose, waves over the bow, & COLD, but we don't really care. Through the Barra Strait bridge, past Maskells Harbour , round the headland, watch out for Toothpick, lighthouse to port & tie up at the government wharf. Glad to be home.
Warm Rain has done us proud. Never let us down once. The motor just kept on running for hours & hours & never missed a beat.  I don't think we had any situation that she couldn't handle & she liked nothing better than a good sail to windward . All the TLC certainly paid off, 9000 miles since we first took her to the Bahamas in 2001 & she's still going strong. It will be great to have some day sails out this summer, & just enjoy some lazy sailing days with a picnic & some friends.
Now its time to get to work & clean her up, scrub the deck , take off all our gear from the last 6 years & make her a day-sailer again for a while.

Here is my apple tree after Mr Beaver had a chew!!

Time also to plant my garden ,mow the grass, see some friends, play a little golf & enjoy being home  But first its time to head to Toronto for a little visit with Evan.& Liz & Adam. Can't wait.

Thats all for now.

Warm Rain out.

Newport to Maine

Good morning from beautiful North East Harbour, Maine. The sun is shining, & we are happy to be here where we will spend a couple of days resting & hiking the trails of Acadia Park before pushing off for Nova Scotia.
Its pretty chilly. We went out & bought another comforter . So at night the bed looks like a mountain, with 2 bodies, 2 comforters plus miscellaneous blankets tucked around the spots where the cold air creeps in. The anchor well is a big culprit here especially if the wind is from the north.

We spent a very hilarious hour watching this poor girl freeze her buns off for a photo shoot. We offered tea, coffee, hot chocolate, rum, but to the skippers disappointment.. no luck!


This is a lovely place. All the very rich people have magnificent summer homes here, Rockefeller, Martha Stewart, Ford, etc. I hope our little boat with its scummy water line doesn’t spoil their view. We have a town mooring for a few days, comes with hot showers, internet access, & a dinghy dock, it’s a short walk from the village centre which has French pastry shops, lovely clothing stores, art shops, & lobsters!!
I’m hoping we can be free of the fog for a few days. We had some very foggy days in Long Island Sound & coming through the Cape Cod canal. One morning in Onset, waiting to go through the canal we could barely see the front of the boat, & this was in the middle of the harbour. By the time the current was fair at 11am it had lifted enough so we were OK. Its quite a trip through the canal, the current rips through there at about 4 knots, so you had better time it right!!
The radar is great in the fog, shows you where all the other boats are, although there are always some you seem to miss “seeing”, . When the fog lifts I am always amazed at just how many other boats are out there, mostly small fishing boats & sport fishers.
We managed to cover the Massachusetts, & New Hampshire piece of coastline in 3 days. Good weather so we kept moving. The only eventful thing was a miserable night we spent in Portsmouth, NH. There is a small harbour with a great mooring field with courtesy moorings from the State of NH , which is a wonderful thing when you need a quick overnight stop. The wind was light ,there was no fog & we stopped for the night. Unfortunately we had forgotten about the southerly swell & the 10’ tide which comes right into the harbour. We rock & rolled ALL night.. It was the most miserable night I’ve had in a long time. 2am saw me up & trying to get some sleep in the main cabin, no luck, 4 am saw me with blanket in the cockpit, no luck , 5 am saw me making coffee & ready to cast off to get us out of there. I was never so glad in my life to leave a place. & very happy to tie up in Portland Maine the next day.

This place reminds me of Baddeck . Its close to Stonington Maine. Getting homesick now!

We had 3 days in Portland which is a lovely little city. Much like Halifax, very friendly & easy to stroll the streets & browse through the shops.

We had the best seafood here, great restaurants & a fabulous seafood market. We drank lots of that good Maine beer watched the hockey game & I got a haircut.(Yippee)

And that really is all the news.

However, the skipper still has catamaran fever , I’m really quite worried about him, so watch this space for further developments!!
Warm Rain out.