August 12th, 2019
CAMDEN
People have been raving about Maine and Tracey has always wanted to come so its great to be here. Penobscot Bay is the heart of their cruising grounds and so it was a pleasure to drop the anchor in Camden, one of the sailing nerve centers.
We have finally arrived and are now looking forward to the next chapter of our adventure unfolding. As you can see from the picture Camden is lovely and offered a welcome spot to start to settling into Maine.
August 12th, 2019
MAPLE JUICE COVE
There are three million lobster traps in Maine and at times it's a job to work your way through them. We had been warned about them but I now find them an additional entertainment to the day as we hop from anchorage to anchorage. They become a pain when on a long passage for there is no respite making for a surprisingly tiring day. As we dodged pot after pot I started to wonder what they are baited with and the answer presented itself as I took my morning paddleboard in Maple Juice Bay. This is a local boat that I spent forty five minute chatting with as they pulled together their purse sein net. There are any number of shoals about that are easy pickings for the lobstermen as they head out for a days work. They are allowed sixteen barrels of bait and once collected they release the rest alive which is so good to see when consider of our mad system at home where perfectly good fish are thrown back dead.
You might think that three million pots would decimate the Lobster but catches are rising and its thought that the baiting is so plentiful that as much as anything they are farming Lobster with small ones being returned until of a legal size for consumption.
August 12th, 2019
BOUNTIFUL SEAS
Cape Cod became one of the most bountiful areas of the Empire thanks to the abundance of fish. My whale shots never came out but I did get this picture of one of the many Sunfish that waved to us in their lazy way. Don't underestimate them though for on close approach they shoot off and we saw one of them breach later in the day. There are huge shoals of fish about here and obviously oily for you can smell a shoal when downwind.
August 12th, 2019
PROVINCETOWN
Provincetown is tucked inside the curling embrace at the end of Cape Cod and makes for a safe anchorage. I have always wanted to come here and wasn't disappointed for it has a fun, rather bohemian nature thanks to the large and joyous gay community. We took a day out to nail our laundry, top up the stores and soak up the atmosphere. There is a huge monument dominating the town that is a copy of a tower in Venice. An oddity when you consider it was erected to celebrate the Mayflowers first landfall in America.
August 12th, 2019
CAPE COD CANAL
One of the short cuts to Maine is the Cape Cod Canal which saves a couple of days and is lovely. Particularly when you get the tide right and rattle through at over ten knots. It's lush with greenery, beautifully maintained and as you can from the decorative nature of the bridge built with pride.
August 12th, 2019
FISH
Maine is a long way from Annapolis and so we have averaged about eighty miles a day from port to port. We did a lot of motoring for there wasn't much wind about but that's the joy of cruising for I always used to hate drifting in light airs when racing. We did a big day of about a hundred miles from Barnegat to Shannecock which included catching this beauty - theres nothing like putting food on the table.
August 12th, 2019
BAR
Having shown you the butterfly I feel it would be churlish not to show you the bar for we just loved the idea - its a proper working boat that came to the end of its days but still had enough life for drunken fishing stories across its deck.
August 12th, 2019
Butterfly
Apologies for the lack of Blogs but we have been pushing for Maine and time has been tight particularly as I had some work to do.
We have now arrived and this comes from Pulpit Harbour which is a stunning anchorage and worth a google. We have decided to stay here for a day or so to catch up with ourselves, have a rest and update the blog.
This picture of a butterfly was taken by a bar in Chesapeake so its a bit out of date but I like it.
It also shows how we have moved from somewhat tropical conditions in Chesapeake to what is more akin to a UK summer.
