Log of Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday June 13, 2008, Clear blue sky, dry night, no dew. Mid 60's!! No need for heat from stove.
Stay abeds started coffee at 8. Breakfast of bb. [blueberry] pancakes in cockpit. Underway at 10:30 with favorable North Wind. Heading for Stonington and then perhaps Buckle Harbor.

Lovely relaxed morning. We slept late and had a nice beakfast before getting underway. There is always a little anxiety in the pit of the skippers stomach going in and out of Perry Creek. The chart seems to indicate some sizable boulders on the bottom which could cause a surprise and there is a big ledge making out about half way across the entrance from the South shore. The good water is about 2/3 of the way from that shore to the island in the mouth. But since there are no good landmarks to indicate the spot, one just has to judge it by eye. Not hard, but it keeps one from getting too casual.

1115--Fox I. Thorofare astern--heading across East Bay to W. Mark I, Deer I Thorofare & Stonington. Blue Hill & Mt. Desert showing in the far distance. Barring a little gausey stuff, there is not a cloud in the sky. Light N. wind propelling us eastward at a bare 3 kts.

This is just a great day for sailing, not a ton of wind, but we don't have to cover much distance, so everything seems in balance. One of the crew off a large yacht told us that they tried to plan for two hours underway each day with guests aboard. That way they can have a relaxed passage and time for something else too; or if it is too fun to stop it is always possible to just continue on. We are having one of those days, when we can just follow our inclinations and go further or not as the spirit moves us.

1220--Tom--Expert anchoring under sail off Stonington public landing. Lunch of cold cuts & good conversation; foray ashore for things that shipboard life cannot supply--books, more coffee & ICE CREAM! We admire promiscuous overuse of granite blocks in this old quarry town. Filled water tanks @ Billings marine; admired NYALLA, small composite schooner w/ easy to handle heavy weather rig. Set sail for points east @ 1610.

While hoping for some diesel, we had plenty for immediate needs, so with Billings closed for the weekend we settled for filling the water tanks. The little schooner was lovely--a nice deep cockpit nestled between the aft cabin and the more normal main cabin.

--Mary--George's favorite so far was the puffin; Mary loves the lupines.

1640 Sailed thru the Deer isl. thruway (Thoroughfare). Seals along the way; traveled East to Jericho Bay. Anchored in Buckle Harbor w/ one neighor. Great chili/cornbread dinner followed by 3 games of "bananas". Mary finally won one!

Buckle Harbor is a cove on the North West shore of Swans Island. It is another scenic spot with pines leading down to granite ledges and little shingle beaches. Buckle Island on the West side of the cove, is privately owned but allows walkers ashore according to the MITA guidebook. It took most of our willpower to stay awake for the postprandial Bananagrams after a full day on the water and on foot ashore in Stonington. Tomorrow we will head up the Reach and then head back nearer to Rockland.