Southwest Harbor to Shelburne

Hi everyone,

On Wednesday morning we departed the US towards Canada.  The forecast was for S-SW winds varying from 6G10 to 20G30.  Overnight we'd have a nearly full moon.  It would be a 170nm passage to Shelburne in Nova Scotia.

Rugged Up!

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Departure from Southwest Harbor was simple with no fog and a light breeze.  The breeze filled in as we cleared the lee of the nearby islands.  Most of the passage was under a blue sky.  The night sky was dominated by the bright moon.

We had a nice reach SE towards our waypoint off Seal Island.  Tidal currents of up to 2 knots played an important role  What would have been a beam reach became a close reach as we held high to stay on our route.  We then had positive current rounding Seal Island but by the time we passed Cape Sable it was against us again.

Last sunset in the USA

Goodbye to Mt Desert Island

Close reaching SE before sunset

We rounded Seal Island in the dark amongst quite a few fishing vessels.  Some were on AIS, and they appeared to associated with pairs of AIS buoys.  One Vietnamese vessel had over a dozen AIS buoys nearby.  Other fishing vessels weren't using AIS.  We stayed well clear of them all!

The most wind we had was 18G25.  Sail varied from full down to 2 reefs and 3 furls.  Zen Again loved it and we enjoyed the ride.

Reaching SE at dawn

Passing Cape Sable we noticed the sea temperature had dropped to 7C.  That's pretty chilly!  In Maine it was around 14C.  As we closed the coast the temperature went back up to 14C.  At Shelburne it is 17C due to the rivers flowing into the channel and the current heatwave inland.

We had a great sail up the channel towards Shelburne past several large fish farms.  We motored the last couple of miles while handing the sails and preparing to anchor.

Canada Ho!

Passing Sandy Point on the channel N to Shelburne

On arrival we anchored off the town then called Canada Border Services.  They informed us we needed to call them with the boat moored at Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club.  So we weighed anchor (it's still heavy) and docked at SHYC, where happily there was a free spot alongside.

We called Border Services and after providing all our details we were told 'Welcome to Canada' and no inspection would be required.  Excellent!  Down came the Q flag.  We went up to the club and had burgers and beer put on for their Thursday Twilight event.  Lots of friendly folks.

Alongside at Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club for clearance

Back on the boat and settling in for the evening we were instructed we had to move immediately.  Apparently another boat had just booked 'our' spot.  We'd erroneously presumed we had the spot for the night.   We needed their workboat to haul us off the dock since we were pinned against it by the wind.  Once off we anchored just as light was dying.  The drama saved us the overnight dock fee.

Anchored off Shelburne

Today we've started to explore Shelburne.  We arranged to use SHYC's dinghy dock and amenities for C$15/night plus a little more for showers and laundry.  Found two pubs and a good supermarket within walking distance.  It's a pretty town.

Sampling Boxing Rock's fine products

Shelburne's clearly a friendly place.  Looking forward to exploring more over the next few days.

Trust all's well where you are.

Southwest Harbor, Mt Desert Island

Hi everyone,

We're spending three nights in Southwest Harbor.  Our to-do list here including topping up fuel and water, showering, laundry, provisioning, eating Maine lobster and seeing at least a little of Acadia National Park.

Zen Again in Southwest Harbor

Yesterday morning was spent watering, showering, laundering and fueling at Hinkley Yacht Services.  In the afternoon we dinghied across the harbor to Dysarts Marina's dinghy dock.  That took a mile off the walk to the supermarket.  It was still over a mile to the shop.  The distance and the prices led us to limit our shopping to the bare minimum.

Hinkley Yacht Services jetty

Office

Showers here!

Back near Dysart's we had an early dinner at the Upper Deck.  Maine lobster at last, complete with bibs.  Yum!  The Maine craft beer was good too.

Upper Deck bar

Lobsters at the Upper Deck

Upper Deck balcony view over the harbor

Where the BAD lobsters go?

Hinkley is a famous yacht builder - both sailing and motor.  The moorings in Southwest Harbor are full of them.  Very pretty boats.  Not all those below are Hinkleys...

Today we dinghied back to Dysart's and walked into town for coffee.  From there we walked to the Causeway and onward to Acadia National Park's Flying Mountain.  Pretty buildings, waterscapes and landscapes.

Church in Southwest Harbor

At the Causeway

Into the National Park

Climbing

View from the peak

Nice Cabin

Nice House

Nice Mini-Mansion

Our entire cruise up the US New England coast has been fantastic.  The OCC Port Officers have been great.  Below is a graph of our 2024 US East Coast Cruise.  The left column of speeds and wind are interesting.  Note the oscillating boat speed on the tidal Connecticut River at Essex.

Graphs

A key upgrade during our mini-refit in Deltaville was adding a 1600W inverter, induction hob and kettle.  They've transformed cooking aboard, hugely reducing propane usage.  The graph below shows electrical usage over the last two weeks or so.  The large negative spikes in current show when we're cooking (or just boiling the kettle).

Electrical

We're now preparing to depart for Canada.  We've twice called US Customs & Border Patrol and been advised we don't need (and basically can not) clear out of the US.  Their instructions are to 'just leave'.  So that's what we'll be doing.  Hopefully the Canadian authorities will let us in without any documentation!

Along the way we've passed 50,000nm logged during our 14 years aboard Zen Again - twice the equatorial circumference of the Earth!

Trust all's well where you are.

Devil Island to Frenchboro and Southwest Harbor

Hi everyone,

Two great 12nm sails over the last two days, from Devil Island to Frenchboro to Southwest Harbor.  The latter is on Mt Desert Island - our departure point for Canada.  We spent a night on a rental mooring in Frenchboro - free since the managers haven't opened for the season yet.

Into the Forest

Both short passages were in light-moderate SW winds.  These are the normal summer afternoon breezes in Maine so perhaps summer has arrived.

Here are the usual plots for the passage to Frenchboro (Lunt Harbor)...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

It was a great little sail.  On arrival we looked for room to anchor in the harbour but the moorings were a little too closely spaced.  We then tried anchoring between Harbor and Long Islands in the shallow area but that appeared to be boulders.  So finally we picked up a rental mooring festooned with kelp.  After 5 minutes - happily in light winds - we extracted the pennant and its loop from the kelp to secure the boat.

Great Sail!

Kelp forest on mooring

We launched the dinghy and headed ashore.  A couple in a dinghy advised us the well known lobster restaurant wasn't yet open for the season.  This explained the state of their moorings.  We pressed on into town and found the dinghy dock.  From there we walked through the village and out onto a trail across part of the island to S side.

View S from mooring

Dinghy dock

View N

Amazingly this was our first walk through the Maine 'bush'.  Very scenic and interesting.

On the Trail

Little Harbor

Frenchboro Sunset

Today we sailed from Frenchboro to Southwest Harbor on Mt Desert Island.  It was another great sail slaloming between the lobster pots.  Zen Again loved the 15G18 SW breeze, hitting 7 knots under reefed main and furled yankee.

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

On arrival we unsuccessfully sought a Hinkley Yacht Services mooring close to shore.  In the end we picked up their furthest out mooring.  Happily it appears newly serviced and is kelp free.  We'll be paying US$45/night but understand that includes free toilets, showers and laundry.  Given we haven't had a shower for three weeks and laundry usually costs about US$15 that seems like a good deal.

Mt Desert Island ahead

Approaching Southwest Harbor

On a Hinkley Yacht Services mooring

We'll be fueling, watering and provisioning here at Southwest Harbor.  Hopefully we'll take the bus around the island and perhaps do some trail walking.  At present there's a good weather window for us to depart for Nova Scotia on Wednesday.  If that holds we'll take it.  If it doesn't we'll do more exploring of Mt Desert Island.

Trust all's well where you are!