2022: Massachusetts mooring ball fiasco

 22 August 2022

Depart: Onset Bay anchorage 8:10

Arrive: New Bedford, MA mooring ball 12:00

Distance: 22 nm

On our excursion into Wareham yesterday, Clark learned from a local boater that although it looked like a privately-owned island, folks could visit there. Clark, the adventurer, wanted to see that island. He decided to leave the dinghy down overnight so he could go exploring in the morning before departure.

Morning sky (7:00 a.m.) Onset Bay

For Clark to be up and ready at 7:00, he must have really wanted to see the island. I stayed on "Sunset Delight" and told him to scoot.

Pictures taken of or from Wicket's Island ...

By just after 8:00 he had the dinghy stored and was ready to carry on to our next destination. This time to see a friend of mine from my childhood and high school days. On our way north my friend, Faith, had said we should come for a visit to her home town of New Bedford, so we decided to take her up on that offer.

We planned to meet for lunch. I kept Faith guessing on what time we would arrive as my estimate kept changing as we traveled. First I told her 1l:00 then I changed it to 12:00 then, when we tried to get a mooring ball, I threw it all out the window and told her I would text her when I had it figured out.

New Bedford has a hurricane wall protecting the city. I had never seen that before. The gates close when a hurricane is imminent. Any boats that want to be in protected waters before those gates close because Faith told us that once they close, they stay closed.

We got the mooring ball number from the dockmaster, but when we came in we could  see a huge field of balls and no idea where to go. He said he would send the launch driver out to tell us where to do. He pointed to an area far off towards the hurricane gates and told us to go there and look for the "pancake", i.e. flat-topped mooring.

When we got to where we thought we were supposed to be, the mooring ball had no markings on it regarding numbering to confirm we were in the right place. Clark had to call again and we did get the word back that we had the right spot. So, with boat hook in hand I tried to pick up the line attached to the ball. 

The line was more than an inch in diameter, weighed a ton, had two floats on it that were wound around each other, and worst yet was covered in sea growth! Even after I ran to get rubber gloves I could not fancy touching the foul thing. Even if I could manage to get it up where I could reach it, the loop in the end of the line was so fouled with growth, my line would not fit through the loop even if I felt like spoiling my line. 

I was literally begging Clark to ask them for an alternative mooring. He is often times stubborn and hesitant to make waves, but I just kept telling him how disgusting it was and that I wanted no part of it near my boat! Finally he talked to the dockmaster, told him how disgusting it was, and got a different assignment from him. 

We went over a short distance to find the new assignment. All kidding aside - this one had no line attached to it at all. What was I supposed to do, climb off the boat and thread my line through the metal ring. Seriously!!?? Meanwhile I am sweating about the fact that I told Faith noon. We have been trying to moor for half an hour and are still without a usable mooring ball.

Finally the launch driver appears with someone else on the boat to come look at the situation. I had managed to pull the loop of the first (disgusting) mooring ball up onto the top of the "pancake", so when they arrived they could see what a mess it was. As we stared at the mooring ball with no line, we saw them beckoning us over and pointing to a different ball altogether. Yay! this one looked normal!

I quickly got us tied up to this third and final mooring ball. Clark told them not to go away while we secured the boat as we needed the launch ride to meet my friend for lunch. When I got on the launch, the guy said, "How are you doing?" although it was probably what he said in greeting to everyone, I looked at him incredulously and said, "I am stressed to the max right now and need time to catch my breath. We have someone waiting for us and that is adding to my stress." The 30 to 40 minutes it took us to get a mooring ball attached felt more like hours.

We are this far from the docks.

moored very near the gates

During my frantic texting to Faith, she said, "No worries. I am parked in the parking lot of the restaurant. Ready when you are!" 

The launch captain asked where we needed to go, and he said he could take us directly to the restaurant to save us time. Sure enough Faith was there when we got there. We had a lovely lunch together and then she drove us to her house to meet her husband. Her beautiful home was built c. 1865. Although old in structure, it was modern in interior and very nicely decorated. We sat in the kitchen due to my cat allergy because I asked for a seat that a cat would not have been lounging in.

We spent the afternoon pouring over the high school yearbook for our class and talking about who was where and who was no longer among the living. Sadly, 30 out of the 200 in our graduating class have passed away. I have not seen Faith since the early 1980s. We reconnected via Facebook. Even though it has been 40 years since we saw each other, we chatted as if we had seen each other just the other day. Amazing!

As the day wore on, we decided we should head back to "Sunset Delight". Faith and Harry wanted to see the boat, so they planned on taking the launch out with us for a tour. Unfortunately, the weather turned to rain, and by the time we got to the docks, they had changed their minds about coming out to the boat. 

While we waited in the office for the launch captain (just coming onto his shift),  we had a chance to talk to the dockmaster. He had hired on to this job only two weeks before. He was the other person in the launch when they came out to help us find an acceptable one for the night. He apologized for the mooring ball fiasco. When he came on board, he was told that all the mooring-ball lines had been cleaned for the season. The "Pancake" had obviously not been used the entire season to be in its current state.

2022: Massachusetts heading south Part I

 19 August 2022

Depart: Portland, ME - Simonton Cove anchorage 8:45

Arrive: Gloucester, MA mooring ball 5:15

Distance: 72.5 nm

Clark woke up early and checked on the boat, anchor, etc. He got a rare (for us) sunrise picture.

Sunrise at Portland

Clark arranged for us to meet boating friends of ours in Gloucester, Massachusetts today. Unfortunately, that meant another long boat ride. We had hoped to stop near their home port of Newburyport, but anchorage was unavailable, and the marina fees exorbitant. They agreed to drive to Gloucester and meet us there for a visit. We haven't seen them in a long time.

The sights coming into Gloucester were familiar from our trip northwards. 

After getting situated at the mooring ball, we called for the launch to take us to shore. When we got to the dock, our "Ramble On" friends - Linda and Scott were there to greet us. They had picked out a restaurant, and we strolled through town for a look-see on our way there. After dinner we had another walk through town as we made our way to a local-recommended ice cream shop for dessert. For a Friday night, the streets were deserted - except for the ice cream shop which seemed a bit out of the way but popular.

Where is everyone on a Friday night in Gloucester?

Walking back to the boat from the ice cream store we passed a tree with a face "carved" into it. Pretty eerie thing to see in the dark!

All too soon our visit with our friends came to an end. The launch was waiting for us at the dock to take us back to our boat, so we said goodbyes until next time.

20 August 2022

Depart: Gloucester, MA mooring ball 9:00

Arrive: Plymouth, MA anchorage 2:20

Distance: 42 nm

Relatively speaking, we had a short day on the water today. Dropping anchor midday is a real treat.

Pictures taken as we left Gloucester ...

Sunset from Plymouth, MA anchorage

21 August 2022

Depart: Plymouth anchorage 7:25 (to catch current in the Cape May Canal)

Arrive: Onset Bay anchorage (Wareham, MA)  11:00

Distance: 28 nm

Today our goal was to meet up with friends of ours that Clark has known since childhood - Chris and Jack. Besides visiting with more people we haven't seen in years, I had boat chores that desperately needed to be done. I needed to get garbage off the boat. We were out of bread, so I needed a food store, and if I did not find a place to do laundry, pretty soon we would have to reuse underwear! 

Clark timed it well to travel through the canal. We got a good push in speed from the current taking us along. The canal has a speed limit, but at very low rpm, we were still moving faster than the posted limit!

View of bike trail along canal

Mural of Cape Code Canal on side of Cape Code Canal
along boat trail

I thought I would have time before meeting up with Chris and Jack to knock the items off my to-do list, but they surprised us by being there waiting for us when we arrived. They went to grab lunch while Clark and I got the chores underway. After their lunch, they found us at the laundromat. Fortunately the local tattoo parlor, across the street from the laundromat, had bench chairs our front, so we had a place to sit and talk while the washing dried. 

Met this guy
on the walk to the laundromat

We stood in the shade in this park to talk
until we eventually decided we should sit on the benches nearby.

Chalk art near the docks

The "market" turned out to be a liquor store with snacks. I found one loaf of whole-wheat bread. I decided that even if we had to go shopping again soon it was better than buying Wonder Bread or its equivalent. Thank goodness bread was all I needed.

With the laundry done and packed in Clark's backpack (small load), we all climbed into the dinghy for the ride to "Sunset Delight". We gave them a tour of the boat, and we hung out there for a while until it was time to go find dinner. Then we all piled back in the dinghy for the trip back to town.

Selfie in the cockpit

Before we left the boat, Chris wanted to do the "Titanic" pose on our bow.

We found a restaurant, Qahog Republic, with a good menu close to the docks. After dinner we decided to go for ice cream. We thought we would need to walk down the street a bit, but we found, Guido's that was basically joined to the restaurant where we ate, so the walk was very very short!

After ice cream, Jack and Chris left for their drive home near Boston, and Clark and I dinghied back to "Sunset Delight". It was so nice to catch up after such a long time apart.

2022: Maine - Rough seas

 17 August 2022

Depart: Bar Harbor commercial dock drop off 9:30

Arrive: Rockland Harbor anchorage 5:00

Distance: 64 nm

After dropping off the family at the commercial dock, our new objective was heading home and stopping to visit friends along the way. Clark decided we should target Rockland for tonight, which meant we had a full day of travel ahead of us. We had one concern for the trip - the 70% full waste holding tank needed to be emptied, and no where near around Bar Harbor could perform that task for us - either dock occupied or pump out not functional.

Looking at the charts, Clark determined that with a short detour we could reach beyond the 3-mile dumping limit and discharge our waste that way. Knowing we would get into our next port too late to find an open pump-out station there, we made the slight detour to the 3-mile line part of our travel plan.

Travel in the morning was fine. We took no pictures because there was nothing to see but water and lobster pots. Around 11:30 I went down below and came back with lunch for both of us. Everything was pretty normal. Unfortunately, weather picked up around 12:30, and from that point on we had a rough ride in Penobscot Bay. Between weather coming in earlier than Clark anticipated and the time added for our pump out detour, we found ourselves in conditions we would not normally sign up for.

Today turned out to be one of our worst, or maybe the worst, boating experiences ever. We left Bar Harbor expecting a rainy day. Clark expected to get us to Rockland before the winds picked up. We ended up in Penobscot Bay with high and frequent seas, near gale-force winds and salt water spraying over the upper helm into our faces.

Being able to see lobster pots as they suddenly appeared out of the high waves meant both of us staying on the upper helm to keep watch even with the miserable conditions. The only thing worse than what we were experiencing would be to wrap a trap around a propeller in those conditions!

As we approached Rockland, we had limited visibility. Each time Clark asked if I could see the land, my answer was "Not yet! " He had his work cut out for him handling wave action and avoiding pots, so he had me give him navigation info while he tried to steer in the direction we wanted to go. Besides turning this way and that to avoid lobster pots, he tried to tack to cut down on wave action.

On each tack he would ask me what piece of land we were aiming for and what bearing he needed to point back towards Rockland. I have performed many jobs on the boat before, but this was the first time I ever been Clark's eyes to navigate using instruments only. Usually there is something to point the direction even if it was just a fun-shaped cloud in the sky.

We had the hatch to the lower deck on the boat closed to keep salt water from running down the stairs. That, and due to the conditions, neither of us wanted to leave the upper helm. As the boat rocked and swayed and sometimes rolled, I worried about what might be happening below. I hoped I had remembered to lock the fridge door. I had visions of milk all over the galley floor if not.

We had eaten lunch underway around 12:30. We finally found a spot to drop anchor in Rockland about 6:00. Neither of us had made it below after lunch. The highest priority for each of us, before even lowering the anchor, was to use the toilet.

I went down first and noticed water on the floor in the hallway by the guest stateroom. Looking for the source, I noticed that the small port light (porthole) in the stateroom was open. Although we have a shield over the outside of the porthole to prevent water coming in, it quickly became clear that the waves that broke over the boat had still managed to flood the guest room with salt water.

I threw a couple of towels down on the floor and continued on my way to the toilet. First things first! We had a huge mess to deal with that would take a lot of time. After that I took the helm for Clark to give him the opportunity to run use the toilet also. Then, feeling much more comfortable, we set the anchor. After we were secure, we went to address the mess below.

We just that morning said goodbye to family that had been on board for several days. The guest room sofa was still made up as a bed and covered with sheets, pillows, a mattress cover, and a sleeping bag. All were saturated with salt water.

The good news perhaps is that the bed linens absorbed a huge amount of water thus partially protecting the sofa cushions. By the time I was done mopping up water and stripping the bed, I had a pile of sopping wet towels and bedding 3 feet tall.

With all the moisture in the boat, even things on the boat not directly hit by water felt damp including the sheets on our bed. Clark opened the engine compartment door to let the heat from the engines warm and dry things. He placed the sofa cushions in the engine room doorway to give them the most heat possible.

Eventually Clark turned on the generator so we could have heat on the boat to get out the excess moisture. That gave me the ability to use the clothes dryer to dry sheets and towels. It took about 3 hours to whittle the wet things down to a manageable level. After that we still had some damp towels but we had a warm boat, so I hung stuff up and called it a night.

18 August 2022

Depart: Rockland anchorage 9:45

Arrive: Simonton Cove, Portland Me, anchorage 6:40

Distance: 69 nm

This morning, I ran a vacuum over the mostly dry sofa cushions to pull out salt. I wiped out the inside of the dryer to remove salt that might have collected from drying salt water linens. I knew I would have to wash everything eventually, but for the time being I had dry dirty laundry instead of soaking wet laundry!

All I wanted yesterday was to relax and read. That didn't happen! Unfortunately, it was another grueling day again today with long hours on the boat with fog, misting rain, salt spray and of course lobster pots!

Once again we traveled without taking many pictures partially because we had covered this area before and partially because of a lack of things of interest. All the pictures below were taken as we left the Rockland anchorage.

We arrived when the chart plotter predicted we would - just around 6:00. We went back to an anchorage we had used on our way northeast, so we were in familiar territory at least.

Map showing Rockland in northeast
and Portland in lower left corner

After too long, dreary days on the water, we were more than ready to eat a quick dinner and relax for the rest of the night.

2022: Maine Part VII - Bar Harbor

 14 August 2022

Depart: Southwest Harbor - Mill Dam anchorage 10:45

Arrive: Bar Harbor anchorage 12:45

Distance: 14 nm

Our Connecticut crew decided to focus energies on Bar Harbor for the remainder of their time with us. The reasons were two-fold. One - there is a lot to do here, and two - moving around meant moving the boat and the car. For the move from Southwest Harbor to Bar Harbor, Heather drove the car and the rest of us took the boat to meet her. Unlike with Jeff and crew where we docked at the municipal dock, this time we dropped anchor and did our touring via double dinghy rides to and from the docks. 

Heather had to circle the parking lot with several other cars going round and round until finally she got lucky as the others all abandoned the lot to look for other places to park. That meant the car was handy should we need to use it though most everything in Bar Harbor was a walk or bus ride away.

I am convinced that Jack's favorite part of the entire vacation was playing on the cannons at the park near the Bar Harbor municipal docks. Lillian and Jack did not believe me when I said they were real cannons that had been in use in 1898 until I showed them the plaque to prove it. Then they really were in awe of being able to climb all over them.

Our first day in Bar Harbor we walked around town. Heather, Chris and kids visited here on vacation last year and rented an Airbnb for their stay. They were well familiar with the lay of the land and knew where they wanted to go. Heather said the weather last year was dismal. The weather this year was as good as it gets.

At the Village Green Lillian and Jack found the same piano Sierra and Violet had enjoyed a few days earlier.

 

Lillian found a good climbing tree in the part, and she was up it immediately.

Because Chris and Heather stayed here last year, they knew of a good park where the kids could run off some energy. Chris remembered it as being shady but that might have been due to last year's overcast sky or the time of day they visited because it was mostly sunny today and hot! The kids played in the sun while the adults mostly tried to hide in what little shade we could find.

Of course Lillian and Jack went climbing 

Chris might be a little large for that ride

We ate dinner in town, and by then the sun was getting low in the sky and the tide was mostly out. In Bar Harbor, the height of the tide is significant because at low tide the bar appears. At high tide it is way under water. When the bar was exposed, or close to it, Clark had to dinghy around the long way to drop us off in town. Given high tide was mid-day when we visited, most of our trips were the long way. The kids loved it because that meant Clark would take the dinghy up on plane to get there faster - the kids love the fast ride!

After dinner, I had seen enough for one day and my feet hurt. Jack, too, was ready to call it quits. We asked if he wanted to go walk on the bar to look for sea critters or take a fast dinghy ride back to the boat with Nana. Nana and fast boat won that toss up question, and Clark took us back to "Sunset Delight" to hang out. After dropping us off, Clark left to not only get the rest of the crew but to catch up and walk the bar as well.

Heading back to the boat at sunset

I never did get to walk on the bar. That is something for me to look forward to on another visit should that happen in our future. Clark told me that there is a sign warning folks not to get trapped on the island when the tide comes in. They provide contact information for a service that, for a large fee, will come "rescue" those not smart enough to get off the island in time.

Views from the "bar" at sunset ...

Looking at the mud at low tide, it is pretty hard to believe that the water comes in high enough that even a 4' draft boat like "Sunset Delight" can go over the top of the bar when the tide is in.

By not joining the crew for the walk on the "bar", Jack and I missed out on a stop at the ice cream store.

Park Fountain lit up at night

Lillian got chocolate ice cream
 --- can you tell?!

As Jack and I waited on the boat for their return, it got darker and darker as the night progressed. Having not taken a bearing earlier in the day, all I could see looking off the boat was lights in the various directions mostly coming from some other boats anchored around the area. That meant that I did not even know which direction to look to see if the dinghy was on its way back. Yes, I could have looked at a chart and the compass, but that seemed like too much work.

When Sierra and Violet were on the boat, Clark gave them jobs to do. When Lillian and Jack came on board, they too received work assignments as crew. Lillian was given the same job as Sierra - put out the flag, prepare the upper helm for departure in the morning, and put the upper helm "to bed" after travels for the day. Jack had the job of turning on /  off courtesy lights on the boat and opening curtains in the salon. 

As it was sunset when Jack and I returned to "Sunset Delight" and I knew Lillian would be back much later, I asked Jack, in a conspiracy-type voice, if he wanted to do Lillian's job. Oh boy, did he! I guess there is nothing so naughty and tempting as taking your sister's job away from her. We snuck upstairs like criminals and put everything where it belonged - how naughty was that!?

Eventually, it got so dark out I wondered if Clark would be able to find us. He showed me his track on his chart plotter later. Apparently when he did come back finally, he did go a bit out of his way but the important part was he did find us! Since he knew we would be using it again the next day, he tied the dinghy "on the hip" to "Sunset Delight". That saved him the trouble of hauling it back on board.

15 August 2022

Since we planned to once again go in to Bar Harbor for the day, we did not need to move "Sunset Delight" to a new spot.  The goal for today was to hike the Gorham Mountain Trail. Clark had seen some of this hike (Sandy Beach and Thunder Hole) with Jeff and those grandkids when they hiked the Beehive Trail (the one not recommended for children). 

This trail was more Nana-friendly than the Beehive Trail but still we had some rugged terrain to climb over. No matter how hard the trail seemed to me, I had to hand it to Heather as she carried Jack in a child carrier for 90% of the way. He simply refused to walk! I don't know how she managed.

We followed the blue trail markers.

We had a choice as we hiked the trail - the hard way or the easier way. I won't say the "easy way" as that did not exist. Chris, Clark and Lillian took the hard way. Heather (with Jack on her back) and I took the easier route. When we rejoined at the other end of the split, I said to Chris, "If that was the easy way, I would not want to see the hard way!" Every step felt like a potential for a twisted ankle.

Part of the harder-portion of the trail 

Rungs in rocks on the harder portion of the trail.

We met up at a false summit in time to see the ocean view together and take a much-needed rest sitting on the rocks.

We finally made it to the true summit,

and then it was time to keep going (mostly) down on the other side.

Shortly thereafter we passed by the turn off for the Beehive trail. Clark said he wanted to look at something and split off from the rest of us to rejoin further along. I hoped he wouldn't have an accident off on his own as I did not know if our cell phones would work up there! I am used to him running off, so I did not worry overly much. He was looking for the signs that we found later on our walk, so this particular detour was not fruitful.

At the end of our hike on Gorham Mt. Trail, Clark told me to look up to see the hikers on the Beehive Trail. Still so thankful that I bowed out of that adventure!

Heather and Chris brought bathing suits and towels for the kids so they could enjoy Sandy Beach. They really got into it.

Lillian in her swimsuit ready to play

We checked out the critter pool first and then it was beach time.

Chris told me that Lillian goes "all in" where sand is concerned. They were sandy messes when they were done. Fortunately the park had a place for them to rinse off and change.

We caught a late bus back to town. As soon as the bus pulled up, we jumped on to grab seats. I ended up sitting with Jack who was by the window and did not like the sun in his eyes. I had a hat. He did not.

We grabbed dinner and ice cream in town before heading back to the boat,

Chocolate again!

which meant the sun was going down as we headed back to the boat.

16 August 2022

Chris and crew would be leaving tomorrow, so this was our last day to explore together. Chris and Heather wanted to drive up Cadillac Mountain which is supposed to have fabulous views. When they visited last year, all they could see was fog.

Cadillac Mountain requires reservations for a car as they have limited parking space. His concern for the excursion, besides what time to make the reservation for, was who would have to stay behind since their car only seats 5. I suggested that Chris and Heather escape by themselves for the afternoon and leave the kids with us. I was sure we could find things to do on the boat. 

Before their drive up Cadillac Mountain, however, they wanted to eat brunch at "Cafe This Way" near the Village Green, so we did the dual-trip dinghy rides to the docks to get breakfast / lunch. Clark dropped off Lillian, Jack, and me first and then brought over Chris and Heather after.  When I asked what they wanted to do while we waited for the rest of the crew, they immediately said "Cannons!" After the cannon visit, we walked along the rocky beach by the town docks.

After our brunch together at "Cafe This Way", we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and went back to the dinghy dock. There, Jack found quite a few ducks to observe. The ducks expected food, I think; we had none!

Lillian had wanted to go for a kayak ride, so we pulled out the two kayaks. I thought Lillian would go on her own as she had in Rumson, but Clark thought her steering was too ineffectual for her to go alone. Lillian and I ended up in a one-person kayak together. Lillian was not happy. She was getting wet from the water dripping from the oars. She declared herself done and got back on the boat. 

So, then Jack got in with me. Clark had the other kayak. We had fun as Jack and I chased Papa Clark around "Sunset Delight". We could not catch him though we tried! Later, Clark decided to kayak over to the Bar Island to check it out. 

Off in the kayak together

Landed on Bar island

I stayed at the boat with Lillian. Jack went with Clark to the island. Clark did not realize until they got there that Jack did not have any shoes on, so Clark ended up carrying him around.

"If stranded call ..."

Papa Clark and Jack Island Selfie

View of "Sunset Delight" at anchor from Bar island

Late in the afternoon, we were contacted by Chris to ask if we all wanted to come into town for dinner. We declined as I had food already thawed out to cook. I sent Clark to pick them up. We learned that after their trip up Cadillac Mountain, they walked around town exploring the shops. They said they had a good time and great views from the mountain.

Pictures taken on the way back to the boat ...

17 August 2022

Chris and crew had a long drive ahead of them. To avoid paying parking for today, they wanted to be on their way by 9:00. We were told the day before that we would be able to pull up to the pump-out dock to drop off our passengers as no one would be there. However, when Clark called to say we were coming in with "Sunset Delight", the dockmaster said that the dock was occupied and the tenant was not moving. That meant that not only could we not drop off passengers there, we also could not get the much-needed pump out of the waste holding tank.

On the bright side, the dockmaster said that, if we were only dropping off passengers, we could pull up to the commercial dock as long as no one was there. When we arrived, he was there to help with our lines. We quickly off-loaded passengers and luggage. 

It was a tearful farewell for Lillian. However, I do not believe she was sad to be leaving Nana and Papa Clark. Instead, she was disappointed to be leaving Maine without having seen a seal. On the way to the dock I did see a seal frolicking in the water and tried to get Lillian over in time to see it. She just missed it. Well, I tried!