Sail to Jewell Island
Since Peter was steering pretty much the entire time the day before, yesterday was Pasha’s turn to be at the wheel. In the course of the afternoon the wind was slowly building and sometimes changing direction, mostly in a favourable way.
Occasionally we saw dolphins and sunfish. Once, when Peter and I were in the cabin, Pasha yelled “dolphin”. Both of us rushed up to see if they would be less shy than the dolphins before. Unfortunately, Peter missed a stair and fell down hurting his knee and ankle. And to add insult to the injury, it was a sunfish.
Pasha suggested a book Wings of Fire, and Peter got hooked. First, he came to report that only the epilogue was left to read, and then proudly announced that he read the entire book and discussed it with Pasha. Well done!
The wind kept building, Pasha had steered enough and handed the wheel over to his father. We rolled the code-0, cause it was too much. Even the full genoa was more than the boat could handle comfortably. But at the speed of 7 knots we weren’t complaining! The hydrogenerator charged up the batteries which were being discharged by the fridge and the electronics while we were doing 4 knots.
At 18:30 we pulled into the cove at Jewell Island and to our amazement found 7 more boats in the little protected space.
It was pretty, of course, and besides these boats nothing gave away the presence of a city about 7 miles away as the bird flies.
We dropped the anchor and started with dinner. Then the rain started. Off in the direction of Portland we saw lightning, but it never came close enough for us to feel not at ease.
Cooking
This time around everyone cooked.
Peter was adamant that he wanted fried potatoes with onion. He asked for Frank’s swimming goggles to make sure that the onion doesn’t sting the eyes and the two of them were busy, Frank ensuring that Peter’s fingers do not get cut.
Pasha wanted to learn to fillet the fish to prepare a batch of sashimi. He was convinced that I was a pro, since I was preparing all the other fish. I assured him that I wasn’t, and we watched a YouTube video together, explaining the right way to fillet fish 4 times the size of ours. Lessons learned were sufficient for Pasha to get started. Every now and then I tried to help with advice or cutting.
Anchoring in a tight spot
The biggest issue with staying where we were, was the fact that the winds were forecast to turn from south to west, which would potentially put Salty Ginger’s stern perilously close to rocks. So, on the one hand we were very well protected from the winds left by the thunderstorm, but on the other hand, the forecast was a bit iffy for my taste.
I ended up staying in the cockpit during high tide, just after midnight, ensuring that everything was fine. Then I set an anchor alarm on my phone and went to bed. Nothing exciting happened, and that’s a good thing!
Portland: hello & goodbye
As luck would have it, the forecast for windless morning was only partly right. We left the cove with enough wind to sail, which made all the sailors grin. Much better than motoring the entire way!
Once we were in the lee of Cushing island, the wind stopped and we had no other choice, but to motor. After all, Sasha, Pasha and Frank needed to get on the way and drive to Philadelphia through NYC.
At Maine Yacht Center the dock hands were there to take our lines and help us get the boat tied up. All luggage packed, we walked over to the land and the guys called Uber to get taken to the car rental.
Peter was sad that Pasha was going away. He was very grateful that fate gave him such a great companion for the past week. Till we meet again!
MITA lunch
Pam and Doug from the non-profit invited Peter and I for lunch at the MITA deck. I was a bit dense and only realised this morning that their deck is the second story of the building of the marina where we are staying. Peter and I took a shower to wash off the salt, packed the laundry and walked back to meet Pam and Doug.
It was great to have a chat together. I learned a lot more about how the 34-year old MITA operates. The islands that they manage (and they own none) get cleaned up by the organization and volunteers. This makes it much easier to maintain any one island in a clean state: after all the first step is the hardest. I have to say that I don’t have a point of reference, since we’ve only gone ashore on islands that are known to be ok for that. We’ve never gone ashore onto islands that are private, where the owners do not want to share.
We told them that we saw a dead seal on Burnt island, to which they said that the police want people to report the corpses so that they can disposed of properly, and so that the authorities can try to identify what it was that killed the animal. A couple of years ago some infection caused many seals to die.
We talked about the issues that lobster fishing creates: traps frequently get washed ashore by storms. The cages are essentially worthless if they are bent, but at the same time, per Maine law dating two hundred years, people are not allowed to destroy commercial fishing property. Meaning that potentially, a person who cleans up a beach from traps can be held liable for destruction of property. The law was written when traps were wooden. Today’s traps are made of metal and plastic and take a very long time to disintegrate.
From my perspective, I’m extremely happy that organisations like MITA exist and look after the nature in their own backyard. I love coming to Maine to explore places off the bean path, so I’m happy to continue to support them!
Quiet time
Laundry done, some things got cleaned up and made better on the boat. For example, cleaning urine stains in one of the toilets. Minor thing, but ultimately an eyesore partly removed. To be completed tomorrow with more vinegar and baking soda!
Our next crew arrives tomorrow evening, so we’ll have an opportunity to do a couple of errands and then explore Portland. Maybe buy another book for Peter…
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