Uneventful passage
That’s a good thing when a passage is easy. Sure, we can complain that there was no wind and we had to motor the entire time, but that’s a much better situation than fighting a strong wind. Even though there was no wind, the waves were rocking the boat the entire night.
Since Peter was adamant that he wanted to do the night shifts, we split the schedule as follows: Andre & Peter 9pm till midnight, then Frank until 3am, then Sasha & Pasha till 6am, then Andre & Peter taking over until presumably everyone will be awake. We had a starry night with Milky Way clearly visible above us. Peter and I also saw a few shooting stars and aside from some birds that we would periodically scare while motoring past them, we did not see anyone. There was Boston and Gloucester on the horizon to our port, faint lights of Provincetown on our starboard and a faint line of the dark horizon straight ahead.
Sleeping with Peter in the rolling seas was an adventure of its own. He kept rolling towards me, smacking me in the face, neck and torso. On top of that at 1:30 the rolling waves started to cling mugs that were in the sink. In a half asleep state I walked to the galley to move the mugs onto the stove, so that source of noise was gone. I lay down, fall asleep, get whacked by Peter. Roll Peter to the other side of the bed, fall asleep.
When I came up to the cockpit at 6, the sun was already up. I tapped Peter on the shoulder to see if he wants to come up, but the answer was a resounding no. Not surprising, given that he was awake till 11pm on the night shift. Sasha didn’t want to go to sleep. Pasha also didn’t want to go down, but fell asleep in the cockpit within minutes of my arrival. We had a whiff of wind, so in addition to the motor we unrolled our code-0. Now that it’s run correctly, we have no issues with this sail!
There were petrels and small birds that I am not familiar with. We saw the backs of two whales, but they didn’t want to come close. There were quite a few sunfish. The stillness of the wide blue sea was simply marvellous. At one point, some 15-20 miles offshore we saw a fishing boat not too far away from us, but otherwise we were totally alone in the middle of the Gulf of Maine.
Captain’s menu
With lots of time on our hands I made crepes for breakfast. Easy life, happy crew.
The landing
One of the things I appreciated on the passage was existence of the written ship log (I should restart that practice!). During the passage we decided that instead of heading straight for Vinalhaven we could do a stop over on Matinicus island. My question was: have I ever been there? Turns out, yes! We’ve been there in 2018 with a crew of five: Andrea, Tim, Irina, Peter and me. 4 years ago I was lazy to keep the blog, but at least the paper version exists with the following:
Aug 11, 2018
Walked around Matinicus after breakfast. Another beautiful day, although not as hot as it was before. Stopped at art galleries and the bakery. Even got a free cucumber from one of the gallery owners.
While Tim & Irina were getting lunch ready, Andrea & I folded the dinghy. The flies were absolutely horrible. While the fly ribbons helped a bit, some hair was lost by getting stuck in the sticky thing.
14:15 left Matinicus. Just south of the sis land we started seeing dolphins and they continued To appear for a couple of hours. None came close to the boat though. Bye-bye Maine.
Decision: we land on Matinicus. But almost on the way, just a few miles south, there is a lighthouse on Matinicus Rock. Peter wanted to see lighthouses, so might as well pass by. Plus, if it’s a rock, there should be lots of birds there. They like to be away from humans.
We saw a lobster boat that seemed to be working, but then rounded the island. When we followed it, it turned out that the people aboard were doing a very different job: they had cameras with enormous lenses and they were taking pictures of birds. No lobsters. But wait! There are PUFFINS! The little birds with a characteristic fast wind flap. Very shy as usual, they kept distance and would dive into the water as soon as we’d approach them within 20 minutes.
Josh the fisherman
On the mooring that we took was a little tube inside which we found instructions for paying and $120 left by the previous boat. Maine honour system for helping the owner to maintain the moorings.
Once the dinghy was in the water we saw a lobster boat pull in. We tried to wave them to us, but they went straight for the floating dock to unload the catch. When we got there, the guys were happy to sell us some of their catch. $4 per pound. Cheaper than chicken in Swiss supermarkets! We’ll take 6!
— You guys are on the mooring, right? I’m Josh. You found the map, right?
— Yes, of course. We can pay you now, and by the way there is money in the tube.
— Ah, yes, from the guys who left yesterday. I’ll get it some time. Enjoy the lobsters. Cook them in salt water.
We delivered our fresh seafood aboard Salty Ginger, I took the money and the thank you note from the tube to bring them back to Josh.
— Thanks for bringing the money! Hey, you overpaid me for the lobsters. I should give you a couple more.
We were on our way for a stroll on the island in any case, so we declined the honest offer of even more shellfish. The guys said thank you and told us that there is a lovely sandy beach on the north side of the island. “Just take the road to the right up the hill.”
We walked up, and then saw a pebble beach on the right. Cute, nothing special. We waded in the water, skipped some stones on the flat surface of the sea before going on to explore the island. On our way back we saw the crew member who pointed us to the beach walking with his wife and their kid. When we told him where we were, he said “I told my boss that you’d go to the bad beach. You should have kept straight a bit longer.”
They guy told us that despite high fuel prices the wholesale market price for lobsters is very low, so they are not making as much money this year compared to the years before. Seems quite surprising given the high food prices that one sees in American supermarkets this summer.
Despite protests from the kids, we stopped by the Fisherman’s Wife gallery as a detour to the sandy beach. Pasha got a hat, Peter got a hoody and I got another mug for the boat. With a puffin picture. The owner and the artist told us that her husband was indeed a fisherman for about 50 years. To Frank’s comment that it is a hard life she said: “Not really. We worked the summer and during the winter we would get into the RV and travel the country. We had 7 RVs over 30 some years. We’ve been as far as Oregon.”
The sandy beach was indeed nice. Peter tried to build a sand castle right above the tidal line, which got promptly washed away by the rising tide. The beach also happened to be the only place on the island where we had some cell coverage, so we called our loved ones and then headed for the boat to prepare a feast.
The feast interrupted
Lobsters were delightful! I managed to fit 3 into our little pot, so even though the water was boiling when I was putting them in, it took some time for the water to heat back up to boiling on the not-so-powerful gas burner. While we were working on the first 3 lobsters, corn was on the grill. Kids were happy, adults were happy. Toasting with white wine to the lovely time that we’re having.
Until…
Mosquitoes come out. Frank suggested I go look for the citronella candle, but looking at the numerous bites we quickly decided to retreat into the cabin. Good thing that Sasha found the net that covers the entrance inside! A long battle with biting insects continued in the cabin, but ultimately we prevailed and enjoyed fruit for dessert. No roses without thorns, I guess. Or maybe mosquitoes also felt that they had to give us a warm welcome just like the local people.
Going north
We’re now on the way to Vinalhaven island. Peter already caught 2 mackerels, so we have enough for sashimi appetizer, but maybe we can get a few more and have grilled fish as well. For that we’ll be heading into one of the coves. Which one? The one we like best! And with some luck we’ll be able to supplement our menu with fresh muscles.
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