Winter is chasing us south...it's snowing at Mystic Seaport

It was great to get back to Greens Island, just next to Vinalhaven, where we spent a lot of time with Margaret and Brian. Brian rows this skiff over to work every day! Phil took the yacht over to town to watch the rugby at 4am while I enjoyed a girls night by candlelight  with Margaret. The island was humming 20 years ago but now there's just these two here in the summer.

Mark (above) was living on the island with his family 20 years ago and had started this post and beam house. It was great to see it finished and we had a lovely evening there, again by candlelight. Mark and Carol live on Vinalhaven now.

The Vinalhaven harbor was crowded with lobster boats. The yachts and launches have mostly been hauled out and covered for the winter. We feel like we might be the last boat to be cruising this late in the season.

Portland was our first city in a long while. We were kindly given a berth at Portland Yacht Services which is owned by Phin, a very interesting guy who loved talking with Phil about anything connected with boats. It's a great city to walk around and we caught up with several more friends while waiting for a serious blow to go through.

Leaving at dusk (4.30pm) on November 3rd we did an overnight sail to Gloucester. It was now November and the days were getting shorter and definitely cooler. Once again we were given a dock to tie up while we enjoyed a very social few days. It's always fun to re-visit places and people.

Terry has joined us for the next leg to New York. We left on a windy forecast, but it was from behind and we had a great sail south through the Cape Cod Canal, anchoring in Mattapoisett.                     

The engine stopped as we were approaching the anchorage so we dropped anchor while Phil changed the filters. We covered a short distance before it died again. Dropped anchor, checked fuel, discovered air was getting into the filters, checked all the connections and no leaks so decided the lift pump wasn't working. Being a sealed unit Phil couldn't fix it so we ordered a new one over the phone to collect closer to New York. He used the electric lift pump from the diesel heater which was installed as a back up.

                                                                                                                                           
 There was a glorious sunset as we dropped anchor at Mason Island the following day, overlooking an island retreat. The moon was almost full and it was a perfect ending to a big 70 mile day.

We wrote the names of our friends who have just passed away in the chapel by the sea...we remember.....

Next morning we were motoring up the Mystic River to Mystic Seaport, a working museum, with two opening bridges along the way .

The staff were surprised to have a yacht turn up at this time of the year but were able to give us a cheap rate to tie up as the power and water have been turned off for the winter. It used to be free for 2 nights for foreign flagged boats but that was 20 years ago. Still, it's such a fun place to visit and Terry hadn't been here before. We have had 2 sunny days poking around enjoying the exhibitions but today we are having a bit of snow. We were going to fuel up and get a few miles closer to New York but have sat by the heater having a lazy day instead. Expecting -8 tonight!!!!

One plus of being here now is that the staff have time to chat and we were lucky to be given a tour of the hundreds of boats that are stored away, along with old engines, boat plans and a huge library. It is an amazing collection from walrus skin kayaks, ice yachts, Chris crafts to small yachts, all in the original condition they were donated in.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and we will continue on our way to New York where we will spend a few days walking the streets and maybe seeing a show before taking a big leap south. Meanwhile , it's time for a rum and coke before we start cooking.

Back to the USA

We left Yarmouth on October 9th at 2am and had a great sail to Southwest Harbour on Mount Desert Island, Maine, arriving about 4pm. Once we had tied up at the Lower Town dock, we walked up to the Coast Guard building to use their phone to contact Customs for clearing in. Our Canadian simcard didn't work here which was something the Customs officer didn't understand and he gave Phil an earful until the Coast Guard chief took the phone and suggested we were doing our best to clear in. Next day found us still sitting on the boat so back to the Coastguard and another call. Tomorrow they promised, about noon. Well, the next day no Customs officer turned up so this time we offered to rent a car and drive there the following day. After being told not to leave our boat on arrival, they were happy to let us do this.
I was feeling a little nervous arriving without a visa but knowing they had mucked us around for 3 days and were feeling pretty embarrassed, we told them how we had been unable to even get an appointment in Nova Scotia. They gave us a 6 month visa and cruising permit at no  cost. They also told us we could have driven over the border or taken a ferry with our Estas (visa waivers), returned to the boat, sailed into the States and stayed 3 months...a little known loophole in the system.

 We sat here on the Lower Town dock for 3 days waiting to clear in. Great spot, but a bit of a squeeze when the lobster boats were moving about.

Luckily we had met a lovely local family who let us leave Windora on their mooring and drove us to collect the car. We were off to Gloucester for Paul's farewell gathering after seeing Customs. By the time we had cleared in  it was 4pm so we stayed in Portland with his brother and drove on to Gloucester the following morning. Meeting all of his friends and family was fun. People were pleased to meet "the Kiwis" who had been such a big part of Paul's life.

We stayed in Paul's house for 2 nights and caught up with friends. It had been 19 years since we had last been there.

We love Maine and this is our third time here but we had never seen it in Autumn. Driving around for several days was a real treat and catching up with more friends filled our days with lots of talking and good food. We had to move the boat to the head of Somes Sound for a few days to sit out a serious blow, then headed off to Center Harbor, home of Brooklin Boat Yard where we caught up with Steve White. The yard had grown a lot in 20 years and employed 60+ people which was great for the community. We decided to allow more time in this area to spend with friends and will start to move a bit faster when we get further south.

Back in 2011 we sailed over to Tasmania for the Wooden Boat Show and while anchored in one of the southernmost spots we met a couple, Guy and Karen, from Maine. They were really surprised to hear that we had anchored in their bay years ago and invited us for a meal onboard their yacht "Szel". We were able to return the favor when we anchored off their summer cottage in Smiths Cove which they have had for 35 years. Special people, like everyone we have met here over the years.

                                             Tide out, tide in....

Motoring in to say goodbye after 3 nights in the cove, sitting out another blow, and doing some nice walking. Seems there is a good blow/storm every week at this time of the year.

 

 

A quick visit to Nova Scotia

We left St Pierre at 1900 on September 19th and sailed off into a stunning sunset followed by an equally stunning sunrise....

Throw in a large pod of dolphins and it was a magical 187 mile motor to the top of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia where we dropped anchor at New Cambleton at 0130 after 30 hours (the longest we have ever motored!). We motored because there had been so many headwinds and more predicted and it was time to get south.

We headed off the next morning to Baddeck to visit our friend Henry Fuller who has the Baddeck Boat Yard and were able to tie up at his dock in very beautiful surroundings. We were last here in 2000 with our boys. It was as far north as we got on that trip before we turned for home.

While we were there we were able to replace our 11 year old batteries as they were a little tired and we got such a good price we couldn't say no. $1,000 cheaper than we paid all that time ago! We figure they should be the last set we buy if we look after them. Of course, it's never as simple as just dropping them in, the new ones were 10mm longer so Phil had to lengthen the battery box.

Henry was the perfect host, driving us around the Cabot Trail on a sunny day, introducing us to his interesting  friends and letting us use his workshop. After 6 days we headed off again, leaving the BraDor Lakes via St Peter's Lock. We had one opening bridge along the way.

 

We stopped at several small fishing villages heading south. Did a lot of walking and talking to the locals. We swung on a mooring in Purcells Cove, Halifax, where Brigid, whom we had met in Greenland lived, and enjoyed a social few days.

 

We have been moving quickly to get south to see our dear friend Paul McNiff who joins us regularly, 7 times over the years. He developed a brain tumor this year and was unable to come to Iceland, but we were sure we'd get to see him. We were wrong, and he passed away just days before we were able to sail to Maine. Here he is in Fiordland, on the second of three trips he made to NZ.

Then just 3 days later we heard that our lovely friend Jen back home had passed away. She was the wisest, kindest and most caring woman I have ever known and had been dealing with cancer for several years. The loss of these two friends has been a big blow.

Next stop Maine, and we will be arriving without visas so maybe we will be back here again in a few days. We did the online application at Henrys and phoned Halifax for an appointment only to be told they are not making anymore. We got an ESTA visa waiver thinking that might help. Fingers crossed.