NORTHEAST HARBOR TO STONINGTON

Wednesday, Aug 20th, day 61
Trip Log 22 nautical miles.

Beautiful sunny calm day for a short cruise from Northeast Harbor to Billings Marine in Stonington. Of course, this is Maine, there are lots of pots in channel to dodge.   Got to Billings Marina, got fuel,  and tied up. The work on the engine, while probably minor,  may take a few days, as we probably won't see a mechanic until Friday.

Jim and Jan showed up, they picked up a mooring for a night and we had dinner on our boat.

We sort of hung around Billings, walked into Stonington a couple of times, went to a craft fair/farmer's market, cleaned boat, etc.  

Stonington is a picturesque quintessential Maine waterfront town with lots of Main lobsterboats along the waterfront.

GRAND MANAN TO NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME, USA

trip log 68 nautical miles, back in US

We entered Canada July 10, and came back into US August 18, .

The trip from Grand Manan started in thick fog about 6:15 am.  The fog lasted about  about two hours and then cleared up nicely. Varying conditions for the rest of the day but mostly nice.    There were thousands of lobster pots once we hit Maine.  Picked up a mooring in North East Harbor,  tried to do customs with our special customs entry cards which got in Florida, but customs is not used to this system in New England and things got all screwed up.   When I talked to customs a few days ago the man I spoke with was knowledgeable about this system but also told me they were'nt used it in the northeast, and he was sure right.   Finally got that straightened out but it took a few hours.   Works well in Florida.  We stayed a couple of days in Northeast Harbor and took the bus over to Bar Harbor, walked around the town and had lunch.

All the pictures below are Bar Harbor.  Northeast harbor is lovely but I didn't take any pictures for some reason.

ACROSS THE BAY OF FUNDY -- YARMOUTH TO GRAND MANAN

Trip log 64.5 nautical miles.    total trip mileage so far is 1852.6

We were basically crossing the south end of the Bay of Fundy today.  For so long, in learning about this trip, I looked at all these places mostly just as names on flat charts and pages of the www.  Now they are charged with life, and sounds, and people and activities and are familiar in my memories.  So glad we made this trip.

We changed our plan to go direct to Northeast Harbor because of a questionable forecast, so we went to Grand Manan instead.  Still in Canada.    Went into Seal Cove Harbor, which is about 100 percent commerical fishing boats.  Not a bad trip, we had some haze, 3-5 foot swells, some choppy water, rolly and foggy.  Could easily have gone to NE Harbor but sometimes its better to err on the side of caution.  When we got to Seal Cove Harbor we found it full of boats but no people at all around the harbor, it was gray and drizzly.  We found a spot a tied up.    No one ever came around to collect money for dockage.    We went for a short walk around the area to stretch our legs, but the wet weather sent us back to the boat.   Planning to leave early and tomorrow we enter the USA!

a gray and damp day, we spent little time at this stop

SHELBURNE TO YARMOUTH

Monday, Aug 11,  Day 52

Trip Log  73.2

Left Shelburne and went around Cape Sable headed for Yarmouth.  Beautiful remote area of the Atlantic, we hit fog for awhile, used radar;  had a 2-3 knot current against us from Cape Sable to Yarmouth.  Don't trust Cheryl Barr who published the exact opposite timing of what would have been correct.

Entered channel into Yarmouth, it was sunny and clear.  Looks like an interesting spot.   Yarmouth has a shark tournement this weekend as well as a music festival.   We plan to stay for a few days.

We enjoyed our stay here, we visited the local branch of the Museum of Nova Scotia to see an exhibit of Maud Lewis work and some hooked rugs based on her art;  we visited another small museum of local history which was quite interesting,  watched the shark tournament weigh in, met some local people and enjoyed their company, enjoyed a local music festival taking place on the dock.   Overall it was a fun and restful week for us.  I could have stayed longer!


Yarmouth is a busy fishing village with a Big tide -- I took a lot of pictures -- there's also a big ferry that comes over once a day from Bar Harbor, ME.

the weigh-in, shark fishing derby

low tide

out for a walk

sunset at the dock

high tide

most all boats here are fishing boats

Nova at the dock

more fishing boats

the ferry from Portland, comes in once a day

this is the beginning of a fishing boat race

dockside music festival

dockside eatery

dockside bandstand

1st place fisherman!