Waiting again

Here we are still in Westport, The weather gods have not been shining on us. Another low pressure system is on its way. Winds blowing 25-30k gusts up to 45k and sea’s 8-10ft expected for most of the week. All we need is two day just two day’s and we can be touring New York the big Apple.

 . Anyone coming down this way I would suggest a stop here. It’s a beautiful spot right next to horse neck beach. With lobster fishermen a short dingy ride away 4-5 dollars per pound steamer, little necks, long necks all available. Although Lane and I have not been lucky fishermen are on the docks every night catching stripped bass and a variety of other fish.

We are looking forward to getting moving again. Once we are in the ICW we won’t be affected as much by the weather.

Waiting

Well we are still in Westport; the wind has been blowing 25 to 30k for the last three days. We are still waiting for some parts to be fabricated for the anchor platform. Should be tomorrow I hope. Harry at Tripp’s marina has given me a great weekly rate so it’s not hurting the pocket book to much. John has been great giving us rides back and forth to town for supplies. The nights are getting colder we have to run the heat at night. Tony and his wife dropped by to see the boat today {old owner} I think he was pleased with the way Esperanza is looking. There are so many nice people in this part of the United States. I hope our luck remains as our journey continues.

Westport Again

Well Esperanza is back to her old home, everyone has been dropping by to see how she looks. My friend John Dolan who helped me so much during my month stay here was waiting at the dock to get our lines. Ray another fellow sailor {the first one to fall off Esperanza} dropped by for a beer. That afternoon John took us into town for supplies and later to his girlfriends Lisa for a great lobster dinner. Great evening.  Well we are getting some maintenance done on the boat. Planning to go to the marine consignment store tomorrow to look for several items if not to expensive.

Buzzards Bay to Westport Hbr

0830 hrs, left Onset Harbour, travelled through Buzzards Bay to West Port Harbour

back to where Esperanza was first bought. Arrived at 1230 hrs,
We will be here for a bit.
Travel distance 24km.

Cape Cod

0730 up and adam, went to fuel dock, what a tide action, two words holy s..t,

must be at least 5 kts pouring out of the hbr. OK we did 10.5 kts going out, and we
had only 4.5 kts at 3000 rpm coming in.
We were going to go through Annisquam Channel which runs from Ipswich Bay
over to Gloucester Hbr., but because the tide was falling we were advised
not to use the channel, due to low water, and three Barcule bridges,
which we will no doubt have to wait for, so went around Cape Ann, it was nw
west winds 10-18 kts right behind us, so lots of wheel work(1/2 hr) at a time.
Once around Cape Ann, a bee line to the other side, past Boston then to
Cape Cod Canal.
Arrived at the canal at 1600 hrs, with the tide, away we went, 10, 10.5
11, up to 12.5 knots, all the way through, what a ride.
We put in at "onset Hbr", a little tricky to get into, and you must follow the channel
or else.............stuck in the sand(not us).
Travel Distance 69 km, took on 225 US Gal of fuel($3.09 per gal)
Here we spend the night, supper and a few socials, all is well, tomorrow we go to West
Port, where Esperanza came from.
We understand that some fine seafood dining awaits us, no doubt we will be pleased:)

NewBury Port

0630 hrs left BoothBay Hbr, what a day, a little cloudy at times,

but the sea was calm as old heck. We made great time,
averaging 8.5 knots most of the way.
OK for anyone who comes to Newbury Port, watch the outgoing tides,
its runs at 4 kts plus, when you enter the channel and work your
way up the buoyed channel(stay in the channel).There are lots
of small and big personal fishing boats, they have no courtesy
so lots of wake when they pass.We made our way up to the
city hbr area, we ended up at the City wharf, and
tied up, not wanting to cruise around looking for a spot.
There are lots of boats here and space is at a premium.
Good persons helped us tie up, hard against the outgoing tide.
Got settled in, the harbour master showed up, and we wanted to stay
for the night, COST $60 for the night, dammed we should have
looked longer.
Oh I forgot to mention that our Nobeltec decided to stop
working, just as we started to enter the channel, but lucky
for us we had the Garmin, which had the local charts.
Had to uninstall Nobeltec and reinstall, off course you lose
all the routes and notes that had been made.Lucky that the Ship
logs have been loaded to the blog.I better save them to a word
file also, just to be safe, so we can get the info.
Nobeltec is ok, but it craps out too often, making it very
frustrating,anyway problem solved again.
Tomorrow, fuel and off to cape Cod Canal(69 miles).

Booth Bay Hbr

06-Sep-2010 18:31:54

Depart Somes Sound at 0630 hrs, first thing the windlass would not work until we had the

anchor pulled all the way in, the switch must be acting up, it did that before.

Anyway a great trip, light seas and wind, sunny all day.

We arrived at Booth Bay Hbr Yacht Club at 1600,

Got a mooring for the night($35us) showers and water included.

The club closed at 5, so we did notget to go inside trying to get things organized.

Total trip 81 km, Scott said we burned more fuel today, I guess the tide was against us.In any case all went well.Went to down town Booth Bay, lots of tourist, etc. Typical tourist area, much like Mahone Bay, tour boats, lobster fisherman(more than NS). Speaking about lobters, the whole maine waters are covered with lobster bouys, and you have to dodge them all the time. Anyone travelling down the Maine coast,should have a line cutter or a metal basket around their prop, I would elect the basket. We are luckey that the skeg runs all the way back to the rudder, so rope can not get into the prop, at least we hope not, but just to be safe, safe we avoid them.

Slow Going

Well we have finally been able to leave Somes Sound for Booth Bay had a good day, got hit by one larger roller but that was it. The winds were 10-15k out of the SSW and sea running at 2-3 feet SSW. Tide running from the SSW and us heading SSW. Not a good day on fuel. Well although Maine in a pretty state I will not be sailing this way again. {Yes I owe you a dollar} Maine is more expensive then the Caribbean. A marina is between 3 to 4 dollars per ft whereas most places I have stayed in the Caribbean were under 2 dollars per ft. A mooring ball is 35.00 per night. Look’s like we will be stuck here for 2 more days high seas and 25k winds. However we still hope to be in Cape Cod by Friday evening. I forget to tell you about pulling the anchor in Somes Sound. Will at 6 am Lane goes to pull the anchor places the rode around the windlass pushes the botten and nothining. I run down to chech the fuse is ok Lane tries it again and again nothing. So we start pulling by hand. Will let me tell you pulling a 60lbs bruce by hand is no easy task. After we got the anchor put away Lane tried the windlass botton again and it worked. We tried it again and again threw out the day and it worked. I guess it like me we both don't work well at 6am. The gremlins are back.
So the world knows I am down to one smoke a hour, tomorrow going to two hours wish me luck.

Post Earl

05-Sep-2010 13:58:16
We survived Earl without a hitch, the winds here were never that bad, and the sound had
very small waves. However the day after is different, strong sw winds, and the chop
is short.The anchor is so dug in that we may never be able to get it out..
Its sunny,but not that warm, need a jacket, but I think that it is because of
the wind. We hope leave early in the am(dawn-0600), hope we do
not have to much difficulty with the anchor. We have been able to get "free" wifi
but is has been off and on.We bought 24 hrs worth from "Redzone",
so we could watch Earl and get updates from the net.
There is a very large luxury liner here named "Laurel",about 200 ft,
its had left yesterday, but returned about an 1hr later, I guess is was too
rough outside for them, i guess it would not have been nice for us,
what do you think??

waiting out Earl

02-Sep-2010 11:24:01


We are in a place called "Somes Sound/Somes Hbr in the back of Mt. Desert Island.
We selected this spot to wait out Hurricane Earl, which is making its way up the Eastern
US seaboard. Up here there are three ship yards, a small town called "Sommerville".
I went to Somerville today, just to get a few basic items, small town, but very busy.
Sommerville was founded in 1761, and was the first established town on Mt. Desert Island.
A little known fact for us Canadians :). There are quite a few boats up here, very big and
small. The anchor held well, as we had to pull it up to go to Sommerville,
it was well dug in, with a muddy(stinky) bottom. So now we wait for Earl.!!


more later.

whale tales

It’s been a life long dream and it is coming true. A trip to the Carribean , that would not be possible if it were not for my very dear friend Lane. We left Yarmouth at 6.20am for Bar Harbor Maine, The skies were sunny and sea’s light 1 to 2 ft. Esperanza was moving along at 9 knots. The crew on the upper fly bridge enjoying the morning sun. Our first sighting was several very large seals. As we went along we started seeing sun fish, one after another, larger as we went along. The sea was remaining calm and the sea life was fantastic the bird’s, seals, and the prosperous seem to follow us as we moved along.


Then I hear Lane shout whale, whale, and whale to the stern and there was a huge whale that we watched for 15 minuets. More seals, birds and sun fish, and dolphins.

We finally see a fishing trawler off our port side about 6 hours from Yarmouth. Lane decides to go below to check the radar, well that when it happened. As I was looking at the fishing trawler on the port side Moby Dick surfaced not 25 feet off the port, His head had to be 6 ft wide he had to be 60 ft long. He look at me as I looked into his eye’s it’s seemed he was laughing at me saying scared you didn’t I !!!! Well yes he did. I was screaming to Lane, port, port, port but by the time he looked up from his radar the giant whale was gone. While Lane was making our great lunch, and tending to the slow cooker for dinner, I saw several more sun fish a school of Dolphins and more birds. After lunch about 3pm we were sitting on the fly bridge having our first beer of the day when all of a sudden this loud thump the boat rises and lowers we no it’s not the bottom we are in 600 feet of water. I run down below the check the drive shaft and, sump, every looks ok. It sound more like hitting something soft like blubber or fat so we had to assume it was a sun fish. After dodging lobster traps for several hours we arriver into Bar Harbor to a great beef stew at 5.20 pm. After a very enjoyable drinks the customs officer cleared us we were off to bed early. Waiting to see what tomorrow brings.