BLUE HILL AND MOUNT DESERT ISLAND

Blue Hill from our mooring at KYC

The trip from Cross Island to Blue Hill Bay retraced our route from our trip northeast to Eastport. We traveled outside until we turned near Long Island located about southwest of Mt Desert Island. Then we turned eastward of Swan Island, then more northward to run along the shore of the western side of Mt. Desert Island up into Blue Hill Bay. On the northwest corner of the bay is Blue Hill Harbor where the towns of Blue Hill and East Blue Hill are located.

What a great place - and so quiet!

The Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club (KYC for short), where we wound up on a mooring, is located in Blue Hill Harbor. We had to navigate mooring balls and lobster buoys to get to the KYC fuel dock. Upon arrival there we learned that we had come in right as a class sailboat race was about to start. A class sailboat race is one in which all of the sailboats are the same make.

While fueling, our good friend Pat came to the dock to say Hi and set up a plan of action for the next couple of days. Pat and Judy hail from Sarasota and have a lovely summer home in East Blue Hill right on McHurd’s Cove. They are the reason we put Blue Hill on the itinerary and we were richly rewarded.

McHurd Cove from the guests house balcony

About the time we were finished with fueling, the KYC launch, Sculpin, had completed shuttling all of the people out to their boats on moorings for the race. The young man operating the Sculpin took the launch out to show us our mooring. With Pat aboard, we followed. Lee was happy that Pat came along because this was the first time ever that we have picked up a mooring ball. Lee and Pat picked up the stick on top of a small buoy, fed the line that is attached from the buoy to the mooring ball through the anchor chain cutout in our bow pulpit and secured it to the forward cleat. Mission accomplished.

Pat returned to shore on the KYC launch, to return later to pick us up to go to his home. We had many chores to do, including getting a diver to come look at the port engine shaft and assess the lobster rope situation. Fortunately the diver could come within a few hours. He went over the side (Brrr) for a short time because the rope was only wrapped loosely around the shaft. He did not have to cut it; a quick tug and the line unwound. Marvin going over to cut thee line turned out to be enough, but now we have a souvenir.

We hauled into the launch our dirty clothes and other items needed for an on-shore visit. Pat picked us up and gave us a tour of the lovely communities of Blue Hill and East Blue Hill. He showed us the beach at the head of the cove where people like to go to swim. And there were swimmers! Mainers (Maineiacs) are a hardy bunch of people!

The towns we drove through and the surrounding areas are the prettiest parts of Maine that we have visited. Pat and Judy have a perfect home on McHurd’s Cove with a guest cottage that includes a boat building shed on the ground floor and an apartment above. The outdoor shower was a favorite of Marvin’s, while Lee opted for the indoor one. It was so gracious of Pat and Judy to host us for a couple of days and providing a shower and laundry for 2 weary travelers. It was certainly a welcome treat to spend a couple of nights ashore, with good friends.

Mount Desert Island and Southwest Harbor

Waking in the morning we discovered that the power was out. Coffee was made in a camping percolator on the grill. Because the power was predicted to be out for quite a while, we decided to get our day going by driving out to Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island. Our destination was the Asticou Inn for lunch. We had a little wait for lunch service to begin so we walked across the street to the beautiful Asticou Inn garden. It’s not a large garden, but it is certainly a lovely walk, around a pond and through an extraordinary collection of azaleas and rhododendrons. It must be spectacular in the spring!

We toured several places on Mount Desert Island, including Southwest Harbor. We did not make it to Bar Harbor – too much traffic. For a week or more we have been calling Dysart’s Great Harbor Marina in Southwest Harbor to make a reservation for a slip. We wanted to stop on the way up to Eastport – no space available. We wanted to stop before going to Blue Hill – too full. We even tried to make reservations for tomorrow via telephone. Again, they were full. So, we stopped in person. They were equivocating, maybe, maybe not, until we mentioned that Butch from Eastport said to mention his name. Oh, in that case, we can certainly move some things around and fit you in. They wanted to help out a friend of Butch’s. (Thank you, Butch!)

Boats and More Boats…boatloads of boats!

 

We also stopped at Hinkley Yachts in Southwest Harbor. Hinkley is known for its beautiful high-end motor yachts and sailboats, with lots of glistening varnished wood and dark hulls to enhance the “gold-plate” appearance. But, their boatyard also repairs and stores many other boats not made by them.

 

Pat is a wooden boat aficionado, having built and owned several. He has one beautiful motorboat set up on its trailer to launch soon, several skinned canoes he built that are as light as a feather, a TomCat daysailer under construction, a skiff in the cove tied up to shore, and a dinghy hull waiting for rehab. And more boats back home in Sarasota – he’s got it bad.

Friendship Sloop

Much of our sightseeing time was devoted to visiting small communities with boat yards. Blue Hill and the surrounding communities are the wooden boat building capital of the world. Brooklin is home to the Wooden Boat School and Wooden Boat magazine. We stopped and toured their facilities watching people build boats of all types and sizes from models up to skiffs. The Wooden Boat School offers classes for anyone interested in building wooden boats. We met Hilary Russell, the man who wrote the book on the skinned canoes that Pat builds.

Wooden Boat School 

 

  

Brooklin Boat Works is located nearby. Brooklin Boat Works was started by the son of E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web, among other titles. This is home port to their famous Vortex, a long-waterline, narrow beam, fast wooden sailboat Steve White built in the yard. They are now working on a custom modernized replica of Pilar in their facility. The grandson of Wheeler Shipbuilding has commissioned this replica in the hope that other people will be interested in buying a boat just like Ernest Hemingway’s. We met Steve while he was working on his beautiful wood boat. Steve is E.B. White’s grandson, current owner of the Boat Works, and a friend of Pat’s who splits his time between Sarasota and Maine.

Pilar under construction - and the craftsmen made time to explain their work!

Also stored at the boat works was a large (50+ foot) sailboat, sans its 2 masts. Writing on the rudder identified it as having been built by Saunders and Sons in Bimini. We have visited with Mr. Saunders (one of the sons) in Bimini and checked out his boat building facilities. But we had no idea that his family built boats this large. And how did it get to Maine? We bet it has some interesting stories to tell. Mr. Saunders had the opportunity to meet Martin Luther King, Jr. and take him bonefishing in Bimini. Two degrees of separation, we shook the hand of the man that shook the hand of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

At another boat yard, Marvin saw a little daysailer that was for sale. We know someone who has proclaimed, “You can’t have too many boats or guitars." That would be Marvin. We took down the information for a quick call about the specifications and price. (It was a 19’ Corinthian, Carl Alberg design, built by Bristol Yachts.)

A sistership to our first sailboat, a 1960 Peason Triton - now a classic.

Seeing all of these classic design boats, both wood and fiberglass, was a real treat for boat people like us.

We stopped at the Bagaduce River for a tasty lunch and at the overlook of Eggemoggin Reach and Walker Pond. We visited Ellsworth, a large town with Home Depot and 2 grocery stores, and small towns like Brooksville, Blue Hill and East Blue Hill.

On to Southwest Harbor

Then it was time to leave Pat and Judy and resume cruising. To Dysart’s credit, the day we arrived at their dock, the mooring balls in the harbor and the docks were very full, but they managed to squeeze us in. Several 100+ foot yachts were in harbor, plus the Sea Shepherd. The next day, the harbor and docks were almost empty. 

You’ll have to Google Sea Shepherd. It is a large trimaran used to aggressive tactics to deter whaling and longline fishing. It is direct intervention or ecoterrorism to act where international efforts are insufficiently effective, along the lines of Greenpeace because the owner of Sea Shepherd was instrumental in Greenpeace’s mission. 

Named for donor Brigitte Bardot

Sea Shepherd was originally built for a 'round the world race

Our neighbors from home, Pat and Frank, were also docked at Dysart’s, giving us the opportunity to spend more time with them swapping stories. Frank and Pat have many years of experience gunkholing on the Maine coast. We learned about many special places to anchor or pick up mooring balls.

The real deal - far traveling sailors.

Their sailing friends, Iver and Lynn, who at one time lived in our little community on the northern Florida Gulf coast, have been RVing on Mount Desert Island. Frank and Pat took them up into Somes Sound, North America’s fjord. Then they stopped by AQUAVIT for a shot of Aquavit and some lively conversation. Lee was away from the boat, birding, but Marvin had the opportunity to spend time with the couple of lovely couples.

While in Southwest Harbor, a boat diver came to clean the algae from our waterline and check on the status of the props, shafts, and zincs. All were in good shape.

Birdwatching on MDI

Lee had an opportunity to go birdwatching with Michael Good of Down East Nature and Birding Tours in Bar Harbor. Michael is a fellow bird guide and friend of our Cuban friend Ernesto. Ernesto contacted Michael and asked him to take us out for Maine birding. Marvin had other things to do on the boat, but Lee jumped at the chance to see the local flora and fauna.

 

We saw 20 species, many of which were life birds for Lee, like the black guillemot, common eider, and white-winged scoter. We saw greater and less yellowlegs side-by-side so the differences between them became apparent. Twenty wild turkeys, from little chicks to teenagers and 3 adults, were walking along the road and wouldn’t get out of the way. Fall migration of shorebirds has begun so we spotted some least sandpipers in among semipalmated plovers on the rocky shore. In a lovely salt marsh wetland we saw 3 snowy egrets, unusual for Maine, more common in Florida.

Mount Desert Island was packed – 3.5 million visitors come to visit Acadia National Park each year. Kind of like Sanibel Island in the winter – visit a beautiful location to spend time in a vehicle grid-locked in traffic. But with the iconic landscape, trails, and weather, it is easy to see the attraction.

The scenery of the “Quietside” or western side of Mount Desert Island is beautiful with its rocky shores, natural rock seawalls, salt marshes, and freshwater marshes. It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Eggemoggin Reach foreground with Penobscot Bay and North Haven Island in view

Thank you Judy and Pat for your good works and generosity!

      

After a couple days in this wonderful area with longtime friends, it’s time to move on. We hope to visit Matinicus Island, the most seaward inhabited island in Maine and look for seabirds (puffins, murres, terns) along the way. 

Moving on...

First we need to pump the dark water from our head and then head out back to see what adventure awaits. We have a holding tank on AQUAVIT and periodically need to pump out its contents. Not every marina in Maine has a pump out facility or a pump out boat that can go from boat to boat to empty holding tanks. We have pontificated about this lack of facilities in an earlier blog. We try to take advantage of a pump out whenever there is one available as we do not think it is appropriate to pump overboard. 

Leaving Blue Hill and MDI in our wake, we’ve resolved to get back, most likely by land in a vehicle. It is such a vastly different experience to travel by boat and car.

Again, thank you reading our blog!

08.17.2019