Cross Island National Wildlife Refuge

The Great Lobster Float Tale

The weather finally cleared enough for us to leave Eastport with wonderful memories in the wake. While we were glad we had a space on a floating dock with the 18-20 ft tidal range, the lack of shoreside shower facilities and a holding tank pump out made it easy to depart. And, the acclaimed Roque Island anchorage beckoned.

High tide

Leaving Lubec - Canada on R

Navigating out through the Lubec Narrows channel and under the bridge was easy, especially since we were more familiar with the route and we could follow out the bread-crumb trail on our GPS that tracked our course into Eastport. Heading offshore between Great Manan and the Maine shore, the Bay of Fundy tide was strong at our stern, and fairly brisk winds were on our nose, creating a moderately uncomfortable sea condition. But, we could make 14 knots for a tolerable ride.


Fewer lobster traps are set in the 200 - 300 ft depths in the Gulf of Maine. But the ones that are out there are long strings of traps with large floats attached to deeper sinking line and smaller pull-line buoys attached to floating line. Both the large and the small buoys will submerge under the surface due to the force of the strong current on the line. With a chop on the sea, they are harder to spot. Try as they may to hide from us, we found one and realized just in time to slow the engine. But we still managed to catch it. The line wrapped around the prop and shut down the port engine.


It took both of us to pull on the line of the pull-line buoy with a boat pole, allowing enough slack to draw the line to the surface to cut the buoy from the deeper trap line attached to the large buoy. The lobsterman will have a little difficulty getting to his traps without the pull line float, but at least the main float survived. With the trap line anchor released we started to drift. Since we were well offshore, there was no peril in drifting to the rugged Maine Coast, but we were down an engine. We firmly believe in two means of propulsion.



Suddenly our plans changed. We would go to Cross Island instead of Roque Island. It's 10 miles closer and has a good anchorage for the wind and sea conditions we expected. Using only the starboard engine, we limped at 4-5 knots into the cove and set the anchor. This is a nice anchorage between the island and the Cutler Peninsula where the US Navy has an antenna array for low frequency communication with submarines in the Atlantic. The towers are impressive landmarks that are visible from a long way off.

A timid test of the port engine produced a knocking sound against the hull when the boat was bumped in gear. Disconcerting, it took a little while for Marvin to work up the courage to don a mask and dive to assess the damage and about as much time for Lee to accept that an overboard dive was necessary. Once the dinghy was in the water we could see the line going to the prop and that the buoy float was trapped under the swim platform.

Just before going overboard, a seal popped its head up to look around at the visitors in his harbor. So with courage summoned, over Marvin went with a knife in hand to cut the float line from the propellor. It was fairly easy to cut part of the line, releasing the binding on the wheel and bringing up the buoy. But, there was still line wrapped around the shaft that would have taken more time in the COLD water to cut away. (The water was probably 55 to 60 degrees, based on what the lobstermen in Eastport said.) We were back in business but not without anxiety of the damage that may have been done to the engine or transmission from being abruptly halted. We got over being concerned with every little shake or shimmy and went on to enjoy this serendipitous stop at a national wildlife refuge.


Launching our little Grumman dinghy and hooking up the 2 hp motor, we took off for shore to explore the abandoned Coast Guard station that now is an outpost for the national wildlife refuge. While we had a long affiliation with refuges across the nation, this unit was off our radar until discovering it in the cruising guides. We bleed "blue goose blue" with a passion for the refuge system and its stewards.

We pulled the dinghy well up on the rocky beach and obsessively tied it to multiple immovable  objects to get ahead of a 13 ft rising tide. First we walked along the shore, exploring rocks and tidal pools until we noticed what looked like a path. How wonderful to find a whole system of trails winding through the island. We took a trail in the direction of the coast guard building we observed on the shore as we made our way into the anchorage.



 

  

No locks, just twine to hold the doors

Having the island all to ourselves, we explored the historic building and signed the guest register. It was all unlocked, as there is little point in locking a building in such a remote location. Inside were the remnants of use from campers and Outward Bound expeditions that bivouac on the island. It was like visiting a ghost town. What stories this structure could tell? Cross Island NWR is on the Maine Islands Trail, a water trail primarily for kayaking. MITA (Maine Island Trail Association) maintains the walking trails on the island.





With a delicious dinner and watching the stars and a light show from the lights illuminating the towers, under a near full moon, this was a special location, in spite of the reason for stopping here. Perhaps this is what gunkholing on the coast of Maine is all about? While we were sorry to miss the mile long sandy beach cove of Roque Island, we are happy our lobster pot adventure led us to  this refuge.





Pulling anchor in the early morning to advantage ourselves of the calm morning seas, we were off to vista our friends Pat and Judy from Sarasota who have a home in East Blue Hill. It was a 72 nm trip past Mount Desert Island and up Blue Hill Bay to Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club (KYC for short.) More lobster pots to avoid and island passes to navigate, it was uneventful, which was just what we wanted after our encounter with lobster pots. And, we were still not sure how much of the line was still wrapped on the prop shaft.

Arriving at KYC, we were directed to a mooring and arranged to meet Pat and Judy. zIt was great to see Pat drive up to take us to their place. But this is the next blog - the communities of Blue Hill Bay and Mount Desert Island.

Thanks for reading and please let us know if you have comments or questions.

Here are a couple video clips - may not load through email - if not use the link: 

shoalsailer32.blogspot.com

Impressive light show - wonder how many migratory birds fly into these towers?

rough ride 

08.16.2019