DOWN EAST...we can see Canada through our galley port light!

DOWN EAST

Jonesport, inside the breakwater

 

From the New Hampshire border up to about Old Orchard Beach is the South-coast; Mid-coast runs from Portland to Mount Desert Island; Down East is the upper part of the state of Maine. Cruising guides color the Down East region with discouraging depictions of a rugged coastline, with few amenities and perilous conditions to test even the most seasoned mariners. Except for the scary advisories, it's just the places we want to go.

Here in the north coast of Maine, "Down East" refers to the "downwind" easterly course that sailing ships would take to travel to get here. On AQUAVIT our travels are informed more by calm weather than wind direction, so we've pretty much felt we were heading north up the coast, although the geography actually takes us on a northeast course.

With a bit of trepidation, we embarked on the journey north to our principal goal - the easternmost point of the continental US. Boating here is substantially different than what we experience in our coastal cruising in the Gulf as well as, with only a little experience, our introduction last year to New England on Long Island Sound.

Leaving out of Rockland on a calm and clear day, our 70 nm destination was Jonesport, described as a small commercial fishing village. We saw in the Waterway Guide that a shipyard had moorings available for rent and we set off on a course to run through the Fox Islands Thorofare which is a passage with North Haven on one side and Vinalhaven on the other. We went across East Penobscot Bay, then through the Deer Isles Thorofare, followed by Jericho Bay and Casco Passage. Then we were outside nearing Mount Desert Island.

Lee had the helm as we scooted in between Bass (pronounced like the musical instrument, not the fish) Harbor Head and Great Gulf Island. Bass Harbor is on the southern end of Mt Desert Island, at the entrance to Sommes Sound. Sommes Sound is the East Coast's fjord. Even though the charts are clearly marked with appropriate depths, Lee gasped as she saw the depth sounder go from 200' to 45' in just seconds, then 30'. It's amazing how you get used to the deep water on the depth gauge so that when it's reading 30' you think you're in too shallow. At home, 30' is deep! Soon the depth gauge began climbing back up to 200'.

Revisiting the Past

Once past Mount Desert Island we were on the outside, moving along offshore as we saw Petit Manan Island coming into view. It was 50 years ago in the summer of '69 that Marvin spent a couple months on a 46' gaff-rigged wooden schooner on a sailing expedition. He was on a scholarship from the Explorers Club of New York City to participate in a bird migration study being conducted by a Cornell professor studying roseate, common, and Arctic terns. The nesting colony on Petit Manan was being besieged by gulls. Atlantic puffins and common guillemots, extirpated at the time Marvin stayed on the island, have now been successfully reestablished. Efforts continue to monitor and protect the tern and, now, puffin colonies.

How serendipitous that the weather was right to travel by this island that was at the foundation of Marvin's passion for sailing. Though growing up motor boating in the Florida Keys and Everglades backcountry, this expedition, combining science and sailing from Chester, Nova Scotia, to Machais Seal and Petit Manan Islands, was the spark that lit the fire for sailing. He never imagined he would return 50 years later on his own boat. We are so heartened that the remote island would be part of the national wildlife refuge system that we were privileged to serve during our business career.

The arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird in the world,
flying nearly 50,000 miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Maine_Coastal_Islands/wildlife_and_habitat/seabirdrestoration.html

Onward to Jonesport

After our detour to Petit Manan, we continued on to Jonesport, traveling offshore. There are fewer lobster buoys farther offshore as we headed to Western Bay. However as we entered Moosabec Reach we were in for the most concentrated accumulation of lobster trap buoys imaginable. The Jonesport fleet has festooned the approach and the channel between Beals Island and the mainland with so many traps, there was no way to maintain 20 knots. We slowed to a crawl to wind our way into the cove at Jonesport shielded by a large breakwater. Here the Jonesport Shipyard had two floating docks attached to moorings (not to the land.) We called the marina on the phone and not reaching anyone, we tied to the floating dock/mooring and launched our dinghy to go ashore.


After attending a wooden boat building school in Lubec years ago, the proprietors, Sune and Patricia Noreen, moved to Maine from Juneau, Alaska establishing a boat building and vessel repair yard. We admired the small boats they build at the shipyard - a cute 15'6" rowing and sailing dory called a Peapod as well as the vintage wooden boats awaiting restoration to return to the sea. These hospitable hosts welcomed us and even gave us a lift to a small country grocery store.

Pea Pod sailing tender built at Jonesport Shipyard 

Fields painted with fireweed

FOR SALE - Classic Herreshoff in need of a bit of attention

 We explored the village on foot, to an artist studio in an old school house offering hand-carved bird decoys and local crafts, and a gas station-diner-convenience store.

 

AQUAVIT on a float at a mooring - dinghy to shore.

The tides Down East are even more dramatic than the 9' to 10' tides in the south or mid-coast. We had plenty of water at our dock float when we came in, at high tide. But, just a few hours later, rocks were exposed behind our boat and we only had 4 ft of depth under our keel. The dinghy dock that was floating when we tied up to it was now a row of docks snaking down the shoreline to the water.

Hey, where did those rocks come from?

  















 















The folks harvesting the sea are a hardy, hardworking group, intensely laboring in a short season and cobbling odd jobs together in the interim and during the winters. When we enjoy lobster, we should be thankful for both the ocean environment that produces them and the lobster fishermen who run their traps in good weather and bad. It's also worth noting that the present abundance of lobsters is due to the over exploitation of cod, eliminating depredation of juvenile lobsters and a once-vibrant cod fishery.

The Easternmost Town in the U.S.

Leaving out of Jonesport the route up to Eastport is a short 40 nm. We encountered patchy fog in seas that were a bit more brisk. But clearly, this part of the coast was deeper and more isolated. Only the hardiest of lobster boats work this coast, running huge lines of traps marked with large buoys.



Off Great Spruce Island, with onshore winds shifting the fog bank, we turned on the radar and started the automatic fog horn. Every two minutes, our PA would blast an announcement to signal that our craft was underway. We listened for other boats and carefully watched the radar for targets. Running in the fog demands close attention. First, steering to avoid the lobster buoys, scanning the radar screen for targets and checking the AIS (Automated Identification System) that reports location and direction of commercial boats that have transponders. And then making sure we stay on course. We encountered fog off and on as we moved up the coast. Soon Grand Manan Island came into view and we were in the Grand Manan Channel closing in on West Quoddy Head, Lubec, and Eastport. Fortunately, the sky was clear, the sun was warm, and the seas were 1 to 2 feet.

Proceed with Caution

The cruising guide warned not to even attempt the Lubec Narrows, which is past West Quaddy Head, heading into Johnson Bay and Friar Road. It says the tide runs hard through the channel and under the bridge between the US and Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Instead, the recommended route is 15 miles or so around the island and down into the bay to Eastport. After some cautious watching of other boats and checking tides and charts, (we were on an incoming tide) we decided to go though Lubec Narrows and only turn back if the waters became too tumultuous. Our passage was less challenging than the Cape Cod Canal and we made our way past Lubec and to the town breakwater at Eastport.

Lightstation in the Lubec Narrows

Lighthouse on Campobello Island, Canada - 1/4 mi N of Lubec

At Eastport, a breakwater encloses a harbor, used by the commercial boats. The docks on the north side of the protected breakwater are for transients and temporary dockage (for example, clearing customs). We learned that the breakwater and harbor had been destroyed in 2014 and had only recently been rebuilt at a cost of 18 million dollars. Though more exposed and rolly than the protected harbor, we were pleased to tie up to a floating dock so as not to manually adjust lines for the 20 to 24 foot twice daily ebb and flow tides.

This area is connected to the Bay of Fundy, reknown for extreme tides. Billions of gallons of water move through this area four times a day. One consequence of moving this much water over 450' depths in between islands is a whirlpool call "Old Sow"  - the largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world. Again, the cruising guide reports are ominous and recount the perils; "even large sardine boats capsize in the turbulence". Well, we found this phenomena interesting and certainly roiling, but local captains helped us understand the threat is hyped. Sailboats would have troubles in this area if they have not adjusted travel times to take advantage of the tides and currents, but, in normal conditions, well-powered craft safely transit the turbulent waters.

Old Sow at mid-low tide

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/old-sow.html

Eastport is a lovely small town, with well kept historic houses and a rebounding historic district along the waterfront. At one time numerous sardine canneries made for a booming population. One local commented that had Steinbeck visited here, Eastport would be on the map. Off the beaten path for sure, we met local folks who refuted that this was the end of the earth and that one could only see it from here. More on Eastport in our next post.

Thanks for viewing!

08.10.2019