End of the Shake Down

Our eight day cruise was a success.  We settled into a good routine, nothing broke, all major systems worked like they were supposed.  Dan had a good chance to look over everything, replace/tweak/change a few things, and did some work on the anchor windlass roller to make it roll more easily.  I spent some time re-organizing a few cupboards and other mundane things.  

We also managed several walks or hikes ashore, and we took a trip out to Seal Island, south of Isle au Haut to view some wildlife. There was also some major wife-beating going on in our nightly cribbage games. 

Isle au Haut Light

Swans Island Rainbow

Puffins at Seal Island

Puffin at Seal Island

Seals cavorting off Seal Island

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Shake Down Cruise(s)

Last week we took a couple of days and cruised from Camden across Penobscot Bay to Pulpit Harbor, North Haven.  This is a lovely little spot with an entrance marked by a rock reportedly recorded in Champlain’s logs.  The rock is topped by an osprey nest.  At high tide you can almost see into the nest.  This year we saw Mr. and Mrs. Osprey, and we take it on faith there are babies being guarded there.  

Pulpit Rock Osprey

We spent the first several hours in Pulpit Harbor, at anchor, and then moved around the corner into what we know as Cabot’s Cove but is marked as Minister’s Cove on some charts.  It’s quiet and calm there, and we were alone, sitting on a friend’s mooring.  The weather forecasted rain and perhaps thunderstorms and this is the perfect place to ride out any bad weather.  Dan spent much of the next day working on the air conditioner installation.  The manual says it’s an easy three hour installation for most vessels, but for us it’s been at least three hours/day for about ten days now - with much of the time spent in cupboards - and as of this blog it’s still not fully operational.  

Dan in the cupboard with the a/c

Dan had finished the repairs to the engine heat exchange and coolant systems just before we set off, and we were pleased to see everything was working (and not leaking) as it should. We also managed a long hike on the Sedgewood Point trails, which lead to an overlook of Pulpit Rock and other beaches on the west side of North Haven, before the bad weather set in.  

Now we are out for about ten days, to keep an eye on things and to continue working on that air conditioner.  Not that we need it right now - the weather is sunny, but hovering about 65 degrees during the day - but it will come in handy for more restful sleeping weather when we are in Southern climes later this year.  We’ve been visiting familiar haunts and stretching our legs along the roads of various harbors.  Yesterday we were in the Benjamin River in Sedgewick and saw a black bear foraging at the far end of a field!  We rendezvoused with some friends in the Barred Islands and met a local lobsterman on Swans Island who is hoping to represent his community in the state legislature.  While this isn’t the way we thought the summer would go, it’s a good reminder that our own backyard has a lot to offer when it comes to cruising.  

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This may NOT be the year we'd planned...

       Before we launched there was that issue with the shaft and that issue with the ballast in the keel.  New shaft, installed with help from friends.  New ballast, poured with help from friends.  Those and other things delayed our launching.  Upon launching, water leaks in the fresh water system.  That was an easy fix.  Then a slight vibration with the new shaft.  That’s been adjusted.  Then the discovery of antifreeze in the bilge.  Hmm.  From the engine?  From the coolant?  Turns out it’s the engine heat exchanger and parts are on the way.  

In the meantime, there’s an air conditioner to assemble and install, and a water maker to hook up, and Dan really wanted to finish the bracket he has been making that will hold more solar panels as well as the mast, for those times we have to take down the mast.  (Like in the Erie Canal.) 

Since we’re pushing up against the time when we need to travel to Wisconsin, we’ve decided to stop making ourselves (well, mostly Dan) crazy with the to-do list and stay off the boat until the projects are completed.  That gives him time to do what he needs to do (isn't it great that he's just so darn handy?) without pressure, but it also means we won't be cruising to the Erie canal this summer.  Once we’re back from the midwest, we’ll see about cruising around here.  Perhaps we’ll be able to do a trip to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick before heading down the East coast to get to the Bahamas for the winter.  Whatever happens, we’re making the best of it, and reminding ourselves we don’t have a set schedule to stick to. 

Assembling the air conditioner.

 

New concrete in the keel.

Awaiting parts...

2022 - THIS is the year!

In 2019 we were going to take the summer and cruise to Newfoundland.  That was the year both our sons got married there was a family wedding trip to Vietnam.  We’ll do it next year, we thought.  But then 2020 was the year of COVID and Canadian borders weren’t open.  We set a goal of 20 new anchorages in Maine and discovered some wonderful new places to cruise.  In 2021, the Canada borders weren’t open to boaters until late in the summer and so we explored Maine’s rivers, and managed to find 21 new-to-us anchorages.  We also needed to stay close to home, as Dan’s mother was declining in health.  2022, we decided, we were going to stop putting it off.  

So here we are, in June of 2022.  The boat is in the water and we’ve said our goodbyes to our friends. We even had a little open house that included a blessing from our minister.  We launched a bit later than we’d hoped - there were family matters, work needs, and unforeseen boat problems - but we are very close to moving aboard and leaving town.  Two questions we’re being asked all the time: when are you leaving? Where are you going? 

Willie Dawes 2022

The answer to leaving is soon.  Very soon!  Fresh water leaks have been fixed.  Engine coolant leak is being addressed as I write this.  The cat had her vet visit and vaccinations updated yesterday.  We have just the last minute things to do - clearing out the home fridge and household chores to leave the house ready for overnight guests - and we’re waiting out the weather for the final move-aboard.  

The answer to where we’re going is a little harder to define.  We like to tell people what we want to do.  We want to explore Lake Champlain and the New York finger lakes.  We want to experience the canals in Canada.  We want to winter in the Bahamas.  We want to do the Great Loop - a circumnavigation of the Eastern portion of the US.  We still want to cruise the Northern shore of the St. Lawrence and hop over to Newfoundland.  We also need to be flexible.  My mother passed away last winter and we have to be at a family memorial in July, so we’ll need to be somewhere we can safely leave the boat for a week, rent a car and drive to Wisconsin.  We know there will be times we’ll have to come back here, for visits, doctor's appointments, or other family matters.  So we’re going to cruise as we can, where we can, and be flexible about our adventure.  We will start by heading to the Erie Canal.  That’s the beauty of combining retirement with adventure, right?  To enjoy it all without stress, and just go with the flow.  

We know some of you are enjoying our adventure vicariously - if you click the “follow” button at the top, you’ll get notices of when new blogs are posted.  

Dan & Kathy