Roque Island

      We spent Saturday in Somes Sound and passed through a rainshower en route to North East Harbor, to stop for a quick visit with trawler friends.  We had planned to travel with them to a nearby anchorage and spend Sunday and Monday keeping their company, but their plans changed, and so instead we stopped for a quick raft-up and dropped off some of Dan’s brownies.  Always good to see them.  Maybe we’ll be able to connect on the water another time.

We decided to head down east to Roque Island.  This is a beautiful archipelago just east of Jonesport, and one of our favorite places to visit.  There are several little coves and harbors and a lovely mile-long beach with very fine sand.  Of all the places to anchor here at Roque, the anchorage right in front of the beach is the most popular with cruisers.  These islands are privately owned, but only one is inhabited, and only in the summer.  The owners are cordial about visitors, but have posted limits - half the beach and nothing inland - which still gives us visitors plenty of sand to walk or picnic on.  

The passage was a little rougher than we would have liked - there was a brisk wind and a heavy following sea - and as we approached the Jonesport thorofare the sky was getting dark.  A line of thunderstorms were heading our way.  We made it to Roque before our paths crossed, tucking into Bunker Cove, an extremely protected anchorage.   The rain cleared briefly Sunday evening to allow for a picture, but then a thick fog draped over us for the night and the next day.  Undaunted by the damp, we took a dinghy ride around to the beach and went for a walk on Monday.  

After a night of rain, Tuesday dawned foggy and we’d had enough of the damp.  We turned on the propane heater to take the chill out of the air and dry things out a bit.  Then suddenly it all lifted.  The sky was blue and the sun was hot.  What a difference a few hours make!  We moved the Willie Dawes over to the beach and took another long walk after lunch.  We felt it would be too rolly there for the night, with the swell coming in off the Atlantic, so we raised anchor and moved over to Lakeman Harbor, to the east of the beach for the night.  There are three or four other boats here at Roque, but we have Lakeman Harbor all to ourselves.

At first it looked like we’d be spending much of this coming week here at Roque, but a weather window has opened up and we’re going to be heading further down east.  The hoped-for plan is to check into Canada tomorrow afternoon, hopefully in Campobello or perhaps Grand Manan. 

Bunker Cove during and after the fog.