What Next?

I know I already said goodbye to you all but I have had many of you ask what next?

The boat is getting worked on in Maine.  We rented a car and are driving back home to MN.

We are stopping off to see Annie on our way.

I will be working from sept 20 - nov 20th.

Ben will drive back to Maine and sail Cricket with a few buddies to VA.  I plan on meeting him after thanksgiving to sail in the freezing cold to Florida and sail to Bahamas during Dec.  then I shall fly home in January to work a bit more depending on what is needed.

Now what about reentering the "real" world....  hummm.... well on the bright side I can use a toilet again and I don't have to aim in a bucket!  That I have enjoyed....  sleeping in a hotel is strange... the earth does not rock... the sounds don't creak and moan all night long... almost too quiet... well I might blogg about reentry once I get home for those that want to know what I do during the regular part of my life. ha ha

going to bed... zzzzz
Pam
thanks again for all your reading this past 4 months.  I can't believe it has been 4 months since I was last home.  that is the longest I have been away from home and my kids since forever! I am homesick to see my friends!!! all of you!!!

Rockland ME. Ocean Pursuits Boatyard

        Mount Desert Rock there were no whales :(  ... note the clouds coming.

        Ben with all his fowl weather gear on.  This is a picture of him and later me when we have not slept for 2 nights and are happy to not be near the lobster lines at night!!!

         tired and happy to be almost in port!

        Owls Head Lighthouse on our way in the bay to Rockland.

        Doing a bit of bright work and caulking.

          Nice work Ben!

       this is looking down our refrigerator.  It is very very deep and I can only reach it by foot.

         See it's my feet that can reach.  Bye for this year folks!! 

we are all safe and snug in this harbor just closing her up for a month while Ben and I drive home. If we can find a rental car!

So not many blogs left to write.

I scrubbed the deck today while Ben varnished and caulked a few areas that needed it badly.

I cleaned the refrigerator compartment that does not work but we store food there and it was moldy and not so gross. it is dry and clean now.

tomorrow pumpout the head... get diesel fuel topped off...

Tuesday pack up

wednesday drive home...

that's all folks...

I hoped you enjoyed the pictures and the blogs this season! It surprises me how many and who are reading the blogs.
I love you all.
Pam

hair brain idea explained

Hair Brain Idea…

What else do you have to do in the middle of the night while sailing in the… dark, cold, rain, and you are slowly being dragged further out to sea (which was a good thing)… I had to ask myself while in the thick of it… how did I get here?

Well for you faithful readers I’ll give you the life and times of a green horn captain and her thinking… should I be decaptained? I think not… this case just a little more wiser… it’s all in the learning.  The greatest lessons in life are those that one experiences.

So we can back up a bit…

Tuesday after the holiday Labor day we called 5 boatyards. We had our list. We know what we need. And we have learned a lot about boatyards and communication. We picked Oceans Pursuits in Rockland, a 45 mile sail. If we went 5 knots an hour it would take 9 hrs to get there, assuming the winds were right. (key point here… the winds were right).

Ben and I had wanted to sail to Mount Desert Rock cuz there are to be whales to be watched out there.  He said it was about 10 miles or so.  In my mind I counted 55 miles. We could have left Wednesday sailed half way, then the rest on Thursday.  Wednesday’s weather was stormy – Thursday weather looked better. Ben wanted to leave on Thursday and sail into the night out at sea then come in at early dawn.  We both knew that sailing in Miane  near the islands or coast during the  night was out of the questions but here Ben was asking if we could do that. He had a good point we would stay out far enough.

Instead of me saying what was on my mind – which is no way lobster lines at night – I thought…  Well he has a point and I’ve been really good at feeling more comfortable with sailing in different conditions – which has been good training and stretching and learning –

I also have in the back of my mind. I’m the captain and like I’m the boss at work. I try to listen to everyone. Hear their feedback. Weigh everyones thoughts and many times I let the staff decided since they do the work everyday and they know a lot more than I do about certain tasks – but when it relates to the overall picture of the business I know that I have to go with my gut (God’s nudge) cuz I’m the one that has to live with the consequences in the long term. Plus if I make a bad decision yes the staff might suffer with me in the decision but then I only have myself to blame.

I’m not pushy, or loud, or bossy nor do I make people know that I’m the boss unless it is tongue and cheek.  Same with Ben – we tease about me being captain in a good way (or so I think, you might have to ask Ben that question.) Well Ben is quick to say I am the captain.  His past jobs he has been a nurses aid, people say he should be a nurse he is so good and caring but he will tell you he does not want the responsibility and he does not want the paperwork. Then he was a paraprofessional at a HS for special ED for 17 years and he was well respected by all his peers and teachers. They would encourage him to get a teaching degree and his answer would be, “I don’t want the responsibility and the paperwork. I like the hands on work.” So it does seem natural and to us it seems natural. If you ask Ben why not be the captain he will tell you, “I don’t want the responsibility, Pam has more common sense, she is more safety conscience, I don’t like the paperwork and I’d rather just be sailing.” Those comments I would concur. We essentially do all the same things. We confer on the days happenings we hoist sails and steer. 

Interestingly enough when we started talking about Ben bringing out a crew to sail with him excitedly  asked me, “Ok, so, what do you do that now I have to do?” I was so happy that he as all ears! We made a list of things he would need to teach the crew, plus we made a list of things that I do that he doesn’t do.  This was so great cuz why can’t he do paperwork stuff too? Oh yeah he doesn’t want to know he see the honor in doing them and wants to make sure he and his crew will be safe.  Here is the list that I do as captain: I have a mental check list in my head before we take off: check the… bildge, oil, batteries, fuel filter, water strainer, I count the hours on our tank of diesel, make sure we have water, check the head, we go around and check the rigging: cotter pins (I have found one that fell off!!!! It was all good), check white tape, look for loose things on deck, in the log book I write: date, time, from place to place, wind direction speed, long-lat, weather forecast, hours on the engine to-date and anything else that will help me remember this day. If it is an overnight I keep a long-lat and write it down every so often so if we are out of gps we know our last sighting.  Ben has and does join in some of these events but I’m the one to make sure they happen. Oh I also have a list of the food on board so when we finish some stuff I cross it off so we know how much food is left too. I’m sure he thinks that might be a bit overkill.  And ultimately if I don’t feel safe going at a certain time or I don’t feel safe with out fuel filter not being replaced or … we don’t go … and Ben always has respected my decision cuz ultimately he has to live with me ha ha ha. I consider him a co-captain really – he does too – accept I have the very last say and mostly it is about safety. Oh and I really do have experience sailing 5 years on a CNC 29.

Since Ben has a bigger comfort zone of  withstanding cold… he likes more adventure, he has a stronger body, and he likes to live on the edge… he likes to do things without planning and go by the seat of his pants (this has served him well and is fun on land to do)… he likes to suggest things that I’m not ready for (and frankly I don’t think he is either but he likes to learn from mistakes – well I do to but how miserable do I want to be? My comfort zone is smaller than his but bigger than most women I know!)

Sooooo this summer I have been feeling our experience increase through rain, fog, winds, long days, many hours sailing and docking and mooring and anchoring that I’m easing up on what he would like to do as long as I still feel comfortable and it is a smart thing to do.

This request of his to sail at night was followed by … we could stay out of the area and sail the ocean at night.  I weighed the pros and cons in my head. I should have said them outloud but instead I went into my head and thought… “well he says it is only 10 miles to MDRock then 45 more if we leave at 6am we would have 13 hours of daylight and one hour of dusk. We could motor the last hour to get in faster if we needed.” So I said yes not looking at the winds. I want to make sure he makes many decisions or we make them together.  Last year I said no a lot. This year  I’ve  only had a few and have explained my no’s pretty good. He’s happy go lucky like I am so it is all good what we do.

My response to his idea was, “Sure if we leave at 6am” Which was a surprise to him that I would say that cuz we know and I know that he is not an early bird to say the least. He likes a slow morning and I like to get going. All summer we pretty much have had slow mornings so it is my turn to get up and get going.  In the back of my mind was we would make it to Rockland by sunset but I never told him that.

6am I bounced out of bed and away we went, Lesson one: don’t sail into the sun in the morning if you can avoid it.  There were two ways around a few island go east first then north to west or go west first then north to east. Oh boy, it was right in my face and that was so hard to see the lobster lines and buoys that it took along time to get through the mine field!

We set out and headed south to MDRock. I look on the chart and it really was 20 miles.  Ben looked, ooppss you are right I  measured from the closest island to MDR. Oh well.  Oh well I thought and did the math of hours hummm… look at the winds they are north west exactly the way we want to go.  This will take us double time.  At that moment I was resigned to sailing at night. BUT I should have just looked for a different port to come to at sunset – got a good night sleep then head out the next day. I thought… Ben doesn’t get much time to do things like he would want… when I should have told him my safety issues with the idea.  If I would, he would have listened and he told me he would have agreed if I would have said something.

We saw no whales but had a great sail to the rock and that day.  Here comes night….

The clouds started to roll in.  Still I’m positive about the weather. It was fun to track the clouds and try to avoid the rain as it came our way.  That was fun to do.  The night started early now at about 7am. I did not sleep the night before we left (well now I know why I should have listened to my sleepless night). I was tired. The wind was 15-17k and Ben was turning out more to sea to get away from the lobster lines that so easily fowl us and get wrapped in between the skeg and propeller area.

Once in a while we would hit a lobster line and I could hear the buoy go bang bang bang on our hull and I’d hold my breath that it would not get hooked.  None did for that while.

I looked at the chartplotter on my shift.  We were getting out and still lobster lines. We would see, I guess in sept the lobster lines go further out to sea as the lobsters start going out for the winter.

Here I was… 11pm. My shift 11-3am. I could see the dark sky of rain clouds tring to smother out any chance of light. It was also the phase in the moon where you don’t see the moon.  We are talking dark! So dark that the bio-illuminesence were amazing! The water glowed when churned up.  The wave top splashes were glowing like something out of a sci-fi movie. Our trail of wake was glowing and there was one long stream of something that looked like a lit-up el. (Ya know the el’s that glow in the dark but long extending 30 yards back) it was following us.  I could see 3 stars for a long time. The wind was cold off the port blowing past the side of my face. I was wearing: long sleeve shirt then long underwear shirt, then turtle neck, then hooded jacket then my winter outer jacket, a head band, a rain cap made for sailing in rain, longies on the legs, jeans, and rain pant with thick socks and rubber boots.  The temp was aboug 51 degrees and the wind hit my face and was cold.  I only put out the main sail so as to waste time and just wait til morning light. I tacked back and forth in a small area. I was standing up cuz my butt was tired of sitting. I turned facing starboard and steered with the wheel under my armpit and my hip tight against the wheel so I could keep it in place while shading the wind from my face and also my 3 friends… the stars… were smiling at me.

This is the time I had all the time in the world to sit and think… how did I get talked into this?  I wasn’t talked into it. I am the captain and I let it happen. Then I reflected… I can’t wait till Ben takes out his crew of guys and does stuff like this.  I could be a fair-weather sailor what is the shame in that? I know when we sail around the world I will have to face, cold, wind, weather, etc… but not by choice.

While I watched the sky grow completely dark and my three little friends I had to say, “Noooo don’t go…. You are the only thing I can see… stay with meeeee…..” one by one… bye, bye, bye…. Darkness had enveloped my stand. The wind was going through to my legs… I played mind games to keep my occupied… I asked God to put a name in my head and I would pray for that person… then the wind picked up… 20 k, not bad with only the main up. I was not fighting the wheel and we were going 2k still.  Then the boat started acting funny. The wheel was turned all the way away into wind (we had 20k winds) and the boat was pulling away from wind! Strange.  Was the wing pushing the boat and the main sail was not big enough to pull us into wind?

Even though it was strange I liked the break.  There was no steering as the steering was useless. We were adrift. Moving out further and further.  Which was still fine by me. We were on a beam now sailing – drifting .1k. it did not accur to me that we had a lobster line on.. we were too far out!

At 2:30am I could not take the cold… well I could but why be that miserable when Ben is the “man” he doesn’t get freezing cold, he wanted to sail at night.  So I woke him up… “Ben, nothing is wrong , take your time, but can we switch?” He jumped out of bed got dressed and come out.  I asked him to check the batteries before coming and sure enough they were almost dead! So he started the engine. I slowly (like I always do) put her gently into gear and right away I heard a bang bang bang as a lobster buoy was getting wrapped around the propeller. I knew exactly what the first bang was and I slammed it back into neutral as fast as I could!

OHHH no! dark, raining, windy, and stuck to a lobster line and this time we might not have an engine to help us along at anytime and I kept thinking we need to be in port by a certain time and day.  The word “sea-tow” came into mind. But I was not sure what we had coverage (Ben says yes) and we were fine in the direction we were drifting. I had no idea we were caught.

At this time there was no way Ben was going in the water in the dark and 20k winds to unfowl or saw off the line that we thought was wrapped around. We drifted for a while and all the while we thought there has to be a way to get that off! The steering was stuck and could only turn it ¼ a turn.  I went back and forth and something gave way! The steering returned to it’s happy self.  And Cricket smiled as so did Ben and I.  We still think that there is a fowled line around the propeller but atleast we can sail.

We turned on the engine for batteries.  I went to the stern cabin so I could be close to Ben if he needed me. I was wrapped up in my sleeping bag which is rated for below 5 degrees! I was ok but my feet were still freezing and I could not sleep.  After 3 hours of tossing I got up out of there to make hot chocolate and eat something.

As I sat in the cockpit with hot chocolate I just stared out at the morning light. Thankful we could be on our way again.  Ben thought we should try the engine gear again cuz we have 30 miles to go and it is 6am we told the boatyard we would be there Friday am. We can’t get there sailing cuz of the wind direction – well we could be then it would be dark again before we got to the boatyard! I’m not doing that again!

Ben slowly put it in gear – waiting for something to happen – we don’t know what would happen but it started moving us and there were no big sounds. We took down the sail and started motoring as we got in 25 miles the lobster lines were everywhere but this time the tide and winds pulled down the buoys so you could not see them always.  Some would be under the water then pop up and surprise you then get pulled under again! Nerve racking. I motored from 6-8am and said “Tag your it. My brain hurts of lack of 2 days no sleep and squinting to try and go around all of these.”

We made it about noon. I’m sure we have fried our batteries. We are so glad we did not go off shore with out electrical as it was.

Ben and I went to town and ate at a nice tavern while sipping my cider ale I opened up the conversation and said,” I thought it would only take us till 7p. sorry. I should have told you I was in a hurry. I know it is insane to sail at night in maine! Now I have experienced something I should have known and did know but didn’t say anything … my bad!”  Ben to my surprise said, “that was crazy of me to think we should sail at night even out far! I’m sorry too.” We then went through the last 48 hours in detail. We laughed about how stupid that was and we were thankful we did not have to experience too much pain as a result of our decision. We both appreciated the fine display of bio-fosferences. I told him about my 3 friends the stars. We know we are better for it.  WE both are happy to be in port to get our electrical ripped out and put back in the right way!!!

Note from my first mate: “I would do this again … follow her out to sea if that is what she asked to do but I would sit behind the wheel and mumble to myself …of all the hair brain ideas…..”  ha ha ha I read Ben my first paragraph to this blog and he sillily said add this to the end as tongue and check since we know it was his hair brain idea that I hair-ily brainedly followed without any resistance. So really it was my hair brain idea too! I love my first mate!

One of the basic sailing lessons that we ignored was, you cant be on a schedule, we will get to rockland when we get there but we wanted to get there on a certain day. Ooppss

Smile Pam

Truly blessed

Hair Brain Idea!

I might have to be De-captained after I tell you about our out to sea adventure in Maine but that will have to wait until I recuperate from a long very long 2 day and 1 night sail and high learning curve of knowledge imparted once again.  Stay tuned for tomorrows explanation!

scavenger hunt for the day - boatyard specializing in electrical

Each port it is fun to try and find the obscure things that we need, things such as: duct tape, fuel filter, propane, post office, atm, teak scraper, battery 28L 6 volt for my obscure headlight, kitty litter unscented!, bungie cords, cruising to maine book, auxiliary extension and the list goes on.  Today we were in the market for a boatyard that knows their stuff about electrical and can get us finished by Oct 10th.

We set out to the chamber of commerce a nice place with wifi and fast wifi too!!!! we googled boatyards etc... we wrote out list of things to be done... I'll include that list at the end of this email for those sailing nerds that read this blog. to back up before breakfast we prayed for guidance, how are we to find what we are looking for but then again God has provided us with amazing summers in sailing and a bubble of safety around us why not help with the right boatyard.  sure enough as we sat in the wifi place a sailing couple came up and he just had his electrical done 45 miles from here.  we added that name to the list.

Ben called 5 different boatyards in the area while I did accounting stuff. (hey Melissa it all balanced the first time.) out of the boat yards Bill from Rockland called us back right away we sent him our list of fixings and he said it would be done by oct 10th.  One other placed called us back and he was not sure we could get it all done.

half of the equation is done. here is the other half... it seems there are no one way cars from rockland like there was from mt desert island airport.  grrr we have looked and looked.  we might have to rent a car to portland or rent a car to mt desert. just to rent a one way car home to mpls.  if anyone knows of a better way... we have a cat so that limits us to driving.  last year my daughter drove to pick us up. now she is working and jason has school... still hunting on that issue.

So tomorrow we will provision and say goodbye to Mt Desert island... it will be sad. tomorrow is thunderstorms, then thursday we will sail to Mt desert rock to see whales on our way back to rockland to Ocean Persuits boat yard. So you will not get a blog until friday.

after our wifi we went hiking on another trail... it doesn't matter which trail you go on they are all spectacular in their own way... mossy... or piney... or cliffy... or blueberry-y...sticky...scenery ocean view-y... mountainy,... etc... no words can describe hopefully Ben's pictures have been good.

it will be good to be sailing again in two days, to get there we will be sailing into the night too, but out from the lobsterpots... i hope!...

Thanks all... I'm so surprised at times who responds to this blog it makes me smile.
I'm smiling big!
Pam

here is the nerdy list

Looking for repairs:

Electrical

1.     We have a phantom Drain on our system. We’ve had 3 professionals

a.     One guy said it was our alternator (so we turn off the breaker when we are not using our engine and still the drain stays the same… our alternator does have a “humm” when it sits idol?)

b.     One guy said it is our “heart” system (AC inverter). It is an old system. We know something is wrong with it… when it is turned off the system is still “on”.  Our electrical panel light’s now and again glow faintly and the reverse polarity light glows too at times.

c.      One guy clipped a few wires and sent us on our way and still the drain continues…

2.     Batteries – power usage

a.     We know we will need to get batteries that match our new inverter system… we are looking at  400 amp/ hours or so.  We do not use much electricity and in the past 2 years we have only used electricity for the electronics. No house lights or refrigeration due to the drain.

b.     We are looking at the possibility of adding solar although we don’t have a bimini.  We were wondering about the “soft roll out kind” where when we needed it we could attach it to the dodger or the deck.

c.      Our electrical goals are to sail using our running lights and chartplotter/radar and occasional refrigeration and not have to motor so often as now we run our generator every 2 days even when we don’t use any power while sitting at a mooring.

d.     We use a Honda generator to run every other day so we don’t have to use our engine all the time, we are wondering if you know if that is true sign or modified sign as one electrician said that might be a problem too. We would like to continue to use our generator for a back up.

3.     Course computer

a.     We just had a new garmin chartplotter (5208) put in and it did not talk with our old auto helm.  We purchased an autohelm display raymarine but it seems to “act up” not being able to stay on course like it used to. The technician said it was cuz our course computer is too old to speak to all our new equipment and also it was installed in a non-traditional way he said.

4.     The Head

a.     Our head seems to become pressurized after not very many pumps (20 or so) and then it seems to fill our bowl with gray water or sea water. The system has a smell and we have new hoses two years old and people have told us they are the right kind. On two occasions we have had black water pumping out from our vent. It acts as if it is 9/10^th full by the handle is hard to pump and it will not stay in the down closed position.

5.     Email and weather fax for our SSB.

I spent 4 hrs today on emails...

... so no blog for you...
sorry...

Still time to vote & are you tired of scenery pix yet?

Thanks for all of you that sent us a short note. I think we are leaning on staying and looking for a boatyard here. we have another day to think about it. If any of you know of boatyards don't be shy and pass that info on to us.

Where does the day go? we went hiking again. This time up gilmor to see spectacular views.  The views keep coming and coming! by now my kids would say, "Enough scenery!" I say bring it on!

We missed the bus. Well we got a bus back to bar harbor but that was too late for the last bus to our harbor so we stayed in Bar harbor and ate a yummy dinner the called a cab.

More pictures enjoy!

        Just off of a cliff up high.          Ok, this is too far for me! the rocks below are all smooth and round and their sizes are huge!          Big waves and winds and these cute ducks were just sleeping bobbing up and down like corks.        Way up high.        Look close and you will see people that climb this mountain! Ben wants to do this next! I might take pictures while he climbs.        It's so cool!

Pam

No hurricane winds - What next? - Pros & Cons day

Last night was uneventful! We stayed up, made popcorn, watched a movie... nothing... went to bed.  I have to say it was a bit erie knowing that a hurricane/tropical storm was going to hit during the night cuz I have no idea what that means. We turned out our head lamps and went to sleep until 4:30 light rain started and I was up listening to see how bad it would get... not much more than heavy rain... i could hear the winds funneling through the mountains but it dissipated by the time it got to the bay ... we were tucked in nicely... the winds only got to 20k....

All that work putting things away for nothing... better safe than sorry... which leads me to a pros and cons list of what to do next....

Plan A
Do we leave monday morning and sail straight south?... or
Plan B
Wait a month after hurricane season is over then have Ben and a friend sail down??

Plan A: (leave Monday)
Pros: * We get going so we can get prepared to leave deltaville to get back in time for Pam to return sept 20th.
* We know the boatyard in deltaville (they are slow though)
* We would like the experience of sailing 7-10 days at one time
* We can sail together
* This is what we had planned before - so we can get the boat to the Bahamas during thanksgiving to january 1st.
* We could sail closer to the shore so we can get weather reports

Cons: * We don't know how fast we will travel "beating" into wind.  will it take more than 10 days? If we sail close to shore it might take twice as long??
* we are not sure if the boatyard has time for our repairs??
* The current hurricanes are: Earl (past), Fiona, Danelle, Gaston (just dieing) and two others are just forming
* Our electronics is compromised still the battery drains - we have a generator but still a problem - we will need batteries for our radar and lights at night - but we have done good so far
* We don't have our SSB working to get weather reports while out to sea yet... so once we leave we will not know the weather.
* Our Head is not completely working although when out to sea you can pump over.

Plan B: stay in Maine then Ben sail down in October with a friend or two friends
Pros: * Better weather window
* we can look for a boat yard to do repairs here
* we can field test the electronics here before we go off shore
* We can play a little longer in Maine - and do some bright work
* Nice place to do work on the boat as we wait for weather to change
Cons: * It will be a cold sail possibly
* I don't get to sail south with Ben
* what if we don't find a boatyard that can fix our electrical?
* What if they don't have time to fix? - then we might be here all winter - which might happen?
*What if Ben can't find anyone to go with him?

So there you have all the pros and cons for each decision.  You may email your responses to me or add them as comments on here.

So that is what we did today.  We sat down and wrote out our list. then we ate and went for a bus and then walk at seal harbor (no seals though) ended the day with a nice kayak ride around the bay looking for seals... none:(

It is a long weekend so we will not be able to contact any boatyard to see if they have time for us. No matter what we do ... it will be what it will be... and that is sailing... you go with the winds... you go with the spirits guide...

Ready for Earl

It is amazing that God can teach you things in small amounts at a time. When we needed to learn about sailing in fog -  a happy little fog appeared first so when the bigger fog came we were ready. When we needed to sail in rain a little rain came first and then a big storm of rain came with 36k winds and we faired happily. When we got fowled with a lobster pot it was a calm day when we got fowled with a lobster pot again it was windy and we were close to rocks we knew what to do... Well another learning curve has been given to us as we have been watching the locals and the boaters and the marina all get ready for a hurricane or a tropical Storm.  Well a tropical storm is defined by winds 40 - 75mph ... a hurrican is 75 and up then there are categories of hurricanes the more wind the higher the number category.  Earl was a category 4 but is now bumped to a 1 so that is probably 80 mph winds. we are in a harbor so we are not directly in the winds and big swells.

Given all this we have not lived through or lived in a tropical storm so I can't tell you what it is like... all I know is that it is the calm before the storm... it has been calm all day... hot heat then the temp dropped about 20 degrees... the barometer is supposed to drop... (That is another thing we need, our barometer does not work-well if it did work that would help in the learning about storms)... the fog came rolling in and here we are waiting for first the rain to come and then the winds.  preparedness guidance was given to us by our insurance company thru email... we did all those things. the boat looks pretty bare with just a front boom with no sail... everyone that is left near us are all in good spirits. there are about 3 boats that are sailing around like us...

This new revelation of hurricanes leads Ben and I to... hummm maybe we should wait out september and leave in October a very cold undertaking one that he would have to find a buddy to go with since I have committed to work (don't worry Erin, you can tell the office I'll be back) but an option.  I think right now there are 5 hurricanes a brewing in the south coming up. We want to make a be-line for the south but maybe not.  We'll wait out this one and then see if there is a 6-10 day weather window to travel south. ? who's taa know... it's all in the learning.  I think if we did go south we would have to definitely figure out our SSB single side band to get weather reports.  yesterday Ben pulled up the laptop to see all the frequency and times the weather is talked about on SSB.

So when the student is ready the teacher appears and here we are wide eyed and bushy tailed scrambling to figure out this next piece of equipment that we have been lax at, our SSB.

Well I'm going to make popcorn to get ready for the storm... We are going to eat popcorn and watch the storm... ok we are going to watch a movie too only our second movie since we left! cuz we've been too busy blogging and putting up pictures. I'll post pictures tomorrow if the wifi works.  funny our phone works at high tide and so does wifi. amazing what 12 feet will do.

Love you all!
blessings
we hope you get sleep cuz we are sure we will be up with the pounding of the storm that is why it is movie and popcorn night.
Pam

All caught up to date! keep reading...

I am up to date now with blogs so you might have to scroll down a few pages to read all the blogs and see all the pictures

aug 31

        Don't ya just love a good nature hike with animals that like to pose for pictures!         Behind us is the steep mountain we climbed down! Pictures just don't show the amazingness! It was so fun to have a pond to put our steaming hot feet in to cool off!         This was our reward for all our hard climbing! Priceless!         September 1st... we walked a familiar path... Jordon Pond... Today was a lazy day of blogging, riding the bus #4 (I think we only have one more bus route to ride) we walked on a lazy road home.        In Acadia National Park they have preserved the old carriage trails that once was the only transportation around the island.  So they give carriage rides. You can bike all the paths or walk them.  so many paths so little time!

aug 28 - 29

            Ben sailing into Mt Desert Island Harbor!!         Our view from Cricket into the final destination for this summers excursions.         Way cool Thuya gardens.        This is Lila's friend that comes and visits her during the day.          This is our harbor. Looks safe enough for the outer edges of hurricane to pass thru.Asticou gardens.         Japanese gardens.       too much fun walking thru the gardens.        This is my favorite of the summer!  I can't wait till Ben puts up the video on his FB!               A walk thru Jordon Pond. It is just like walking thru the BWCA portages but longer and on a moutain!            A well deserved refreshments at the end of a long long walk.

aug 26 - 27

          Ben at Isle Au Haut. One of his dream places to visit!       These are old fashion lobster buoys. look behind the buoys the next generation of buoys are ready to be made from the logs collected.  Most buoys now-a-days are made from hard foam - they look just like these though.       This light house was just a little visible when we sailed in the storm to get into port.       This is the dock.  It's so crazy to have tides 10 - 12 feet so the docks are amazing.       Look at all the white dots those are buoys from lobster pots below!!! I'm beginning to hate them.  We have been tangled 3 times. No way could you sail at night through these mine fields!       Next island the Buckle.        more lobster pots! how can you sail through that? ok I'll stop complaining!

Aug 24 - 25 pix

        Aug 24, winds quiet in the morning good time for a few chapters.         This is me waiting for the tide to come in so we can pass through the two islands. water rises 2 feet per hour. We did not wait long. The sunset was worth it!           Need no words plain beautiful!          Always good to say your prayers in earnest!          This is the rockin rollin day of wind and waves.  Good thing I got my prayers of safety in the day before! I sailed all day and Ben did the hard stuff like reefing and un reefing then reefing again! He also took pictures and a hilarious video of me sailing in these winds.  Although the video was shaded by the dodger so you can't hear the loud deafening roar of the winds and it seems like I am yelling... well I was to hear myself over the winds and rain!         The rain stung even though it was tiny droplets. I was tired that night. Despite the look I happen to be warm.

august 31 - I'm a mountain climber!

August 31^st,

The last day of summer for most… a mile stone of time to go back to “work” and busy-ness of life.  Yet we get a few more weeks of summer. Yesterday was a lot of planning… how do we get home? Fly? If so do we get tickets but what if we are later than expected? How do we get our stuff back? We could leave most of it; who needs summer clothing in the winter? How do we get the cat home? It cost $100 each flight so if we have connecting flights it is each time… silly! We could rent a car? Oneway? Where? Where is Deanna when you need her ha ha ha she picked us up last year.  The car we sold (that was Ben’s favorite car, we are a one car couple now doing what we can to reduce the carbon footprint and simplify our stuff and life .. anyway) Becca and Jason sold it for us… THANKS A MILLION! But the check had not shown up….We were in desperate need of kitty litter peeuow-stinky! Our propane was on our last little bit but no one sells propane the kind that they fill, most just have those returnable big size and we have a little size… (I don’t want to spend 7-10days at sea with out something warm to drink!) So we needed to do some thinking and actions.

We set out to wifi… combed the main street (all two blocks of it) for coffee and wifi… here in Maine you pay for your wifi we found out. Well we found coffee and sat down at the chamber of commerce bench and started our wifi and there was a free one just waiting for us to use it! I can’t tell you how God just helped our day but let me try… oh while getting coffee we stopped in the hardware store to see if they might have kitty litter nope but the lady knew there was propane fillers here! No way!! We have looked in so many ports almost giving up on the fact but here they have it down the street! The seven eleven type store had kitty litter! The park had wifi! We made a few calls about that check for the car that never came. Phew we have the scanned check but usbank does not offer that service yet of depositing scanned checks. Darn… we looked on wifi for airplane flights… hummm…. Then we looked for car rental… it seems car rental would be cheapest considering a cat and luggage. It was all coming into place when we got a call from Melissa that the check finally came!!! It is all coming together with divine help. One less thing to figure out! I did a few emails but still cannot connect to the server at home??

We felt good in our accomplishments! We took the bus successfully to the right place and started walking up Cadillac mountain! The north side… I was nervous my foot would hurt (having foot problems) or back or knees…. Man it is hard to get older in your body! But I took one step at a time and we were fine, me, my body parts and Ben. Then we reached the top! Amazing view. We decided to walk down the west side the “cliff” side.  It was fine at the beginning and then it got steeper and steeper and worse and worse but I still took one step at a time and to my surprise no aches and pains (well besides the fatique… for the past 3 weeks ben and I have sailed a day walked a day kayaked and kept on going in that fashion) I wish I could describe the climb but then again no one would believe me what Ben and I just climbed down! It was the biggest climb of my life, for sure- no doubt! Even pictures wont show how steep it was… the altitude descent was 1100 feet in 1.4 miles and we switched back and forth and climbed down and down and down big boulders and rocks, trees and more rocks.

Afterwards feeling of great accomplishment we put our feet in the pond water below and I could feel a surge of relief that it was done and I was safe and all body parts were fine! Today the weather was 90 degrees and you should hear the natives from Maine complain about how hot it is! Funny!!! Now Deltaville THAT WAS HOT! This is nothing.  Even when we talked to the bus driver about where to get off he said, “It is too hot to climb the mountain today.”

We made our way on the bus to Bar Harbor (Said like, “Baa Haa Baa”). We ate and went to a comedy improve show the first time Ben had been to a comedy club! I thought I was sheltered… (not) He surely has been. It was a funny show. We had to call a cab cuz the buses were done for the evening.

Now it is morning and I was thinking getting out of bed would be challenging with stiff and sore but nadda, none, nill, nope all good here.

The remnants of Hurricane Earl should be here thur-sat sometime.  It doesn’t look like much will be here if you ask me…  but the mooring yard has moved us to a different mooring one that will hold our weight better…

That is all for now… the wifi only has enough strength to pop in text if that.

Love you all and God loves you best.

august 30th - following Hurricane Earl

August 30^th the day of the free bus

Well plans are subject to change depending on the weather or our petty mysteries of the boat.  Like the stupid head (toilet) filling up when we don’t use it.  Grr so today we got up way late (Ben loves to sleep in cuz he loves to stay up late and read. I’m a morning person so I get up in the morning and read and have a good chat with our Creator) well today’s events were uneventful… but here they are…

Seeked out to find showers. Check. Then go to the boatyard and look to see if there is a “head” specialist.  Yes, but he went home sick today and not sure if he will be here tomorrow. Went back to the boat to bring her to the city dock to pump out. (I love curbside service like in Camden… honey we’re not in Camden anymoreL) It was a good docking… put the boat back on the mooring… then we started out on the bus system in search of wifi and phone coverage… Phone coverage is speratic.. sometimes I can facebook and sometimes I can only text… when we go up the mountain then I can call people…

So we wanted to sail to Somerville (the fjord) but we were too late in the day. So we took the bus except while riding the bus the lighted sign flashed “Somerville” and before each stop it flashes that stop except this time it flashed and the guy kept on going we would have pulled the stop cord but we did not know when we passed it. No big deal we will get off at the next marina… this time it said SW harbor so I pulled the cord when we got up the sign then flashed Clark-stop??? There are two SW stops. We just got off on the wrong one.  Oh boy…

We looked for a place with reception so I could have our weekly staff meetings. While I was talking we went back to the bus stop and here came the bus but instead of heading back the way we came… you guessed it…. It went the other way.  We are now riding the bus and siteseeing… just a very long time… it was nice just not in the plans today… so we missed the bus route 2 times then ended up in Bar Harbor cuz they have wifi but my stupid computer could not connect to our office server.  It is fussy sometimes… grr and to top it off we had to pay for wifi! What? An internet café that charges $5/hr. oh well. So that day I still did not post my blogs or bop in facebook.

We look on NOAA weather to track hurricane Earl.  He is coming our way but by the time he gets here it should be just a storm… oh when we went to the boatyard they were busy bustling around getting boats in before the hurricane hits. Humm… I told Ben maybe we should just stay in this harbor than go to a different one cuz this one is pretty much protected.  Pretty much… we were surprised last night that the winds howled from the North and funneled through the mountains down to the Harbor… sooo..

We know by thur and Friday we want to be tucked away somewhere although Ben reads so many sailing books that he likes to get my goat by saying, the safest place during a hurricane is out to sea… yea but not in the hurricane!! I encourage Ben to take different guys sailing so he can get out of his system the thrill of being in big waves and wind.  I’m not too hep on the idea but will deal with it when/IF it comes.  Most sailors we meet say there is so much information about weather that we should not even take a slight chance… I agree… don’t get me wrong Ben does not push me. He just likes to make comments about… if you are sailing and a hurricane comes it is safer to be out to sea than near land where you will crash into the rocks… then I smile and say yup when you and the guys are together… me I’m staying at a mooring ball.

There is another hurricane we are watching too… coming from Bermuda. We still plan to leave Monday or so depending on the 5 day perfect forecast.

Nothing to report here except again I cant post pictures.

aug 29 - here in Maine no sailing stories

Aug 29^th – perfect day in NE harbor ME.

 Morning started with me making pancakes, eggs and bacon! Yumm oh by the way the pancakes were blueberry pancakes and each of us had ONE blueberry that Ben found the day before and we saved these only 2 tiny wild berries for breakfast! Amazing how we could be so disciplined to wait one day to eat those berries. The blue berry season is over so you find little stragglers one here and there. YTD we have found 5. Huckleberries are a different story where we have eaten many on Isle Au Haut!!!

After breakfast the mooring lady came whizzing up in her boat and asked us to pay. She was very nice, a 5^th grade school teacher. She gave us tips of what to do today. We heeded her advice and perfection happened. 

We went to Asticou gardens too pretty for words… heaven comes to mind. It is a walk way from the sea up the mountain beautifully terraced by a man that wintered on the island for 48 years, he died, but before he died so did his wife and son.  No heirs… he made it a public place. 

Then we walked through the mountain to Jordon Pond.  It is so fun to walk a trail up a mountain that leads to a lake (but they call it a pond. It is maybe the size of two Lake calhouns.) We put out feet in the water and Ben tasted the water to see if it was at all brackish water… nope it was pure lake water. (don’t worry he did not drink the water.) there at the side of the lake was a sweet lodge and now café they have been serving tea and popovers since 1880 or so. We had iced coffee and popovers.

The walk was about 1.6 miles or so we think.  Along the quiet and secluded trail we met the cutest red squirrel… The squirrel was scurrying around and Ben said, “Oh he is looking for handouts since he is so tame.”  It seemed not. It seemed as if the squirrel was saying, “Hey buddy I don’t need hand outs watch me!” He nosed through some blueberry bushes and popped up with the most delicious mushroom (the classic red top with white stem) He chowed half of it in front of us then with the stem he bounded up the tree and “buried” it on a branch.  Then as if to say, “If mushrooms are not plentiful then I run up this maple tree and eat these yummy seeds found right under the leaves.” This little creature entertained us for quite sometime and we have him on film eating the mushroom it is adorable. We don’t have strong enough wifi so we will post it on youtube or facebook later.

Did you know there are free… yes free… buses all over the island! You just hop on and off! So today we just scouted a few places of where we want to travel this week since we will be here one week then leave for Deltaville but heading out to sea… Now I wonder if my dad wants to track some of the hurricanes for us to double check our weather windows? Or if any of you all want to do that too? We have an email account with USBoat and they send out emails.  Everything seems to be south and staying south and one in Bermuda one.. cant remember just not near us.

Maine is having the most unseasonably nice summer.  The mooring lady called, “2010 the year of Maine’s perfect weather where everyday is clear and sunny.” That has been pretty much true in one month I think it has rained 4 times and we had sailed three of those days. So we predict this trend will continue thru the next two weeks as we start heading home.

Hey Rebecca if you get this we will make you our designated float plan person again since you did such a fine job before! Plans are (or ideas are) to leave sept 4 or 5^th and sail straight from maine in Bar Harbor to Deltaville. (7-10days depending on weather.)

Tomorrow look at our “head” cuz it fills on its own, then possibly sail up the only fjord is US up to Somerville, then possibly moor in bar harbor next.

Miss you all

With tons of love and care

Pam