Day 47 Maine's in the Rearview Mirror
York Harbor is connected to the ocean by a small inlet through which a very large flow of water moves with each tide. The water nourishes an expanse of marsh that runs well inland from the harbor area. The mooring field is just at the edge of the strongest current. After settling in for the night the incoming tide spun us around and tossed the mooring ball making sounds of straining lines and eddys and thumps & bumps. I cannot sleep through that. Luckily the tide goes slack very abruptly exactly on the timetable provided by the harbormaster- at 12:17AM everything suddenly went still.
The harbormaster obviously really knows his job and his harbor. When we checked in he mentioned there would be fog this morning, so we could probably sleep in. We woke up to....FOG of the New England pea soup variety. We waited an hour then moved to the fuel dock to fill tanks. Since the fog around us was starting to clear we headed out through the inlet with radar on and eagle eyes on the lookout. Once out in the ocean we crawled along, straining to get visual on the boats we saw on radar, but visibility was less than 1/10th mile. I could see boats on radar, I could hear their engines & smell their diesel exhaust, but never saw them. We decided to return to York Harbor to wait. Of course just as we got to the inlet, the fog lifted somewhat! Nevermind.. Within minutes blue sky shone overhead and the fog at water level thinned to a retreating haze. We turned westward to our intended destination.
The winds built slowly throughout the day, and there was actually pretty good sailing by the time we reached Massachusetts (~25 miles). Crossing Massachusetts Bay the depth sounder plummets to 350 feet. There are steep underwater canyons here along with a large expanse of just plain deep water. A pod of whales crosses in front of us.
We ended the day in Glouchester, Mass, on the same mooring as the trip up. Gorton's Seafood is here on the waterfront. The whole place smells like fish sticks.
The harbormaster obviously really knows his job and his harbor. When we checked in he mentioned there would be fog this morning, so we could probably sleep in. We woke up to....FOG of the New England pea soup variety. We waited an hour then moved to the fuel dock to fill tanks. Since the fog around us was starting to clear we headed out through the inlet with radar on and eagle eyes on the lookout. Once out in the ocean we crawled along, straining to get visual on the boats we saw on radar, but visibility was less than 1/10th mile. I could see boats on radar, I could hear their engines & smell their diesel exhaust, but never saw them. We decided to return to York Harbor to wait. Of course just as we got to the inlet, the fog lifted somewhat! Nevermind.. Within minutes blue sky shone overhead and the fog at water level thinned to a retreating haze. We turned westward to our intended destination.
The winds built slowly throughout the day, and there was actually pretty good sailing by the time we reached Massachusetts (~25 miles). Crossing Massachusetts Bay the depth sounder plummets to 350 feet. There are steep underwater canyons here along with a large expanse of just plain deep water. A pod of whales crosses in front of us.
We ended the day in Glouchester, Mass, on the same mooring as the trip up. Gorton's Seafood is here on the waterfront. The whole place smells like fish sticks.
The downtown area is very pleasant to stroll around. We have arrived just after closing time for most of the shops, but it is still nice to wander the streets.
The morning in Gloucester bring with it fog....
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