Bath, ME to Five Islands, ME

Monday, 17 August, 2015

The first part of our voyage today was a trip down memory lane.  Twenty-six years ago our ship dredged the lower Kennebec River, and we came and went from the launch at Popham Beach.  We took the ship up the Kennebec River, to the Bath Iron Works shipyard for a few days, before heading back down the east coast.

The things I remember most from that time was the shear beauty of Maine, the snow, the tides, and the current.  The river seems much larger and gentler now, part of which is from the perspective of much smaller vessel, and part of which is because we didn't run the river at a maximum current.  It wasn't snowing, and there were even people out on the beach.

We had missed the maximum ebb current, waiting for the railroad bridge tenders to come on duty to open the bridge at 0800, a little disappointment to me.  Nevertheless, the trip downstream is gorgeous!

When we came out of the Kennebec, we journeyed a little back to the east, to visit Five Islands, a place we had deliberately skipped over the week-end, figuring it would be crowded.  The local yacht club here has four moorings they offer transient boaters to stop and visit their community.  All four moorings were empty when we arrived, and only one other mooring was taken later in the day.  That is not to say that Five Islands wasn't bustling with activity.

Five Islands is a small lobstering community that seems to have found its niche appealing to tourism, most of which seems to come by automobile.  There is a floating dock for recreational small boats, which was full of dinghies and small vessels most of the day.  We tied to the floating dock, and went up the ramp into an area between three buildings.  One of the buildings sells live or boiled lobster, with boiled corn or potatoes.  One of the buildings sells fish sandwiches, lobster rolls, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. and t-shirts.  The third building sells ice cream.  There is picnic table seating around the 3 buildings, overlooking the commercial dock where there was a steady trickle of small boats coming in to offload their lobster.  

It was interesting to me to see a bunch of happy kids that seemed to be everywhere working.  It was teen-agers working in the 3 buildings, and I saw a half a dozen different boys and girls (looked around 12 years old) pulling lobster traps with small skiffs.  There were adults around with some of the kids, but, the kids were learning and doing much of the work.

I'll always be grateful for the time I spent as a kid, working on boats.  

Bath, ME and Richmond, ME

Sunday, 16 August, 2015

Bath is a nice stop!  The town has a floating dock that is available for three hour tie-up, and overnight permission is granted if you can and ask.  There is a single fresh water spigot to top off your tanks.  The dock is along the front of the town park, with trees, benches, gazebos, and trash cans.  Round balls of LED lights hang in the trees, unnoticed during the day, and colorful at night.  The park is used by families with small kids, older folks, and younger people enjoying the nature setting.  I wasn't impressed that this was the chest-bumping, hard drinking dock hang-out, it was VERY nice!

Last night there was one of the summer's concerts at the waterfront.  The Jen Chapin trio played and sang, at a nice to listen to volume.  We had an early dinner at the barbecue place to keep from missing it.

There is an IGA grocery store in sight of the dock, half a block way.  The ice cream store is within a block, with killer ice cream.  There are lots of good restaurants in Bath, and the streets are safe to walk around.  There are some nice shops along the nearby streets, as well.

The grocery store opened at 0700, and we bought got some provisions.  It is so nice having a store close by to stock up!

In the morning I walked down to Elim Community Church, less than a mile away, for their morning service. The houses alongside the road are worth the walk.  The church was pretty, and friendly, and welcoming.  (Everyone we've talked to in this area has been friendly.)  I was glad I went.

After church, we rode the current up to Richmond, about a 12.6nm trip.  The current was pushing us along at 1.5 to 3.0 kts, depending upon the area.  It is fun to see the open and closed "v's."  If you canoe or kayak, you know what I mean!

The river changes above Bath.  The area is less rocky in places, more variety of vegetation, and coastal marshes.  Swan Island is about four miles of prime migratory Canadian geese stopping spot.

The town of Richmond also has a floating dock, alongside a waterfront park.  The dock is much less exposed to wind and wakes than the Bath dock, but, the park isn't nearly as pretty.  It was a pretty busy place on Sunday afternoon.  The town of Richmond seemed pretty closed up, but, remember, we were there on a Sunday afternoon.

We stayed in Richmond until the current began falling again, and rode the water back down the Kennebec River to Bath, where we settled in for one more night at the Bath dock.  We really wanted ice cream again...  We walked around town while we ate our cones.

Seal Cove, Oven Mouth, Inside Passage, and Bath

Saturday, 16 August, 2015

We've all heard that time and tide wait on no man, and up here, our adventures are pretty well controlled by the tide and current, and our lives are pretty well adventures!

We departed Seal Cove a little before low tide, while we could still catch an outgoing current out the Damariscotta River.  We rounded Linekin Neck, inside Squirrel Island and wiggled between Burnt and Mouse Island before entering Townsend Gut.  I called to tell the bridge tender we were coming.  Hmmm.  This is different!  The channel is narrow and rocky, and there are the notorious Maine lobster floats everywhere.  

As we lined up on the bridge, I realized I had the clearance at this dead low tide, by folding my antennas down, so I called the bridge tender back.  He told me he'd watch the clearance as we came under the bridge with about a foot of air draft above our mast.  We continued through the maze of trap floats and through the skinny passage out the other end.

We continued past Indian Islandtown Island, and I had this real brainy idea to go through Back River, behind Barter's Island while there still wasn't a lot of current at the Barter's Island swing bridge.  Hmmm.  This is different!  

When I called the bridge for an opening, the bridge tender said it would take him about 4 minutes.  With the current pushing us towards the bridge, we found various places between lobster floats to hold up. The bridge tender walked to one end of the bridge, and then the other, I suppose to release some locking mechanism.  Then, with him on the middle, pivoting section, he began hand cranking the bridge.  No wonder they want your name to open the bridge!  

We raced through the opening at idle speed, and made a couple of precarious turns in the narrow channel, still dodging floats until we exited into a bay that turns into Back River.  You can't appreciate it unless you look at Google Earth.  No, maybe you can't appreciate it unless you were there.  I didn't get photos since I was busy.  Not sure why Ellen wasn't getting more photos,  I think she may have passed out from holding her breath.  This probably should not be attempted by the faint of heart, or in times of more current.

The cruise up Back River was interesting, a narrow, deep channel in the middle of a wide, shallow bay.  Barter Island looked like a great place to live, but, suspiciously there were lots of houses for sale.... I wonder if living in Maine is like living on a boat, and you eventually reach an age or health that it is no longer practical.

We turned into Cross River, and through Oven Mouth, with its narrow rocky sides.  The channel narrows, and the current increases, spewing you out into a nice bay, reminding me a little of my days canoeing in swift water.  During the Revolutionary War, ships were hidden from the British in here.  That would have been a feat of timing with rowboats and large sailing ships.

There was one sailboat when we arrived in the bay.  After a couple of hours, we watched the sailboat leave, and lobster boats plying their traps, while doing some various boat chores.  There was good internet connection via Verizon, and I started searching out what I could about Bath, ME.  There was a concert this evening at waterfront park, and the City of Bath has free dockage.  Besides, I think Ellen was bored with all my seal-watching in off the beaten path places.   I regress.

Posted signs at the Bath dock say no overnight docking, but, you can get permission from the dockmaster, via the police department, and they let out of towners stay.  I called to make sure we could, and in just a few minutes they called me back to grant me permission.  The currents were right, to get through to Bath, so off we went!

We went through the narrow cut at Ovens Mouth, and down the Cross River its short distance until converging with the Sheepscot River.  We entered the "Inside Passage" between Boothbay and Bath, in Goose Rock Passage.

The Tafts, in their book, A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast, describe the Inside Passage as "one of the great adventures of the Maine coast."  They also say, "..Upper and Lower Hell Gate can be awesome for those of us not accustomed to running whitewater rivers in deep-keeled boats."  I had made it a point to go when the currents weren't too awesome.  The trip is gorgeous, and I'd do it again in a second.

We passed Robinhood, and the Knubbles, through the Lower Hell Gate, while we still had a little flood current, but not too horrific.  We went around Hockomock Bay, and through Upper Hell Gate, with almost full flood in the Sasanoa River.  and under the fixed 51' Arrowsic Bridge and into the Kennebec River across from Bath Iron Works and right below the Maine Central Railroad Lift Bridge and the fixed 70' Carlton Bridge.  The Maine Central Railroad Bridge opened upon request (we had seen other information that had said a 1400 opening)  When asked the bridge tender told me it was upon request during weekdays as well as week-ends.

The town dock was full of small boats when we arrived, and someone moved a few boats around so we could get in to the dock.  This blog is already too long, so I'll write more about Bath tomorrow.

Spring Creek, Bath, and Slade Creek, NC

Sunday, 31 May 2015

This morning, after washing a lot of easier-washing mud than yesterday, we decided to see if we could figure out where the two pontoon boats were coming from and going to.  We went around the bend in Spring Creek, and saw a big house and dock.  Then we turned around, passed our anchorage, and went up Long Creek until the chart said 6' of water, and turned around from there.  We never saw any sign of anywhere on that end that you could put an ATV onto a pontoon boat.  There were a lot of duck blinds in the marsh, however.  I don't think any of these anchorages would be good spots during duck season.

We crossed the Bay River, joining back into the ICW, and cutting through the ditch, past the Hobucken Bridge and USCG Station into Goose Creek.  We we entered the Pamlico River, which I have seen very rough, the water barely had a ripple on it.

We decided to go up the Pamlico River to the historic town of Bath, another interesting side trip from the ICW.  Bath has an interesting harbor, and a free town dock, which had many NC boats tied to it,  We tied across the end of the T, in 7.5' feet of water.  The sign says free for daytime four hours, or register for overnight (free.)  We decided to see the town, and then decide if we were going to dock or anchor.

Bath has a lot of good history, a visitor's center, and a lot of historic signs if you are walking around.  It is an easy walk around a huge block going left, and then making right turns.

A puppy raced out and joined us at some point, and we tried to figure out where he had come from.  We walked in the direction of one house, and he bounced ahead into the yard.  We closed the gate.  I hope it was their puppy!  If not, I hope the dog water bowl owner isn't too upset sharing his bowl with an errant puppy.

We looked at the oldest remaining church building in North Carolina, and walked through a couple of cemeteries.  I enjoy reading old epitaphs, and wonder what I would like mine to be.   There are many old names, remembered by a few words each.

This old steam engine is near the base of the town dock.

The breeze was freshening as we left Bath, but we decided not to anchor in the harbor in Bath, where all the water sports had been taking place.  We chose instead to go down the Pamlico River until we joined back in the ICW for a couple of miles and tucked into Slade Creek.

Slade Creek is a nice wide anchorage, where I believe you could get good wave protection from any direction, depending upon where you went in the creek.  The moon is getting pretty full, and the whipper-wills were calling again.