Mistake Island to Galley Cove, Bartlett Island, ME

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

This morning we were fogged in!  The tide was low enough that it made the radar super easy to follow going out.  I will say that the big birds like to fly above the channel, between the cliffs of Knight Island and Steele Harbor Island.  They fly about the speed of a small skiff!  All photos are after we got out of the fog.  I like the first couple where we are coming out of it.  Want a photo of fog?  Hold your glasses over the steam from a boiling pot, and then put them on.  Yep, that's what we had all day.  We kept wiping our eyes, but, it didn't help.

We entered the North Atlantic, and the upset swell.  Even though there was no wind yet, in the day, the confused swells from last night upset a certain brown dog's stomach.  Poor Mocha!  As soon as we rounded the "DTS" buoy, we turned inshore towards calmer, shallower waters.

We ran in the fog all the way into Northeast, where we grabbed a mooring just long enough to find out the store with the dog food we were looking for had closed.  Then we ran in the fog around Desert Island until we got to Bartlett Island.

At Bartlett Island the fog bank ended, though the southwest breeze tried to push a little of it in!

We were delighted to see blue skies for the first time all day long!

We grabbed a free mooring at Galley Cove, where I'm told the Rockefeller's maintain a couple of moorings for guests to use and enjoy the cove.  

There is one other boat here, a sailboat, and we are listening to the wind blow above the trees as we watch the weather warnings for high wind and rain this evening.  What a sweet spot to be!  N44 21.743 W 068 25.185

Rogue Island to Mistake Island

Monday, August 3, 2015

We started out of Shorey Cove, taking a last fond look at Rogue Island.  We rounded Squire Point and down the west side of Rogue Island, one of the neatest concentration of Maine sights!

We passed on the east side of Mark Island, and curved around the east side of Head Harbor Island.  See the little box on the rocks?  That is a 3 story house, to give you a perspective of the size of the cliffs.

At the tip of the island, we ran into fog.  We continued southward to Main Channel Way, and the fog lifted a little.  We passed between Steele Harbor Island and Knight Island, and the sun was out again.

This is Moose Peak Lighthouse, on the tip of Mistake Island, and visible as we entered.  

We rounded the tip of Knight Island, and anchored in between the high rock walls at N 44 28.660 W 67 32.607

We took the dinghy ashore to a ramp on Mistake Island, but, with the tide low, and the wooden ramp slick, it made scrambling up it difficult. I did go up far enough with the dogs that I determined to come back when the tide was higher.  There was 16' of tide.

On the way out of cove, we scurried up to a couple working a lobster boat, and bought some fresh Maine lobster from them.  The only thing they did to them between the trap, their boat, and ours was put the rubber bands on their claws!

We went back to the MERCY and fixed an early lunch!

After lunch, I took the dinghy and went back to the ramp, as it was close to high tide, and easier to access.  There is a wooden boardwalk stretching across the island, a little over a quarter of a mile, to the lighthouse.  The views were awesome!

There were blueberries, not quite ripe.  Someone needs to be here in another few weeks!

And raspberries, even greener.

This is what I think of when I picture tundra in my mind.  The vegetation is cushioned to walk on, though I mainly stayed on the boardwalk, and the rocks at the end.

And butterflies.

There was an area that appeared to me to be a flagged nesting area and part of someone's study, but, there were no birds or nests present.  I suppose by this late in the year, the hatchlings have taken flight.

When I returned to the dinghy, where it was sunny, I looked less than a tenth of a mile away, where the MERCY was anchored, and she was totally sopped in with fog.  Ellen said it had been like that since right after I'd left.  

Later the fog lifted just enough for me to sit on the roof, and watch the seals playing nearby, before we were totally enveloped again.  As in, can't see the rocks 100' away.  We did listen to the surf, as we enjoyed our snug little anchorage.  There was a little swell that worked in from the south at the highest side, but, the rest of the time, it was pretty calm.