After coffee and catching up on some business work on the dock in Camden, we headed out for a short sail to the southeastern corner of the Penobscot Bay. We chose a route across the Deer Island Thoroughfare, forgetting how densely the lobster traps are in this part of the bay. This is where we snagged one on our propeller last year for those of you who followed. Anyway, we made it through with no issues. Sandy watched and reported the location of each buoy while I steered a slalom course.
We anchored at Îsle au Haut, an island that’s part of Acadia National Park. It was our first overnight anchor of the season, which is always a little stressful, especially because the wind was gusting to 30 knots and there was strong current. Once we set the anchor, we back down the engine pretty hard while watching our position on the chart plotter zoomed way in. It appeared we were fast. Even though we set an anchor alarm, which would alert us if the boat moves too far from the anchorage, it’s always reassuring to wake up the next morning and look out the porthole to see we’re in the same place we were when we went to sleep the night before!
Îsle au Haut is an inhabited island and it truly feels like time stands still. Nobody closes, much less locks their doors. The shops, the public library, and the post office were open and unattended. People are just trusted to do the right thing. Everybody waves, even to complete strangers, when driving by. We dinghied ashore to take a short walk. As we arrived at the town landing, somebody called my name. I had met a couple in Boothbay Harbor who were also anchored nearby. Erica and Bruce are from Annapolis, MD and are spending the summer cruising Maine.
Today we will hike one of the national park trails on the island
