Mona NOBO 2017

[ralay]

It was there.

[Frank]

😳😄😄

[CharlieJ]

I'm scheduled to arrive Portland on Aug 2nd, for a few days :)

[ralay]

Cool, CJ!  We need to fly back to Texas tomorrow, but we should be back before you get here.  It'll be a miniscoot. 

It's very green, sunny, and beautiful on THIS side of the jetties.  Jim picked a nice area to live.  Woody found us a cheap weekly rate on a mooring at a boatyard, so we should have good access to shore for meeting up. 

[CharlieJ]

Hope to see you both- I'm visiting Jim

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

Looks like Nubble Lighthouse @ Cape Neddeck?

[ralay]

Wood Island light at mouth of Saco.

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

Good thing I'm not navigator   ;)

[ralay]

Well, as navigator, it wouldn't have been much use anyway.  It wasn't lit nor sounding a fog signal.  We couldn't see it until we were within 1/2 nm and we saw the breakers on the rocks before the lighthouse.  It was a very good day to have radar.

[ralay]

Pictures for leg from Coney Is to Saco, ME: http://imgur.com/a/QcktO

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

Ray, not 100% sure of this but I remember folks talking about this a couple of years ago.
Many of the fog horns on Maines coast no longer sound continously during an event.. They sound on demand when keyed from a vhf channel. Something worth looking into.

[Norman]

Modern neighbors probably did not appreciate the noise.

I wonder if you can turn on the horn by radio if there is no fog?  That could be important if the sender failed

Norman

[ralay]

@misfits: Yes, we listen to the LNM on 22A and heard an announcement that the mariner-activated sound signals could be activated by keying the mic 5 times on 83.  We tried it, but never got a horn to sound.  Maybe there was a different frequency for that inlet?  Maybe we were keying too fast/slow? 

We discussed how we thought it seemed like a bad idea.  Woody mentioned that anyone with radio/electrical problems would be doubly screwed by being deprived of sound signals in poor visibility.  I mentioned I thought that hearing a signal where one ISN'T expected is just as important as hearing signals where you expect them.  Someone who is off course but doesn't know it needs to hear those horns.

[ralay]

I went back and checked the charts and coast pilot and Wood Island Light is a Mariner Activated Sound Signal (marked MRASS) on chart.  The coast pilot says it's activated by keying the mic 5 times on 83A, so I'm not sure why it didn't respond to us. 

In reading about it, I learned that 81 is also a common frequency used and occasionally other frequencies are used which can be found in the Light List.  So maybe some of that info will be useful to other cruisers.  The Coast Pilots and Light Lists are available as free PDFs as well as paper copies. 

[ralay]

Pics: Saco to Boothbay: http://imgur.com/a/7cf7B

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

You take really good pictures!

[ralay]

Thanks.  Jim took the one of the rosey lighthouse, which looks like good postcard material.  It boggles my mind how far digital pictures have come.  All those pictures are what's snapped with our (cheap, generic) phones.  Sometimes I crop them or fix underexposure in GIMP (open source Photoshop).  The future is now and it's pretty cool.

[Jim_ME]

It was wonderful to meet Rachel, Woody, and Charlie! After encouraging them to come to this area for some time...they did. I had been reading about R&W from the Peanutbutter Diet blog and their previous boats and cruises from years back and more recently their reports here, other thread posts, and chats. It's interesting to finally meet people that you've gotten to know so well through their writings and photos.

It's also really something to experience Mona in person. Photos can only go so far in capturing her immense character. When a sailboat has been made a home, like a house being made one, especially in this instance where they have invested so much effort, time, labor, creativity...of themselves into the vessel...it really looks and feels alive and enchanting to experience.     

[Jim_ME]

A view of Mona moored and Rachel with guitar as Woody rowed Charlie and me back to shore as a near full moon rose beyond, capping off a delightful afternoon sailing and evening of dining and music... 

[ralay]

Had another very foggy sail from Rockland to Swan's Island.  Before coming to Maine, we'd hoped that fog was the sort of thing that appeared in the morning and burned off, so one could decide just to stay at anchor until it cleared.  In reality, it's just as often that a sunny day breeds pea soup as the land warms.  I was sweating in shorts on our way to the post office this morning.  By afternoon, I was putting on long johns and foulies trying to stay warm and dry.  Poor Woody's glasses fog faster than he can clean them making it difficult for him to take the helm in heavy fog.

Today's fog was similar to the other fog we've had.  From the radar, I'd estimate it at significantly less than 1/4nm.  I still haven't heard anyone but us sound a fog signal.  They only folks I've seen out in the fog are the lobstermen and they probably can't hear an air horn over the sound of their engine anyways.  I'm still amazed they can find their pots among thousands on days when it's hard to find a 6' metal buoy with a sound signal. 

We've had a lot of beautiful, sunny days.  Today just wasn't one of them.  We've also got a front passing through which is why I'm awake at 0300.  We're on a poached mooring in a tiny nook on Swan's Island.  The wind is already howling and a red radar band is still encroaching.  Tiny nooks in these parts offer great protection, but they're also all made by big granite ledges and boulders.  No place to come loose in the middle of the night.  I keep peering out the portholes during the gusts even though it's too dark and misty to keep an eye on the rocks. 

Despite the rocks and fog, Maine is my favorite place we've been on the boat by a large margin.  It's going to be hard to want to go anywhere else, though I'm sure winter will get us moving.  When the weather lifts, we ought to have a good view of Mt Desert Island (Acadia NP) which is just northeast of us and our last destination before we start slowly beating back.