March eBook pages 86-156 (10.9 MB) - Latitude 38

ACADIAN CIVILIZATION SOCIETY
CHANGES
A 'two bug' dinner with corn and roll set
us back just $19.
After gorging on lobster, we motored
over to Gilkey Harbor, Penobscot Bay,
where 60 yachts gathered for the annual
Seven Seas Cruising Association
Downeast Gam.
Back in the '90s,
Interlude was
an East Coast
cruiser and did
several trips between
Maine and
the Caribbean.
She holds the
Dashew design
record of 147,000
total miles sailed,
with 55,000 being
Penobscot Bay.
the average. We,
the fifth owners,
have owned her the longest and sailed
her the most miles. Steve and Linda Dashew
met up with us for the Gam, where
we were surprised to learn that the four
of us were the only circumnavigators at
the gathering of seasoned cruisers.
[Editor's note: In last month's Cruise
Notes, we incorrectly wrote that the
Braun's had sailed Interlude 150,000
miles. She's now been sailed a collective
150,000 miles by all her owners.]
Some folks say that the cruising season
in Maine can consist of as few as two
weeks of nice weather. Prior to coming
to Maine, we'd been concerned about
having to avoid millions of lobster pots
when blinded and shivering from the
fog. We had our first dreaded day of fog
and rain on August 5. Fortunately, our
fears of frequent fog and rain never materialized,
and we had only a handful of
overcast days. Nonetheless, the weather
rarely stops cruisers in this part of the
U.S. from having fun with their boats.
Fortunately, it was a pleasant sunny
Bar Harbor, population 5,000, is a well-known
summer colony for the well-known. It's also
home to most of Acadia National Park.
day when we motored 30 miles Downeast
through waters of Merchants Row to
Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan's Island,
which were thick with lobster pots. Katie
took position in the dinghy on the foredeck
with the autopilot remote, hitting
the 'dodge' button when necessary, while
Kurt navigated with the chartplotter,
making macro course corrections from
the pilothouse.
We eventually anchored at Somesville
in Somes Sound, Mount Desert
(pronounced 'desert' as in 'desertion')
Island in order to visit Acadia National
Park. The park features great hiking
on trails, as well as walking/biking on
gravel carriage roads built by the sporting
Rockefellers, to numerous peaks.
Mind you, a 'peak' in these parts is about
1,500 feet. We recommend hiking up
Dorr Mountain, since Cadillac Mountain,
although higher, can be reached by bus
and therefore is not as satisfying a climb.
Although not geologically spectacular,
Somes Sound is the only true fjord on
the eastern Atlantic seaboard.
Bar Harbor, the biggest town and
main transportation hub of the area, is
mostly touristy, with tall ship cruisers
and restaurants galore. Southwest Harbor
is small, but is the yachting center,
with two chandleries and the home for
both Hinckley and Morris Yachts.
Mount Desert Island is as far 'Down
East' as we planned to go, so we began to
backtrack with a nice sail to Pulpit Harbor
on North Haven Island in Penobscot Bay.
— katie 02/15/03
[The third and final installment of the
Braun's New England cruise will appear
in the April issue.]
Cruise Notes:
In disturbing news, Bill Lily and his
partner Judy Lang reported their Lagoon
470 Moontide had been boarded by
three armed men at about
2 a.m. on February 19 while
they were at anchor at Caleta
de Campos, where they had
stopped on their way from Zihua
to Mazanillo. "I was awoken
by banging on the sliding
door into the salon," Bill
reports, "and like an idiot,
I opened it — at which time
a gun was put in my face.
Three young men ransacked
the boat looking for cash. I
gave them what I had, and
they went through the boat
taking my navigation com-
puter, a cell phone, cameras and booze."
A veteran of many Ha-Ha's, and number
one of the list for this fall's Ha-Ha, Lily
reports the couple were unhurt, but had
gotten a heavy dose of adrenaline when
looking down the barrels of pistols."
Caleta de Campos is the same anchorage
where Blair Grinols' 45-ft cat
Capricorn Cat was boarded about 10
years ago by an armed man claiming to
be police. Thanks to the spot and area's
having a hinky reputation, we've always
made straight shots between Zihua and
Manzanillo. Given what happened, we
encourage others to do the same. By
the time you read this, we expect a more
detailed report on thie incident to have
appeared in 'Lectronic Latitude.
Glenn Twitchell of the Newport Beachbased
Lagoon 380 Beach House, and a
good friend of Bill and Judy's, had an
interesting take on the context of the
incident. "In defense of Mexico, at nearly
the same time Bill and Judy were robbed,
some idiot in Orange County, where all