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Mt Desert

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Good morning everyone. We have started our week with a couple of good
days sailing "down east". The winds have been wicked light but we
managed to get 35 miles on Monday to Burnt Coat Harbor on Swans
Island. Yesterday morning we pushed across to neighboring Frenchboro
on Long Island where we hiked out to the back beach. Not that we
haven't seen enough of the ocean but the view from the granite cliffs
is extraordinary. The cobble and boulder beaches are not uncommon
but are difficult to access in most places because of the wave
action. The boulders on "Little Beach" have been tossed and polished
for thousands of years. I had to place a ten pound limit on
returning "souvenirs".

We were underway before lunch and headed off shore for Mt Desert
Rock. This was our first trip out there this season. The "rock" is
13 miles from Frenchboro or about 18 miles from Southwest Harbor.
Folks haven't been seeing many whales this year. Some fear over
fishing has taken away the food source that has drawn them in years
past to this place where a great upwelling of water is created by an
offshore shelf the rises hundreds of feet from the ocean floor.
Puffins were seen everywhere as soon as we cleared Frenchboro and we
saw too many to count.

Gannets were also abundant. Later in the
afternoon as we reached the rock we saw the first of many spouts.
And then "there she blows!" was shouted from the foredeck. Sure
enough a finback whale was seen after several spouts of spray. There
was also a minke whale feeding not too far from us, providing us many
chances to run from port to starboard. It truely was an amazing day.
A long tack back to shore and we were anchored at sunset at Little
Cranberry Isle, one of our favorites. We'll see what tomorrow
brings....definitely another day full of wonderful treasures.

Have a great day. Do well. Be good.

Comments

Unknown said…
On my first trip on the Mary Day we sailed out to Mt. Desert Rock. I even got to man the helm for quite a while. We had a great day of sailing and it was a marvelous experience. I've wondered ever since, is it pronounced des-ert like it's spelled (or as in Sahara) or de-sert like left behind (or as in Mary's pie except that's dessert with two esses because for dessert you want seconds)?
August 26, 2007 at 4:00 AM
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