Heading North to Casco Bay

Kittery to The Basin Preserve

I find that most things are far more enjoyable when you experience them within their own context and on their own terms, so I try to squash expectations as soon as I start to notice them forming. That said, my expectations for cruising Maine were set years ago when as Billy Joel said, “…I wore a younger man’s clothes”. Fortunately, even this short sojourn into Maine met and exceeded them!

We left Portsmouth harbor and headed northeast towards Casco Bay – we bypassed Kennebunkport, Cape Porpoise, Wood Island, Saco Bay, Richmond Island and a good deal more places on our sail north. We had our sights set on Casco Bay and these others would simply have to wait for another day.

Casco Bay, Maine

The first of the 138 islands of Casco Bay

It was early evening, around 5:30, when we altered our course to sail around Cape Elizabeth. Instantly, the vast array of islands that call Casco Bay home came into view; Now this, is Maine! Casco Bay is where the Atlantic coast, which trends north all the way from Florida, turns suddenly eastward and expands out in a grand, rocky bouquet of islands. We had finally “made it”!

Jewell Island

The winds had just about died, so we furled our sails and motored north into the bay towards our evening’s anchorage; Jewell Island.

One of Casco Bay’s outermost, uninhabited islands and accessible only by boat, Jewell Island’s approximately 200 acres offers great trails that enable visitors to explore cobble beaches, wooded ridges and the remains of World War I and World War II military installations.

Within an hour or so, we spotted Jewell Island and started making our approach towards the natural harbor on the Island’s northwest shore, known as Cocktail Cove. This harbor offers the best landing and anchoring ground on Jewell Island, with room for several boats. Unfortunately, the anchorage all ready had a good number of boats in it, so we decided to go with our backup plan.

Cliff Island

We don’t enjoy crowded anchorages, so as always, we had several backup locations picked; just in case! The winds were forecast to come from the north this evening so we went with option #2, a nice little cove on Cliff Island, with good protection from the north. We headed towards Cliff Island and rounded the rocky shoreline on the eastern side of the cove towards our anchorage. Dropped and set the hook in just over 11 feet and settled in for the evening to enjoy the gorgeous views in this little cove.

Even though I always make sure I’ve anchored properly, I always keep an eye on thinks for the first hour or so to make sure all is well before actually calling it done. Well, on this occasion, we started to notice the rock outcropping getting closer! In reality, we weren’t dragging, it was simply the tide continuing to drop and exposing more of the rocky ledge jutting out towards us. I checked our depth and we were now reading 7’; we draw 6’, so not a good thing! We pulled up anchor and hightailed it out the way we had come in until we hit deeper water; re-anchored and settled in one more time! I’m still not sure if the chart was simply wrong or if we were experiencing substantially lower than normal tides… oh well; all good!

A Change in Plans

We had a slight swell coming in from the south, but compared to Portsmouth harbor, this was tranquil and we slept reasonably well. Morning came and after checking NOAA’s marine weather forecast, we noted that the weather was taking a turn for the worse and so decided it would be best to continue to The Basin Preserve further up the bay and potentially explore Jewell Island another day. Such is the nature of our voyages – crew comfort and safety above all else! We hopefully have the rest of our lives to explore these waters, no sense in forced agendas.

The Basin Preserve

We laid in a course for The Basin, just about 3hrs north and east of or current position, and headed out. We still had a light swell coming in from the south, but it really wasn’t too bad and we easily made our way across Casco Bay to the New Meadows River. I had read about The Basin Preserve in “A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast” by Hank and Jan Taft. As you head north along the New Meadows River, you soon spot an opening in the cliffs with a thin ribbon of water beckoning the explorer in you eastward. You can’t see more than a few hundred feet ahead of you as the path winds it’s way through this tiny fiord. Ok, we’re not talking a Norway level fiord here, but it’s still a longish, narrowish, deepish inlet of the sea between highish cliffs – work with me!

Anyway, it gets a bit hairy around one bend where “the deep” suddenly drops to about 7’ at MLW, so we took it nice and slow, but not so slow that we would lose steerage in the current flowing through the inlet. As we made the final turn, we found ourselves facing what could only be described as a lake; It was surreal!

The Basin Preserve – Phippsburg, Maine

With only a few other boats anchored, we had plenty of room to pick a spot. After our last experience, I decided to take a run around the anchorage area to double check depths and make sure we had plenty of water beneath our keel before I dropped the hook. We made our way to a spot just shy of the deep water and away from the other boats, dropped our anchor and put down 3-to-1 scope. No chance in hell for heavy winds or seas to reach us in here; This is a hurricane hole if I’ve every seen one!

Wow! Just Wow!

We settled in for the day and simply sat in awe of the beauty surrounding us! We enjoyed a quiet dinner and then we slept; slept well! The waters were so still, that Rocinante may as well have been set in concrete!

We spent the following day exploring the coastline of this little paradise while ospreys, herons and bald eagles flew overhead and came swooping down low over the waters… incredible! We worked our way into almost every nook and cranny that had enough depth and even some that didn’t! Everywhere around us were towering pines coming down to boulder strewn shores and placid waters.

The Basin Preserve – Phippsburg, Maine

Cruising Friends

Cocktails aboard ATSA with Lesley, Hartley & Bill – Lesley is sitting next to me, so no picture!

We spent just shy of a week here, enjoying the quiet and solitude, but we also made some new friends. A few days into our stay, Lesley & Hartley showed up aboard their Tayana 48DS “ATSA” (Navajo for Eagle) and on their way to exploring The Basin, paddled over in their kayaks to say hello. Now, as much as we enjoy being on our own, it’s always nice to share time with fellow cruising sailors. We chatted for a bit, found out that they too were fellow SSCA members and when all was said and done, we ended up with an invite for cocktails aboard ATSA that evening.

Well, we had a great time and also got to meet Bill who sails a Gozzard named Lazy Jacks. Bill is a member of the Blue Water Sailing Club and we have a standing invitation to join him next time we’re in Maine on one of their mini cruises – Nice!

Turnabout is fair play as they say and so we invited Lesley & Hartley to join us on Rocinante for dinner the following day (unfortunately, Bill had to leave and wouldn’t be able to join us). Needless to say we had a great time and look forward to seeing them again when we hit Annapolis and anywhere else we happen to cross paths!

Time to start heading back south

It was time to start heading back, but it had been a bit over a week since we left Portsmouth Harbor and we were in need of fuel, water and a pumpout! As I started to search around the immediate area, I found that it wasn’t going to be as easy as all that and started to expand my search – coincidentally, Hartley had mentioned something about Dolphin Marina and so I looked them up and ended up calling to ensure they had diesel; to my surprise, some places only had gasoline available.

I left a message and after a bit, a young man called me back confirming that they did in fact have diesel at their fuel dock. He went on to tell me about their amenities, which included laundry facilities; yep, had to start thinking about that as well! Anyway, this young man, whom we later found out was named Elliott, was incredibly professional in his demeanor and truly impressed me with the quality of customer service I could expect from these folks. I found out that they also had a courtesy vehicle available which would enable us to go into Brunswick to re-provision.

After hanging up, we discussed it and decided what the heck, let’s head on over and grab a mooring. I called Elliot back and asked about a mooring. His response further cemented my initial impression; they were pretty much booked solid and he wasn’t sure if a mooring would be available when we got there that afternoon, but they’d figure something out – come on down!

Dolphin Marina & Restaurant, Harpswell Maine

Views from Dolphin Marina & Restaurant- Harpswell, Maine

Well, it’s been 4 months since we last set foot in a marina. There’s nothing wrong with them and plenty of cruisers hop from marina to marina enjoying the many amenities they offer; but we have found them to be mostly disappointing… until now.

Dolphin Marina is exceptionally well run with an unmistakable emphasis on customer service!

We loved the marina, loved the staff, loved the restaurant, we highly recommend it and will stay with them again next time we head north.

And No, they have not paid me to include this in my post!

It started with the great followup on my original inquiry, then we show up and a launch comes out to pick up and hand you the mooring pennant… hand you the mooring pennant! As if that’s not enough, then they come around every morning to your boat with complimentary coffee & blueberry muffins!

We used the courtesy vehicle to go into Brunswick to re-provision, we did laundry and in between loads, enjoyed exceptional calamari & cocktails!

Needless to say, we stayed longer than we had intended, enjoying the views, their hospitality and the lobster! Let’s not forget the lobster!

Lobsters from Dolphin Marina & Restaurant – Harpswell, Maine

Photos – Casco Bay, Maine

Cliff Island – Casco Bay, Maine

Thunderstorms approaching while anchored in The Basin

Hiking the trails of The Basin Preserve

Rocinante at anchor in The Basin

Exploring the shores of The Basin Preserve

Just a couple of happy cruisers walking the trails of The Basin Preserve.

The rocky shores of Harpswell, Maine

Fried Calamari from the Dolphin Marina Restaurant- enjoyed al fresco!

Cocktails & Calimari while doing the laundry – what? Isn’t that how everyone does laundry?

Next stop, who knows!

Till next time,

Carlos & Maria
SV Rocinante…_/)