Instrument Landings

We left Camden Harbor at 12:00 in cloudy weather bound for Buck’s Harbor at the head of Eggmoggin Reach, which leads from Penobscot Bay to Jericho Bay, a trip of about twenty nautical miles. When we started out, it was flat calm and so we motored.

We dodged between Mark Island and Saddle Island into the East side of Pen Bay and began the run toward Bucks when we saw The American Eagle working her way North as well, looking for a quiet spot to land her passengers and have their traditional lobster cook-out on some secluded islet.

Pausing briefly to replace the fuel filter (the fuel system hates me), we kept pace with Captain Foss in his quest for a place to feed his people. We last saw him tucked close in to some island with his anchor down and his mainsail up, but sheeted in tight to keep her from swing in the place he put her. It was getting cold and beginning to rain. Great day for a picnic lunch. Who brought the ants?

A couple of miles farther and the fog closed in. We could see maybe 500 feet and no more. My mother-in-law bravely decided that if she was going to die, she’d rather it came as a surprise and went below to nap while Kathy stayed on deck to keep me company and to make sure I didn’t screw up.

Creeping along from buoy to buoy in fog and rain, we turned towards what we sure hoped was the narrow entrance to Buck’s Harbor. It was. We tied up about twenty minutes later and woke Star to tell her she was going to live.

On the radio, Captain Foss said he planned to travel on North to Castine for the night, but when we got up the next morning, he and the Angelique were swinging at anchor on the Southeast end of the harbor.

John let his passengers row ashore to stretch their legs for an hour or so while waiting for the fog to lift and as they rowed up to the dock, we serenaded them a few bars from "The Volga Boatmen". They had four oars on each side of the seine boat and it looked like a drunk spider, but it’s early in the week. When we went out with John, we looked like that too. Everybody does. Takes practice to row a seine boat.