Camden, Castine, and Deer Isle

We had big plans for our time in Camden, where we expected to keep the boat in one place for a while and get to focus on the other things we are looking forward to on this trip. Camden is full of cute little shops to explore and has some hiking as well - the town’s slogan is “Where the mountains meet the sea.” We also had a bit of laundry to do and needed groceries. The laundry facilities were super clean, and we were able to use the marina’s loaner car to go run some errands. Another couple subsequently warned us to expect this to be the nicest loaner car we’d ever see at a marina. We had a small logistical mishap, wherein we forgot our laundry bag on the boat when we went to retrieve our clean laundry. We turned William's pullover into a makeshift bag which worked well, but made for a chilly row home. We also hit up a Goodwill and Ariel got a sweet jacket that looks like it was made for life on the water.

On our second day, which was supposed to be our hiking day, we got an offer from our friend Bruno that he’d like to bring along another instructor and take us out in the storm that we had come to Camden to avoid (we are using the term “storm” a bit more loosely these days; there was no rain, just lots of wind, and we wouldn’t have even noticed if we weren’t on the water; but we are, so we did, and we call it a storm now). The forecast was for 25+ knots of baseline wind with gusts to 35 knots (approx. 30-40 mph). We ended up seeing exactly that weather out in the harbor, and got to learn a ton about getting the boat balanced in the heavy wind. We definitely feel more prepared now when the time comes that we find ourselves in a similar scenario alone and not by choice. We ended up foregoing the hike that day but agreed that it was time well spent. We rode the dinghy to the town dock and did some shopping and found a pub to sink a few pints that evening. When it was time to leave, I couldn’t get the dinghy to start. It has been pretty finicky up to this point, so it took me a while to realize that it was actually just out of gas. Apparently it burns fuel a little quicker than we thought. Thankfully the wind was blowing towards Phoebe for the ½ mile paddle back home. And the “leaving the boat” checklists continues to evolve.

After three nights on a mooring in Camden, we headed to Castine, Maine to anchor near the Holbrook Island Nature Preserve. The preserve is divided into to parts - one connected to the mainland, and another that is an island. We went ashore to explore the island. It had some nice hiking/walking paths, some of which looked like they were right out of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. We stumbled across a small pink jacket hanging on a branch and I tried to riff on a story of a girl that went missing there many years ago but it got too creepy too fast. During these two nights on anchor, which were our third and fourth nights to Ever an anchor overnight, we were able to dial in our anchoring set up. The first night we left our anchor chain organized on the deck in a way that jostled all night long (refer to earlier blog where I mentioned how much noise sailboats make even when they are sitting still), but on the second night we were able to get that all tidied up and had an incredibly peaceful night.

Then came the actual fun part of anchoring, getting the thing back in the boat. As we ran out of time and the project list never seemed to get shorter this past summer, the addition of a windlass was quickly deprioritized (a windlass is a mechanical device, either manual or electric, that pulls the anchor and its chain back into the boat). We figured that we were still young and fit enough that we could manage without one. While that has proven to be objectively true, we are still working on the perfect way to make it happen. But of course we are, this is only the third time we’re doing it. As of right now, the process generally looks like this: We get the engine started so we are ready to takeoff as soon as we are no longer making contact with the ground and the boat starts to drift. Then we get our hose out, because the anchor and chain have been sitting in mud for the past 48 hours and are going to be full of it. I don my gloves and find a comfortable position on the bow. I do my best to use my legs and arms, and not my back, to pull in the chain that weighs 1.5 lb/ft little by little (this time we were in 33 feet of water, so we had deployed 150 feet of chain). While I am pulling in the chain, Ariel is doing her best to rinse off the mud. The hose doesn’t have a ton of pressure, so it takes a bit of time, which I don’t mind because it makes it look like the hose is our rate limiting step. At some point we get enough of the chain back in the boat that the boat is at risk of starting to drift, so Ariel goes back to the helm to make sure we are safe, while I switch into double duty of hauling chain and hosing it off. Then comes the point where we are sitting right over the anchor, and all that is left is that 33 feet of it straight down to the 55 lb anchor. I put as much pressure on it as I can, lock it off on a cleat, and Ariel puts the boat in forward gear. We drift forward, passing the anchor to pop it out of its place. Now we are officially adrift and I haul chain like a madman to get it in the boat as quickly as I can, and then we’re off. All in all this whole process takes about ten minutes and is a great workout. So for now, we’ll continue without a windlass.

After that we had a lovely sail to Goose Cove for the wedding. Ariel was at the helm for the majority of the day, and we practiced steering with the sails (vs. using the helm) for a while. It took some trial and error to find the right place to anchor in Goose Cove. There’s several rocks and plenty of lobster pots for us to avoid, and the wind will be shifting over the next couple days. But we got it set and are made it onshore. We were lucky to have a welcoming committee meet us on the beach to pull us in and help carry all of our things. Now we’ll spend a couple nights in a cabin, keeping an eye on Phoebe from land, with a tentative plan to head back to Vinalhaven on Sunday. Beyond that, it’s time for us to start booking it south as the weather allows.

© 2025. All rights reserved.