Maple Juice Cove ME USA

We are whizzing along so fast that we haven’t had time to have fun and write up all of the blog entries.  We’ll get there, but it will be using the system of working on one new (so you know roughly where we are) and one from a few days [weeks?!!] ago.  Keep looking back over the September list on the right and you’ll see the new ones appearing.

We had planned to depart Duck Harbour at about 0930 so that we reached a tidal gate at the bottom of the St George River, 30nm down the coast, no earlier than slack water as the tide began to flood into the river.  Delaying our departure to pull SY Stella Marisoff the rocks was no great worry as far as the tidal gate was concerned – arriving later we would just have more tide to assist us up river. But there was always the question of sunset, should our passage be a particularly slow one.  However, we had calculated the timings based on a speed of 6 knots. The wind turned out to be much more helpful and with full sails set we bowled along at over 7 knots.

 

The extra speed meant that we made up the lost time and had a fabulous sail.  As always in Maine, there were a lot of lobster pot markers to dodge (hence the desire to safely tucked up at anchor before nightfall) but even with the resulting erratic course, we made excellent progress.  There were a few other yachts also enjoying the conditions which prompted lots of friendly waving as they went past us.

Maple Juice Cove

And then we arrived at the entrance to the St George River exactly on time which meant that we had the first of the flood tide to help us on our way up for the last 6 or so miles to our overnight anchorage, Maple Juice Cove.  We had picked this location partly because of the unusual name but, more importantly, because it looked to offer excellent shelter from the southwest through to the northwest.  Almost as soon as we had anchored the wind started to rise.  The forecast had predicted 35-40 knot winds offshore overnight, hence our decision to find a good sheltered anchorage (staying in Duck Harbour for the night was definitely out of the question!).  With lots of anchor chain laid out and the anchor firmly embedded in mud, Maple Juice Cove worked out brilliantly as a strong wind bolt hole.

Maple Juice Cove, ME, USA