Sailing to Bar Harbour ME USA

So, because of the tide you have to get up really early and lift the anchor at 0540hrs, at which point you discover that, even though the sun has just hinted at rising, the visibility is less than 100 metres.  As a result, it took a while to carefully feel our way out of ‘The Cow’s Yard’ on Sunday 15 September.  Clearly there was no point in taking any photos of our departure and it stayed that way for the next 3 hours.

Passing Petit Manan Island

But, for a no visibility day, I did end up taking far more photographs than I expected.  Additionally there was an issue with the electrics that kept me busy. The alternator should have been comfortably charging the batteries but it only seemed to be putting out a couple of amps.  It hadn’t failed completely or we would have had a warning alarm but also, working out exactly what was going on was somewhat complicated by the solar panels adding their charge to the system.  After much work with an ammeter and voltmeter the conclusion was that alternator was definitely putting out some power but a tiny fraction of what it should be.  The solar panels were helping but, with the fog, they too were not on top form. So, we towed the Duogen to make sure that we arrived at Bar Harbour with fully charged batteries (brilliant idea from Nicky).

Whilst all of that was going on we were working our way down the Maine coast keeping just outside of the headlands and shallow water.  Most passed by unseen but from around 0830hrs, we started to actually see some land.  Petit Manan Island was the first ‘Land Ho!’ but it came and went pretty quickly.

Schoodic Isand

Seven miles further on we could see Schoodic Isand.  The visibility over the sea had improved markedly but the fog was still thick in patches, particularly close to the land.

Turtle Island (top) and Mrass lighthouse on Egg Rock (bottom)

Turning into Frenchman Bay we stayed just in sight of the Schoodic peninsula and Turtle Island, expecting the last 8 miles of our pilotage into the anchorage to be a real chore.  However, as we passed Egg Rock the visibility started to improve markedly.  We had been concentrating like mad for the last 4½ hours because Maine is littered with lobster pot marker buoys and they had been appearing in front of our bow every 100 metres or so.  In Frenchman Bay they seemed to have been placed every 20 metres so we still were zig zagging but at least we could see far enough ahead to pick a sensible route between them rather than constantly having to do last-minute avoiding action.  We also had the advantage of the tide behind us, pushing us into the bay.  [Ed: the reason for the 0540hrs departure from ‘The Cow’s Yard’ anchorage].

Three cruise ships anchored amongst the islands off Bar Harbour

Hidden behind Bald Porcupine Island was one large cruise ship and, as we got closer to Bar Island and Sheep Porcupine Island, we saw another 2 anchored off Bar Harbour.  It’s clearly a popular place to visit!

Passing Bar Harbour to our left

Most yachts normally try to anchor in, or right outside Bar Harbour, but the forecast had some strong southerly winds, so we wanted to tuck ourselves away in a more sheltered spot.

Bar Island (left) and Sheep Porcupine Island (right)

We took the narrow channel marked by buoys between Bar Island and Sheep Porcupine Island and the turned behind Bar Island to get in behind the bar leading to Bar Island.  More sheltered at low tide and away from the hubbub of the main harbour.

Bar Island ahead of us in the anchorage

The downside of this anchorage is a much longer dinghy ride to get ashore in the town but it is actually a really nice place.  Ahead of us was Bar Island…

… whilst on the nearest shore of Mount Desert Island were several holiday mansions, presumably the ones that survived the devastating forest fires on the island in 1947.

The shingle and sand causeway out to Bar Island, exposed at low water

We also had the entertainment of watching the army of cruise ship passengers marching out and back across the shingle and sand causeway which connects Bar Island to Mount Desert Island from half tide down.  Probably more entertaining was watching the last 4 island visitors run like mad back across the causeway and having to wade through the rapidly rising water a couple of hours later to just make it back to the main island before the causeway was closed off again for a tidal cycle.

Watching the antics on the causeway and the delightful surroundings was fun but having dropped our anchor at 1115hrs it seemed the right thing to inflate our dinghy and spend the rest of the afternoon ashore in the holiday town of Bar Harbour.

Bar Harbour, Maine, USA