Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick to East Penobscot Bay, ME

We left Grand Manan Island on Tuesday 7/19/11 and motored north on the western edge of the Bay of Fundy to Head Harbor on Campobello Island. We used the eastern limits of our charts onboard. In the 18 ft. tidal zone, knowing which way the currents are flowing is more important than the clock. We saw two magnificent bald eagles as we entered Head Harbor. We tied up to a floating platform used for storing lobster traps. Though we could hardly tell, the water rose and fell with the tide nearly 3 ft. per hour. Leiby wanted to practice sailing in the currents, so we took a daysail down the western side of Campobello Island, tacking against the 20 knot wind back and forth across the Canadian/U.S. border. We saw whales as large as our boat. We left Canada on a foggy Friday morning- less than 0.5 mile visibility- nd motored through 6-8 ft. waves to Cutler, ME. With no room to anchor, we picked up a derelict ball with no mooring line and shackled our own line to it. We called a bumbling customs officer in Lubec who insisted on driving to Cutler to "eyeball" us. Bought 4 lobsters from the the Lobster Co. for dinner. Cutler is a real working fisherman's town; there are no services geared for recreational boats, but we did manage to get some water and diesel from a fisherman's warf. Everyone we met there was very friendly. On Sunday, we left Cutler and rode the ebb down the Gulf of Maine for a nice beam reach, starboard tack sail. Motored when the wind died to the Mt. Desert area and picked up a mooring in Sorrento Harbor. Ordered raspberry muffins from a Rhode Island girl who spends her summers there- she delivered them fresh and warm at 8:30 the next morning, as promised. Motored to Bar Harbor and picked up a town mooring for a few hours. Tacked across the wind to Seal Cove but could not find room to anchor, so we motored to Northeast Harbor and picked up a mooring there. Met up with Barb and Rich of  "Aquila"- great people and a beautiful boat we know from Greenpoint Landing; it was fun sharing travel stories with them. We left Northeast Harbor early and sailed wing and wing and then on a port tack through Merchant Row and past Stonington through the Deer Island thorofare. Unfortunately, having to avoid all the lobster traps does suck much of the fun out of sailing. We are now boycotting lobsters. We finally found a place to anchor between Bold and Devil Islands. This morning, we motored to East Penobscot Bay and were pleased to find relatively few lobster traps. Had a great sail north and are currently anchored near Castine, ME. Pictured: Trilogy moored in Grand Manan; the lighthouse at Head Harbor, Campobello; a bald eagle; tied to the platform in Campobello; rowing ashore in Sorrento and the muffin girl.