Our last day on Mt. Desert Island was Wednesday, October 3rd. Sabrina did laundry while I washed the boat and filled our water tanks (in shorts and a t-shirt as I mentioned previously.) Upon departure we had big plans, but we only made it back to Little Cranberry Island. After two weeks of cramming as much as we could possibly cram into our time on MDI, and we were TIRED. Thursday we had another short day, continuing east through the Casco Passage to Buckle Harbor by Swans Island.
Since we’ve been cruising we’ve coined some phrases aboard Joint Venture. After sunset, I might respond to Sabrina that it’s simply “dark out,” but when there’s no moon out, and the stars are clouded over, we call it “dark-dark.” (Okay, I didn’t say they were creative phrases.) On Thursday night at Buckle Harbor I headed into the cockpit to check the anchor around 9:00 and called down to Sabrina that it was “dark-dark-dark-dark-dark-Dark.” We had left behind the lights of MDI on Wednesday and a thick fog arrived after sunset, fully enveloping the boat.
While I could hear the dinghy lightly slapping the waves behind the boat, I couldn’t see it on its 15′ painter without the help of a flashlight. When I flipped the flashlight on to check on things, it was like driving in a snowstorm with the high beams on. The fog illuminated everything, it was almost like being underwater on a night dive, beads of water reflecting the light wherever it shined.
We were struggling with a lot of rain in the forecast, so Friday was another short day. We ended up dropping the anchor between Bold Island and Devil Island, where the chief attraction is… “Hell’s Half Acre.” Contrary to its name, this tiny island is beautiful and is a public island. Campers are encouraged, tent platforms are provided, and ‘Welcome’ signs dictate the rules of use. We beached the dinghy and explored the half acre, enjoying our walk ashore after a couple days of rainy weather on the boat.
We dinghied around the various islands at high tide and beached the dinghy on a few smaller island/rocks nearby. We briefly thought about taking Nermal ashore so he could run around a 200 sq.ft. island without getting lost, but we figured the dinghy ride might freak him out.
After a few hours of exploring we headed back to our secure anchorage. I was happy that Friday night was only dark-dark.
