I will give it a try...
Eastport for the Fourth
By
Ansley W. Sawyer
As our children get older we have been able to cruise farther from our home harbor of Rockland, Maine. We use our 39-foot Camper Nicholson sailboat, Pacem, as our summer camp. We sail every weekend from early in May to October and we are fortunate to have a couple of weeks together to take a longer trip. Our weekend range is from Mt. Dessert Island to Boothbay but with two weeks we can take Pacem further if the weather cooperates.
We have a good friend who grew up in Eastport and who has invited us to Eastport for the Fourth of July. Frances has told us about the party atmosphere that affects Eastport and she has, for a number of years, urged us to come to Eastport for the Fourth. Sailing to Eastport, while an enticing proposition for us, is not an easy accomplishment. As one cruises beyond Mt. Desert Island the number of harbors and places for service become less, the tides become higher, and the presence of fog is more likely. Our mast is too tall to fit under the bridges at Jonesport and Lubec so we have to cruise offshore around the Great Wass Island group at Jonesport and around Campobello Island. After a couple of trips down east as far as Rogue Island, we decided that we would try to make it to Eastport.
Starting from Rockland we sailed to Northeast Harbor on Mt. Dessert Island. Northeast harbor is probably one of the most cruiser friendly places in the world and it is a great jumping off spot for down east waters. All services are available and rental moorings make for a good night sleep. When we sail down east we must pay particular attention to the tides. We have found that leaving late on an outgoing tide lets us ride the current out of Frenchman’s bay and out to our turning mark to seaward from Petit Manan. Then the incoming tide helps us past Great Wass Island and up toward Rogue Island where we anchor off the beach for a kid’s trip to the beach.
Ben and Brad, who are now 15 & 13, love the beautiful white sand beach at Rogue Island. For readers who sail the New England coast south of Portland, Maine beaches are not unusual but for those of us who sail along more rocky parts of the coast, a mile long sand beach is a delight. Of course, one man’s delight is another man’s aggravation. The children’s delights give their father indigestion. The boys spend hours playing in the sand and then bring most of it with them back to the boat. The dinghy is covered, the kids are covered, their clothes are covered, and all of their gear is covered with sand. I end up rigging the wash deck pump and hosing everything down but sand still seems to work its way aboard and below.
We anchored for the night in Lakeman Harbor and in the morning went back to the beach for another round of exposure to the sand while we waited for the tide to turn. After lunch we headed out for Cutler, which is only 21 miles farther up the coast and is the last decent harbor before the run around the end of Campobello Island. Cutler is a small fishing harbor, which is well protected in all winds. As we entered we saw a ketch on the rocks on the south side of the harbor and after we got a mooring we went by dinghy to investigate. The ketch was on the rocks standing upright and supported by jack stands. It looked like someone had brought her ashore at a spring high tide and supported her so that they could work on her. An example of down east ingenuity and frugalness where having a boat hauled would cost more than was available.
That evening, as we sat in the cockpit after dinner, we noticed a small sailboat tacking slowly into the harbor in the dying breeze. They sailed to a mooring and settled for the night. The next morning we found out that it was a Hunter 27 that the folks has just purchased and were taking up the St. Croix River to Calais. They had engine trouble and they thought that it was a bad fuel pump. They had called relatives who were bringing an outboard engine that they could use as a backup to the engine.
We waited for the tide to change, as we wanted to ride the incoming tidal current up the Grand Manan channel. The Hunter left before we did but we passed them after a few miles. The wind was light from the southwest and the visibility was about a mile in haze and light fog as we motor-sailed along the coast. Brad was monitoring the radar down below and calling us on the handheld family radios when he got contacts. As we got to the Lubec area, the fog closed in reducing visibility to a couple hundred yards. We were riding the current with the autopilot slaved to the GPS and we were hitting 10 knots over the ground. I entered a series of waypoints around East Quoddy Head, on the east end of Campobello, and down the Head Harbor passage to Lubec. The electronic marvels worked wonderfully guiding us by the rocks and down the passage with Janet and the boys on lookout and I with my face glued to the radar and monitoring the GPS and autopilot.
On our way toward Lubec we heard the Coast Guard calling on the radio that they were bringing the Hunter 27 through the narrows and into Lubec. The outboard motor that they were using as a backup had died and they had called for assistance. They were brought into town just as we approached Lubec through the fog. Our last GPS waypoint was placed about 50 yards off the end of the Lubec Marina and we were just about at that point when we finally saw the marina. We checked in with the harbormaster and learned a little bit about the town and the marina. The Lubec Marina was specially constructed to withstand the waves that build up when a northwest wind and the strong current interact with each other. The outside floats are deep with wave attenuators built into the bottom of the floats. There are helical anchors with elastic tethers to hold the floats in place. The harbormaster was very helpful and knowledgeable about Lubec and the surrounding area. He told us about the history of Lubec and told us of the times of wealth in Lubec when fishing was bountiful and canneries lined the shores. The Lubec Marina now stands where the tin can factory once stood and one can still see piles of tin in the shallow water near the shore. We have since heard that they have had problems with the floats during winter storms and are trying to figure out what to do with the marina. If you are planning a trip up that way you may want to call for current information. The Internet has many listings about the Lubec marina but I am not sure that they are updated.
Manfred Zorn, a local businessman, has opened a restaurant and bike rental shop in an old warehouse by the town landing. At Brad’s insistence we rented bikes and rode to Canada. We rode across the bridge to Campobello Island, visited the Roosevelt “cottage” and had lunch before our ride back to the boat. Doing customs on bicycles was much easier than clearing in and out on the boat.
The next day the weather cleared and we sailed to Eastport where we tied up to the town landing on the north side of the harbor. The folks around the harbor were very accommodating with offers of water and electric and the harbormaster told us that we could move into the inner harbor and raft up with the fishermen if the weather turned bad.
We docked in the spot that is usually reserved for a schooner that takes people for day sails. The captain of the schooner said that they were moving to the inner harbor because the U.S.S. Gonzales was arriving shortly and their bowlines would be stretched over to a large dolphin closing off the access for sailing vessels. We were planning to stay a few days and I thought that we could squeeze out between the dolphin and the floats at high tide so we stayed right next to the pier. Shortly after we settled in, a group of divers started inspecting the pier and the waters around where the Gonzales would be docked. They went under our boat and checked our bottom and the floats next to us. I thought that it might be noisy staying right next to the pier with all of the activity surrounding us but when the Gonzales docked the sailors and marines established a security perimeter that included Pacem. We knew that we would sleep well as we were watched over by sailors and marines with weapons throughout the night.
The Fourth of July is a major event in Eastport. The festivities last about a week and everyone gets involved. There are booths set up along the pier that sell everything from fried dough to smoked salmon and carnival entertainers like the man who, for a couple of bucks, will guess your weight, when you got up in the morning, how many children you have, or any number of other trivial facts of your life. There is a large stage built on the side of the main street along the waterfront that has a full schedule of performances on it. These range from the beauty pageants that select the King and Queen of Eastport to musical groups that entertain throughout the week.
It is amazing to me that Eastport can have four parades over the Fourth. We had not been ashore more than a couple of hours when someone asked the boys if they would like to be in a parade. The children’s torchlight parade has been part of the celebration for over a hundred years. The kids get into costumes and march by torchlight through town while the entire population of the town lines the main street to cheer them on. Somewhere back in time a wise person questioned the prudence of having children running around town with lit torches and so now only the leaders of the parade still carry real flaming torches while the rest of the kids have glow sticks attached to poles.
The population of Eastport increases by a factor of ten over the week of the Fourth. People from all over Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces come to town for the festivities. A United State Navy warship usually comes in for the week and crewmembers have shore leave, help with events, and march in the main parade on the Fourth. The parade is amazing for such a small town. Bands, floats, and fire trucks come from miles away to march in the parade. We sat on the side of the parade route watching the parade when one our friends who was from Eastport said to Brad that she would give him a dollar if he would walk out onto the parade route and shake the hand of the governor of the State of Maine when he came marching by us. She also offered a buck to Ben if he would hug a clown. Brad went right out into the street, surprising the governor and his security to shake his hand and also shook hands with the two United State Senators Collins and Snowe while he was out there. The governor saw the payoff when Brad came back to the sidelines to collect his cash and he showed his surprise to the mercenary nature of the cute little kid who greeted him so warmly.
We left Eastport on the outgoing tide to ride out of the Head Harbor channel but when we got to the north end of Campobello Island the weather was not looking good and the forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon. We decided to duck into Head Harbor on the north end of Campobello and spend the night. We motored into the long narrow harbor and went alongside of the only float on the large government fishing pier. There we met an elderly gentleman who was leaning against his car watching the world go by. I asked him if there was anywhere that we might tie up for the night and we were discussing the shallow water at the float when another car came onto the pier. Our new friend introduce me to Capt. Sonny Flynn who owns one of the largest vessels in the harbor and who volunteered to let us raft onto the outboard side of his boat for the night. You have to understand the difficulty of tying to a commercial pier that is made of steel and concrete in a harbor that has twenty to twenty four foot tides. You need fender boards to slide up and down the pier and numerous docking lines that are one hundred to one hundred fifty feet long! It is so much easier to raft onto a bigger vessel and let them slide up and down with your boat attached to them.
We were the only pleasure boat in the harbor and after we got rafted to his boat and settled down, Capt. Flynn took me for a tour of the north end of the island and we stopped at his house. He got out of the car, gave me the keys, and told me to bring the car back whenever we were done with it. Since we had just left Eastport we were not in need of any provisions so we just took a leisurely drive around the island and then returned the car and went back to the boat for dinner.
The next day we motored out of the harbor to find an absolute calm and clear morning. It was one of those days when the surface of the water looks greasy because there is not even a ripple on the surface. We motored out to Grand Manan Island and into the harbor at Flagg Cove on the northern end of the island. We were looking at the possibility of anchoring or finding a mooring when a man on a small sloop called to us and told us to call a telephone number for a mooring. We called the number and were talking to Kirk Cheney when he asked if we were the off-white ketch. We said that was correct and he said that we could take his mooring for the night. He runs a motel at the head of the harbor and was standing on his lawn waving to us as we spoke. He also runs the Grand Manan Sailing Association and is trying to get more island residents interested in sailing.
The next day we went ashore and rented bicycles to explore the island. We biked down to Seal Cove, with stops at the park at Castalia Marsh and Grand Harbor, and had lunch on the way back. Grand Manan is a beautiful island that has a small year round population that swells with summer residents and campers. There is a campground on the northern point of the island that has campsites on the glorious cliffs overlooking the ocean.
Again timing our departure to catch the outgoing tide we started in the afternoon with the stated objective of the south end of the island but we were close hauled on a port tack and the tide was running well down the Grand Manan channel when I saw that our course would take us very close to Cutler. We continued on with cocktails underway in the cockpit as the sun set. We had dinner and the night in Cutler. The next day we motored through calm dense fog back to Northeast Harbor. The log states “We had no visibility – OK- we had 0.1 nm – all the back to NE Harbor.” Fog is a common occurrence on the coast of Maine but when you cruise past Mt Desert Island you have to be comfortable spending days in fog. We joke that they make the fog down east.
Cruising down east can be challenging. Sometimes you can sail or motor for long distances without ever seeing anything but your own deck. But if you can deal with large tides, want to sail in challenging waters and have a wonderful small town experience, cruise down east and stop at Eastport for the best Fourth of July celebration on the coast.
