Well, we never officially finished the trip log from our adventures over the summer of 2014. We got behind on the blog, and while we had the best intentions to continue once we got home, we got caught up with life and never made the time.

We have enjoyed writing about our trip, and hope to write more in the future, but we’ve also realized that keeping a blog really is a full time commitment. It is difficult to find a balance between writing about our adventures, and including practical information for others who would like to visit places we went, so in the near future I hope to put together some pages with more practical information for some destinations.

To briefly cover the remainder of our trip, we spent only a few days on the southern coast of Nova Scotia, using it as stepping stones to get to Maine. An old Dalhousie University classmate of mine, Tyler joined us in  Yarmouth, on the southern tip of Nova Scotia, and sailed with us for a week. We first crossed the Bay of Fundy (125 nmi) and then he travelled with us a little bit around Maine. It was great to have another person to talk to for a while and I think he had a good time sailing with us. As well it was his first overnight passage, making the trip all the more memorable.

Getting to Yarmouth from Port La Tour to meet Tyler was some of the hardest sailing we did, and if we were to go from Nova Scotia to Maine again we would not make that extra trip. While we started early in the day to catch the tides (22 feet that day!) and the coinciding currents (up to 5 knots), the opposing wind direction made the trip slow. The result was wind versus tide resulting in very large, confused seas and a terrible, wet day for us. The shinning sun was about the only thing that kept us sane. We then visited the Benjamin River via the Eggemoggin Reach in Maine. From there we spent the next two weeks sailing and exploring Camden, Rockport, Vinyl Haven, North Haven, Isle-au-haut and Hurricane Island.

We then spent a week in Little River, ME, near Boothbay. Here we met both our parents who had rented a nice house for the week (with a dock we could tie up to!). We explored the area with minimal sailing due to strong winds and big seas. The Booth Bay area is far less protected than the Penobscot Bay area to the north.  It was great to meet up and spend many days in one location, which we had not really done on our trip thus far.

After leaving the Boothbay we were really on our way home. We visited Sequin Island and had a nice time with friends in York, ME (which has crazy currents, be careful trying to get to that harbor!). We then stopped in Isle of Shoals, Gloucester (via the Annisquam River), Boston Islands and Boston City, Provincetown, Hadley Harbour and finally Vineyard Haven on Monday October 20.

Overall we had a really nice time sailing around Maine and back down to Martha’s Vineyard, though the wind was generally not from the North as we would have liked. Based on word of mouth, wind roses and various weather books we expected more northerly wind to push us home by late October, but you really never can predict the weather, so best to leave a few extra days to get where you’re going.

Getting home was a great relief, and we’re happy to be on a nice secure mooring behind the breakwater in Vineyard Haven. We’ll see when we get out sailing next but hopefully it will be before the winter.

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