The calm before the storm……

We’re still at anchor in Somes Harbor, but now it’s a bit of a waiting game. We had a lovely time at the theatre last night, the local repertory troup put on a rather fun performance of Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee with Hercule Poirot. The walk back to the dock was a bit treacherous with no light in town or out to the docks, but a number of people from boats had come in for the same reason and most of us had flashlights to light the way back.

The water was like glass and the sky its usual amazing star studded self, and we were awake at midnight (long past our usual bedtime of 10) so we poured ourselves an aperitif and sat out in the cockpit to enjoy the night. Though we couldn’t see them, we could hear the ‘pouf’ sounds from the local porpoises swimming near the boat.

The porpoises:   Smaller than dolphins, there appears to be a family living here in the harbor and we see them surface multiple times a day from the boat. Apparently, they have a wicked sense of humor because they like to disappear and then resurface not 30 seconds after a group of kayakers have gone past, plaintively asking if we’ve seen the porpoises. And the bald eagles: There are four here I’ve seen flying past and one came so low I wondered if he was looking to pick off a porpoise or a solo paddleboarder.

We woke up to a grey day, which we were expecting. The forecast was calling for rain most of the day. More importantly, the remnants of Hurricane Gert had just passed the east coast. Though hundreds of miles off shore, she was expected to deliver some serious wind and swell. This is very typical for this time of year in New England – mid August to mid September  & we usually hit one of these storms during our summer vacation. The good news is that you can see them coming days away and prepare well in advance (unlike the tornados I grew up with in the Midwest that struck with no notice). I tend to check multiple sites daily for weather forecasts as I’m a little obsessive about sailing in conditions that I like. We knew the rain was coming, but we were also potentially expecting winds gusting up to 35 knots and swells of 4-6 feet. We’ve sat through higher winds at anchor, though I’m never crazy about them occurring at 2 AM when it’s pitch black and you can’t get your bearings to ensure you’re not dragging on your anchor (we immediately take bearings and note latitude/longitude when we drop anchor ). Trip pointed out that the swell would have to pin ball its way up the sound which should help dissipate things by the time it reached us.

We had a few hours before the rain would start so we did a dinghy tour around the harbor. I had seen multiple kayaks coming out of one end so we went over to investigate and found a huge campground. As with most, tent sites were located at the water’s edge while campers were tucked further back. Interestingly there were multiple platforms provided for tents – I’m wondering if the ground is simply so rocky they have to provide that or poor campers would never be able to pitch a tent.

As a total aside I’ve made Trip promise that once we’re shore bound again we’d do a bit more camping and kayaking/canoeing. As an incentive I told him we’d build this together some winter to match my wooden kayak. The biggest temptation once that’s in place is whether we sail in Maine or camp!

Coming back to the boat I was analyzing our distance to the next boat behind us (god forbid we drag during the night) while Trip just went on his merry way. Trip looks once, decides we’re a good distance and carries on. I look out multiple times a day and re-calculate and worry. What a pair. The good news is that I checked the forecast again and wind speed had dropped significantly. Swells are still aiming to be high, but I’m not as concerned given a) now protected we are, and b) how heavy we are (rocks you to sleep like a baby while other boats are rolling uncomfortably).

We settled in for an afternoon of books and I decided to make chicken noodle soup since it was only in the 60’s and what better to have on a night like that?

Update:  One boat dragged at around 2 AM (it never does happen mid day when you can see clearly), but as Trip pointed out in his sleep, ‘they’re down wind of us, who cares?’  They reset their anchor and everyone went back to bed.