Finally; north to Maine!

We had a very nice day with light wind to sail NE across Cape Cod Bay to Provincetown on the tip of the Cape. This made a good stopping point for our trek across the Gulf of Maine to Penobscot Bay. While there we watched a conservation group try to untangle a net from a small whale that made its way into the harbor. Never did hear how successful they were.

There's always schooners and tall ships sailing the popular harbors of New England.

Our trip to Penobscot Bay takes us over the Stellwagen Bank, a very popular place for several whale species. So we made sure we allowed plenty of time to whale watch. We did pretty well, found some small whales as soon as we crossed onto the bank in 60' of water. We followed several for a time but they didn't give us the 'tail' or breech so we moved on.

Later in the day, just after leaving the Bank into deeper water we found the Humpbacks! It is quite difficult to get into position to photograph them. They stay down for 5 to 15 minutes. I did manage to get one good tail shot before we decided to keep going.

Later in the day we did see one HUGE splash about a mile directly ahead. I had to be a Humpback breeching. We looked and looked but saw nothing more.

Dawn came with beautiful glassy seas. No good for sailing but certainly a comfortable ride. We'll take it!

We had one more visit from what I'm pretty sure is a whale. It just cruised along without coming up or diving. Could have been a BIG shark!

As soon as we approached the rocky Maine coastline, the welcoming committee dropped in a nice fog bank!

Seems like the fog is attracted to lobster pots. As soon as we got into the fog, we got into the pots...while still out in 185' of water. Prudently, we timed our arrival for well after dawn so we had a fighting chance of avoiding these hazards.

Pictures don't do this justice. They popped up all over. I donned my raincoat, as it was cold and damp, and stood on the bow to give Chris directions. Took us at least 2 hours to slowly approach the coastline where the fog gradually lifted. Thank God, because inside the outer rim of islands, the pots were EVERYWHERE. 2 more hours of dodge-em pots. But we could see our destination...land ho!

We finally made Maine! We've had this at the top of our cruising destination list and kept coming up short. We've had much stress over the lobster pots, time to enjoy the bounty they bring!! We need to stock up on butta.