Day 3 – Burnt Island to Rockland

Thick fog surrounded Isla when we woke. Andrew rowed ashore to let Caly pee, and we took our time getting going, hoping for clearer air. We set off motoring, air horn handy; the fog was lessening, but still thick. As the wind picked up we raised the sails and made way through now variable patches of visibility.

The sun was bright despite the obscured horizon, and we queued up some Anderson Paak on the one working cockpit speaker. We drew near to Rockland, entered dense fog again, but just before entering the harbor popped out into sudden clarity. We were greeted by a massive, rumbling, fishing trawler plowing by to starboard. Her momentum and sudden appearance would haunt foggy days to come. The harbor was completely clear, and the wind was now strong for the first time since we moved aboard.

Isla did 7.5 knots on a close reach past the Owl’s Head Lighthouse at the end of the breakwater, and we anchored outside the mooring field to the southeast. We rowed into town in The Dingy, walked to Hannaford, and loaded up on groceries, carefully picking which perishables we could finish before they went bad. There was a bustling blues festival down on the waterfront and we stopped for a minute to listen. The marine hardware store, Hamilton’s, was closed. We’d have to row back into town tomorrow morning, as there were lots of things to fix on the boat. The row from the municipal fish pier to Isla was far, maybe twenty minutes of effort each time.

Sunset came, and Katie texted to say there was a chance we might see the northern lights overnight, but the fog rolled into the harbor after sunset and ruined any chance of that. I was partly grateful to have an excuse to sleep undisturbed.