We're back! After three days of a stubborn, inoperative Wi-Fi, we are reconnected. There have been a lot of things that have taken place, so let me try to do a bit of ketchup. We know you'd relish it.
When we left Bar Harbor, we hugged the Maine coast, plotting our way between rocky promontories and solitary ledges, lonely islands and stoney spits. These were not strangers with Brio. She followed this same route to Eastport and Cape Quoddy, the easternmost point in the U.S. last summer. On the way through this maze of islands, one encounters names such as Mudhole, Great Waas and Sealand. One very special location is Roque Island.
Here's the electronic chart image, which gives the picture its strange crossed-line pattern. You can see that it is a peculiar semi-circle, a bowl, a beautiful curving beach. You can also see Brio's image shown as the boat. Notice that behind Brio is what's called a snail trail. This shows where Brio has been.
Now you can see, by following the snail trail backwards, what a tight passage Brio came through, named "The Thoroughfare", between submerged rocks and shoals. Maine humor at its best! Steve kept watch on the bow. Chris was biting his nails at the wheel.
So what was it we so desired to see that led us to go through the Thoroughfare? Here's the view of that sandy crescent beach. And just one other boat present in that isolated basin.
Sadly, we bid Roque adieu, for our journey is a circle route and we won't come back this same way.
The other tight passage, one we were too chicken to take last year, was the Lubec Channel. This year we are braver (our term) or perhaps more crazy (our insurance broker's term). Tides are an important part of life in these parts. So it is with the Lubec Channel. But Brio is powerful. So we charged north against the rushing tide, up the Channel as it narrowed to the bridge that connects the U.S. with Canada's Campobello Island. Brio tipped this way and that in the strong eddies and currents, requiring quick adjustments on the wheel lest we got too close to the edge of the navigable channel or the bridge abutments. Just as quickly as we entered this tight squeeze, we popped out on the other end, like a watermelon seed flying out of finger pincers.
Then north we went, past Eastport, past charted tidal swirls and whirlpools and into beautiful Passamaquoddy Bay. Then to St. Andrews, New Brunswick. This village was established by the British in the early 1700s. Its population swelled with Tories escaping Boston as the Revolutionary War heated up. Today, we sat on Brio in the harbor, waiting to clear Customs. It was a different welcoming embrace!
Tomorrow we'll write more about this quaint village and its full cast of Dame Angela Lansbury characters.
Cheers,
Brio
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