After leaving Bath, we headed down the Kennebec. This is a storied river since it carried many newly built ships to the ocean. Whether they were sail- or engine-driven, they were first launched in Bath. It is about 12 nautical miles to the ocean. And by the time we reached the ocean, Hurricane Lee was moving up the coast. It was safely far away from us, on a path to make landfall on Nova Scotia. But the ocean swells were building up and we knew we had to get to The Basin on the next river over, to our hurricane hole.
This is Pond Island at the mouth of the Kennebec. The waves crash against the rock. Many of the waves are much larger than what we could catch by camera just at this moment. As we rounded this island to head west, we were riding up and down on the rollers that were coming in from the ocean.
But we also felt the wave energy bouncing off the island back to us. So the ocean was chaotic, with new waves coming in and reflected waves coming back. It was wild!
You can see Pond Island in the chart below at the mouth.
Then we turned west, roughly following the red line past "ME0199" and Halibut Rocks, on to Fuller Rock.
This was our view as we headed west to the New Meadows River, driving past many reefs with rollers breaking over them.
Then we turned at the lower pencil, going around Cape Small to head up New Meadows River. At the upper pencil, Brio turned in to The Basin. The Basin is a locally-famous hurricane hole. That is a place sailors want to hide out from the effects of a passing hurricane. This is notable because it is like a pond, surrounded by land and tall trees. No ocean swells, no crashing waves, reduced wind all contributing to a more benign place.
Here's a picture of the other boats in The Basin. This is taken during the storm.
The night before, all was still calm and beautiful.
By morning, it was grey, rainy and windy. But still calm in The Basin.
Cheers!
Brio
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