Latitudes was making good time, so we decided to go past Little Cranberry and continue to the Schoodic Peninsula. As we neared the entrance channel to Mt. Desert, the fog reset and looked much worse in the distance. So, a detour to Little Cranberry, another anchor, and this time, lunch. Early afternoon showed clear skies, so we once again set out. The skyline of Mt. Desert was on our port side.
The bank of clouds that you see grew, and became an announcement on NOAA weather radio of a line of severe thunderstorms, 60 mph winds, quarter sized hail, etc. Of course its location was defined by Main counties. Luckily we had cell coverage, whipped out our weather radar and concluded it would pass just to the north of us -- which it did. No more fog, but as we rounded the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, the winds picked up. Not bad for our voyage, but making it much harder to locate the lobster floats.There are 3 coves along the peninsula, so we're great for finding a place to anchor the the night, right? No. The first cove was filled with lobster boats and floats. The next cove was beautifully clear of any signs of lobstering but too shallow for Latitudes to swing at anchor at low tide. So, onward we went, to the last cove, Prospect Harbor. We finally found a suitable anchoring spot there.
The harbor has both lobster boats and sail boats, all moored near the lobster processing plant.
The lobster processing plant was revitalized from a fish processing plant to lobsters in about 2013. In 2015, they employed over 150 folks, with plans to built housing to enable their workforce to grow to almost 250. I love seeing independent American plants succeed!
Early the next morning - no fog! - we left the little channel, leaving behind the Prospect Harbor lighthouse with her pinkish morning glow.
Finally, we are really going to a favorite, Mistake Island! En route, we passed the Petit Manan lighthouse, commissioned in 1817.
"Manan" means "island out to sea". For a great little history about the lighthouse, please see this webpage
http://www.newenglandlighthouses.net/petit-manan-light-history.html
According to the article, this is considered one of the foggiest places in Maine...we believe it...
And now, Mistake Island! Mistake has always been a deserted, beautiful island, like so much of the Downeast area. There is a deserted Coast Guard hut and automated lighthouse on the island.
A channel between two rocky islands takes us into the anchorage area for a visit to Mistake.
Much to our dismay, we found that the lobster men have decided to put their pots in the entry channel and anchorage area. We didn't have this before. But we carefully made our way through and then even more carefully chose a spot to anchor. Dinghy down, and off to the island. That is the Coast Guard hut and dinghy landing spot on the right.
Not the beset dinghy spot, but it works at everything but low tide.
Tick spray and off along the boardwalk to the seaward side of the island.
You know what is along the boardwalk??? Wild blueberries!!!
And a real treat, something we've never seen, a black mink!
(obviously not my picture...but Luke has a video of it's rear end scampering away from us...) This semi-aquatic mammal eats fish, frogs, crustaceans, rodents, and birds. Here is a good link to learn more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mink
Here is Moose Peak lighthouse on Mistake Island. I can't resist several pictures.
The lighthouse is powered by solar arrays these days.
We are TOTALLY fogged in today, but hope to go to Jonesport, Mechias for the Blueberry Festival, Cross Wildlife Refuge Island, and Rogue Island before we leave Downeast.
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