The journey south now begins with plans to depart from Teel Cove to Cape Cod on Wednesday. Charlie H., our Teel Cove neighbor and fellow sailor, will be joining us for the overnight trip and staying on board for a transit of the Cape Cod canal into Buzzards Bay and for a two and a half day stint at sea to Cape May, NJ his and Marty's "winter" state. This is beginning to sound like a tour of the major Capes of the East Coast: Sable, Cod and May. We'll avoid Cape Hatteras, thank you very much, although a cruising guide cited Cape Sable as "the Cape Horn of the North." That puffed us up a bit even though both roundings of it were with clear skies and calm seas.

Phase one of the journey concluded with an overnight trip from Shelburne, NS (round Cape Sable I might note again) across the Gulf of Maine, a slow motor across calm seas broken only by asking a cruise ship to avoid us which he did. The morning breeze allowed a sail for a short time with a pod of pilot whales to arrive at Northeast Harbor, ME on September 14th, close enough to Bar Harbor to be a port of entry and to be boarded by Homeland Security for a routine interview, passport viewing, etc. We spent a rainy and foggy layover day on Saturday, sailed to Isle Au Haut on Sunday, hiked, then sailed and motored to Teel Cove on Monday, September 17th.

Journey is mostly re-provisioned, we've had wonderful visits with family and friends in Boston, now back to Maine to close down, load up and set off.