We got the boat all back in order in the morning and into ready to sail shape. A few nights on the dock and the boat kind of changes into a tiny home and it takes a bit of work to stow everything away so it can survive being bashed around at different angles again. We got a small diesel top off (19L) and topped up the water tanks. Should be ready to make the crossing to Maine now if the weather comes together as planned.
We left the marina around noon, and found some spirited winds when we came out of the channel. It was gusting in the channel as we made our way out, but we weren't sure if the gusts were just coming off the land, or if the gusts were the prevailing winds and the lulls were the land giving protection. Turns out it the gusts were prevailing, and so we had a lot of wind directly on the nose heading up to the anchorage. We ended up putting away the genoa and setting the gale sail, which combined with the double reef main ended up being a nice sail combination for the winds. Our boat is light, and so these larger winds out here have been challenging. I think it was only 15-20 knots of wind (we don't have wind speed, just a little handheld thing), but that is near the limit of what we can handle hard upwind.
Thankfully it was a short passage and we got in and easily put the anchor down in a beautiful little bay. We were pretty tired when we got in, so it was a pretty early bed time after dinner.
Next day was just on the boat, working, school, and planning our passage. Weather is looking good, and boat is all in order. We didn't go to shore, I think we were all feeling a bit lazy today. Which is a bit of a shame because it does look very beautiful. It's a neat little island, and you can hear the ocean waves raging on the other side of this tiny little spit of rocks separating this anchorage from the ocean side. In fact part of it is underwater at high tide even.
Another boat joined us in the anchorage in the evening, and then a light fog rolled in making everything look a bit eerie. It all cleared up by night though. I think we are all ready, and planning for an early start in the morning to cross the Gulf of Maine.
