The Bella Report

Bella here, 2nd mate on the death ship CODA

When I figured out that my owners wanted me to live on this boat I considered running for it.  I should have.  Since I don't have a good handle on elapsed time I have lost track of how long they have been torturing me this way.  Could it be I have always been here?  My existential thoughts always leave me unsatisfied.

My hangout on the foredeck.

The dreaded ThunderShirt in action.
She really looks concerned about me, don't you think?

First, they left my bed back home.  Got that?  They didn't think I would need a bed.  So what is a girl to do?  I took over the new "reading room" as my own.  It's actually a pretty good deal.  The space is large for me and it is private so I can do whatever I please without Milly saying "Bella stop it".  She does that a lot.  Milly is nice, but she has strong ideas about my behavior.  I, of course, feel her behavior  is no better.  She does things like blowing her hair with a noisy fan and insisting I get a rinse down after I swim.  She is really a control freak.  But she feeds me so what can I do?

Second, they expect me to use a piece of astroturf for my daily ablutions.  It is 20"x30".  Are they for real?  I usually need 1/2 an acre to find an honorable spot.  But they are serious and so after a long protest of one day I did yield to this new arrangement.  It is for their convenience as this means the captain does not need to take me to shore in the dinghy.  Oh, we do that, but only once a day so they feel less guilty.

Amusing my owner, but this is boring so I usually do only two "fetchits".
When the third one is thrown I leave it in the water.  Hah!

Then there is the thing about moving the boat with the engines.  I hate it.  Truly hate it.  I get all nervous when the rocking and rolling gets going big time.  So they drug me.  That's ok too because it is actually pretty good stuff.  But why must we move the boat when each place is so nice?  Can't we just get a PO Box and hang around?  They got me this ThunderShirt thing that is supposed to make me feel as though I am in Mom's womb.  Note that first mate Milly is totally into creating some artsy photo while I am sweltering in this thing.  And we aren't even rocking.  What I put up with in the name of loyalty.

We see a lot of other dogs out here.  Most are boring, but occasionally I do meet one that I like, but of course his stupid owners also move their boat so our friendship is short-lived.  I don't get it.  After the engines go off we are in a place that is also full of water, often among other idiots, with little to do but remark on the beauty and talk about the anchor holding.  All I want to do is go ashore and sniff the joint up.

Idiot captain hugging his engines.  Think about that.

The captain is really funny.  I mean, look at this picture.  Do you know ANYONE else who would pose himself in this manner?  He's an idiot.  He actually likes his engine room.

I have taken to hanging out on the foredeck.  There I can nap peacefully without listening to the owners discussing ridiculous things such as how much water is left (sheez we are surrounded by it).  And I can keep an eye on the mate in the galley and know what potential scraps await me today.

Idiot captain embarrassing me with his "look at the camera" stuff.

See what I mean?   He is an idiot.  He thinks he can get me to look at his hand for this photo.  Notice I am laughing.

So I think they are talking about this ordeal being over soon.  As in today, I hope.  It's raining today and last night in the dark and fog another boat came in and was anchoring near us about 10pm.  The captain is deaf so he never heard it.  1st Mate heard it and went into overdrive trying to determine how to respond to the horn they blasted three times.  So we all got up and finally read that we are supposed to ring our bell for five seconds in response.  By this time the other boat had moved away and was not heard from again.  So the first mate turns on our running lights!!!!  We aren't running!!!!!  No wonder the other boat ran away!!!  Idiots!!!!  We dogs would have just barked a bit and settled the matter quickly.  But, no, I am scolded for barking.

Heard them speaking about Belfast as our next destination town.  Can't wait to get there and see if I can make a break for freedom.  Idiots.

Memorial Mooring Balls

August 6

Replaced the generator's fuel pump fairly quickly and did some other maintenance yesterday, filled the water tanks, showered, shaved and gave Bella a new haircut which she barely tolerated.  Had a rare dinner onshore for once which was OK, and not overpriced.  As I have said, the small things mean more out here.

We pulled out of Northeast Harbor this morning and turned left.  12 miles later, as we passed by Schoodic Point we set a new eastern mark for ourselves as we have not been this far east in any of our prior cruises.  And all the pundits say that until you pass this point you are not truly Downeast.  The compass read 97 degrees which is just the heading you want to reach Canada from here.

My girls in Bar Harbor looking for a ride.

We made our first harbor on Trafton Island along with 8 other boats and will spend only one night here.    It is very, very pretty, but privately owned and so we can't explore it.  Most likely tomorrow we will head off to Jonesport and then Rocque Island.

I like both leaving a harbor and entering one.  Making a passage between them is part of the adventure, but discovering then for the first time never seems to grow old.  Many times it is challenging to find the entrance to the harbor and I like that, but I like a lot of silly things out here that most people don't relate to at all.

We have still not found a buddy boat.  The number of cruising boats this year is very small compared to other years; everyone agrees on that.  Now that we have been in many harbors we do see the same boats and I would say that number is less than 30.  So the economy has hit this lifestyle as well.  On shore the merchants are all saying last year was their worst year ever and this year is worse.  Bar Harbor hotels all seemed to have vacancies and this is the height of the season.


August 10

We have gone due east to Trafton and Rocque Islands and now the Mud Hole.  The Rocque archipelago is the crown jewel of the Maine coast with its stunning white beaches.  Did some serious fog for part of these legs.  Did not hit anything and just as important we did not snag a lobster pot line on our props.  That's one folly I hope to never report in these pages.

Milly on the beach at Rocque Island.

Enjoyed a big gam onboard an Oyster 50 with 25 sailors in Trafton.  A gam is a way to not cook for dinner.  Instead you invite over as many people as your boat will handle and proceed to drink and munch.  This one lasted 2.5 hours.  You tell each other innocent lies because these are people you don't know and will never see again so everyone has outrageous stories.  From this I learned there are a few mooring balls in Maine Harbors that are Memorials to the deceased owner whose family maintains it for the free use of any boater.  This seems to me the perfect way to live on as a boater.  I would have my ashes placed inside the mooring ball and my image would be etched with a laser on the outside of the ball.  So when people pick up the mooring they say "Hey, Herk is here".  Note to self: file patent.

Part of the Gam crowd.  Milly is in there somewhere.

Not sure where we are going next.  But we have taken a couple of decisions.  First, we are not returning CODA to Newport this year; she will be in Rockland, Me. for the winter.  We have enjoyed this season a great deal and want to do more without making the trip to this area from Newport.  Second we are saving Canada for next year.  Third, we will rent our Newport home again next year and have our first inquiry for the month of August 2013.

Milly has just finished 50 Shades of Gray.  I have just finished the autobiography of Walter Cronkite.  Her excerpts are a little more interesting, but doubt I will read it.  At my age what would I do with all that new information?  But when Mil's book club discusses this one I sure wish I could be a fly on the wall.  Whooee girls!

I'll leave you with this.  If you live on a remote island and order heating oil this is how you get it.  A lobster boat ties a small barge to his bow so a truck can drive onto it.  Then they go out to the island and drive it off for the delivery.  Now get this.  Heating oil up here is currently $3.20 a gallon.  Our Newport supplier was way over $4 last I checked.

Oil Barge on its way to Great Cranberry Island. 

A taste of Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Is.

Written lying Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island

Those of you who have been to Acadia already know what a treasure it is.  For those who have not I offer a tiny peek into the park.  It is not a large park compared to the big western parks, but our step-daughter Kara who takes every chance to camp in the western parks came away gushing about Acadia.

And for good reason.  Conservation and preservation have been done here extremely well, if I may say so.  You could spend a week here to take it all in properly.

CODA in Northeast Harbor from 300 feet up in Acadia without FOG.

We are presently in Northeast Harbor and for the third night.  We are in heavy fog today.  Fog is often romanticized as in the fog of war and the fog that follows a binge, but actually....fog sucks.  It is really does.  I don't see anything remotely attractive about fog.  It is wet, slows you down, makes for poor photogography and I could go on.  Fog Sucks.  And so does the generator fuel pump that I need to replace tomorrow.  It has two screws that are metric while the rest of the engine is imperial.  Go Figure and I have no metric wrenches on board.  It is Sunday.  The hardware store here is run by pentacostal numb-nuts and so they are closed.  No buying today heathens.

The Thuye Garden on the Curtis Trust grounds

Acadia can't be seen in fog.  It is not there even though we are maybe 300 yards from it.  So forget about Acadia in fog and plan accordingly.  

Northeast Harbor from 500 feet up in Acadia

We aren't sure where to go next.  Except out of the fog.  Whether or not it lifts tomorrow we are out of here with metric wrenches in hand.  Navigating in fog is somewhere between white-knuckle driving and flying in a cloud.  As long as the electronics work you are golden.  Milly and I have done some bad fog together.  It is very much a bonding experience.  Unlike wall papering, but that's another story.

A segment of the path from the Harbor to the Garden and Curtis Lodge

So for now, we are forlorn in the fog, but as ANNIE said "the sun will come out tomorrow....tomorrow will be another day.  I love that song.