Everyone's headed south but me!

It's killing me to be preparing to pull Pandora next weekend as hardly a week goes by that I don't hear from one of my friends that's headed south for the winter.   For now I can live vicariously through them for now and make my plans to head there "when I grow up" and work on getting Pandora ready to make the trip. 

As I think about all of this it keeps me sane by reading other blogs such as Jessica Watson's as she attempts to sail around the world from Australia and become the youngest person to make that journey.  While I am rooting for her I am also wondering if she will make it given the dangers of the Southern Ocean given the trials ahead of her and the inescapable fact that she is just so young. If you haven't checked out her blog do so, as she has been posting each day, sometimes with photos.  It's quite interesting to read the comments on her blog each day as clearly she is developing a large following.  Most days show over 300 comments to her most recent musings. 

Fortunately, someone is reviewing, and approving or not, the comments to keep the wackos from saying something inappropriate.  I hope that things continue to go well for her.

This photo taken of Jessica prior to her departure certainly show just how young she is.  She looks to me more like someone who would be more in her element at the mall with her friends than 2,000 miles from home headed past Figi.  Time will tell.

I guess it's back to Pandora and thinking about the future.  There remains lots for me to do so that Pandora is ready for headed south.  I have to raise the waterline to respond to the 1,200lb increase in keel weight that I added when I purchased her as well as to address the constant addition of weight that goes along with getting a boat ready for extended cruising.  As I noted in a recent post, I will be getting the mast painted this winter to address some peeling problems and intend to chronicle that exercise in some future postings.

I also have to replace a punky head holding tank that was constructed out of some too-thin aluminum with a longer lasting plastic one.  The list goes on and on. 

With my mid-March launch date so early in the season, I will have to hustle in getting everything done in time.

As I consider where we might head this coming summer, I find myself thinking a lot about the Bay of Fundy and the St. John River.    It's quite a bit farther east than we have ever headed during our cruises to Maine so far but sounds like a great place to visit.

These photos of the falls are a bit tough to see but the top one seems to be taken at low tide so the waterfall can be seen just above the bridge.  At high tide you can cross over just at slack high tide when the current isn't moving much and the "cliff" is covered with water.  It sounds a bit hairy to me. 

This is what the water below the bridge and falls looks like at high tide.  Note the rock just showing in the water at the right of the bridge.

This is a shot of the same place at low tide.  Look at that water racing by.  Clearly, this isn't a place to go when the tide is running, in or out.

I'd be ok heading in to make the jump over the falls at high tide if the water looked like this.  It doesn't look too daunting.  Right?

I have heard from a number off friends who have made the trip that it's quite an amazing place to visit by boat.  With tidal ranges growing ever greater as you head east from Penobscot Bay, where we have sailed each summer for the last decade, they become really daunting as the ranges approach 40' and more, the highest in the world, with currents to match.  In Penobscot Bay the range is large, more than 10' but still managable for anchoring.  Personally, I don't like to anchor in more than 25' of water at high tide.   With 5/1 scope (that's 5' of chain for each foot of water depth at high tide) on the anchor line that's nearly 150' of chain and most of what I have on my big bruce anchor, the one that I use most of the time.  It's hard to imagine what it would be like to cope with such tides.   I am told that you really don't anchor in those areas but pick up moorings instead. 

Once you get farther east than Bar Harbor you are headed into an area "down east" that's quite wild and not a place where it's easy to get services for yachts.  It's mostly populated by fisherman and is considered a place for the more experienced to venture.

There are so many places to go and think about.  Back to reality now as it's getting on late morning Saturday and I have to help Brenda get the gardens ready for winter and rake some leaves.

Thanks for checking in.  Leave a comment so I can see what you think of my ramblings.