Photo Courtesy of Camden Harbor Inn

It would be unforgivable to talk about the wonders of Maine cruising in the fall without a fulsome round of applause for the month of August. Quite frankly, in our over four decades of cruising the coast we’ve never experienced anything remotely as glorious.

By the numbers, we were out for 31 days, 25 of which were sparkling sunshine. Cockpit temperatures ranged from a crisp 48 degrees on a couple of mornings to an occasional but sea-breeze-shortened 88 degrees. The log recorded one day of intermittent thick fog and one day-long rain, plus four days with a brief but welcome shower.

The swell from Erin kept many hunkered down for a few days, but there was no rain or crazy amount of wind to make the wait uncomfortable.

One final “first” for our August cruise was an unprecedented series of avian attacks. It started on day one when I noticed that the wind instruments were no longer working. An inspection of the masthead noted a damaged wind transducer, and below it on deck a large puddle of blood and fish scales. An hour’s scrubbing that day and an order for a replacement wind transducer sent to a friend in Brooklin had us back in business in a few days.

Two weeks later in beautiful Somesville we awakened to a real mess caused by cormorants roosting on the spreaders….that was a two-hour clean up exercise and that evening while enjoying dinner in the cockpit we noticed port and starboard birds on the boat nearest to us, and almost at twilight, first one than another attempted to land on Bravo. We managed to scare them away and beat a hasty retreat around the corner to an open mooring at Abel’s.

It was a peaceful evening embellished by the sounds a few ducks swimming by and a loon’s lonely call. The following day, well rested and thankful for our escape from the cormorants we sailed over to Pretty Marsh to meet up with friends, and boarding the dinghy to visit them discovered that those ducks had desecrated the dinghy!

A week later we bravely returned to Somesville, and while there were still plentiful pogies, we had not a single issue with cormorants…..perhaps it was the wire tie deterrents (a dollar’s worth of wire ties) that we added to the spreaders, or perhaps the birds decided to give us a pass.

Now for fall cruising, perhaps the best time of all to cruise Maine.

By our observations over the years, the cruising population is reduced by half in mid-August as parents have to prepare for their kids to go back to school. Another sizable reduction in the fleet occurs just after Labor Day. Last night in mid-September after a perfect day, there were only four cruising boats in Pulpit Harbor.

As for weather, September’s air and water temperature averages are about 10% warmer than June and there are certainly more reliable breezes than in the summer.
While the days are three hours shorter, the lower sun angles make all the usual scenic views even more unforgettable.

We’re always updating the online free Cruising Club of America Guide to Cruising Maine so use it to plan that one last adventure on this very special coast.