A joyful reunion in Shelburne with Jan and Nina aboard Raven (first met in Princes Inlet waiting out Hurricane Earl, last met in St Peter's Bras d'Or waiting out Hurricane Irene!) - great to meet up with them again. Jan and Alan Pulfrey (POs for Shelburne) laid on a fabulous barbecue for us all at their new place - they live as Alan says on the West Bank of the Jordan, but in slightly more peaceful surroundings than the other West Bank.

Then it was off across the Bay of Fundy, aiming for the USA - an overnight, absolutely no wind so we eventually dropped the mainsail we'd so bravely and enthusiastically put earlier in the day. It was a long passage for some reason - I didn't sleep at all, despite the 3-hour watch programme; just not geared into the pattern yet, I guess. John of course crashes into snoring splendour as soon as his head hits the pillow - boy there are nights when I long for that ability!

We motored into Jonesport as dawn was breaking, having slowed down and actually done a zig-zag for a couple of hours so we wouldn't get to lobster pot territory until it was light enough to see them. Jonesport IS NOT a port of entry any more, despite still being listed on the US Customs and Immigration website as such! It is also a fairly unfriendly little backwater - we couldn't get the anchor to set, so eventually tied up to a seriously derelict-looking lobster boat on a huge mooring, thinking we'd be okay for an hour or so until Customs came down. Well, it took Customs 6 hours to get to us, and then only after much gentle convincing, and the lobsterboat owner came over to take off - but fortunately couldn't get the motor to start so eventually abandoned the day!

Once we were officially in the US and now had out cruising permit etc, we took off for Roque Island and two days of absolute delight, at anchor off Twin Beach in complete privacy - John collected a bucketful of mussels the second night and we had a mussel feast!

Then over to Mistake Island - the fog rolled in just as we dropped anchor, and it was peasoup within minutes. Even the seals were complaining; there is a huge rock shallows just inside the entrance, and when we came in at low water it was coated with brown seals basking in what was left of the sun. They were not happy when the sun disappeared, and we heard them coughing and barking for the next couple of hours! We also had a great interchange with two young boys who dinghied over from their parent's boat; totally unimpressed by the explanation that New England actually began after the Pilgrims had travelled from the "real" England - they were American patriots, and of the firm conviction that the New England in the USA was THE one!

From Mistake it was another foggy motor over to Winter Harbor, to meet up with David and Merette Cunnigham and their daughter Sarah - old friends of John's from university days. Good conversation, great to catch up, a somewhat snooty but very beautiful yacht club and an incredibly rolly (and expensive) anchorage - we've crossed Winter Harbor off our list of exceptional places to visit! We got out of there as dawn broke, delighted to leave.

Around to NE Harbor on Mt Desert Island - we've never visited the other anchorages on Mt desert, always aiming for SW Hbr and old memories (we got married here 7 years ago!), so it was time to try something new. NE was busy - lots of moorings, lots of floating docks, but a nice enough place to visit. We caught the LL Bean free bus into Bar Harbor and bought a phone and some gifts, then back to the boat to do the catch-up with the world thing. Good wifi for the first time in a week, so it took hours to download and reply to emails - do laundry, get some groceries, generally restock.

Then around to Somes Sound, again a first time for us. What a delightful little anchorage right up at the head of Somes Sound! Seals in the bay, lots of kayakers, John went off to catch the bus and do an 11m hike over Cadillac Mountain while I attempted to clear the backlog of edits etc (any excuse not to go hiking!!). I watched in amazement as Bob Hochstedler (PO for Beaufort,SC) had to get a big lobster boat with a diver aboard to take the line from a caught lobster pot wrapped around his prop - what a pian these lobster pots are! Folks say there are less this year, and the lobstermen are complaining about only getting $1.50 a pound for their catch - but the little lobster shop in NE Hbr still wanted $8 a pound for live lobsters!!

And here we met up with Pam and Bill Kellet on Jura, old CCA/OCC/RCC friends. A delightful dinner aboard Jura, with John Sharpe (Ocean Grace) who is up at Abel's Yard doing some work on his boat. Much good conversation!

Finally today we'll go over to SW Harbor - old stamping grounds and much history!