cruising the St. Croix River Valley

     It has been difficult to keep up with the blog while entertaining friends and family, not only whale watching, but relearning the waters of passamaquoddy bay.What a treat reliving our younger days cruising the St. Croix river from Calais, Me {St. Stephen, N.B.} to Eastport, Me.  In the 22 foot cruiser with which we used to ply these waters, the currents were easy to handle, but now are an issue, especially when trying to dock. 

                                                                 Calais low tide
                                                                            

Calais High Tide

St. Stephen  low tide

St. Stephen, High Tide

     Marshall Lucas and I had all the bumpers and lines placed as we approached the Calais dock with trepidation.  Beth was waiting to insure the lines were quickly wrapped around the cleats, but I had miscalculated the tide and instead of arriving at full slack tide we were late by about 45 minutes and the tide and current were running at least 8 knots! Beth deftly wrapped the spring line but  without bow and  stern thrusters and the wind and current  pushing us hard away from the dock, it was all I could do to get the aft and nose 4 feet from the dock! The floating dock was actually cross ways to the constant 4 knot current and the tide was running at at least 4 knots!  Three of us could only pull Doc's Holiday to within 3 feet of the dock, but we were tied in. We patiently waited until  low slack tide and with the strength added by a few celebratory cocktails, we easily pulled the boat up  tight to the dock.
     Calais is worth the effort to visit.  The free floating dock is handy to several small parks, the down town park has a free concert every Tuesday evening, there is a "Heritage Centre" run by the Passamaquoddy Indians. several eateries and pubs and a local Nappa store (for those who need parts or repairs) are all within a 3 block radius. On top of that the bridge to Canada is within walking distance, giving one access to all the Canadian shops, souvenirs and for those of you who love chocolate, Ganongs chocolate factory. Just remember to bring your passport so you can walk back into the good ole u.s.a.
     On talking with the Calais city manager Diane Barnes, and her assistant Jim Porter, it was obvious that they see the water front and  attracting cruising boats as something worth developing.  My suggestion was to add a source of water, 50 amp electric, place a few stout moorings, and cruisers will come. Yes it is a challenge to time the tide, narrows and current, but that really is even more reason for them to head up to what is essentially a unique down home safe protected destination point.

                                                                 Hands across the Border
                                                                 ( click on pic to enlarge)

     International Festival officially started with a ceremony in the middle of Ferry Point Bridge with the pomp and pageantry of flags and the official hand shake across the border between the two mayors.  We joined in with a loud blast from Doc's Holidays' air horns.  You can find a list of all the activities scheduled for the next two weeks on Google- Calais International Homecoming Festival, but I want to mention one we attended. A Celtic music group called "Ashlin".... a group of 5 girls from St. John's Newfoundland  aged 17 to 24 who by the way, still live in the same house to which they were born (with one bathroom! one of the girls quipped).  They just returned from a tour in Ireland and had one more stop before they were to return to school in Newfoundland.  The youngest was still in High School and  the others were enrolled in business degree and music degree courses at Memorial University in St. John's.  This is a talented up and coming group that you will no doubt hear about in the future and is indicative of the  unique quality entertainment Calais and the International Festival is acquiring.
   Many friends dropped in to say hello and take pictures of the boat. A visit from my former employee, Tammy Davis, was especially appreciated as we relived fun and challenging times we had during our very busy office medical practice.
   Knowing that more family would be arriving from Montana and will want to go whale watching off  Campobello, we decided to take the boat back to Eastport to await their arrival.  Brother in law Danny Collins and his daughters Emma and Molly thought this would be a great time to try some Mackerel fishing but the fog closed in before we could get to try, so we quickly tied up and headed to the wharf where Molly and I caught our first fish...ever!  In fact we caught three at the same time.  For those of you who haven't fished for Mackerel  all it takes is rigging up three colorful hooks on the same line...they will bite at anything that moves!  Fun and very tasty if cooked right, but Danny was going to use them for baiting bear this season!

                                                                       Four at a time