The Admiral boards the launch service at the Portsmouth Yacht Club.
Peregrinus in background, moored in the Piscataqua, the navigable river with the swiftest currents in the U.S. So strong the current was, we saw a red navigation marker intermittently pulled underwater in the river behind Prescott Park.
New Hampshire's motto is our favorite of all the lands we know, and our previous visits to the state have been memorable. Peregrinus arrived yesterday in Portsmouth.
Here is the Admiral under our Turkish red umbrella in front of the horse-chestnut William Whipple planted in 1776 upon his return from Philadelphia, where he had just signed the Declaration of Independence of the United States, wherein Whipple and the other Founding Fathers indicted the King for, among other trespasses:
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
The tree sits on the Moffat-Ladd house, built 1763, overlooking the wharves. We were told the autumn foliage is in full swing in the mountains of New Hampshire already, but here by the sea where it is warmer, the show is just beginning.
Peregrinus’ final stop in New Brunswick was Saint Andrews. The Breeze of Saint Andrews was moored next to us.
The following day, we made landfall in Eastport, the easternmost city in the United States.
6:49 PM 26 September 2014, iPhone 4S, ISO 250, 1/20"
Is the friendly people.
People everywhere have come by and said hello or have come to the end of their docks and waved us down for nice chats. Garry came out, gave us anchoring advice, and sent us this picture.
Peregrinus safely anchored in Halcyon Cove, inside Cumberland Bay, Grand Lake. The Zodiac hangs from Peregrinus' stern and Garry's Happenstance lies on a mooring deeper inside the cove. BlackBerry 9900, 7 September 2014.
On 6 September 2013 we drove on this bridge on our way home from our trip to Labrador and Newfoundland. It is a bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway over the Saint John river, near Jemseng (but it is not Jemseng Bridge, three kms. away), between Routes 102 and 105.
On 11 September 2014, one year and a week later, we sailed under this bridge on our way to Fredericton.
Peregrinus broad reaching under genoa and mizzen sails. Canadian courtesy flag on the right spreader.
A wonderful aspect of sailing the Saint John is that you get to see the countryside go by from up close.
And the countryside gets to see you, too. We came across many cows, who regarded with some concern this big white thing, as it floated by.
... sun, moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things;
there's likewise a wind on the heath.
Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?
––– George Borrow, Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest (1851)
Click on the photo for clarity.
Simultaneous panorama picture of sunset and moonrise (a bit over 180° field of view), from Peregrinus aft deck; the slanting lines are the boat's backstays. 8:17 PM, 8 September 2014, Mouth of the Salmon river, Grand Lake. iPhone 4S, ISO 640, 1/120", original 9365 pixels wide.
––– W. Clement Stone
Purple moonrise in the Northeast Arm, Grand Lake, Saint John River. 7:56PM, 8 September 2014, iPhone 4S, 1/24."
Cats always manage to find the warmest spot.
From Flowers Cove to Douglas Harbour: A great day for lazy sailing. As the crow flies, we made all of seven-and-half miles that day, across many tacks. One of the screens tells the tale: 3.5 knots of wind, and on the nose. A rare windless day on the Saint John. But never once did we turn on the engine: the Fredericton Yacht Club had evening races that Wednesday, and we weren't about to go motoring across their field. iPhone 4, ISO 50, 1/1255."
Peregrinus reached the north end of Grand Lake at the mouth of the Salmon River: N 46°4' and W 65°55'. The Salmon is sufficiently deep for Peregrinus to sail all the way to Chipman, but power lines halfway there that are only 16 meters high are an unsurmountable obstacle in the river; we instead went there by Zodiac and reached latitude N 46°10'.
This is higher than Montréal and Halifax, which sounds impressive enough, until one realises we are only as high as Lake Como in Italy, and that London, Copenhague and Helsinki are much, much further up north. Maybe next year!
7 September 2014: Peregrinus on a port tack approaching Newcastle, three-and-half miles west of the mouth of the Salmon. The black dot to the left of the boat icon is Fredericton, and the dot below it is Saint John. The water on the right half of the map is the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, whose north shore we explored last year.
