A Sail in Merchant’s Row (get it?)

There are so many spectacular sky scenes from a sailboat, but here is another – the sky over Burnt Coat Harbor.

A short sail awaits me as I head for Merchant Island. As it turns out, this area is ground zero for the number of lobster pots I have seen. Generally, I have not been overwhelmed by the number of pots, except in areas that are perfect anchorages. However, this area around Merchants Row is really amazing in the number of traps that can fit into the water. Those “bugs” have no chance of escaping.

Little islands abound off the coat of Maine – I guess there are thousands of them. There are some themes in names, there are many “Bush” Islands – “One Bush Island”, Two Bush Island”, “Three Bush Island” – there are lots of each of those. Also, there are many “Egg” Islands. I was surprised when I glanced at the chart when approaching Merchant Island for my anchorage and noticed “Bill’s Island” – see the picture below.

Reminding us that all of this granite landscape was sculpted by receding glaciers, some islands have very large boulders balanced right on the edge of the shoreline. Here are a couple of samples -

The anchorage at Merchants Island is across from Harbor Island – another perfect example of the granite island crowned with pine trees and blueberry fields.

This anchorage was pretty exposed and had a constant swell that rolled in from the northwest. The openness of the location can be seen by this view of a windjammer sailing by –