07/12/2022
Why, you might ask, is Jeff jumping into the chilly Maine waters? Did he lose a bet? Sadly no, nothing that comical. Two days ago, after 8 years of cruising, we had the rather traumatic experience of hitting an unmarked rock near the entrance of Holbrook Cove. We were at the tail end of a motorsail from Belfast in light winds when the bow violently bucked up amid the most terrifying sound. I (Margaret) was at the helm and quickly looked down to see if I had mistakenly steered us into the shallows. Nope. We were in water that was charted to be 20’ deep. The boat seemed to climb onto the rock until about midship when it quickly pitched to the side and violently slid off. We were both shocked but quickly got our wits together and steered over to the anchorage where Jeff donned his wetsuit and went in to survey the damage. We are thankful that Bear’s full keel seems to have only suffered some cosmetic scratches and gouges. Posting a shot where I dropped a waypoint on the plotter so others can try to avoid this hazard.
