Ode To Sailing

Oh how we Love to Sail and Northern New England has been so good to us.  You could spend a lifetime dunking in the coves and crevices of the Maine coast.  The scenery is breath-taking with the ragged coastlines and the color changes in the shorelines from the tidal changes.  There is almost always a lighthouse to see and wonder about its history.

Due to bad weather we spent a couple of nights anchored in Long Cove, part of Tenants Harbor.  Oh what a beautiful spot for nature enthusiasts.  Just sitting in the cockpit you hear the call of the small duck as curious about you as you are about them, and the gulls, and the other assorted birds of the area.  Even though we were in a huge Bay the lobster boats would see how close to Jay Sea Dee they could get and what kind of rocking and rolling they could create…starting before dawn.  Whatever works for you guys

 

Onward to Vinal Haven with no engine and the sails blowing gently with the wind.  I had picked out Seal Cove so we could anchor.  We were one of two vessels there and had the serenity and scenic beauty of another of Maine’s treasure coves. 

Another day of sailing.  As us sailors say “saving another dinosaur” (when we don’t have to turn on the engine and can be under sail).  It is Labor Day weekend so the harbors are filling up fast.  Northeast Harbor said there was only one mooring available and we were still hours away.  So we headed to Southwest Harbor on Mt. Desert Island.  We will spend many days here exploring Acadia National Park.  They have a great bus system on the island so we can catch a bus from here to one of many other Harbors around the Island, including Bar Harbor.  I can’t wait to enjoy the charm of this island.

The lobster buoys caught my eye today.  There was even a pink polka-dot one.

Boothbay…one of our favorites!

The town of Boothbay was developed as a fishing village and a safe harbor for ships in bad storms.

Entering Boothbay you pass Burnt Island Lighthouse.  This lighthouse was built in 1821 and automated in 1988.  You can visit the island and lighthouse as part of a guided tour.  We also saw Ram Light Lighthouse located off the Ocean Point shoreline.  It was built in 1883 and automated in 1965.  Prior to its existence, the rocks of Ram Island were marked by lanterns tended by locals.

If you call ahead to the Rocktide Inn you can tie up to their floating dock and enjoy a free night if you eat at their restaurant which is a treat in itself.  Such a deal!!!  And you are just a short walk over the footbridge into town.  Or the Rocktide Inn offers a free trolley into town.

After checking in we went to look for some lunch…the Maine kind of lunch…and we hit the Jackpot at  The Lobster Dock.  They serve up a mean Lobster Roll and were featured on “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” show.

Here are some pics of town:

Airshow in Brunswick, Maine

While in Bath we discovered that an airshow was happening in the neighboring town of Brunswick over the weekend so we decided to stay put an extra night and enjoy the show.  The Air Force Thunderbirds were the main event but many other talented and award-winning aeronautic acts filled up the day.  There was even a rocket-propelled truck that wowed the crowd.

LL Bean to Bath

We had to wait until 3pm for high tide to get out of the harbor and then headed towards Freeport.  As you can see the lobster pots keep getting more dense and the scenery more awe inspiring.  The crew REALLY wanted to visit the infamous LL Bean Store in Freeport so we headed into South Freeport Brewers yard and were lucky enough to pick up a $30 mooring for the night.  We also needed to re-provision and do laundry.  The marina has one washer and one dryer ($2.00 per load )so we got a load started, called a taxi and headed into Freeport.  After visiting LL Bean we stopped at The Corsican restaurant for dinner and walked to the Bow Street Market for groceries.  It is a great market but too far to walk back to the marina with many groceries so we called another taxi for a ride home.  I worked on a few more loads of laundry then headed back to Jay Sea Dee.

There was no room at the inn for a second night so we headed out towards the historically famous Kennebec River.  As you enter the river there is Fort Popham which was built in 1861 and used during the Civil War, Spanish American War and WWI.  Filming of “Message In A Bottle”  with Kevin Costnar occurred here and in Bath.  The mouth of the River is a bit daunting if you don’t time your entry.  The best time to enter is at slack water or on a rising tide.  You could fight anywhere between a 2 to 6 knot current if you are not careful.  Along our way in we saw seals, beautiful homes, churches, and the Air Force Thunderbirds were practicing for this weekends air show (see photo of trails).

Finally, 10 miles up river we found our destination, the Maine Maritime museum with mooring and docking available for visiting boats.  The mooring is $35 per night but includes passes to the museum, voted one of the top 5 Museums in the USA.  You can take the river all the way up to Maine’s Capital, Augusta if you can fit under the bridges.  The museum is technically in the town of Bath but you must either take the trolley ($1) or a taxi into town.  The Bath Iron Works is here and offers tours but we did not plan ahead and the tours are full until Monday (today is Friday).  They build all types of ships including naval vessels (including destroyers), commercial ships, schooners, and have built America’s Cup sloops.  The white steel structure represents the six-masted schooner named Wyoming, built on this spot in 1909.  It was the largest wooden schooner built in the States.  On site you can tour the Schooner Sherman Zwicker, a 142’ wooden cod fishing vessel from Nova Scotia, built in 1942. The diorama shows Bath in 1919 when there were three ship building yards here.

Isles of Shoals, NH and Basin Cove, ME

Not much to say about these places.  We sailed from Portsmouth to Isles of Shoals because by the time we fueled up it was a late start (diesel was $3.80 per gallon).  We headed into Star Island which offers free moorings (at your own risk, of course).  There is a conference center on shore run by a non-profit Unitarian business.  It looked like they offered some interesting week long conferences such as photography and other more religious selections.  There is no place to land your dinghy so we just stayed on board and enjoyed the views.

We got an early start heading Northeast towards Freeport.  Jonathon and I saw a whale on the way.  It is the perfect time to see whales up here in the Northeast.  Not much wind today so we motor sailed most of the day.  As we got closer to Freeport the lobster pots grew exponentially in numbers.  We pulled into a place called Basin Cove and dropped anchor in the mooring field. 

It is a very serene calm place the locals refer to as “the pond”.  We went to The Dolphin Marina to find the laundry facilities of which they had none but they had fresh caught lobsters so we got 3 – 1 1/2 lb. lobsters for $15 and will have a lobster feast for lunch.

I am happy to report that the Captain survived his Lobstah feast.  We had the EpiPen ready to go as he has been experiencing some fish allergy symptoms lately but we haven’t been able to determine which fish are causing him the distress.  He had no allergic reaction from the lobster…yippee!