The next day we also traveled about 8 miles to Pemaquid Harbor, but found it so full of lobster pots floats, moorings, and boats that we went on to Harbor Island. This is a tiny anchorage in a minuscule cut between Harbor Island and Hall Island. Lots and lots of lobster pots and a small spot for anchorage. We actually had the anchorage to ourselves, the first time since the Chesapeake. Hall Island has only a few summer fishing cottages.
Harbor Island is a small, private island, but they are gracious and allow people to access the island and walk their trails. The trail was, ummm, less than maintained, but beautiful. And --- there were many, many small artistic shrines done in local shells, feathers, rocks, etc, all along the walk. I suspect it's an artistic, spiritual thing. Very interesting. 
BUT!!! We made a slight detour on the way to Harbor Island to see Eastern Egg Rock Island. It used to be the home of puffins in the 1800's but they were hunted for millinery trade and, yuck, to eat, almost to extinction. In 2o01 a project was implimented to reintroduce puffins to the island. They've been successful! This is the western most location for puffins. We should see more as we go "down east".
Today (Friday) we went the whopping 5 miles (that's 1 hour in sailboat time) to Hog Island in Muscongus Bay. This is the last bay we will cross before finding Penobscot Bay, where we will moor the boat for our visit to Colorado. Hog Island is privately owned, in conjunction with the Audubon Society. MITA ( Maine Island Trail Association) maintains the trails across the island. They are absolutely beautiful. We walked about 3 hours. We are moored at one of their 3 private moorings.
The beginning of the trail is an enchanted walk through pines and moss covered rocks, some of it in old growth forest.
It's in and around the seashore line.
The foliage here is amazing. With the cool temperatures and humidity, the ferns go wild. Many places they were waist high along the narrow trail
and little curious redish squirrels...
OH, and we saw an eagle! Didn't get a picture, but he was magnificent. At the end of the island, there was a Maine field, full of tall thistles and other beautiful plants. And ant hills.
We had our first rainy afternoon. Unfortunately, we were about 2/3 of the way through the trail when the rain started, and I had the boat completely open. We just got wet and then dried up the boat after we returned. First time we had left her completely open for the trip....go figure....
1 comment:
Everything looks fabulous! Sometime I'll have to tell you about Pemaquid and the ancestry on Mom's side of the family.
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