LIghthouses and puffins, oh my!

Our newly replaced engine transmission control cable worked perfectly today!  Not that we needed it much - we sailed most of our 38 miles from Boothbay to our new anchorage in between the islands of Dix and High. It was great for most of the way to follow the schooner American Heritage!

Morning dawned bright and very sunny, unlike the foggy and rainy day yesterday.  As we left the Boothbay harbor area, we passed the first of several lighthouses, the Fisherman's Island lighthouse.

Our first goal was Eastern Egg Rock, the nesting home of the puffin.  The American Heritage schooner beat us to it.  Here she is, drifting slowly around the island.

The island has several huts used for observation of the puffins.  Live cameras are set up there, too, and in Rockland you can watch the puffins real time.

They are here!

Not just one little puffin, but flocks of them, all floating in the water.  We read that puffins do everything in the water except lay their eggs.

We circled off Easter Egg Rock---here are our tracks from the boat, as traced by one of our chart systems.... The two passes from the bottom left toward the top were quietly under sail only -- probably increasing our chances of getting close to the shy little puffins.

The American Eagle Schooner sailed up as we finished our circle.  She was beautiful, against a bright blue Maine sky.

Next, another of the many scenic Maine lighthouse.  This one is the White Head lighthouse.

Our anchorage for the night is between the islands of Dix and High, about 5 miles from Rockport.  It is a quiet anchorage, with just a few other boats.  The islands used to have major granite stonecutting operations.  Large cut but unshipped stones abound.

As we brought up the dinghy outboard last night, we found a definite "wear" issue in the rope.

Not good!  This is the line that we use to hoist the 110 pound outboard engine every time we use the dinghy.  Can't afford having this break in mid hoist!

But, Luke again to the rescue.  He bought new line before we left Boothbay and was in the process of doing one of his trademark eye-splices on the new rope, with Chapman's "Piloting and Seamanship" as a guide.

The splice is done, the line threaded through the 6 part pulley, and we now have a new hoist line to use tomorrow morning.  We plan to explore one of the islands before we leave for Rockland tomorrow.