Rockland, Belfast, Castine, Belfast again, and on to Warren Island

That's what I love about the Penobscot - everything is so close, you can hopscotch from place to place!
Rockland was an important stop - we wanted to visit a marina there because we're leaving Latitudes in Maine for the winter!!!!!  We LOVE sailing the Maine coastline.  Talked to a lot of cruisers down south who leave their boat here for the winter and decided it was a good idea.  No more 4 week trek up and down the Atlantic coast from the Chesapeake to Maine.  Just 3-4 months of sailing up here.  So, we made the commitment, the arrangements, and will have her pulled and put on the hard for the winter in Rockland on the day after Labor Day.
Preparing to leave Rockland for Belfast, Smokey was no where to be found.  She does wander....Finally we spotted her on the far side of the dinghy (which was hanging 8 feet up from the water at the time..).  Oh, OK, I'll mosey over back to the boat.

WHAT?  You have a problem with this?? I AM the Princess.

Befast was a nice town when we visited about 7 years ago.  But, boy, it's a nicer town now!  A large marina/ marine services facility has taken up residence there along the waterfront.  As of this year, they are building Building #6.  A harbor walk has been put in through town along the waterfront.  New shops have popped up, new restaurants, etc.  We heard horror stories of the 1960's when the primary waterfront enterprise was processing chickens.  Tales of the shore filled with chicken bits and pieces, greasy rocks, smelly water, you can imagine! 

A bit of Belfast history - the first long-wave radio broadcast from London to the US was relayed through the experimental Radio Corporation of America in Belfast in March 1925.  The live broadcast was a band who played "Alabama Bound".

The old buildings still line the downtown.

Modern benches line the streets.

Old, LARGE homes still fill the neighborhood.  We asked about these long, large homes.  The dock master explained to us that there are several reasons.  The severe winters (-20 is normal) made it smart to attach all of your buildings - the house, the outhouse, the woodshed, the garage/carriage shed, the work shed. etc. No freezing going from building to building.  Also the families were large and extended family members all lived together.  Grandparents, parents, 12-18 children...you get the picture.  And some of them are simply Ship Captain's grand homes. Some of these homes seemed to have at least 5 or 6 "separate" buildings all attached.  Many are apartments now.

 

Our favorite pizza shop is still there - Alexia's.  Love the wall mural..

Look carefully - the Pizza God is hurling pepperoni or something down onto our hero's pizza.

From Belfast we sailed 9 miles across the Penobscot to Castine.  And boy, did we sail.  Winds picked up from the forecast 10-15 to 20-25!  We flew, unfortunately heeled at a significant angle and with a bit of pounding. Unfortunately, too, our destination lay a bit too far to windward, so the last 2 miles we motored straight into 25 kts and 4 to 5 foot seas. Poor Smokey took it as long as she could and then had a total (and unusual) melt-down.  I finally put her in her carrier on the cockpit floor and she settled down.  Slept for hours after we arrived!  We were all thankful to sail into the protected Holbrook Harbor and drop anchor. Even the large schooners were taking refuge there for the night.

Castine is the home of the Maine Maritime Academy, home to 1100 students this year. The school training ship, The "State of Maine", is here at the Academy.

Unlike a lot of waterfront towns, Belfast and Castine are not flat.  They have hills.  This is a couple of blocks up from the docks - Post Office on the left, waterfront in front.

Castine is proud of the fact that the town was able to successfully save their majestic elm trees after a terrible bout of Dutch Elm disease years ago.  These trees are beautiful. This is one example in the historic town square.

Elms in the summer, snow in the winter.  Here is one of the snow sticks on a fire hydrant.  No, I think we'll return to VA for the winter!

Castine has a larger role in history than it's apparent remote location would indicate. It was a relatively large and deep harbor, had a large supply of tall pines for ship spars. In the eyes of the British navy, Castine ranked with Halifax, Boston and New York as an important harbor, worth holding, taking or defending as the situation might dictate. There were a number of battles and skirmishes. This history was highlighted last year with the visit of the French Frigate (reproduction) Hermione to Castine. The original Hermione carried Marquis de Lafayette from France to America in 1780 bringing news of French support of the American Revolution.  Just another part of France's endless strife with England in the late 1700s. The visit was nicely presented in the Castine Historical Museum on their historical Town square. http://www.ellsworthamerican.com/featured/french-frigate-hermionei-to-visit-castine

The years between the end of the War of 1812 and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 marked Castine's greatest prosperity.  This was largely from fishing, the salt needed to preserve those fish, and building the ships to catch them.  In the springtime, nearly 500 fishing vessels could be found in the small harbor.   It is NOT a large harbor.  Over 100 commercial sailing vessels were built here.  In fact, per one source, in 1850 Castine had the second highest per capita wealth in any city or town in the States. 
We had hoped to pick up a few groceries in Castine - remembered they had a small local grocery store.  Unfortunately for us (and probably fortunately for the students) it is now mostly a beer/wine/snack store.  A few essentials, but not quite what we needed.  SO.  Back across the now calm 9 miles to Belfast today.

The grocery store in Belfast is a big, modern Hannaford's.  But it is 1.1 miles up those hills from the waterfront.  I remembered swearing I'd never walk there again, but, hey, it probably wasn't really that bad, right? Wrong.  I'll never walk up there again. The dockmaster has big collapsible carts that they lend you to take to the grocery store so you can get all of your groceries home.  It was a blessing.  But I'll never need them again because I'm taking a cab if I ever go there again!!!  really!!!

By 3 we were back on Latitudes.  Gentle winds gave us a nice 2 hour ride to our current destination, Warren Island at Isleford. Dinner, the blog, and bed shortly.  We'll hike some of the island trails tomorrow.

Monhegan, Boothbay, and Port Clyde - and almost Rockland...

Monhegan is beautiful. No wonder it has been an artists "colony" for decades.  We contacted the harbor master there a few days early and requested a mooring.  That was a good thing, as there are only 8 or so moorings in the small harbor, most used by lobstermen.  It turned out to be a popular weekend, with shifting around of lobster boats to accommodate other visiting boaters.  Our mooring was just beside the town dock, the hub of all that goes to and from the small island.  Tour boats, mail boats, freight boats, passenger boats, everything.

Well, not quite everything.  The garbage truck gets delivered by a special boat.  The  garbage boat noses up to the one sandy beach, drops the ramps, and off the garbage truck goes.  The garbage truck comes back again in about an hour. Of course, this is also where the few cruisers also take their dinghies to shore... ya gotta be careful where you land!

The house to the far right, with the picnic table under the umbrella is the harbor master's house.  They sell fresh fish and cooked fish dinners.  There are 2 inns in town that also have restaurants.

On shore, here are the flowers and "left-overs" on the trail to the middle of "town"

 

A walk through town consists of the fish house, a small grocery, a couple of shops (one that also sells coffee!), a couple of art galleries, a pizza place that sells wine and beer, a new wash/fold that I didn't see, and the church.

 

 

This is where we went one evening - in the pouring rain, wading in the cold water at the shore to secure the dinghy, walk to the church, and back - for Jamboree.  While still fun and for a good charitable cause, we were a little disappointed in the overall offerings.  Here are a flutist and the "opera" singer.  Apparently trained in opera, she sang a song in "mixed languages."  That was actually gibberish and cute.

 

 

Our first evening was a beautiful sunset.

The next day we hiked up the hill and across the island.  First stop was the old lighthouse.

This lighthouse had a wonderful antique second order Fresnel lens that the Coast Guard took down in 1995 to replace with a more modern electric light.  Then they DESTROYED lens!!!! Luke has a comment, but I can't put it here... There is a nice museum in the old keepers house.

The view of the town from the lighthouse.  The hill behind the large building (The Island Inn) is actually a small island on the other side of the harbor.  Latitudes is moored between the two islands.

On the way up the hill, we came across a small gallery.  I love her sign --- Nope, we aren't open.

But, move only 1 letter and they are OPEN!  Look carefully.... very clever!

Finally at the cliffs on the other side of the island.  View to the left

View to the right

View of two happy hikers

From Monhegan, we headed back to the mainland to Boothbay.  This was pretty much a "work" stop.  We got $19 worth of laundry done, groceries resupplied, $5 pizza lunch, and Luke visited the Friends of the Library used book/CD store for a couple of books.  Once the necessities were taken care of, we took time to visit the lighthouse on Burnt Island.

Then a stop at the Maine Aquarium.  This is a small, one room aquarium, but well done.  The touch tank for sharks had 2 dog sharks.  These rascals apparently like to be touched, and actually hold their heads out of water and "dance" in a circle to get petted.

And here is Henry, a 14 pound lobster.  I played with the light on the picture so you can see him in his dark tank.

There was also a display of trash of the sea and how long it takes for trash thrown into the ocean to disintegrate - here are some of the disheartening numbers -

milk carton - 400 years
Styrofoam cup - never
cigarette - 5 years
glass bottle - 1000 to 1 million years
ziplock bags - 300 years
a simple paper towel? a month!

From Boothbay to Port Clyde.  We again sailed around Eastern Egg Rock Island, looking for puffins, but saw none this time.  I did take a picture of the huts where the volunteers stay to count puffins.  To my surprise, we realized that we caught a bald eagle sitting on a rock to the left.

The small dock area is the "town" or Port Clyde.  These few buildings are a restaurant, grocery/wine, coffee house, and ferry terminal.  An ice cream store and kayak rental store can't be seen.  Also, in the second floor of the grocery is a very nice art gallery with works of the Wythe family for sale.

A walk down the road towards the lighthouse shows a different view of town.

We left this morning for Rockland.  We had high hopes and encroaching fog...  Here is the Marshall Island lighthouse, at Port Clyde with the fog starting to roll in.  BTW, this is the lighthouse used in the Forrest Gump movie when he ran all the way to the end of a lighthouse.

 

The fog just got worse.  We ran relatively close to at least 5 oncoming boats as we proceeded up Mussel Ridge channel, a popular approach into the Penobscot bay from the west. We "saw" them on radar at a mile or more distance, and then they'd emerge from the fog surprisingly close - 500 to 1000 ft away. WE were using our fog horn, but heard only one other horn during our passage.  We did make it most of the way, but with 8 miles left to Rockland, we gave up and anchored between Dix and High Islands again.  The plan is to go to Rockland later when the fog lifts, but it's just getting thicker...can't even see the islands or one of the 3 boats anchored near us.  I am glad we're here now!

 

Mussels, fog, and Vinalhaven Island

Back to Roque Island to wait for better weather to head back SW to the more populated coastal areas of Maine.  We spent low tide one morning picking mussels from the rocks at low water.  MMM!!!  Were they good!  I got a little local know-how to cook them. Steamed in wine, garlic, and a little onion. Mmm…

 Off at dawn for the 8 hour motor back to Mt. Desert.  We arrived in NE Harbor to fill with water and diesel.  The masses of lobster pots with their toggle are back.  After filling, we again left Mt.Desert and headed another 3 hours SW back to Buckle Island.  We were waiting for the right weather for the remaining 5-6 hours back to the Penobscot area.  If we can time it right and the weather cooperates, we hope to go 10 miles to sea from the southern Penobscot to the art colony island of Mohegan.  Link Monhegan The time we were there before, Latitudes sat on Jamie Wyeth’s mooring ball (he wasn’t on island). Our timing is important, because we want to be there on the 16^th for their bi-monthly “Jamboree”.  This is basically a talent night at the island church, a beautiful old one room church lit by gas lights.  The first time we saw the Jamboree, in addition to the very good local talent, we were treated to performances by folks spending the night at the island hotel -  a flutist in the Philadelphia Symphony, an acclaimed opera soprano, and a noted pianist who composes scores for Broadway musicals. Wow. Hoping for such luck this time.

 For more mundane pleasures, while we waited for the rain to start in Buckle one morning, we again went mussel picking.  It is not as easy as you might think.  These rascals hide under seaweed and in crevices accessible only at low tide.  First you’ve got to find them.

 

Reward!

 

Some are still under too much water for my arms, so long tall Luke is employed to hang as far over the dinghy as possible and pluck.  (I did ask before I put this picture in the blog LOL!)

 

And the rewards of 45 minutes work – 10 pounds of shells.

 

Again – mmm.. even Smokey likes them and she is a typical picky cat.

 

 

We waited out a day of fog and rain, left early the next morning heading for Vinalhaven.  The day was sunny and clear at Buckle, but about 4 miles out, we ran into fog. As previously mentioned, I HATE fog. It was dense enough that Luke took Latitudes near the shore and anchored while we waited again for the fog to lift.  It did - sorta - and  we headed back out about an hour later.  All was fine, until, uh oh....a wall of fog.

 

 

Fortunately, we were only about 10 miles from Vinalhavel! The fog dissipated as we entered Carvers Harbor.  In the early day, while the lobstermen are out putting down their evil lobster floats and toggles, the harbor is relatively empty.

 

 

Later in the afternoon, when the lobstermen have returned, the harbor is entirely different!

 

 

The boat directly in front of  us turned out to be a good thing!  There are only 3 rental/guest moorings in the entire harbor.  They were all taken by the time we arrived.  No room to anchor here!  As we circled slowly and sadly, Luke suggested calling to the lobster boat Abigail N. sitting at the lobstermen's co-op and asking if he knew of any  available private moorings that someone may want to rent for a few nights.  He did - had one himself!  He made sure we found the right mooring, collected his fee for 3 nights, and we are safe and sound in Carvers Harbor. 

 

Main Street looks a bit dismal, but actually, there is a great little grocery store, a few nice shops, small hotel, restaurants, coffee shop, and a couple of museums in town.

 

 

This little restaurant sits, literally, above the water.  A reversing spillway allows the rushing water to run back and forth twice each day.

 

 

 

 

The old fire house sits on the docks.  This hook and ladder car, the water tank, and a few hose reels were all bought in 1888 for a whopping $5000.  The museum volunteer said that it took the community 2 years to raise the money.

 

 

Like much of the region, Vinalhaven also had an important granite quarry.  This old picture shows the granite being cut by Italian stoneworkers.  Just look at the detailed work these men are doing! And then it gets loaded on a train and hopefully gets to it's intended destination in the same condition.

 

 

Talent still exists in this little town.  This is the home of artist Robert Indiana.  He is the guy who did the LOVE sculpture - the block with the 4 letters.  A link to him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(sculpture)

 

His home is the old Oddfellows Hall. 

 

 

A more recent sculpture - HOPE - sits in front of the home.

 

 

 

And there is more talent!  Luke saw a flier for a combination art show/cello concert.  It was held in an old, small, renovated barn - capacity is about 50.  We knew it was going to be good when we arrived almost 30 minuets early and had to stand in line.  The artist is Richard Entel.  Formerly a town doctor, he also is an artist.  His collection Cardboard Menagerie, is a group of large animals, made of cardboard and broken violin pieces.  Pretty amazing work!

 

The giraffe

 

The elephant

 

Here is a link to his webpage  http://entelmenagerie.squarespace.com/

 

The cellist, Eugene Friesen, was amazing! http://www.celloman.com/ From Bach to original compositions that include cello music with humpback whale singing to African influenced music was all beautiful. Hopefully, this you-tube link will play.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Bvr3R73BY

 

The computer gods are not very happy right now -going to quit and publish before I lose all of this!



Jonesport

After a blissful 3 days of lazing in Rogue, we took Latitudes a whopping 5 miles SW to the small community of Jonesport. The small lobster anchorage here is smartly placed behind a breakwater, protecting the boats from swells and waves.  Lobstermen are friendly. We took a "mooring" on one of two "rafts".  The raft is a mooring that is actually a 5 x 20 foot floating metal grate with fenders all around it and cleats on both sides.  2 boats tie up, one of each side.  The boatyard has showers ($0.75 for 2 minutes, and believe me, I need a 4 minute shower!) and inexpensive laundry.  This is the first "Laundromat" that has had the common sense to have 2 washers and THREE dryers!  The owners even run boaters back and forth to the grocery store (2 miles) or the BIG grocery store in Machias, 20 miles away.  A sweet deal for $20/night. The usual fog set had set in by our first morning here.

With the 12-15 foot tides, the anchorage has a lot of rocks at low tide.  In fact, we can't get to the boatyard's dock within about 2 hours each way of low tide.

At first glance, walking down the 2 lane road that runs through the community, you get a feeling of better days gone by.  And there were.  The boatyard, a gas station/convenience store with thousands of videos to rent, new/second hand store, PO, pizza/few groceries store, marine store, and lobster and mussels pounds are about all you see.  There are too many deserted homes, a grocery store that closed a few years ago, etc.  But, as you stay a while and explore a bit, you find the award winning decoy carver's home/gallery a block off the main road.  A wonderful museum of the "old days".  A nice library. Homes with bountiful summer gardens full of beautiful flowers.  And very nice lobstermen who offer you a hand off the dinghy "sweetheart" and "summer people" who live here every summer.

The boatyard owners (from Alaska) offered us a ride to the farmers market and grocery store in the nearby (20 miles) town of Machias.  I shopped at the wonderful farmers market, full of local and organic fresh produce.  Luke explored the small park.  We were there 6 or 7 years ago for the Blueberry Festival and had a great time.

Tonight we had dinner at the local church. They had a fundraiser for the church.  $20 for a two lobster dinner complete with corn on the cob, a roll, slaw, lottsa butter, sweet tea (who knew Mainers drink sweet tea!), and a blueberry desert.   We shared the lobsters, corn, and roll, but each had slaw, butter, and a desert.  The locals eat their lobster dipped not only in butter, but also in vinegar.  Not bad! We also met some great "summer folk" and a local lady and her mom.  We're looking forward to seeing them next summer.

Just across the street, in front of the church, is the local museum.   We attended an amazing presentation about the Jaffa American Colony. Just after the Civil War, a con artist/minister appeared in town and set up a church.  He convinced 157 locals to relocate to the then Palestine, to set up a community of Christians to help bring the Jewish population back into the area and therefore, somehow hasten the coming of the Messiah.  They set sail on the sailboat Nellie Chapin, landed in Palestine 42 days later, lost 19 souls in the first month, rebelled against the "minister" within a year, with an exodus of most of the settlers within 2 years.  But the few that remained prospered.  The homes became derelict eventually, but the presenter tonight - Jean Holmes - and her husband were able to bring awareness of the contribution of the Mainers to the Israeli government, gain recognition for the effort, and restore the old homes within the past 25 years.  She lives in one of the original homes now.  It is an amazing story.  A couple of links ---

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=20060811&id=rvs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=EE8KAAAAIBAJ&pg=2793,2769095&hl=en

http://www.jaffacolony.com/

Back after the video and presentation, just before dusk, we had beautiful pink clouds reflected in the still water.

Winds for the next few days are high, in the wrong direction, and not conducive to returning to Mt. Desert en route back to Rockland.  We will probably leave tomorrow for a few more days in the very protected Rogue Island until we can start back westward.