FINALLY!!!! INTERNET!!!

Internet!  At the Laundromat, computer shaking slightly on the table against the agitating washer but that is Ok!  The blog....

We have been without internet for the days, so I am preparing a blog to post when we finally DO get internet.  We were not, however, without drama…

 True to our vow, we left Camden ASAP on Sunday, sailing briskly across the Penobscot Bay to Castine.  A little too briskly, I guess, as we found a sickening tear in our mainsail when we pulled it in when we reached Castine, or actually the beautiful Holbrook Harbor across the inlet from Castine..

 

A lucky phone call from Luke found a wonderful sail maker just 15 miles from us.  Not only did he answer his phone on a Sunday (we were trying to leave a message) but he offered to meet us at his shop and repair the sail on Monday, July 4^th!!  Feeling better, Luke took off to explore the nearby island of Holbrook.  We have been there before, but a micro burst had passed very recently and the island had some destroyed areas.  That has been 6 or 7 years, and the island is back to the former beauty. Holbrook Bay from the beach.

 

Lush meadows, with paths mowed through them.

 

And lots of beautiful trees.

 

After Luke’s exploring was done, he picked me up from the boat and we took a dinghy tour from the water.  Best thing we saw?  Seals!  They were basking on rocks, waiting for the fast rising tides (9-12 foot tidal range here). Notice how they lay on their bellies with head and tail raised!

 

 

That evening, the howling wind finally subsided and we decided that better now than risking wind later, so we took down the sail.  It is not an easy task.

 

Finally, sundown.

 

And after the bright sundown, the calm purple-ish sky of dusk.

 

On Monday, the 4^th, we set off a-motoring, heading for the small town of Central Harbor for the sail repair guy.  Not only did he pick us up at the dock and give us a brief tour of the "town",  he also took us back with him to his sail loft and we visited while he worked on the sail.

 

Only a couple of hours later and all was beautifully repaired.  Back in business!

 

That evening we were treated to a great fireworks display from the town.  No pictures, but a fun way to end the day.

 Tuesday was not fun.  It started at 5 a.m., as we needed to put the sail back up before winds picked up.  Task accomplished after 2 hours, and we left Central Harbor for Stonington.  Within a mile, Luke noticed that the engine sounded funny and then that the engine temperature was going up.  Not good.  We anchored and explored the possibilities for the problem.  Luke found it – the water intake strainer had grass in it, apparently restricting the flow of water into the engine. It was a messy chore…lots of things to move, open, and test.  Not a great picture,  but you get the idea…

 

And the evil grass.

 

So, happily repaired, we set off again.  Another 15 minutes and the same thing happened.  Again, we anchored.  More detailed probing, and Luke found aquatic grass had stopped up the intake hose for the engine.  That was a pain to break up!  The only thing positive about that stop was the seals basking on the nearby rock.

 

Now we are really off to Stonington.  But these lobster pots have toggles – smaller floats attached by an underwater line to larger floats.  The underwater line is only about 3 feet deep, so you can’t sail between them.  And there were a gazillion of them!  Getting through them is like a difficult video game! It was a most miserable,  tense trip. Most lobstermen are nice, some are just indifferent, and a few are aggressively hostile.  As we carefully threaded our way through the floats, being careful not to catch ourselves or cause any harm to them, a lobster boat jerk zoomed ahead of us and intentionally dropped 3 floats immediately in our path. Sigh.

 

And then the fog set in.  Fortunately, we anchored in the mooring field of the Stonington lobstermen’s boats just as it really set in.  I hate fog.

 

After setting the anchor, we realized that we were too close to one of the moorings, so we upped anchor again, and reset it about 30 feet further out.  That means that I pulled up and put down the anchor 8 times in one day.  Thank goodness for an electric wench (actually winch {Luke}), but it is still a job.

But, taking it all in stride – unhappy stride, but whatever – we put the dinghy down and headed for some sightseeing.  Lobstermen were still unloading their boats at the three lobster buying market houses in town.  We were lucky enough to find a buyer who was willing to sell a couple of this lobsterman’s bounty to us.  I will spare you pictures of the lobster fest!

 

The fog stayed mainly over the water, so town was sunny.  Here are the dinghies of the lobstermen, all awaiting the next day’s short ride out to the boat to start their very early day.  Most leave at daybreak.

 

Someone in town built little houses.  When he died and his home was sold, the new owners thought it was a good idea to donate them to the town.  They are cute. 

 

Luke caught one last picture of the fog in the mooring field.

 

A quiet night – except for the 5 a.m. lobstermen racing out – and Wednesday dawned sunny and fog free.  Here is what Stonington really looks like. That red building is the lobster pound where we bought the previous night.

 

And Sweet Smokey was elated. Sunshine!  Calm!  I have never seen her sleep like this, completely on her back, back legs stretched as far as possible, face turned up to the sun.

 

But it didn’t last.  Off again, as we need to be in Somes Sound in Acadia on Thursday.  Not a long day, though.  Only 8 miles and we anchored in a quiet and peaceful cove by Buckle Island.  The engine temperature did seem to creep up a bit, so Luke again took apart everything and checked the inlets again.  Yulp, a lot of grass again.  He did a lot of serious cleaning and pulled more weeds out of the intake line.  We think we’ve got it this time.  I made soup and cookies.  It was a productive and quiet day.

Thursday – we had intended to go ahead to Acadia, to anchor in Somes Sound and get ready for Luke’s daughters and their families to arrive on Friday.  But we awoke to fog. Fog.  Lots of fog.  Fog so thick that the ports looked like it had been raining.  The moisture from the fog dripped off of the dinghy and the boom  like rain drops.   We sat out the day at anchor at Buckle. 

On Friday, the sky was overcast but no fog.  A quick 15 miles to Somes Sound, picked up Luke’s daughter Erin and her family for an overnight adventure, and a calm, quiet night.

 

Calm enough for a group picture on the bow of Latitudes!

 

We all braved the rain and chill (hey, this is Maine…) and went into Bar Harbor for the day.  Here is the group on the pier at Bar Harbor

 

Crazy husband Cian and kids Evelyn and Kiran didn’t mind the rain and 58 degree water at all…crazy… in the back ground is the  schooner Mary Todd.

 

Daughter Lisa and her family arrived on Saturday. 

 

 

On Sunday, we went to Jordan Pond for pop-overs and a walk.   Yes, you can tell by Lisa’s umbrella, it is still raining.

 

Beautiful Jordan Pond, in the afternoon mist.

 

 Evelyn and Simon with Bompa, taking a walk along the pond shore.

 

Next, a drive down the scenic highway, again in the mist, to Thunder Hole.  We didn’t get the loud boom but the clouds were finally beginning to break!

 

Maine, vivid Maine, along her coast.

Last, we decided to take the kids to the rocky beach for a little wear-them-out-play-time.  Lisa made sandwiches and Erin brought the coleman stove for some on  the spot mac-n-cheese.

 

Yum! (but the chill was coming back into the air and most of us were beginning to huddle down into our jackets)

 

 

On Monday, I took Luke to the dock to catch the bus for some serious hiking with the family.  I stayed behind to catch up the blog to this point and get a few things done (like knitting!)

Tuesday was a boat ride for everyone to the nearby island of Little Cranberry.

Today - laundry and lobster later!

I do have more pictures but I think this is enough for this blog! 

 

Exploring Dix and High, LOBSTER, Rockland, and Camden

Yes, all of the above.  Now that we are in the Penobscot Bay, the distances between our favorite places to visit range from only 8 miles to 18. 

Because it was only about 5 miles to Rockland, we decided to go ashore on High Island before we left.  At high tide, that was easy.  The old stone wharf had a protected inlet with 3 steps down into the high water.  We simply tided up the dinghy to a thoughtfully left rope by some other visitor, and stepped up to land.  This would have been entirely different at low tide - the tide range is 10-12 feet, so the steps would have been waaay over our heads at low tide.  Of course, at low tide, we would have been able to pick fresh mussels from the exposed rocks, so you have to make a choice. Our choice was easy - we were there at high tide!

The stone dock is impressive.  Large - really large - cut stones formed a high, secure, but rough dock for the ships loading the stones for their future homes.  If you can pick me out, sitting on one of the stones, it will help the size prospective.

From the stone dock, a couple of trails lead through the small island.  Old steel cable lies in big circles, rusting silently.

But time takes her toll, and small flowers are taking over the rocky path.

I cut my walk short, but Luke found the old quarry.  Water fills it now.

The fog was thick when we first awoke.  During the morning, it drifted in, out, around, and anywhere else it chose.  Sometimes dense, sometimes just highlighting the Maine beauty.

Even Smokey seemed interested in the fog.  That black and white blur in the upper left is the island that we just left.

OR!  Maybe it was the rumble of the lobster boats!

This one was special.  He loitered enticingly near Latitudes until we went on deck and asked if he had any lobsters he could sell us....he did!  Two 1 1/2 pound lobsters for $12.  We happily paid, collected our dinner, and headed for Rockland.

Entering the Rockland harbor, we passed the most beautiful Owl's Head Light.  We especially like this one.  We've walked around it in the past.

Showers, a few provisions, a few boat items, and ice cream for Luke in Rockland!  We met Barb and Jim in Boothbay.  Their beautifully restored 40 year old Grand Banks trawler and Latitudes swung frightening close on their moorings.  Never touched, thank goodness, but a real worry for the first 24 hours.  They invited us to the boat for "sundowners" (a nice term for early evening wine or beer or coffee or whatever).  We enjoyed getting to know them better and seeing their boat. Trawlers are very different from sailboats and we have actually seen very few.

But then!  To the lobstah (That's Maine talk for lobster)

Smoke was interested but wary.  Fresh tuna is the only fish that gets her excited.

Buddy Peter, aka The Lobster Whisperer, taught Luke a trick,  Just before dunking the rascals into the pot, he gently rubs the carapace from the tail towards the head, putting them in an apparent relaxed state.  Whatever it is, it does seem to work.  No clanking or clattering about in the pot.  I like that....

WOW!  We were just startled by a firework display being set off about 100 yards from the boat!  Great view, but sure were loud!

Anyway, with the lobsters cooked and ready to eat, we cracked into them, only to learn the true meanings of the expressions "soft shell" and "hard shell".  Hard shell always costs a little more, which we didn't understand because soft shells are younger, sweeter meat lobsters.  The lobsters molt in the spring, discarding their old small shells, and sprouting much larger, soft new shells, the size difference mostly filled with water! Over the next few months, they grow into their new shells during the summer season, and have nice hard shells completely filled with lobster by the end of the season.  The soft shell lobsters are the newly molted ones, with unfilled shells.  The meat in a hard shell lobster would completely fill it's nice big claw.  Here is the meat out of the big claw in our newly purchased soft shells.

Yes, we were a little disappointed, but YUM!

Awakened at low tide - about 3 a.m. by a loud and persistent thumping and whacking of something on our stern (beside our sleeping heads).  A damned lobster float.  Latitudes had turned during the night and was just a wee bit too close to a pot.  We finally got up and went on deck to bring in some of our scope (the length of chain between the boat and the anchor).  It helped but that is all it did.  A few more times, we had the sickening scraping sound of the float on the stern of the boat.  Not much sleep after 3.  So, it seemed like a really good idea to just get out of Rockland asap this morning and sail to Camden, home of the schooner fleet in the Penobscot.  We sailed - literally! - past the Rockland lighthouse, sitting at the end of a long jetty at the entrance to the harbor.

When we first entered the Camden harbor, we could see the fleet of schooners standing tall in the distance. And LOOK at that Maine sky!

One of the schooners waits for her boarding of paying customers.  The dinghies of mariners seem to close her in.

The harbor

An old bridge crosses one of the many small waterways in town.

The view from the bridge reminds us of old English countrysides, such as the Cotswolds.

An ice cream for Luke and a bowl of clam chowder for both of us before we returned to the boat served as dinner.  The Maine clam  chowder is good, full of clams, potatoes, and celery, but it is a thinner broth than the New England clam chowder that we love.  Not complaining, though! 

Swells from the Penobscot roll into this anchorage, making Latitudes roll from side to side.  We had forgotten about that when we decided to anchor here.  Tomorrow will be an early departure to our next Penobscot destination, Castine.