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Published: August 23rd 2007
We’ve been in Maine for a month now, and the more we see, the more we realize how much more there is to see. However the mornings are getting colder, there’s more north and stronger wind, so it’s time to start south. It gets dark now at 8:00pm
The first week we were here our friends Mary and Christian took us on a general circuit around Penobscot Bay. Since then we’ve been to some incredible spots, and found a couple places we just keep going back to because they are so beautiful.
There are several things that make Maine unique from anywhere else we’ve cruised. First the boats. On our last night here, I’m sitting in the cockpit of our boat in Rockland harbour. Looking out at the boats there are small traditional sailboats, Lobster boats, a couple of mega yachts, regular sailboats like ours and almost everything between. The first few days we were here, we took a picture of every schooner (we call them tall ships in Ontario) we saw. There are so many of them here that eventually they just seem like the rest of the boats. But every once in a while you see one sailing into
the sunset, or sailing along by the Camdon Hills, and we just can’t resist taking another picture. People cruise in lots of different types of boats here , some very small, and may with cool little rowing boats. The boat watching is spectacular. A couple of times we’ve passed or been anchored in the same harbour as Eric Clapton with his boat “Blue Guitar” That’s pretty cool!
The scenery is similar to the beautiful North Channel of Ontario. There are so many bays and coves to anchor in with rocky shores, and thick Balsam pine trees. The difference is that at low tide (10ft lower) many of the bays look like someone pulled the plug at low tide. Anchorages like Perrys Creek have great trails that you can walk for miles around the perimeter and look down at the Bays and Coves. clear days like today the sunsets against the rolling hills are pretty good competition to On the Lake Huron sunsets.
The marine life is a wonderful new experience for us. We have gone up to a lobster boat in front of us and bought lobsters just caught for $5.00 a lobster (as long as a female goes up
to the front of the boat and flags the fishermen down) We’ve gone gathering muscles at low tide, and brought them back for a delicious dinner (not my favourite but everybody else likes them) We’ve seen lots of seals, and dolphins. It’s interesting though the dolphins here are smaller than the ones down south. And the lobster pots. Sometimes there are so many of them they look like smarties on the water, with all the bright coloured floats.
The small towns like Castine, Bucks Harbour, Stonington, and Camdon have a maritime look that is very pretty and quaint. With all the fishing boats, and docks at the harbour they provide a nice backdrop to the unique shops and crafts people that display their arts and crafts. There are some of the best artist, painters and crafts people in Maine.
The Maine people are really great! Like the easterners in Canada they talk their own language. When they introduce us they introduce us as being “from away” It doesn’t matter if you’re from Ontario, or Florida, you’re from away. They are friendly, helpful and very down to earth.
While we were in Maine we had company from home come and visit.
Float and Bloat
Cocktail raft up at Seven Seas Gam in Ilsboro.First, our daughter Dawn came and spent 10 days with us. Dawn is having a baby in October so it hopefully was a good rest for her, and it gave her and Sharon time to go shopping for baby cloths and other baby stuff. We rented a car for a day and drove Dawn back to the Boston airport. Boston traffic on a Friday afternoon makes Toronto seem like a piece of cake. Sharons brother Brian, his wife Karen and two of their children Justin and Sarah visited next. We were able to take them to some nice anchorages, and we Karen bought 4 lobsters from a fisherman for $20.00! So we had a lobster feast. (except for me) We also had a visit from Jane and Mike Bondy and explored some places we hadn’t been yet, including South West harbour, where they build the famous Hinckley boats.
Our inflatable boat that we go to shore from our sailboat in, died in Maine, (not unexpected) so we’ve bought a cool new Caribe dingy that hopefully will last a long time.
So where to next. ……We hope to head back down the coast starting tomorrow. We would
like to go
slow and see a few more ports in Maine. Once we get back down to Long Island Sound, we’d like to do an offshore passage from Block Island to Cape May New Jersey, then spend most of September in Cheaepeake Bay. Hopefully it’s warmer there!
Hope all is well at home. If you get a chance send us an email and update us on things.
Sharon and Doug
SV About Time
PS The website that does the blogs, had a computer problem, and lost some of our previous blogs. It’s all fixed now, so sorry if you didn’t get the last one.
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Ingrid Gander
non-member comment
Great Scenery
Great to hear from you! It certainly looks beautiful there! Hope to do the trip one day!