Since last Friday night I posted Friday Night Thank Yous ala Jimmy Fallon, all week I've been working on today's 10 Top Reasons to Cruise to Maine ala David Letterman. Again, my apologies - I'm not a comedian, but I hope you can appreciate Maine as much as David and I have and have enjoyed reading about Maine as much as we have enjoyed visiting Maine and sharing our pictures and our thoughts with you. At the end of our trip - next Friday - one of my famous poems.
Here we go:
THE TEN TOP REASONS TO CRUISE TO MAINE
Number 10 - Lousy TV reception (no Channel 10, Frank Coletta, Dan Jaehnig, Mark Searles). We have resorted to DVDs. And spotty internet access. (Thank goodness for my iPhone HOTSPOT)
Number 9 - Moorings less than $40.00 per night. Those of you that know us well know that we hardly ever take a mooring - we always anchor to save the money. Well up here we've had to bite the bullet and pay for moorings. Anchorages are few and far between, and even if we can anchor it's a rocky, hard bottom, and with the extremes in tides (sometimes 10 feet) you have to anchor in at least 20+ feet of water to ensure that no rocks will be popping up to the surface under your boat at low tide.
Number 8 - Quaint Villages. I think our favorite village was Port Clyde. If you can call Diamond Cove a village, then add that to the list. I am always amazed that there are so many houses on the islands in Casco Bay.
Number 7 - Lobster Boats. They are all over the place. The lobstermen and women work extremely hard. David watched one lobsterman throw back 6 out of 8 lobsters that he removed from the pot he had just hauled out of the water. He then re-baited the pot, and threw it back overboard to move on to haul the next pot only to the same result. They do this all day long. Monday through Saturday. Sundays, by law in Maine they may not pull pots. The boats are clean and don't smell bad at all. Not like those in Narragansett Bay that you can smell a mile away.
Number 6 - Islands and more Islands. I read that there are 222 islands in Casco Bay. We visited less than 10 on this trip. We have a list of more that we need to visit that grows every day. And we want to come back to some. It is amazing to see them, and to know that they were shaped by the glaciers.
Number 5 - The Lobster Pot Maze. I think someone should develop an app for iPhone called The Lobster Pot Maze. They are so colorful too. I swear the lobstermen stay up nights dreaming of new color combinations to put on their pots. We have managed to maneuver through the maze - usually as you get closer a path opens up for you to follow. We haven't sailed much because of them though.
Number 4 - Floating Seaweed Islands. This should be added to Number 6 - there are literally huge pockets of seaweed that float on the tide line that almost look like Islands. It's the seaweed that David keeps removing from the strainer of Obsession's engine, OCD's (our dink) prop, the ladder (if we leave it down all day or night) and the dinghy painter if it hangs in the water. We try to avoid these "islands" like the lobster pots too.
Number 3 - Sky Watching. This started out as sunsets, but we watch the sky all day and night. Sunrises, sunsets, thunderstorms, cloud formations, constellations and the Milky Way. All so especially beautiful in this setting. I can't take enough pictures or describe the scenes with words.
Number 2 - Freeport Shopping. This was one of my favorite days. And it came unexpectedly because of the weather. We rarely shop, and although I enjoy shopping, it's not usually something we plan to do on our cruises other than window shop. Let's say we contributed to the economy of Freeport. And it was such an enjoyable day. We had pizza for lunch (something we never have on the boat) and dodged raindrops running from store to store. An enjoyable part of our cruise to Maine.
Number 1 - LOBSTER. Of course - for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Why not? Lobster omelettes, lobster salad rolls, steamed lobster and even lobster ice-cream.
It's Saturday, August 13th. Since my last post we spent a day in Freeport, Maine at LL Bean and the outlets. We enjoyed the day dodging raindrops, and dropped a pretty penny on some Christmas presents and some back to school clothes for us. We really got some good bargains. Like buy 1 pair of khakis, get 2 free, and then at the check out we got 3 $5.00 off coupons for 3 other stores. David got a new winter fleece lined jacket and some nice short sleeve shirts. We found a nice back pack for Baleigh at LL Bean and some nice tops for me. Not bad - we spent $300.00 and saved $300.00. Doesn't that mean we got everything for free? David doesn't understand my shopping logic. Pizza for lunch - something we don't have on the boat and a bad weather day turned into fun. I'd do it again.
When we left Freeport it was our intention to visit Chandler Cove. The trip there took less than an hour, but by the time we got there the wind had picked up from the SW to about 20 knots. Chandler Cove is open to the SW so we headed for Great Diamond Island instead. As we approached we became apprehensive because the cove looked very small, and there was no place to anchor. The Diamond's Edge Restaurant has a dock you can stay at overnight if you have dinner, so we called - no docks available tonite, but they advised us to pick up any mooring in the harbor. No sooner did we do that, than another boat (we had seen them in Chandler Cove earlier) came in and picked up the mooring behind us. We chatted - they are from Jamestown, RI. Later that afternoon another boat (a HInckley) picked up the mooring in front of us - from Newport, RI. We didn't recognize them, but so ironic, that 3 out of the 6 or 7 boats on moorings in Diamond Cove were from the Newport area.
Great Diamond Island is one place we will return to. Not just because of the free dockage/mooring, but because of the history. It's an army barracks built during the Spanish American War and also utilized during WWII by the army and the navy. The buildings have been converted to the restaurant, a general store, a medical clinic, townhouses, and single family homes to form a community called Diamond Cove. Very exclusive. Even the parade (surrounded by the converted barracks and officer's homes) has a pool and a spa at one end. It was called Fort McKinley. Check it out on the web. I didn't take many pictures, they are private residences, and there are signs all over the place asking visitors to respect the privacy of the residents.
Next stop - Jewell Island. Another island used during the WWII. Today we will investigate the bunkers etc. It's now owned by the state, and people come here to camp. The only way to get here is by boat and we watched several families arrive in skiffs and small boats, unload tents, coolers, sleeping bags etc. and hike up to the campsites.
We met three other couples while here - had cocktails aboard a beautiful Beneteau 43 owned by Elwin and Cheryl (a retired opthalmologist) with their traveling companions Sue and Ken (C&C 39) along with Steve and Janet (Catalina 400). We chatted about places we have visited. Got some great tips on places to visit in the future and enjoyed the company of others for a change. It would be so nice to travel with another boat up here - get the hint Marge and George? You'd love it!!!!
When we leave here tomorrow we head to Portland - to sit out another rainy day Monday. Mal has offered to shop for me and meet us there. I think we'll take her to lunch at DiMillo's - the converted Newport to Jamestown Ferry. When we leave Portland on Tuesday we have a long haul to Isles of Shoals (not David's favorite place - to be explained in a later blog) then Gloucester (I really want to go down the Annisquam River and avoid going outside Cape Ann) then Plymouth on Thursday. For those of you watching the weather - we are too. If it looks like one of those storms out in the Atlantic is heading this way we will hunker down in Plymouth - so don't worry. We'll be safe. Then we have to time our departure from Plymouth in time to catch the current through the Cape Cod Canal (2:22pm on Friday). We could stay in Hadley's Harbor that night and be in Cuttyhunk late Saturday morning. As always, plans are subject to change due to weather and/or how we feel.
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