Boothbay was a perfect respite from the weather - we wandered around the shops, had some homemade ice-cream, took a trolley ride, relaxed in the lounge of Carousel Marine, met some interesting people and decided that Boothbay would be a good place to return to. Nothing special, not really very "Maineish", but a pleasant harbor with things to do. We contemplated taking a lighthouse tour, or even a sail to an island in Linekin Bay where they serve a traditional lobster bake (lobsters and clams cooked under seaweed). But we will save that for another trip. We returned to the boat for a steak dinner and a movie - Die Another Day with Halle Berry. (David was thrilled)
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| Boothbay Harbor Lighthouse. Love the foot bridge. |
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| Another Lyman Lapstreak. Come to find out they had a Rendezvous in Boothbay Harbor. That's why there were so many around all week! |
We left Boothbay and headed for Mackeral Cove on Bailey's Island. Got there, and decided there were too many lobster boats and no place to anchor. The lobster boats tend to leave harbor early in the morning (5-6am) and rock Obsession as they go by. Mostly we don't mind it, but in Boothbay we'd experienced a lot of rocking and rolling. So we moved on up the bay to Harpswell Harbor - totally secluded. Wide open, but very protected. And no other boats there.
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| The storm in Harpswell Harbor. It came fast. And moved from north to west, to south then east. All around us. |
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| After the second rainstorm this rainbow appeared. It's faint, but the end was there - about 50 feet off our stern. |
We anchored in 25 feet of water, took showers on the stern, and the skies opened up. Rain, thunder, lightning. We got the side curtains up and the hatches closed just in time. Then more sun, and about 2 hours later another rainstorm that ended with a rainbow. The end was about 50 feet from our stern. We took a dinghy ride after hamburgers on the grill for dinner, and noticed some beautiful homes right on the water with docks out into the water where they tie up their boats. I've noticed a lot of small power boats. I finally figured out that a Maine pastime is hopping aboard at any hour of the day, and heading to another harbor no more than an hour away for a quick lunch, afternoon snack or early dinner. It's easy to do here. The islands are so close together. We are motoring a lot because of that, and the lack of wind, and the lobster pots that we have to maneuver around. Sailing is temporarily on hold for those reasons. But that's OK - we only burn 1 gallon of fuel an hour, and we usually travel at about 6-7 knots, so we get to enjoy the view. In fact, when we get to an area "infested" with lobster pots we have to slow down just a bit. We noticed that the lobster boats don't ever seem to go in reverse, they are always in forward gear, and if they need to backtrack to a pot, they go forward in circles. Well, in Port Clyde we saw a lobster boat on the hard. It had a cage built around it's HUGE prop. That's so lines from other pots don't get caught in the prop. But only if you're going forward. Duh, great idea guys! Anyway, Obsession has temporarily been turned into a trawler for our travels around Casco Bay.
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| Sunrise Harpswell Harbor - photo by David - what's he doing up that early? |
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| The boat is named after his Grandmother - MIMI. He came back so I could take his picture |
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| I tried to catch as many boats facing different directions as I could |
We left Harpswell Harbor yesterday morning, sunny, warm, no wind, tide and current with us. Casco Bay is littered with islands. Navigating around them is not hard, but you really have to pay attention to the charts. Add to that the lobster pots, and the lobster boats that only go forward or in circles, we are not using auto pilot much either. We decided to go to Freeport since the weather for last night and today is rain, rain and more rain. We can get a taxi and spend the day at the outlets in Freeport. This is a pretty harbor too. The current/tide is very strong, and boats sit every which way on their moorings depending on the tide.
Lobster again for dinner. After all, we've had Penobscot Bay lobsters, now we have to compare them to Casco Bay lobsters. Just as good. It's molting season for lobsters. Most of them are soft shell, and therefore they are not stuffed with meat. But they are still delicious. We've sampled Penobscot Bay and Casco Bay steamers and they are delicious too. I'm running out of butter.
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| Two less lobsters living in Casco Bay. |
Plans for the upcoming week are: (subject to change) Diamond and/or Jewell Islands until the weekend, then Portland. My sister, Mal, has offered to pick us up to do some provisioning. That's good - we need RUM, and BUTTER and TOILET PAPER!
Yesterday David and I were talking about how lucky we are to have a beautiful, comfortable boat like Obsession to travel around in to these beautiful harbors. We had just bought our lobsters for dinner, and a couple stopped us to tell us that if we wanted proof of how good they were, just look at their empty plates. (I didn't have the heart to tell them that they had left a lot of lobster behind - they didn't even eat the legs or the bodies). We chatted a bit - they asked us to join them, and we said, not thanks that we were going to take the lobsters back to our boat and cook them. Well, they were so interested in how we travel, where we go, etc. She is a college professor from Georgia, and they come up to Freeport area every year to go to Wolf's Neck State Park to watch the ospreys. They were an interesting couple, and as we were heading back to the boat they stopped in their car to offer us a lift to our boat. I trust they were only kidding. Maybe we should have offered THEM a lift to our boat so they could see what our lifestyle is like. Have I said it before? I love my boat, I love my life.
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| "All by ourselves" in Harpswell Harbor. She is a pretty boat. |
It was chilly last night. Needed 2 blankets, and a long sleeve shirt. Still chilly this morning, (the weatherman called it "gloomy") But the idea of shopping and good weather the next few days is promising.
We are planning to be in Cuttyhunk August 20th for a cookout - so those of you with boats, or access to the ferry - come join us - cookout on the beach that night!
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