Wednesday August 31st.

We mostly sailed back to Boothbay Harbor, but had to resort to the engines for the last, windless hour.  We packed up Gloria and Mikes stuff then returned to Jay for the last week of their vacation.

Tuesday August 30th.

We had a very pleasant sail to Linekin bay and dropped the hook.  Gloria and Ron took a refreshing swim, and then Mike and Ron tried their hand at fishing.  After about 15 minutes, we had caught 4 mackerel, and since there were only 3 of us, we threw the least huge one back. 

Mackerel appetizer was followed by happy hour and dinner aboard. 

Monday August 29th.

We visited the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens by dinghy.  Unfortunately, we missed the last guided tour of the day, so Ron, (who had been to the gardens previously), acted as guide.   Despite this, Gloria and Mike who are both keen gardeners enjoyed the trip. 

We returned to Boothbay Harbor for the evening. 

Sunday August 28th.

We set off with a fair tide back down the Sheepscot River.  After a short trip under motor, the wind picked up and we beat through the minefield of lobster pots to Indiantown Island.  We took the walk around the island and then sailed to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens mooring off Hodgdons Island where we had another happy hour (and dinner).

Saturday August 27th.

Wiscasset has a “Museum in the Streets”.  A set of historical buildings, each with a plaque describing their history, and a few that offer tours.  We took tours of “Castle Tucker”, “Nickell Sortwell’s Home” and the “Jail”.  All very interesting.  And we visited all the other building during the course of the day. 

Happy Hour was preceded by ice-cream and a jolly good time was had by all. 

Friday August 26th.

We tried sailing along the Sheepscot River up to Wiscasset, but were unsuccessful due to lack of wind.  We motored instead, arrived just after 3pm and picked up the town mooring.  Despite the ‘captain’ assuring the crew that no dolphins would be seen in the river, we saw several seals and a couple of dolphins.

We went ashore, supported the local economy by buying ice-cream and returned to the boat for happy hour and dinner. 

Ships Log: 6051.4, Todays Log: 7, Seasons Total: 356.2

Thursday August 25th.

Ron, Gloria and Mike drove to Boothbay Harbor.  We moved the boat from the Tugboat Inn mooring to the DEYC dock, loaded the luggage, re-provisioned the boat and went out to dinner. 

Wednesday August 24th.

Teresa was still visiting her mom.  Ron picked up his sister, Gloria and brother-in-law Mike at Logan Airport.  We had a choice:  drive another 3.5 ours to Boothbay (after a 7 hour flight from Blighty), or spend the night in an hotel.  We chose the latter option and had a delicious dinner at the Metropolis on Tremont Street in Boston.

Wednesday August 17th – Tuesday August 23rd

Vacation in CT!

Tuesday August 16th.

Teresa was planning to visit her mom today, so, with no wind, and not much in the forecast, we set of early and motored back to Boothbay Harbor. 

Teresa cycled over to Hodgons to pick up Ron’s car while Ron tidied the boat.  Then we both drove to Newington, NH, where we had cunningly left her car a couple of weeks ago.  Of well, the plan seemed good at the time.

Ships Log: 6044.4, Todays Log: 5.2, Seasons Total: 349.2

Monday August 15th.

There is a beautiful, rugged island just outside Boothbay Harbor which our cruising guide gives 5 stars, and so we decided to explore.  We were moored in the outer harbor, with few obstacles nearby, and a nice fresh N wind so we dropped the mooring under sail, which was very nice and peaceful. 

A broad reach took us all the way to Damariscove Island, 43 45.30N 069 36.88W.  We sailed into the harbor but when we found out how small and crowded it was, we chickened out, dropped sails and motored in to find  mooring.  They were all taken however, but when we returned to the outer harbor to find somewhere to anchor, a boats crew told us they would be leaving in 15 minutes, so we picked up the mooring that they vacated. 

We went for a walk around the island which was very rugged and natural.  And full of biting flies!

We returned to Quinita, and watched as a sailboat a little larger than ours sailed calmly into the harbor, went right into the inner harbor under sail, rounded up and picked up a mooring.  They certainly put us to shame – we didn’t even think they had room to turn their boat!

We swam to cool off – the water was certainly cool – cleaned the log impellor which hadn’t been working, and rinsed off with sun showers. 

Ships Log: 6039.2, Todays Log: 0.1, Seasons Total: 344

Sunday August 14th.

The heat and humidity are back, together with threats of rain showers.  After breakfast, we all went for a walk around town, then Marc and Dee headed back to Jay. 

We put the boat on the DEYC dock, defrosted the fridge, did some laundry, shopping  and catching up on the blog then went out to the outer harbor to pick up the DEYC mooring, where we swam and took sun showers while watching the sun set – beautiful!

Ships Log: 6039.1, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 343.9

Saturday August 13th.

The heat has gone, it’s overcast, threatening rain and actually a little cool. 

A leisurely breakfast was followed by a walk to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, where we spent a very pleasant few hours.  We returned to the boat just in time to dodge another rain shower, and had a late lunch. 

We then motored the 4nm back to Boothbay Harbor and picked up a DEYC mooring. 

The ladies were put in charge of cocktails and provided champagne.  Nice!  Afterwards we had dinner ashore in the Boat House Bistro. 

Ships Log: 6039.1, Todays Log: 4.5, Seasons Total: 343.9

Friday August 12th

Some of us woke with a reminder of just how strong those Gins and Tonic were last night.  However, after breakfast and a refreshing swim, we all seemed to be in good health and set off in the afternoon for Indiantown Island, where we planned to hike.  We had a great sail as far as Townsend Gut, where we needed to motor through the opening bridge. 

We picked up a guest mooring off the island, and after a look at the dark sky, we decided to wait and see what was in store for us.  We soon found out – the forecasted thunderstorm arrived and dumped a lot of rain, but fortunately no lightening.  After the thunderstorm we were treated to a surreal spectacle of what looked like steam on the water’s surface accompanied by extreme heat and humidity.  We went for a walk on Indiantown Island anyway and found some respite in the shade under the trees. 

After the walk, we motored the small distance to a guest mooring provided by the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens where we spent the night, 43 52.78N 069 40.34W.  We also just managed to dodge another heavy bout of rainfall. 

Marc was banned from making cocktails and entertained us with is guitar instead; Vice Admiral Ron made some much lighter Rum Punches – Pineapple Juice, Cranberry Juice and Rum.   

Ships Log: 6039.1, Todays Log: 4.5, Seasons Total: 343.9

Thursday August 11th

We moved to the DEYC dock, filled up with water and hosed the boat down.  Teresa did laundry and Marc and Dee arrived just after midday. 

Lunch on the dock was followed by a beat out of Boothbay, and a slow, sedate screecher run down Linekin bay where we dropped anchor in the same spot that we anchored in on June 30^th.  It was still a lovely spot!

Marc put himself in charge of cocktails, and produced some gins and tonic that later in the evening we were to discover were VERY strong.  

Teresa was presented with an Admirals cap, and Ron was presented with a Vice Admirals cap.  I guess we now know who’s who!

Ships Log: 6026.1, Todays Log: 5.9, Seasons Total: 330.9

Wednesday August 10th.

We had a very nice sail back to Boothbay harbor.  We hoisted our screecher for the first time since ‘the incident’, and tried out a new furling technique which worked well, albeit in only 12 knot winds.  By motoring dead downwind and letting the sheets fly, the pressure of the wind on the sail is reduced.  This relies, of course, on having sea room to motor downwind, but it may well be useful next time we find ourselves furling the screecher in high winds. 

We picked up a DEYC mooring and started cleaning the boat up in preparation for our guests Marc and Dee who arrive tomorrow. 

Ships Log: 6020.2, Todays Log: 9.1, Seasons Total: 325

Tuesday August 9th.

Our cruising guide suggested a dinghy ride around the harbor at low tide.  So we did.  Its usually more interesting seeing harbors at low water and this harbor was no exception.  The guide also mentions that cormorants do not have oils in their feathers as other sea birds do.  So when they dive, the cormorants wings get soggy and need drying out.  Here’s how they do that.

Probably our shortest voyage yet!  We sailed for 5 minutes then motored to Love Cove, 43 49.94N 069 40.24W.  On the way we stuck our nose in Pierce Cove, 43 50.06N 69 40.56W just to take a look.  We have cycled past these coves many times on the way from Hodgdons to Boothbay harbor and were interested to look at them from seaward.  With our centerboard up we have a draft of 3’, so we explored these coves up to a depth of 7’.  (However, the next day we noticed that we hadn’t raised our centerboard, so we were exploring with a draft of 6’!)

Ships Log: 6011.1, Todays Log: 2.1, Seasons Total: 315.9

Monday August 8th.

Yesterday, we left our bikes at Hodgdons Boothbay dock so that today, when we docked for fuel we could pick them up more easily. 

After refueling, we set sail for Five Islands, 43 49.39N 069 42.51W.  We had a glorious sail, beating out towards the southern tip of Southport Island in winds between 12 and 15 knots.  We rounded the tip and started a broad reach towards Five Islands just as the wind increased up to 20 knots.  Perfect - 20 knots is fine for a broad reach, but less desirable for a beat.

We picked up a Five Islands Yacht Club mooring, (which they offer free for the first 2 nights, thank you very much), and went ashore for a bike ride.  A hike in the Reid State Park was followed with a swim in the beautiful, warm, freshwater swimming hole, Charles Pond. 

We returned to the boat for pasta primavera, followed by cocoanut ice cream and rum!  Life is tough.

Ships Log: 6009, Todays Log: 9, Seasons Total: 313.8

Sunday August 7th.

We putzed around on the boat most of the day.  Teresa went grocery shopping, Ron did a few more jobs, and then we took the car back to Hodgdons and cycled back to the boat. 

DEYC have a mooring on the outer harbor, at 43 50.81N 069 38.06W, so we decided try it out.  It’s probably a bit rolly out there with prevailing SW winds, but we had NW winds through the evening and a lot of the night, and were very comfortable.  And the mooring was great – it was outside the busy part of Boothbay harbor and gave a totally different perspective.  We didn’t have any near neighbours, swam off the boat and took sun showers in the cockpit.  Nice!  

And the sunset was not bad either.

Ships Log: 6000, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 304.8

Saturday August 6th.

Ron moved the boat to a mooring at Browns since no one would be on the boat most of the day.  He finished up a few boat jobs, then cycled to Southport, picked up the car and drove to Great Bay Marina in Newington, NH.  We’re planning on wintering Quinita there.  Teresa drove there from CT, and we left her car there so that we’d have a car available to us when we laid up. 

We drove back to Boothbay, via Lewiston, which happens to be the home of Baxters Brewing Company, Ron’s new favourite brewery.  He took in a growler or 2, but was informed that Maine law prohibits breweries from filling other breweries growlers.  This is stupid!  Please write to your senators!!!  To make matters worse, they didn’t have any growlers of their own so Ron was out of luck.  Having driven perhaps 40 miles out of our way, we were only able to pick up a few cans! 

It was not all bad though.  Lewiston has a fine Indian restaurant where we dined before returning to the boat. 

Ships Log: 6000, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 304.8

Wednesday August 3rd – Friday August 5th.

The hot sunny weather continues as we set about a few jobs on Quinita.  We docked for a few hours to do laundry, refill water tanks and clean the hulls and then returned to a DEYC mooring. 

We cycled to Hodgdons at Southport to pick up Teresa’s car and discuss our screecher problem with their rigging guys.  It seems that replacement furlers start at $1,000!  We’ll see.  Unbeknown to us at the time, Brenda and Vin and other friends from the Corinthiian Cruise were at Hodgdons marina for the night.  We found out via text, and met up with them for dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants at Robinsons’s Wharf.

On Thursday, Teresa left for CT to visit her mom.  Ron continued working on the to-do list. 

Ships Log: 6000.00, Todays Log: 0.00, Seasons Total: 304.8

Tuesday August 2nd.

The tides we not favourable to sail to Boothbay Harbor until midday, so we went ashore and took the walk we didn’t manage yesterday.  A very nice, peaceful area. 

Winds were promising for a sail to Boothbay Harbor and we set off just before noon and we were soon enjoying a sedate sail towards Boothbay.  The winds were light however, and eventually we had a boat speed of 0, so the engines went on.  Better than nothing though! 

Whenever we anchor or pick up a mooring, we record the ships log and GPS position for this very blog.  Today, on arrival at Boothbay, the log read exactly 6000.00nm. 

We cleaned up the boat and went for a short bike ride before dinner. 

Ships Log: 6000.00, Todays Log: 8.9, Seasons Total: 304.8

Tuesday August 2nd.

The tides we not favourable to sail to Boothbay Harbor until midday, so we went ashore and took the walk we didn’t manage yesterday.  A very nice, peaceful area. 

Winds were promising for a sail to Boothbay Harbor and we set off just before noon and we were soon enjoying a sedate sail towards Boothbay.  The winds were light however, and eventually we had a boat speed of 0, so the engines went on.  Better than nothing though! 

Whenever we anchor or pick up a mooring, we record the ships log and GPS position for this very blog.  Today, on arrival at Boothbay, the log read exactly 6000.00nm. 

We cleaned up the boat and went for a short bike ride before dinner. 

Ships Log: 6000.00, Todays Log: 8.9, Seasons Total: 304.8

Monday August 1st.

For the first time in several days, we had enough wind to sail and so we did.  It lasted 11 minutes L.

And then we motored to Pemaquid Harbor, 43 52.99N 069 30.93W.  We had planned to anchor, and did in fact drop the hook, but soon realized we were too close to the many moored boated.  So we headed up the harbour in search of a favourable anchoring spot.  Then we had a better idea – we checked the DEYC mooring share system, found a free mooring and picked it up. 

We went ashore for a walk and found a ranger giving a guided tour around the Pemaquid Fort and 17^th century settlement, so we joined in with the group and enjoyed the informative talk. 

Dinner back on Quinita was preceded by a delicious mackerel appetizer, although there was way too much for an appetizer, so we kept some for lunch tomorrow. 

Ships Log: 5991.1, Todays Log: 14.7, Seasons Total: 295.9

Sunday July 31st.

We haven’t seen any wind for several days and there’s none in the forecast for the next few days.  So we motored to Port Clyde, 43 55.41N 069 15.68W.  We did have 2-5 knots of following wind, and a fair tide all day, so we made good time to our destination. 

We took a short walk to the local lighthouse.  Then a longer walk to the other side of town.  It’s a pretty town and very quiet.

Ron tried his hand at fishing and struck gold – 6 mackerel, 1 got away, 1 thrown back and 4 keepers.

Ships Log: 5976.4, Todays Log: 20.2, Seasons Total: 281.2

Saturday July 30th.

Another hot and windless day.  We went to a wonderful farmer’s market in the morning and stocked up on fresh vegetables.  We got back to Quinita just in time to watch the parade of sail through the harbour.  Most of the boats were beautiful,  some were huge and very expensive.  Here’s a link to Belle Aventure. 

After the parade we took a bike ride to Rockport, 44 11.07N 69 04.57W.  Ron then continued riding south to Owls Head Transportation Museum, while Teresa headed back north to hike the Camden Hills. 

The Transportation Museum was well worth the visit, with cars, motor cycles and aeroplanes dating back to the beginnings of their respective histories. 

And the views from the Camden Hills were spectacular. 

In the evening we had one of the best meals ever at a restaurant called Fresh.  Highly recommended!

Ships Log: 5956.2, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 261

Friday July 29th.

Yippee, Microsoft will stop offering me the free upgrade to Windows 10 at midnight tonight!

The day dawned foggy and damp.  We had planned to leave around 10am anyway to minimize the foul tides we would otherwise get.  As it happened, the fog burned off around that time and so we set off.  There was no wind, and we motored all the way to Camden, 44 12.40N, 069 03.55W. 

We picked up a nice mooring, close to the town center, and went ashore to explore.  They have ice cream shops here!  They also have an Opera House which was playing Casablanca as a play later in the evening.   The play was entertaining – performed by only 5 actors doubling up on many roles – despite the fact that the movie has 70 or so speaking parts. 

Ships Log: 5956.2, Todays Log: 16.8, Seasons Total: 261

Thursday July 28th.

We set off early to catch the tide to Seal Bay on Vinal Haven, 44 05.89N 068 48.07W with a nice close reach and 8-10 knot winds.  Twice throughout the day the winds died in between the several island we were passing though, and we found ourselves with no wind, plenty of lobster pots and ½ knot currents.  So reluctantly, the engines went on, but we only needed them for 7 minutes and then 4 minutes to get us back to clear air and good sailing breezes.  So all in all it was a very nice sail. 

On the way we passed Halibut Ledge, 44 06.56N 68 41.59W, and saw a hundred or so seals basking in the sunshine. 

We arrived at Seal Bay just in time to drop the hook, clean up the boat and have lunch.  This is another beautiful harbour, and so far we have it to ourselves.  We took a little dinghy tour, then had a relaxing afternoon. 

We almost had the bay to ourselves, but 2 very expensive looking powerboats dropped anchor in the bay late in the afternoon.  Fortunately, they were a distance away from us. 

Ships Log: 5939.4, Todays Log: 15.8, Seasons Total: 244.2

Wednesday July 27th.

We had a nice breeze when we left the mooring at 10:30 for Burnt Coat Island, 44 08.46N 068 26.85W, however it didn’t last and we ended up motoring for 1½ hours, sailing for 1½ and then motoring for 2 hours L. 

We tried dropping the hook in the harbour, but it fouled on weed and since the guide book suggested that weed was a problem, we decided to pick up a visitor mooring instead.  The line on the mooring was about 1½” in diameter, so we felt pretty secure!  We went ashore to pay for the mooring, but couldn’t find anyone.  So we had a nice walk to the lighthouse on Hockamock Head, 44 08.00N 068 26.75W.  There are lovely hiking trails through the woods around the lighthouse.

There’s a green navigation buoy just off the head and about 6 young guys were having a great time playing on it.  These buoys are huge, although sometimes when looking for them at sea, you wouldn’t think so.  The boys on the buoy were probably 16 or 17 years old, but when standing on the base of the buoy, only came half way to the top of it.  Their favorite game seemed to be to leave one guy on the top, while the other 5 rocked the buoy back and forth, eventually weighing it down to almost horizontal.  Then the 5 ‘ballast’ guys would let go and catapult the guy on the top off.  I wish that game had been invented when I was 16!

Ron went fishing with his new mackerel lure and caught a huge mackerel.  If he catches another tomorrow, there’ll be enough for an appetizer!

In the evening, we were treated to another sight of the 120’ (or so) schooner “Heritage”.  This was the same ship we described dropping anchor under sail in Boothbay harbor on their windjammer days.  

When we entered the harbor, we took the tickle channel, which our book described as tricky.  We entered very cautiously, using  engines, and with Ron on the bow looking for rocks and lobster pots and eresa at the helm.  “Heritage”, on the other hand, came in very sedately, with all sails set and calmly gave us another demonstration of anchoring under sail.  Nice!

Ships Log: 5923.6, Todays Log: 17.5, Seasons Total: 228.4

Tuesday July 26th.

We took a bus to the South Ridge hiking trail over Cadillac Mountain.  It was a beautiful hike to the summit where there was a parking lot and hundreds of ‘tourists’.  We continued the hike down the other side (with stunning views of Frenchman’s Bay) to where we were expecting to pick up a bus to take us home.  The buses run very much to schedule, so after waiting for ½ hour and the bus was 10 minutes late, we called the bus company who informed us we were waiting at the wrong place.  By now we had missed the last bus, so started hitch hiking.  A park ranger stopped, (didn’t arrest us for illegal hitch hiking), and dropped us at the welcome center where we picked up a bus to Bar Harbor, then another to NE harbor and Quinita.  We picked up some take out lobster rolls in Bar Harbor, got back to the boat at around 8:30pm, had a quick and much needed shower, and dined aboard. 

Ships Log: 5906.1, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 210.9

Monday July 25th

No wind, so we motored from Somes to NE Harbour, 44 17.74N 068 16.90W.  We hadn’t been in a grocery friendly town for 6 nights, so went grocery shopping.  We had been warned that it was very expensive here, and confirmed that it was.  Laundry followed in the very nice Yachtsman’s Lounge. 

In the afternoon we visited 2 beautiful gardens,  Asticou and Thuya by bicycle then returned to the boat and dinghied over to Asticou hotel for a very nice dinner overlooking the harbor as the fog rolled in and out.

Ships Log: 5906.1, Todays Log: 5.5, Seasons Total: 210.9