Rockland is more of a working town and a lot less touristy. We did visit two museums and the Puffin Project sponsored by the Audobon Society. The Sail Power and Steam Museum is a small museum started by Captain Jim Sharp, who is quite a character. He is a one man show who seems to run everything there. For a “donation” you get a potable DVD player that you follow along as Captain Sharp describes what you are seeing and adds in his own stories. It was quite a hoot. The Lighthouse Museum wasn’t quite as good but had some interesting exhibits. We did have a good seafood meal and was able to borrow the loaner car at the marina to make a Walmart run. Even though it rained most of the time, we did manage to get some walking in. Overall, a nice visit and a great marina.
Pulpit Harbor was a convenient anchorage to kill a day before going to Rockland. I was debating to even include it on the BLOG. As it turned out, it was rather interesting. It was a rainy, misty, foggy day so there wasn’t much to look at or do. It was only an hour or so from Camden so we had most of the day to kill. To pass time I even listened to the USCG weather report on the radio. “Monday, 50% chance of showers, patchy fog, a high of 70°, low in the high fifties. Tuesday, 50% chance of showers, patchy fog, a high of 70°, low in the high fifties. Wednesday, 50% chance of showers, patchy fog, a high of 70°, low in the high fifties…” This went on for the full report for the next week. Sandy and I thought it was quite funny and would occasionally ask each other what the weather is going to be like and break out laughing. You have to do something to entertain yourselves while sitting on a boat in the fog and rain. In the late afternoon we noticed some large sailing ships in the main channel and soon one was approaching the inlet to Pulpit Harbor. He came right in an anchored on the far side. Pretty quickly two more came in and anchored. The last two didn’t have an engine so the first of those had a tender or skiff pushing him in. The last ship came in under full sail, shot across our bow then did a quick U-turn to come back. This was intended to bleed off speed and find a spot to anchor assume. As they turned up and away from us then dropped the forward sails to come to a stop and dropped the anchor. I should have recorded it because it was very impressive. What was not impressive was them eating dinner under an awning outside in the rain while we were snug in the pilothouse watching them. Two of the three were from the original Windjammer schooners (Mercantile and Grace-Bailey). You just never know how a day will turn out.
It was looking like rain for a few days so we decided that we could explore a town in the rain rather than sitting on the boat. On Saturday (6/24) we headed out in a drizzle and arrived in said drizzle at Camden. We are staying on the dock at the Lyman-Morse Marina which is usually hard to get. We seem to be still in the off season which lasts until July 4 when things heat up literally and figuratively. So far, the weather has been in the high 50’s to low 60’s with occasional rain and some warmer sunny days now and then. I look on the bright side, umm cloudy side(?), and we don’t need to wash down the boat as often. We let nature do it. Of course, Sunday was sunny and warm, which I’m not complaining about, but so much for planning. Camden is a beautiful little town but is definitely more popular and crowded. It has lots of gift shops and the like but still a nice place to walk around. The waterfall in town and the library are pretty cool places to check out.
After a few days of anchoring out we went into town and stayed at a marina in Belfast. A super little town that hasn’t been “discovered” by the masses. We had a great breakfast at an old-fashioned diner and an excellent birthday meal at a very good Italian restaurant. All topped off with blueberry pie a la mode made by a local. Most of the harbor is taken up by Front Street Shipyard and saw several Nordy’s including Alchemy and Journey. Hopefully we’ll see them again. The only negative is we finally broke out the bikes and discovered how out of shape we are. Since the boat is a sea level, duh, the grocery store we biked to was on top of the hill. Way up the hill. It was painful getting there but kind of fun coming back.
After our failure to go ashore at Jewell Island, we have a second chance at Holbrook Island State Park. We anchored in a large bay next to Holbrook Island but just a hop, skip and jump from Castine Maine. The sail up from Seal Bay was only two hours so we splashed the Hare and took off for Castine. I really didn’t know much about Castine and didn’t really have much expectation. What we found was a really nice small town with lots of history. For example, it was the site of the worst naval disaster until Pearl Harbor. It is also home to the Maine Maritime Academy where you can get a four-year degree in all things nautical.
Holbrook Island had a convenient dock where we tied up the Hare and explored several trails on the island. Even managed to scare up one of the deer. The scenery here is amazing.
Seal Bay was one destination I was looking forward to. It is absolutely breathtaking. We came in and took a peek at Winter Harbor which is beautiful as well. There was bad weather coming in and it wasn’t quite as protected as Seal Bay. We went around the corner to Seal Bay and found a nice protected anchorage for our stay. We splashed the Hare and took a quick tour around the area and spotted several Harbor Seals in the water and sunning themselves on their favorite rock. On Friday we took a little stroll on a small island, OK more like a large rock. As predicted, the bad weather came in on Saturday and the anchor reset itself a couple of times for two reasons. One, the boat did a 360 so it probably pulled it up the first time because of it. The second because I didn’t interpret the painted length markers on the chain correctly and didn’t have enough scope for the depth. Oops. Other than that is was a great visit.
Finally, yes finally, we made it out of Portland. Unexpectedly, the generator was an easy fix. The Hare, not so much. The battery cable needed to be replaced and would take several days to get the Yamaha replacement. We opted for a custom made but, of course, the weekend was in the middle. Luckily for us, there was a music festival on Sunday and heard a great bluegrass band called Darlin’ Corey. Let’s just say some of the other bands were not quite my taste. We also had more good pizza from a local joint so we weren’t that put out by the wait.
We visited Ebenecook Harbor because it was a convenient stopping point on the way up to the Penobscot Bay area. It is a beautiful little area with a boat yard and moorings for the locals. We had a very peaceful night and started getting back into boat and anchoring mode.
The plan was to leave on Wednesday and do a shakeout at Jewell Island which is about an hour from Portland. The anchorage was a tight fit for Terrapin but we managed to find a good holding spot after about four tries. Jewell Island is a state park with some nice hiking trails and is only accessible by boat. We put the tender, known as the Hare, in the water and prepared to go ashore.
One interruption for boaty stuff. The crane that lowers the boat into the water runs on 240v electricity. That requires the generator to be running to power the crane.
I tried to start the Hare’s engine and no beuno. I just had the yard fix this issue before we left. Arrrg. We brought the tender back onboard to work on it and I went down to the engine room to get tools. I noticed water running down the inside floor which is not a good sign. I climbed back and the exhaust hose on the generator was spitting water all over the place. We shut down the generator, secured the Hare, pulled up anchor and headed back to Portland. We are once again sitting at Dimillos Marina. They think the exhaust leak will be fixed today along with the Hare. We will try to get out tomorrow morning and head up to Ebenecook Harbor near Boothbay for an overnighter. Second time is a charm, right?
Were back in Portland Maine at Dimillos Marina. We splashed the boat last Friday 5/19. Portland Yacht Services boat yard did an outstanding job of decommission and commissioning the boat. They had everything go at the agreed time and completed some key repairs/upgrades that were needed. Unfortunately, one of the repairs was to replace the batteries yet again. For some reason three were toast so we’ll be monitoring them closely. I finally replaced the anchor chain that was probably well overdue. I am jumping onto the Starlink bandwagon and having that installed next week. As part of that, the two domes on the top mast are being removed and the Starlink “dish” will sit on one side. The AIS transceiver was replaced and should be able to find Terrapin on Vessel Finder, yay! They will be installing a new FLIR night vision camera at the same time. My old camera never worked. With all of the crab and lobster traps around here, the FLIR camera is a must if we ever need to move at night.
If all goes to plan, and it never does, we should be starting our 2023 cruising on Sunday June 4th. The plan is to cruise the Maine coast North of Portland and, with luck, get to Halifax and Bras d’Or Lake on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
UPDATE: Supply chain issues caused us some problems. We couldn’t get parts to fix the water pump nor could we get a new pump. We had rented a car to drive back to Colorado with the intention of returning to Portland in early August. We altered our plans and toured Maine by car while waiting for the repairs to be completed. By the end of August we made the decision to winter the boat in Portland and resume cruising from there in 2023.
Made it to the other Portland, Portland ME. The plan was to stop here for the July 4th weekend and then visit some more places in Maine. Afterward, come back to Portland to haul the boat out for a month. Of course, since I am traveling on a boat my plans are written in sand at low tide. The freshwater pump had been not pressurizing completely and it finally stopped working after I tried fixing it. Yep, I know what you are probably thinking but, honestly, it was not really functional before I jumped in. The prospect of hanging on the hook without a flushy or, god forbid, a nice warm shower didn’t sound appealing. So, the new plan is to haul the boat out on Friday and splash the boat on or about August 5. I am having the water pump and some other items fixed including the AIS so our location can be tracked once again. We’ll see how this plan goes.
Portland is pretty darn nice and the people here are really friendly. I had someone offer me their car to use for running errands and I had just me them. We saw about the greatest July 4th fireworks that I have ever seen. It started with the city fireworks display which we could see from the boat. Those were pretty typical but enjoyable. After that finished, a tugboat came up the harbor with its own fireworks display. I guess they did this last year when the city cancelled their show. There was a continuous stream of fireworks coming from the back of the boat which went on for 10 to 15 minutes. All of the boats in the harbor started blowing their horns and I had to add Terrapin’s quite little horn, NOT!, to the mix. It was a blast.
As an aside, the first time I blew the horn on the boat I was operating from the fly bridge and the horn is about 3 feet away. When I blew the horn it was so loud I jumped and almost peed my pants. It is so powerful it has its own air compressor and tank to generate the sound. It is very, very loud and deep. Someone called it a "manly horn" and it definitely is.
We did get to see some of Portland and took a nice walk to see a car show at a park nearby. I am looking forward to seeing more of Maine. Colorado here we come!
