Four Days in Northeast Harbor

On Monday we packed our backpack and Pretzel for a trip to Bar Harbor via the "Island Explorer", a bus system which transports all over Mt Desert Island. It is free, contributions accepted, and leaves often enough for it to be very convenient. Ll Bean funds the bus service which is propane powered. We had been to Bar Harbor before when Sarah & Natalie were small but remembered little. I'm sure there have been many changes since then. Lunch was on the dock at a fish restaurant. We love the dog friendly atmosphere here where many places accept dogs for outside dining spaces! Pretzel got a new bed and new wheeled carrier at the local store, "Bark Harbor". What a lucky dog!

Tuesday was a back to basics day. After breakfast we had a 10:30 time to pull up to the commercial dock to pump out the holding tanks. There is no overboard dumping of waste within 3 miles of the coastline so we have to use the pump out facilities in different ports. After that nasty business was taken care of we pulled alongside the water float and washed the entire boat...only the second time in 3 weeks...and filled any empty water tanks. We have 3 water tanks which carry a total of apx. 150gal. So any time it is convenient we try to top up tanks with fresh water.

Once the boat was tied up to our floating dock again, Jane went into the dingy to wash the starboard hull and pull of some green growth just under the water line. She couldn't get it all but discovered that the local ducks love eating it off the boat!! After an afternoon nap we grilled dinner then into town for an ice cream. Life is Good!!!!!

We woke on Wednesday to clouds and a little fog out the bay but decided to take the boat North up Somes Sound. It is technically the only fjord on the Atlantic Eastern seacoast. It is a glacial river valley drowned by ocean, surrounded by the mountains on Mt Desert Island. It was a beautiful trip in our boat. We also admired some spectacular multi-million dollar homes along the eastern side of the sound. At the head of the sound we pulled into little Somes Harbor to tour around. We saw tents on platforms on one side of the harbor and realized it is the Mt Desert Campground we stayed at with our girls some 20 years ago! Never thought we would be seeing it again from the water! Finally, going South in Somes sound we had both sails out & engine off for about an hour. The wind was about 8K from the east so we had a nice gentle broad reach. Toward the end of the sound the wind increased to 12K and we had a great finish before turning our engine back on to return to Northeast Harbor. We returned to our float by 11AM so Jane took her shower while the water was hot. At noontime we had decided to travel on the bus again to Jordan Pond in Acadia Natn'l Park. Just before leaving, our friends from the marina, Dorsey & Bruce & Pepper, arrived in Northeast so we made plans for cocktails on their boat. Jordan Pond is a beautiful place with fabulous trails around the pond & property. We had lunch outside then made our way back to the boat.

Pretzel's friend, Pepper

It's 5 o'clock somewhere so over to s/v Esmerelda to visit with Bruce, Dorsey, and their Scottie, Pepper. Also joining us were Darcy and Cleave from New Hampshire who were celebrating their anniversary. We had a great time discussing all sorts of "sailing" news. Our return to Kinvara took a detour, however. On a dare from Bruce, Peter decided to take a shortcut between the pontoons of a catamaran moored nearby. Nearly took our heads off! After a chat with Eric & Bruce on the SSB that evening we had scrambled eggs for dinner (Jane was too "happy" to cook) and settled down for a little reading or snoozing!

Thanks Bruce, Dorsey & Pepper

It's Thursday morning and the weather is beautiful. It's raining again in Massachusetts but the storm will pass south of us here. Another glorious day! We decided to stay again tonight, get some laundry done, and plan our next move. The next 3-4 days are predicted to be sunny and hot so on the water is where we want to be. Peter had been working on making a snubber line to attach to our chain when anchored. He finished it and it looks great! What a sailor man!

To make up for the lack of dinner last night Jane decided to make chicken parmesan, roast potatoes, and fresh organic green beans, topped off with raspberry shortcake. We really do eat well on the boat!!!!

A look at the weather forecast predicts sunny days until Mon.-Tues.. So.... we have decided to leave tomorrow and start our trek back to Rhode Island. We are hoping for a few 7-10 hour days with Pretzel so we can stop 2 days to visit friends and maybe a night in Cuttyhunk, then be back at the marina by the 23rd. That will give us a week to get things organized with the boat before we drive to Florida. The GPS track will be mixed up but hopefully we can stay in different harbors than the trip North.