Saco River, ME

We left Newburyport at 7:30 on Tuesday, July 30 for a fairly long day’s journey up the coast. The skies were overcast and we had a very rolly passage due to ocean swells.  We considered making it a shorter trip but decided to push on because the following day was going to be worse.  During passages like this Jonny is at the helm the whole time (as he usually is) but he had to be much more attentive due into the rolling seas and the many lobster pots that have to be avoided.  I usually like to keep busy blogging, reading or doing needlepoint but when the conditions are like this all I can do is hold on to Archie (who is glued to me) and keep my eyes on the horizon.

We passed the New Hampshire coast and crossed into Maine and as we got closer to our destination we saw this scenic lighthouse called Wood Island Light. Sometime between 1886 and 1905 the keeper, Thomas H. Orcutt, had a dog named Sailor who became famous for ringing the station’s fog bell with  his mouth or paws. He was supposedly very intelligent and was known for understanding all that was said to him (unlike another dog that we know)!

We continued on until we came to the Sago River where there is a tiny vacation community called Camp Ellis.  The nearby beach was filled with happy vacationers. We arrived by 3 and heaved a big sigh of relief.

Jonny took Archie in right away for a walk and made our contribution to the town dock master since they don’t charge a formal mooring fee. 

Camp Ellis is a small community with mostly summer homes and this cute little general store.

That evening I made a dinner of sausage, pasta and salad and we had a quiet evening on board.

The next day, which was Wednesday, we needed to get to Portland because we had a 9 a.m. grooming appointment for Archie the following morning. It’s been very challenging to be able to get a grooming appointment for him because we are constantly on the move. Just like doctors, many of the groomers along the coast here are not taking new clients so I was lucky to get this appointment time which had to be made weeks in advance!