Stage Island, ME

After fourteen days moored at Centerboard Yacht Club in South Portland, we continued on our journey down the coast of Maine on Monday, August 29.  We left at 10 a.m. for a four hour journey to an anchorage by Stage Island.  The weather was unsettled and the winds were 20 mph gusting up to 25,  but the conditions were not too terrible. We passed a beautiful lighthouse on Cape Elizabeth as we made our way down the coast.

We made it to Stage Island by 2 pm and maneuvered our way through a mess of lobster pots on our way into the small cove. There were rocks on the right of us and rocks on the left and plenty of rocks in the middle but we safely made our way in where only one other boat, a sailboat, was anchored.  The tides are very extreme here and the high tide does not show all the rocks that emerge as it ebbs so we had to be very careful where we anchored. It took us about three tries before we got it right.

Jonny proceeded to take Archie into shore for a walk on a small uninhabited island that is a part of Maine’s extensive network of nature conservancies.  He signed into the guest book and gave Archie some exercise on the trail and along the shoreline.

That evening we had crab cakes, corn on the cob and salad in the new wooden salad bowl that Robbie had made for us.

Outside we could hear the waves crashing and the wind blowing but we were nice and secure.  We did however, experience a lot more rocking and rolling than we expected but it did lull us to sleep quite easily!

South Portland, ME

We arrived at the Centerboard Yacht Club on Tuesday, August 16 at 1:25 after a lovely five and a half hour cruise from our mooring at Bittersweet Landing Marina in S. Bristol.

We have been blessed with the most perfect weather on this trip - so lucky!  As soon as we tied up to our mooring, we headed for the grocery store which was a pretty good walk. Much of it was on a very nice bicycle and walking trail that went along the waterfront. We stocked up on a few supplies but we would be spending the next 10 days traveling away from Zendo so we didn’t need a lot.

The next day, August 17, was our 36th wedding anniversary and we had planned to go into Portland for a nice lunch or dinner.  But this was the first day on our whole trip that it rained most of the day. Jonny prepared a lovely breakfast of homemade blueberry biscuits using wild Maine blueberries.

Jonny ventured out to walk Archie  a few times but we mostly stayed in and were cozy all day. I managed to be somewhat productive and defrosted the freezer which has to be done every few weeks. It’s quite satisfying  to see a huge sheet of ice be released! (The little things in life that can be be so enjoyable!)

We made up for our sloth the next day by having a very special celebratory lunch at a cool Portland restaurant called Central Provisions. It has very unique small plates and every item we had was delicious!

Afterwards we walked all through downtown Portland and visited the Portland Art Museum which we quite enjoyed.

We have invested in no less than five wild blueberry pies on this trip to Maine and especially loved this sweet sign!

Later in the afternoon we dinghied over to a marina in South Portland where Joe and Pat were staying. They would be leaving for their home in Falmouth, MA the next day and we’ll be joining them there in September when we all go out to the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound for an MTOA sponsored cruise.  All in all, it was a very fun day!

On Friday, Stephanie and Ryan flew into Boston from Philly where Andy’s daughter Samantha picked them up. They drove to Portland and we met them for lunch at Duckfat, another delicious place to eat.  Fun fact - apparently Portland has more restaurants per capita than any city in the US including San Francisco!  Afterwards we picked up our Enterprise rental car (they upgraded us to a BMW at no extra charge) and drove about 90 minutes to West Paris for the wedding celebration of Chloe and JA - Chloe being Jonny’s cousins Rob and Linda’s daughter.  She met JA (Jon Ander) in Spain when she was studying abroad and they have been married for 6 years but never had a proper wedding celebration with the whole family. So the weekend party was planned at Rob and Linda’s home in W. Paris.   I had booked a big house on AirBnb so we could all stay there (Stephanie, Ryan, Andy, Ed, Samantha and Jonny and me).  It turned out to be a historic home in a very lovely hamlet known as Paris Hill.  It was next door to a beautiful stately home that had been owned by Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Lincoln’s first Vice President.  All the homes and buildings on the nearby streets were very historic and all were beautifully maintained. This little neighborhood was a surprising treat for us!

That night the family hosted a fabulous lobster dinner with all the fixings and, of course, an open bar.  It was quite special as well because many of JA’s family had flown in from Spain (Bilbao and Madrid) so there was a big Spanish contingent. Some, but not all, spoke English but everyone got along swimmingly.  We ate and drank and danced all night in the beautiful setting that is Rob and Linda’s home ((built by Rob) at the top of Pinnacle Mountain. 

On Saturday, we hiked all around the area we were staying in and went out to lunch with more of Jonny’s cousins who had come in from Toronto and Seattle.

Later, we got ready for the actual wedding celebration. It was a lovely event with an amazing array of Spanish tapas followed by brick oven pizzas for all. Of course, all this was followed by hours of dancing and drinking. It was such a nice affair with family and friends from as far away as Seattle, Toronto and of course, Spain.

As if that weren’t enough we were all invited back for bagels and bloodies the next morning. Archie got to participate in all of it and especially enjoyed chewing on the lobster legs that were left behind!

We returned to Zendo for a few days where we did boat chores and treated ourselves to another lunch at Central Provisions.  On Thursday we picked up another rental car (and got upgraded again) and drove four hours down east to Harrington, ME. We  made the obligatory stop at L.L. Bean which has four or five different stores spread across several blocks in Freeport. We were good and only bought one item - a new backpack for Jonny!

Five years ago Robbie and Linda bought a waterfront lot in Harrington and they have been building a cottage there - they have literally built it themselves, furniture and all! Rob is a gifted wood sculptor and builder and had a vision for a waterfront cottage down east for many years. With the help of his family and friends he has achieved his dream! It is in a beautiful very rural setting. The shoreline is lined with huge granite outcroppings and the cottage overlooks a peaceful bay. Rob has a small sailboat, several kayaks and has rigged tie lines to make it easier to manage the very high and low tides. It’s a bucolic setting and we spent three days there hiking and exploring this beautiful, rustic part of Maine.

Jonny and Rob went sailing one day and clamming another day. We had steamers and corn on the cob and delicious vegetables from their huge garden in W. Paris.  It was a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable time and we greatly appreciate Rob and Linda’s hospitality over the course of the past week. We’re pretty sure they could use a few more days to recuperate from all their entertaining! On our last night there we watched a magnificent sunset from their shoreline perch.

On Sunday after a beautiful walk on a nearby spit of land with a crescent beach, we took our leave and headed back to Zendo. This was the last night of our wonderful visit and we only have a few more days of travel left in Maine.

South Bristol, ME

We left our lovely and peaceful Burnt Island anchorage at 7:50 after Jonny took Archie for one last walk on the island. Tuesday, August 15 was another absolutely beautiful day! We have been so fortunate with the weather this year. All the Mainers have commented on it though they do say they could use a little more rain.  Our plan for the the day was to go to Christmas Cove but they didn’t have a mooring for us and there was no room to anchor. So we cruised the beautiful Maine coast past Vinalhaven,  North Haven and Whitehead Island while we searched for other options.

Before too long we found the uniquely named Bittersweet Landing Marina in South Bristol.  It is run by a very engaging gentleman named Mike who had received excellent reviews on Active Captain.

We arrived by 2:20 and Mike found us a mooring in the long rather rather narrow harbor there.  This harbor is filled with lobster and fishing boats. Many of them were piled high with lobster traps.  We were curious as to why they weren’t out in the water and Mike explained that the fishermen had two sets of traps. They could quickly replace the ones they just brought in with these and clean the used ones later.

Joe, Jonny and I took our dinghy in to check out the town and walk Archie.  South Bristol is clearly not a tourist town though there are many second homes for people who come for the summer.  There are no cute gift shops or tee shirt shops (thankfully) but there was a small grocery store with lobster tanks out back.  

Mike recommended that we go to the South Bristol Lobsterman Cooperative where we could order a lobster dinner to take back to the boat or eat on the deck. We went in to see what they had and ordered four dinners for later in the day from the lovely young lady who worked there. They were advertising a rosemary clam chowder which sounded delicious but they were all out. The young woman, a college student in Halifax Nova Scotia, found one last serving for Jonny and me and it was delicious!

We walked around the tiny town looking for the boatyard so we could pay Mike.

We were told by a friendly local that we had to cross the bridge that spanned The Gut to get to Mike’s office.  The Gut is a very narrow water passage that connects Johns Bay and Booth Bay. The bridge is a small counter-levered draw bridge that raises on demand. We waited a few minutes for it to go down and then found our way to Mike’s boatyard.

Later that evening, Jonny made two trips on the dinghy to take us all to the lobster co-op for our feast. We had steamers, lobster, corn on the cob and cole slaw.  We haven’t gotten tired of this traditional Maine dinner yet! We brought our own drinks and they provided all four dinners on one huge tray.  We’ve found that the price of lobster dinners is not as high as we were expecting. In fact we’ve paid between $25 - $30 for all of our lobster dinners.  If we wanted to buy the lobster and bring it back to the boat to cook it, the prices were much lower. Here’s a before and after picture of our dinner tray (photos courtesy of Joe)!.

After our feast, we dropped Joe and Pat off at Glory Days and took Archie for a sunset spin around the harbor. South Bristol was quite a find for us and we’re happy we discovered it!