Rockport, MA

Jonny took Archie in for a quick walk on Malaga Island on the morning of Friday, September 2. Smuttynose Island is next to it and because it was low tide, you could walk between the two in the shallow water. A man on Smuttynose was with a group of boys and called out to Jonny to warn him that the morning wake-up cannon was about to go off and he didn’t want to scare Archie. But Archie was oblivious and unfazed by the cannon fire and only wanted to run over to greet the man.  By the way, Smuttynose has that name due to all the bird droppings on it and there is more than one Smuttynose Island in Maine. Lots of islands here and lots of birds!

We left our mooring by 8:35 for a three hour cruise to Rockport, MA. It was a beautiful day with sunny skies, highs in the low 70’s and no wind to speak of.

We dropped anchor in an anchorage adjacent to Rockport’s mooring field across from a beach,  We took the dinghy around the point to Rockport Harbor and tied up at the dinghy dock there passing by Motif #1, the red boat house made famous by so many artists. The last time we were here, seven years ago, we were able to tie up to it.  This time there were three other boats already there.

We started to walk up one of the main streets bound for a restaurant that Jonny’s cousin Aviva had recommended to us. It was owned by a young woman she had met in Spain. But then Jonny realized we needed fuel for the dinghy and there are no marinas in Rockport.  He found a nearby Cumberland Farms and walked back to the dinghy to get the fuel can.  But unfortunately this Cumberland Farms had no fuel so we proceeded, fuel can in hand, to the The Whale’s Jaw for lunch.

What a cute restaurant! We met Kristin, the owner and Avi’s friend. who was very warm and gracious. She even loaned Jonny her car to drive to the gas station for fuel.  We had a very delicious lunch and enjoyed the performance of a local singer-guitarist who played lots of great songs from our era. Jonny made a quick trip to get fuel and drop it off at the dinghy so we didn’t have to lug a can of fuel around the streets of Rockport,   He was chagrined when he returned because the handle on the passenger door fell off when he tried to open it! But Kristin assured him that she knew about the problem and neglected to tell him.

After we left, we walked all around charming Rockport, a lovely and interesting town. It is very old and artsy with lots of cool shops and funky New England style cottages around every corner.

On the way back to the dinghy dock we met a woman who was walking her dog. She was very friendly and urged us to follow her so she could show us the walk along the headlands. What a beautiful rocky walk with panoramic views over Rockland Harbor! She was justified in being proud of this vista and her historic and quintessential New England town.

We headed back to Zendo after exploring a closer option for tying up the dinghy.

We had leftovers for dinner and while I was washing dishes afterwards, the water stopped flowing! What to do? Jonny ran around trying to discern the problem and decided that we had a leak in our fresh water system.  It was dark and late and there was no way to start looking for the source of the problem at 9 p.m. so he shut the system off.  Fortunately we had a couple of gallons of distilled water to tide us over for the evening,  It is also Labor Day weekend and we were bound for Provincetown the next day.  Finding help to fix the issue and even finding a marina to stay at was not at all feasible,  So we managed to clean the rest of the dishes and decided to go out early the next morning to that Cumberland Farms store to buy a bunch of water to tide us over until we could get to Falmouth and fix the problem.

Never a dull moment on the high seas!

Isles of Shoals, ME

On this first day of September we waited until the wind died down before leaving our mooring at York.  We dinghied in at low tide to use the WI-FI at the dockside restaurant because our coverage on the boat and even in town was practically non-existent.  Although the restaurant wasn’t open, a helpful employee gave us their WI-FI and I was able to load my blog.

A bit later we took Zendo in to fill our water tanks near this extensive array of dinghies.

After eating lunch onboard we left for the Isles of Shoals at 1 since the wind had abated quite a bit. The seas were amazinfgly calm and we had a very pleasant and short run to Isles of Shoals arriving at 2:35. We picked up a mooring between Star and Smuttynose Islands (2 of the five that make up the Isles of Shoals). Although the mooring was pretty rolly, this was the closest we could be to the one island that allowed dogs.  None of the others did!

Jonny took Archie in to walk him on the rocky outcroppings that line the shores of tiny Malaga Island. Archie was like a mountain goat hopping from rock to rock. And the water surrounding the island was amazingly clear!

Jonny then cruised around to the other side of the bay to see if anchoring there would be calmer than our current situation. The challenges in the new location were that there were big ocean swells, no moorings (not a problem for us), and a very long dinghy ride to take Archie to do his business.  We decided not to move.

Jonny and I then left Archie on board while we went in to Star Island, the biggest of the group, to explore. Unfortunately we didn’t get there until 4:50 and the dinghy dock closes and no visitors are allowed past 5!  It was disappointing but we managed to do a quick walk around and snap a few pictures.  There is a very large conference center and several outbuildings on the island.  Many church groups use it for retreats as it is owned by the Unitarian-Universalist Church. It was a stunning setting and  it appeared to be in use by one or two groups of people.

There was even a historic cemetery on the island. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of these sweet little row boats ready for action. We obediently, if reluctantly, returned to the dock at 5 as requested and went back to Zendo for dinner.

I had prepared a new recipe - a Greek chicken and cauliflower dish that turned out surprisingly good!  We ate it as we watched this beautiful sunset.

That evening we had a Zoom call with the group of Cité condo owners who have hired a lawyer to protest a decision made by our board of directors to sell development rights without informing us owners in advance. After that, I watched Biden speak to the nation from Philadelphia about his concern with the MAGA influence on our democracy. I thought it was a strong, well-delivered speech and clearly lots more needs to be done to turn the tide on the negative direction in which much of the country is headed.

On a bittersweet note, we have now ended our journey along the coast of Maine which has been most enjoyable. Here is a map of that craggy coastline. We saw many new places on this trip and revisited a few from a previous cruise. We are both convinced that we would like to come back and reach even further down east in the future, perhaps as far as New Brunswick!

York, ME

We took our time leaving perfect little Perkins Cove on the last day of August. It had rained during the night and Jonny waited for things to dry before taking Archie in for his morning walk. Eventually, they headed out and walked over a long footbridge to circumnavigate the cove.

We only had a one hour cruise to our next stop in York so we didn’t leave until 10:25. It was a stunningly beautiful day and a bit breezy with winds of 10 - 15 knots, but we had a very smooth and comfortable passage.  We passed many magnificent shoreline homes along this more populated part of southern Maine as well as the quintessential Nubble lighthouse off of Cape Neddick.

There was a raging current, which we had read about, as we entered York harbor.  But, of course, Jonny managed it masterfully.  We contacted the harbormaster by phone (he was not in that day) and he directed us to our mooring. Once we tied up, we had a leisurely lunch and then headed into shore to explore the area.  Archie is always happy to ride in the dinghy, one of his favorite things to do!

We walked across the Wriggly Bridge to a beautifully maintained nature preserve. Archie got to explore it off leash, another of his favorite things to do. It was a tranquil spot and provided us all with a wonderful walk in the woods. 

From there we hiked up into the historic town of York.  We had read that it was one of the prettiest towns around but we were a little disappointed. There were a few historic structures but the road through town was quite busy and this part of town had no commercial establishments nor did it have an accessible collection of historic residences.  There may be another part of town that had more of that but it was too far for us to walk.  

Instead we strolled for awhile along the Fisherman’s Walk which was a lovely walkway along the coast.

Cell phone and internet coverage aboard Zendo was basically non-existent even with our hot spot and quite spotty on shore as well.    We did manage to find a picnic table along the shore where we were able to call Jonny’s mom, Janice, and connect briefly to the internet.

That night we were unable to watch our favorite PBS New Hour but we coped! Jonny made us delicious Perfect Manhattans and I made sausage, pasta and salad for dinner and we had another cozy night together.

Perkins Cove, ME

After a pretty rolly night on anchorage, we were anxious to move on to greener pastures. The forecast was a fairly windy one on Tuesday, August 29 and we are trying to extend our stay in Maine to the entire month of August.  To that end we were deciding whether to go to Kennebunkport, Perkins Cove, Ogunquit or York. We thought we would see how comfortable the cruise was once we got out there and then decide.

So we pulled up anchor at 10 and headed out.  As predicted, it wasn’t smooth sailing with the wind blowing at 20-25 mph and 3-4 foot foot seas.  It wasn’t the worse we’ve been through but it wasn’t much fun.  We wanted to go someplace new and since we had been to Kennebunkport before, we decided to go to Perkins Cove which sounded very pretty.  The guidebook noted the challenge of getting in there as well being able to secure a mooring,  but we were lucky and Jonny spoke to the friendly harbormaster who encouraged us to come on in.

When we entered the channel into Perkins Cove, we knew we had made a good decision.  Of course, the seas calmed down immediately.  We tied up temporarily to a dock and the young, handsome harbormaster took Jonny on his skiff to show him our mooring and the special way we needed to tie up to it in the small and crowded harbor.  We proceeded to move Zendo to a prime spot in the middle of the harbor.  Perkins Cove is a totally charming village.  The harbor is filled with well-kept fishing boats and sailboats. We were so close to shore that Jonny rowed us in on our dinghy.  What a beautiful, charming village! It was originally a small fishing community and artists colony and is part of the town of Ogunquit.

By this time we were hungry for lunch so we headed into the village, past the harbormaster’s office and a few shops and on to the nearby Lobster Shack where we had fish chowder and lobster rolls and chatted with the doorman, other diners (one of whom lived in Miami) and the owner.

Afterwards we walked along the 1.5 mile Marginal Way.  This is an amazingly scenic cliff walk along the shore that ends in Ogunquit. It is a magnificent rocky shoreline with a few little beaches (and one larger one) along the way.  The views are outstanding and never-ending.

Once we reached Ogunquit we walked around a little but did not venture throughout the town as we had a long walk back. Ogunquit is bigger, very nice, but a bit more touristy than tiny Perkins Cove, which we preferred.

It was quite sunny and hot as we walked back to Perkins Cove where all three of us (Archie included) took naps once we returned to Zendo!

That evening we had salmon, roasted broccoli and the rest of our corn on the cob for dinner.  At 8:30 we rowed the dinghy into town to give Archie one last walk and to indulge ourselves with a shared ice cream before the shop closed at 9.  We decided that Perkins Cove is another one of our favorite stops on this Maine cruise!

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!