Maple Juice Cove, ME

On our last morning in Camden, Sunday August 25, we decided to have breakfast in town. There were a couple of popular breakfast spots in the center of town and we walked up to Mariner’s and put our name on the waiting list. That gave us one last chance to stroll through town and we walked up to the impressive and stately Camden Library that overlooks the harbor. It is not only a library but also a community center of sorts and the grounds are quite beautiful.  The stone walkways are engraved with quotes about books and reading from famous people such as Jacqueline Kennedy and others.

We had a very good breakfast seated on the small outdoor porch overlooking the harbor.  I’m not a big egg eater but my special of the day, a scramble with eggs, buratta, pumpkin seed pesto, and caramelized shallots was delicious and Jonny enjoyed his blueberry pancakes as well. We have to eat as many blueberries as we can while we are still in Maine!

I love this shot of the colorful skiffs lining the dinghy dock as we made our way to ours.

On our way back to Zendo we saw that Dan and Kathy had returned from their cruise and were unloading their trawler at the dock. We stopped to chat and thank them for the use of their mooring and for all the great advice on anchorages they have given to us on this trip. All their recommendations proved to be excellent! See the next photo for the schooner that Dan and Kathy skippered for many years.

We left lovely Camden Harbor at 11:05 passing by the many floats that are placed throughout the harbor,. These floats allow two to four boats to tie up to them instead of to mooring balls. We have used them in other places and they are effective and useful as space savers in a harbor.

Our initial idea was to cruise to Harbor Island until we realized that we had already been there!  We passed the picturesque Marshall Point Light as we cruised past Port Clyde.  The original keeper was Charles Clement Skinner who was a Civil War veteran and he lived there with his wife and six children from 1874 to 1919! 

We were still deciding between Maple Juice Cove as a destination or Port Clyde which has more of a town.  Eventually we chose to go to the whimsically named Maple Juice Cove because it was more remote and we had just been in a town for two days.  We arrived at this large, open cove by 3:10 and were essentially the only boat there!  We dinghied in to the nearby lobster dock which was also empty since it was Sunday.

We walked up the quiet country road.  

And we quickly came upon the house that is featured in Andrew Wyeth’s famous painting, Christina’s World.  We knew we were in Wyeth country but were surprised to be so close to one of Wyeth’s best known subjects.

Three generations of the family lived and painted in this part of the Maine coast. The house and surrounding property are currently under renovation. It is all owned by the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. The property is several acres and there is signage describing the various buildings. The parking lot was large enough to imply that the homesite gets plenty of visitors but everything was closed while we were there due to the renovations. Nonetheless, it was exciting to discover it in this remote corner of the world.  The setting was very pastoral and serene and the home was quite stark, just as it is in the painting. 

 

We continued our walk a bit further along the scenic country road

 then headed back to Zendo passing this lobster boat with a cute reference to its prey.

After a little relaxation we had delicious leftovers from Long Grain, the Asian restaurant in Camden.  By the time we finished eating, fog had unexpectedly rolled in totally obscuring any sight of the shore. We were fully socked in but thankfully we weren’t going anywhere. 

That night we watched the Miami Vice movie enjoying the scenes shot in our own Magic City. We are making our way slowly to Portland where our good friend Cathy Tisdale will be joining us in a couple of days.

Camden, ME

It was a beautiful day on Friday, August 23 when we left our Winter Harbor anchorage at 11 a.m. bound for Camden.  We crossed through the bottom of Penobscot Bay and passed the Curtis Island Light built in 1835 arriving in Camden by 1:50.

Dan and Kathy Pease had offered us to use their mooring in Camden Harbor and it took us at least 20 minutes to find it in that large harbor but we finally did. What a benefit to have use of a free mooring in this popular town! Camden is truly one of the prettiest towns in Maine and we hadn’t been here since 2015 so we were very happy.

Upon arriving, we dinghied into town and tied up at the very full dinghy dock next to a rushing waterfall (which turned out to be a mistake). 

We walked all through this lovely town with its upscale shops and many restaurants. We had to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreen’s which was very conveniently located in the center of town.  Jonny, unfortunately, discovered that one of his ATM cards is no longer functioning as he tried to withdraw case from a couple of ATMs.  Good thing we have back-ups!

After that we decided to find a place for happy hour and then eat dinner onboard. We found the Waterfront Restaurant to be right up our alley with a working man’s bar and a waterfront setting.  We enjoyed it so much so that we decided to stay for a bite to eat which included a huge portion of mussels and a fried oyster dinner which we shared sitting at the bar.  We have never had such a big serving of mussels. Delicious!

When we returned to the dinghy we discovered that it was inundated with flies! It turned out that being right next to the waterfall when the tide goes out is not smart.  The flies flock to the beds of seaweed that are exposed. What a mess! Jonny had to rinse off the dinghy and everything that came in touch with it when we got back to Zendo.

On Saturday morning I had an early morning Spanish lesson and afterwards we went into town to explore some more. Dan had recommended a walk through their neighborhood and up a hill for a great view of the harbor.  We walked through attractive neighborhoods and headed to the recommended trailhead to Mount Beattie. Jonny and Archie walked up the trail but not all the way and I stayed back resting on one of the big rocks at the bottom.

We saw our first Kamala lawn sign and then noticed several others popping up. Definitely not as many Trump signs this year but those we have seen are very large!

Jonny noticed a familiar boat in the marina called Ancient Mariners II. We saw this boat  two years ago in Belfast, ME. It is owned by a man who was almost 100 then and his wife who was in her late 90’s. We were thrilled to see them both still at it and thankfully they have a captain to crew their beautiful boat for them!

That evening we enjoyed a date night together having made dinner reservations at a highly recommended Asian restaurant called Long Grain. We could only get seats at the bar but that was fine because we got to see some of what was happening behind the scenes.  We had a delicious dinner of mackerel fried rice, an Asian noodle dish with pork belly, and a side of kale. The servings were so large that we took some of everything back and had it for dinner the next night. 

We really enjoyed Camden. It’s extremely pretty and quite popular but not overrun with tourists. We would gladly come back to visit next time we’re in Maine.  We keep reiterating to each other that we’d like to spend more time along this magnificent coast in the future.

Winter Harbor on Vinalhaven, ME

By 9 a.m. on Thursday, August 22 we all went for a walk through the more residential part of Isle au Haut.  There was a lovely Congregational church up on a hill with a well-constructed ramp leading up to it. We followed the ramp up for a commanding view of the waterfront. 

From there we continued walking further up the hill to the other end of the Thoroughfare, the waterway where we were moored, all the way to Laundry Cove.  New England has had the most magnificent hydrangea bloom this season and most of them have been blue or white.  Here in this part of Maine they have been various shades of pink, apparently due to different soil.

As we walked down a gravel road we met a woman walking her two dogs. Stopping to chat for awhile we discovered that she and her husband were visiting his parents’ home which from what we could tell was one of the picturesque homes overlooking the water from that gorgeous point of land.  She was very enthusiastic about the upcoming election and the Democratic Convention that was still going on.

On the way back we passed the fire station with its vintage fire truck.

We stopped for a couple more items at the local market and I bought a postcard to send to Stephanie and Ryan. The tiniest post office I’ve ever seen was next door.  It was a one woman and one room operation and the postmistress assured me that she would be sure to stamp the postcard with an Isle au Haut postmark.

After heading back to Zendo, we left our anchorage by 11:05 for Winter Harbor and arrived there by 1:00 passing by the Isle au Haut Light. This lighthouse was converted to a bed and breakfast and later was available to rent. It  was then put up for sale again and its fate is uncertain at this time. It would definitely be a very cool place to stay for a while!

Finding a suitable place to drop the hook in Winter Harbor was challenging.  We came in at high tide to a very tricky anchorage with a lot of shallow spots that were submerged during high tide.  After a couple of tries at anchoring which Jonny was concerned were too close to the shallow areas we finally found a secure place to set the hook.  We were so glad we moved to that spot because at low tide we were able to see the many danger spots surrounding us. 

After lunch we dinghied into shore and this, too, was challenging. The shore line was extremely rocky and we had forgotten to wear our boat shoes.  Jonny tied up the dinghy as best he could and we went for a walk around the headland.  There were well marked trails throughout as well including a convenient staircase!

Upon our return the tide had gone out more than we expected and the dinghy was stuck on some rocks in the mud.  He had to work really hard to get it back in the water. In the meantime he wanted me to walk all the way through a slippery, seaweed strewn, rocky shore to a point where he would pick Archie and me up so as to avoid us having to wade through the cold water and rocky sea bed.  It all worked out but it was quite the little adventure!

That evening we used our gas oven for the first time this season to cook the meatloaf I had made along with baked potatoes and spinach.  We watched the last night of the Democratic Convention and were glad to see how well Kamala did and how enthusiastic the crowd’s reaction was.  Just a little over a couple of months until the election. Fingers crossed!

Next stop - charming Camden!  P.S. All the exposed land in the foreground of the next photo was submerged when we came in to anchor. That’s how shallow it was in the area all around us!

Isle au Haut, ME

Jonny had fallen asleep before the Obamas’ speeches at the Democratic Convention the night before so he watched both of them on YouTube early in the morning of Wednesday, August 21. Stephanie called to kvell over their speeches and to tell us that they will come to stay with us for my birthday at the end of September!  We’ll be in Baltimore then because we’ll be volunteering at the Trawler Fest as we do each year. They’ll only be able to stay for one night and they wanted to know if they could bring their Corgi, Eloise. Of course we said yes!

The fog was finally lifting as we left our Orono mooring at 10:30 for a short cruise to Isle au Haut which we’ve tried unsuccessfully to visit a couple of times over the years.

It was a smooth crossing and we arrived by 12:40 and headed through the Thoroughfare which is the waterway between Isle au Haut and Kimball Island.

There were a couple of mooring balls just across from the town dock so we chose one and tied up, so easy! It had a can attached so we could place our $35 mooring fee in it.

After lunch we dinghied in to shore and checked out the only market on the island. It was fairly well stocked for an island with only 92 year-round residents.  Residents take the ferry to Stonington on nearby Deer Island do their major shopping.

From there we proceeded to hike on one of the well maintained trails that run throughout the island. Much of the island is part of Acadia National Park. We hiked for 4 - 5 miles through woods the whole way. Once again, Archie was in heaven running off the path into the dense forest.  It wasn’t until we returned to Zendo and read the pamphlet that we brought back from the small Visitor’s Center that we learned that dogs needed to be leashed. Oh, well!

Upon completing our hike we stopped again at the market to get a few provisions. Next door was a tiny gift shop where Jonny bought a baseball cap with the Maine emblem of a fir tree that he had been wanting. We chatted with the owner who lives on the island year round. She was selling lots of interesting local items including many sweaters and other handmade items by local women. 

From both shops there were great views of the harbor.

After a dinner of leftovers we settled in to watch the third night of the Democratic Convention and enjoy the maple walnut ice cream we bought from the little market for dessert. 

Next stop, Winter Harbor.  

Orono, Island, ME

The fog can be so unusual here. When we looked out in one direction from our Galley Cove anchorage on Tuesday morning, August 20, it was very clear, but looking in the opposite direction it was totally foggy!

I was supposed to have a Spanish lesson but the internet connection was so spotty that we had to cancel and reschedule. In the meantime, Jonny had taken Archie in for a walk.  By 10:20 we left our beautiful anchorage in Galley Cove (one of the best we’ve been to) and headed out. The weather was foggy and drizzly but we planned to have a short cruise.  We had scoped out several anchorages near Orno, Buckle and Mackerel Islands which Dan had also endorsed.  The weather deteriorated to full-on rain. I thought we might drive from below in the salon but the radar split screen and our visibility is not as good down there as it is on the flybridge. So Archie and I stayed warm and cozy down below while Jonny stayed above on the flybridge. I encouraged him to turn back and wait until the next day but he felt confident to proceed.

We kept going until we got close to the three anchorages we were considering,  We cruised by Opeche Island which was a fourth possibility but it didn’t appeal to us because it was too open. Then we checked out Orno Island which we liked a lot though it wasn’t quite as special as Gulley Cove. There was a mooring ball that we could grab for free so that’s what we did.  It turned out to be a lovely anchorage.  We were surrounded by three islands - Orono, Asa and Swan. 

By this time it had stopped raining so we dinghied over to nearby Buckle Island which was supposed to have great trails. The trails were covered in green moss and it felt like we were walking on the softest carpeting. 

As we hiked we discovered a number of little fairy houses nestled on the side of the trail in various states of disrepair. We had read about them in the Maine guidebook. They were whimsical little shin-high creations  made out of sticks, shells, rocks and leaves.  They were delightful!

At one point early in our hike the trail was blocked by a full sized green door, just like one you might see in a home. We tried to open it to no avail.  We couldn’t go under it, we couldn’t go over it, and we couldn’t go through it so we just went around it.  What fun!  As you can imagine, it was a fun hike!

That afternoon I caught up on blog posts and made a delicious Pasta e Ceci (chickpea) dinner.  We settled in to watch the second night of the Democratic Convention.  Who knew a political convention should be so entertaining? Michelle and Barack Obama capped it off, each with fantastic speeches!