Portland, ME

Jonny took Archie for a walk on Cliff Island on Wednesday morning, August 28.  He walked by the harbor and the cute little schoolhouse.  When they returned, we left for Portland at 10:50. 

We had decided to stay at DeMillo’s Marina for a few days while our friend Cathy Tisdale came to visit. We have been staying at so many anchorages and moorings that it was a real treat to be at a marina.  We arrived in the Portland harbor after a short one and a half hour cruise.

We were surrounded by some amazing ships.

The first thing I did was two loads of laundry while Jonny took care of some needed boat chores.  Cathy arrived later in the afternoon and it didn’t take long for us to celebrate her arrival with a cocktail. We all went to Luke’s Lobster for lobster rolls so Cathy could get her first lobster fix of the season.  We sat outside on the deck next to a pile of lobster crates.

That evening, like the political junkies that we are, we watched the interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

The next morning Jonny made us delicious blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast. We had a small world story when Jonny discovered that the boat that was docked next to us was owned by a fellow from New London, Jonny’s home town.  He was the same age as us and knew many of the people that Jonny grew up with.  In fact, he had been at Jonny’s childhood home, though neither of them clearly remembered each other.  Not only that but he also was at UConn when we were there. He and his wife live in Marblehead, MA and they invited us to stay at their dock on our way back. 

From there we began our exploration of Portland and headed over to the Portland Art Museum.  This is an excellent museum which we had visited previously. This time we spent a couple of hours enjoying the various exhibits especially those from local artists and an amazing exhibit of baskets by  Jeremy Frey, a seventh generation Passamaquoddy basket maker. His work is extensive, highly detailed and just beautiful.

By the time we finished visiting the museum we were hungry for lunch and we stopped at David’s Restaurant which did not disappoint. 

Cathy had been encouraged by her neighbor to stop by the Standard Baking Company for bread which we did. We also found another bakery where we bought a blueberry pie to take home for dessert. 

That evening I made a new recipe, sort of a modified TikTok pasta recipe in that this one included shrimp and spinach in addition to the pasta, feta, and cherry tomatoes. It turned out well and we enjoyed the blueberry pie for dessert. 

On Friday, Cathy and I took Archie for a walk to Walgreens so I could pick up a prescription. We had been talking about exploring one of the nearby islands either on our boat or by ferry. The ferry was so convenient and inexpensive that we decided on that option.  Once we returned to Zendo the four of us (including Archie) walked to the ferry and and took the short 15 minute ride to Peaks Island. 

This is a very pretty island with attractive homes, a few restaurants and shops and lots of wooded areas.  The first stop we made was to a quirky little museum full of umbrella covers, of all things! We didn’t stay long.  

We walked around half of the island and particularly enjoyed walking along the coastal road that had very pretty homes and gorgeous water views.  We met an interesting man from Washington, D.C. who vacations on Peaks Island every summer and who shared with us his perspective on the island and island living in general.

We stopped for lunch at a waterfront restaurant next to the ferry dock and sat outside on their dock which was very pleasant. 

By mid-afternoon we took the ferry back to Portland and rested a bit before going out to our next meal! Can you tell what our priorities are?

That evening  was Cathy’s last chance to get the fried clam dinner that was on her list of must haves.  Portland has a plethora of excellent restaurants and as we looked for reservations we found that some of the best ones were fully booked. This was not surprising because one of the big cruise ships was in town.  We chose Boone’s Fish House and Oyster Room, another waterfront restaurant, which has been open since 1898 and was close to our marina.  We enjoyed another good dinner of local seafood.

The next day Cathy would be flying out and we planned to continue our cruise. It has been another great visit in Portland and we enjoyed sharing it with Cathy.

The Basin, ME

We awoke gratefully to clear skies on Monday, August 26. As is often our habit while we are on anchor, Jonny took Archie in for a walk while I did some chores. He discovered an old cemetery that we missed the previous day. The graveyard included the headstones of Andrew Wyeth and his wife Betsy and many of the Olson family (Christina from the famous painting). Unfortunately, he forgot to bring his phone.

By 9 a.m. we left this very serene Maple Juice Cove anchorage bound for The Basin. Though the forecast called for intermittent rain, we only had the briefest of sprinkles until later in the day.  We cruised through Muscongus Bay passing Bristol and Booth Bay Harbor.

We also went by three lighthouses.  The first was Pemaquid Point Light.  Interestingly, the keeper’s house was converted to a Fisherman’s Museum.  A second floor apartment there is available to rent by the week. That could be a fun thing to do. I was too far away to get a good photo so I’m including one from my lighthouse reference book.

We also passed by Ram’s Island Light and Cuckolds Light. There are 75 lighthouses in Maine, more than any other state in the U.S.

We ate lunch on board and arrived at The Basin on the New Meadows River at 2:30.  This is a supremely protected anchorage in a very large basin of water encircled by some homes on one side and a large reserve on the other.  Literally scores of boats could anchor here but we were one of only four or five. Many lobster pots surrounded us as the lobster season is still in full force here in Maine.

Always wanting to explore, we dinghied along the rocky shore and found a place to tie up.

There was a dirt logging-type road that we hiked on avoiding the mosquito-filled woods on either side. Of course, Archie didn’t care and ran with abandon through the deciduous forest. 

When we returned to Zendo, I did some of my Spanish homework and Jonny did a little more trip planning. He also made a delicious dinner of lamb chops, zucchini and carrots all done on the grill which we enjoyed amidst this stunning sunset.

We watched a Greta Gerwig/Noah Baumbach  movie called Mistress America which eventually grew on us.  By the end of the movie, fog had crept in and we were completely surrounded with no visibility at all!

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.