Cans of Shipyard

Cans of Shipyard    ....    Monday 3rd September 2012

I started the day with a proper ‘summer breakfast’—garden tomatoes on toast—thanks to my very kind sister who brought us the tomatoes.  By 9:15 we were starting the engine and departing from Southwest Harbor. The skies were overcast, the day seemed quite gloomy.  Once we rounded the marker off Seawall Point we could tell that whatever wind there had been earlier had died away altogether.  It was looking like a long motor to the harbor at Benjamin River.  As we approached the start of Eggemoggin Reach, the sky started to clear from the west.  Oddly, on the port side of the boat everything was blue and sunny while on the starboard all was grey and dreary.  We enjoyed an absolute plethora of pots around the start of the Reach and soon started to feel tired and discouraged. We decided to have a look at Center Harbor, said to be at the forefront of wooden boat construction and repair.  We were considering stopping for the night but realized that we couldn’t anchor in this area—too many moorings.  We grabbed a mooring temporarily, then went to shore for a walk.  We walked up to Brooklin and found a small country store where we were able to get milk.  Mike was much more excited to find Shipyard Ale in cans.  In honor of Labor Day he bought two six packs and carried them all the way back to the boat.  He also found a packet of Starbursts—looking to repeat some earlier antics perhaps…

On returning to the boat we realized that the wind had piped up and we SAILED up to Buck’s Harbor.  The conditions were just fantastic with almost no pots!  Bucks Harbor was interesting.  An unpleasant swell helped push us into the harbor.  Once there we found that the eastern portion of the harbor was now all moored out instead of ‘providing plenty of room for anchoring’ (according to the guide book). We found a blank spot in the mooring field and I went forward to ready the anchor.  This action was met with lots of shouting from a nearby boat.  ‘No anchoring in the mooring field’ they chorused.  They then proceeded to tell us we could only anchor on the other side of a certain boat.  This area was directly opposite the mouth of the harbor and so enjoyed all the benefits of the lovely swell mentioned above.  We got on the radio to request a mooring.  We were directed to a mooring just adjacent to the anchoring area.  After about ten minutes of bobbing all over the place we decided to move along to the next cove.  Now we are anchored in Orcutt Harbor with much less swell and no grumpy bunch of loud mouths as self-appointed un-welcoming committee.   

Gloria

Pumpkin Island - Eggemoggin reach

Sailing Eggemoggin reach

Fire escape - old building Brooklin, ME