Rockland Redux

Rockland Redux

19 August 2020

After a lovely night in Pulpit Harbor, we awoke to the day for my sister Liz to return to the workaday world.  This is Rod writing this, so I should add that Liz is Gloria's sister, too.  

Despite taking the mainsail cover off, the hoped for wind never materialized and we had to motor the 6 miles or so to Rockland Harbor.  Close to the harbor we crossed paths with a Mega Yacht called "Kismet".  I was able to look it up on line & found out it is for sale, for the modest sum of $200,000,000!  OR, you can charter it for only $1,000,000 per week!  It is owned by Shahid Kahn, who Mike remembered owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, an NFL football team.

 

Docking at the Landing Marina was handled professionally by Mike, aided by a total lack of wind.  While I walked Liz back to her car, Gloria and Mike completed the somewhat more mundane tasks of taking on fuel, water and some ice.  Saying goodbye to Liz with sadness, I did learn that she had a great time.  It was really fantastic to get to spend that much time with her.

On the way back to Cotinga, I stopped off at a bakery on Main St (Rockland appears to be getting a bit upscale) and bought some rolls, bread and some sandwiches for lunch.  We MUST keep the Captain fed!!

Poor, Liz.  The next leg, to Cradle Cove, near 700 Acre Island was fantastic and she had to miss it.  After leaving the gas dock, we hoisted the mainsail, unrolled the jib and headed off on a beam reach for about 12 nautical miles.  Sun, smooth seas, wind about 12 knots, building to 16 knots has us bowling along at up to 7.4 knots.  An added benefit: relatively few lobster pot buoys along our track.  Everyone steered the boat; I think Gloria enjoyed her trick at the wheel, too.  (Mike made a comment about the profusion of lobster pot buoys in some areas: "it looks like someone sneezed lobster pot buoys").  In some areas, the buoys are so dense, it is a real challenge to find a path through them.  

Arriving off 700 Acre Island, we furled the jib by blanketing it behind the mainsail and finished the last mile under mainsail.  Arriving at a nearly deserted harbor, Mike, on the helm, rounded Cotinga up into the wind and we dropped the main and anchored simultaneously.  Brilliantly done, but there was no audience to applaud our performance.  

At last, cocktails in the cockpit.  The anchor salute today was the classic Dark & Stormy (Gloria passed on the cocktail, opting for a "fizzy lime water").  Sipping our drinks, we watched storm clouds approach and, amazingly, two Bald Eagles.  Unfortunately, neither approached close enough to get a decent photograph.  The storm did though and I hope Mike posts some photos he took of the truly awesome dark clouds.

Rain drove us below, where Mike cooked us a delicious dinner of pan fried pork chops with pesto coated pasta with green beans and a lovely Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA.  

Some Port & biscotti and the day is complete.  Tomorrow: Castine.  

Goodnight.

 

44 15.721 N, 68 56.365 W

Pulpit Harbor entrance as we departed about 9am

A yawl anchored in Cradle Cove, Penobscot Bay. We saw bald eagles flying from the trees on the left, scrapping with osprey. We suspect the bald eagles are nesting.

The weather turned decidedly dodgy shortly after we arrived in the anchorage. Fortunately it looked much worse than it actually was. We got some fairly heavy rain and winds to just over 20 knots, but it was pretty short lived.

Cotinga with the storm clouds behind

The same yawl as photographed previously, as the last of the rain comes through.

I think this is a deer fly. It landed on our boat and is resting here on a nylon sail-bag