Castine ME

Castine our next spot 

Hi F and F

Well Mt Desert was wonderful , I could easily have spent several more days here!

But time to move on or in this case back down the coast, to Castine.

Slight hiccup to start as Graeme started the engines to warm them up I noticed  out the back a lobster pod line which seemed attached to our boat! 

Engines were stopped and we tried to figure out how to loosen the line and the big yellow ball which had gone under the boat.We feared it had caught around the prop as it didn't want to come loose.However help was at hand and a nice young man came out from Hinckley's Marina in a dingy and unhooked it.Seems it was caught in the freedom lift. What a relief that was!

I pulled up the mooring ball and we were off at 9.30 am.Graeme took the lead as Roger had his turn last time. The benefit of being behind the lead boat is you don't have to be so vigilant about the lobster pots , the person in front does the work for you.Once we got to the Eggenmoggin Reach we saw less pots and in the end it was a breeze especially as we had following seas and it was fairly sheltered being on an inside passage.We passed lots of lovely big homes perched on the cliffs overlooking the water. Wonder who buys these homes and if they are there only in the  summertime. We went under one tall bridge , the first one we have encountered since leaving New York.We arrived at Eaton's Boat Yard to find our new friends Susan and Chris from Boston tied up with their 48 Sabre on the long dock.With a bit of juggling ,we got our two boats parked in front of  them.Originally we had been told we would be rafting up .

So that was perfect , and side ties are  my favorite dock setting! Rain had started to settle in and continued throughout the afternoon .Graeme and I decide to set off to explore the town and made a lovely walk up the hill visiting the Maine Maritime Academy buildings.Ths academy offers undergraduate and graduate degrees , and has a large 500 ft long  ship they use for training purposes in the harbor. Makes sense for kids to go here with so much water based activity in the region. We also checked out the few little stores including the T and C Grocery store, and also the lovely old homes , churches and school buildings. Th rain was persistent and feeling rather damp we decided to call it quits and headed back for the boat.

At 7 pm we rallied Linda and Roger for the short walk to the nearby restaurant called Dennett's Wharf.

As you can imagine lots of fresh seafood is served here.

Back to the boats and fortunately the ramp leading to our boat was now level .There is a 10 ft tidal difference .It had been a steep climb up the ramp earlier in the day.

Still rain and wind so nice to go back to our cosy boats for the rest of the evening.

Over and Out, 

S and S