Portsmouth, NH - Wentworth by the Sea Marina

We got an early start (for us) at 7:00 am for our 46 mile journey to Portsmouth. We had no wind but then the seas were calm, the sun was out in full force and we motored all the way at 7.5 kts. We went by some of the landmarks that we've visited from shore in the past such as Nubble Light. Even with the sun, the high today only reached 65 in the cockpit and later when we ate at the Wentworth, they even had a fire in the fireplace!

The Wentworth is old New England. They have class. Their courtesy car was a Mercedes-Benz! There was no charge for its use so we took a tour of Portsmouth before dinner at the Wentworth. Tomorrow we are suppose to have more wind, hopefully, and we're headed for Cape Ann. You can follow our progress at Return Trip

August 19 - Portland, ME

We started out today with the intention of anchoring out but the traveling weather was so good that we continued on to Portland. Sailed for awhile but we wound up motoring most of the way. The sun was out and the water was relatively calm and we made a steady 7 kts. We picked up a slip in DiMillo Marina ($3.75/ft) and found we were now in the high rent district of Maine. We'll only be here for one night at these prices. Our plan is to head for Portsmouth, NH tomorrow morning to take advantage of the good weather.

On the way in we saw a huge Coast Guard cutter pull right in front of us so we veered off to port and found that the cutter was leading a parade of equally large tugboats! It was tugboat day in Portland and we just happened to hit the start of the harbor parade! One of the tugboats sprayed water all over and nearly reached us. At the end of the parade, they all met in the middle of the harbor, bow to bow and let out a blast of their horns, all at once, deafening!

We walked through the renovated downtown area which has turned upscale. The table setting in the photo goes for $1299! After all the rich food, we just decided to have hamburgers for tonight and turn in for an early start tomorrow.

Follow our progress by clicking on Return Trip

Boothbay Harbor - Reprovisioning

Several businesses got together and sponsored a free trolley to connect the aquarium, the mall and various businesses. We used it today for groceries and now we're all set for the rest of the cruise home. We had a "going away dinner" at Kale's, a local restaurant that we've found pretty good. Of course, both our meals involved lobster - when in Maine you concentrate on what they do best. At the restaurant they had a marine exhibit with lobsters, crabs, flounder and many other examples of Maine marine life. Especially of note was a rare blue lobster on display (see photo). They make the news whenever one turns up.

However, we have to move on and we plan on sailing (hopefully) further west tomorrow. We may not have cellphone coverage at our anchorage in which case the blog will be late but will still cover each day. In all, we enjoyed Boothbay Harbor as much as any harbor town in Maine. It's fun to watch all the boating activity, the town is spotless and has lots of restaurants and shops and the people are friendly. Great place!

You can follow our progress by clicking on Return Trip

Boothbay Harbor - Whale Watching

Today we booked passage on a whale watching ship. We went out 28 miles from shore to find where the whales feed during the summer, fattening up to survive the winter. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had a grand view. We spotted a whale surfacing and blowing ("thar she blows!") and then diving again. They stay under for about 5 minutes before surfacing again. On the way out we saw an ocean sunfish and tuna in the distance. We'll look at the weather tonight and decide on whether we go on or stay over another day, it all depends upon the weather. On the way back they took us by a colony of seals sunning themselves.

Boothbay Harbor - A Work Day

Being on a boat for extended periods of time requires maintenance chores. I changed the engine oil yesterday, always a fun project. Today I replaced the fuel filter on the Panda genset and discovered that all I had to do was unscrew the old filter and screw on the new one. I didn't have to fill the new filter with diesel since I found out that the electric fuel pump fills it automatically. Knowing that would have save me several hours the last time I changed the filter. Also had to clean the knotmeter, there's some seaweed floating around and strands can stop the knotmeter paddlewheel. I put a fan in the main cabin in anticipation of hotter days as we had south, haven't needed one so far with highs only in the 70's.

Boothbay Harbor is very compact but there's a lot of activity. There's three whale watching boats that go out twice a day and we plan on taking one on Friday. There's sailboats for people to ride (see photo), lobster boats, tour boats, etc. You can just sit on the back of your boat and watch the world go by.

Of course with all that hard work one has to eat so we had a lobster roll at the Boothbay Lobster Wharf, it was packed with meat, excellent. The next stop was back to town to listen to music on the green. It was a great evening with temperatures in the 70's and friendly people, everyone wanted to pet Lance.

You can follow my progress at Maine Cruise

Boothbay Harbor - Busy Place

We weighed anchor at 8:00 and started south towards Boothbay with the forecast of 10 to 15 kt winds out of the SW which was exactly our course. Yesterday we sailed all the way, today we motored all the way. The wind piped up to 20 kts on the nose and the waves increased to 4 ft rollers by mid-morning. However, as we turned the corner to Boothbay, the waves abated and we found the harbor calm. We picked up a mooring at Tugboat Marina ($25/night) which was one of the few marinas we found that would reserve moorings, most marinas use a first come, first served policy for moorings. The harbor is a beehive of activity with three whale watching boats, several ferries, lots of old-time sailing ship - and about 60 restaurants and about the same number of small shops. We plan on going on one of the whale watching ships later in the week.

Follow my progress at Maine Cruise. You can hear another installment of Maine Humor (click on underlined link) if you desire about bricks...

Maple Juice Cove - Down Muscle Ridge Channel with No Fog

We left Rockland in a 10 to 15 kt northwest breeze in full sun, no fog. Once we turned the corner to go down Muscle Ridge Channel we had a broad reach for the next 15 miles! According to the GPS, we topped out at 8.3 kts in the gusts and averaged about 7 kts. It just doesn't get any better than this for sailing. Nearing Port Clyde we did our lobster pot dance through the channel south of there and turned north, motoring to Maple Juice Cove. It's a beautifully protected cove on the west bank of the St. George River. We anchored in 10 feet of water at low tide. It's anchorages like this that make you reluctant to leave Maine.

Ann saw a Black Juillemot family, ma and pa with a young one. Maine is the south most region for them, it's barely cold enough for their liking. They can usually be found in all the Maine harbors after they made a comeback several years ago.

Since the Mehaffey's came north with us through the Muscle Ridge Channel and saw only fog, we took a picture of the Owl's Head lighthouse which they didn't see. The channel is very picturesque. I also thought you might enjoy some more of Maine humor, this time it's one that the Sherer family has quoted over the years, "Except for that, there's no news..." It's typical Maine understatement.

I've restarted my Google maps for the trip home. See Maine Cruise.