We have been somewhat lax in writing blog entries so far this summer so this will be a catch up on travels to date. Our trip in late June was interrupted by a need to return to Camden for a day to refill our water tanks after discovering they had almost emptied due to a leaky seal on the pump supplying water pressure to our heads and galley. We finished with a trip to nearby Warren Island and Islesboro a day later by isolating the pump except when needed and then replaced the seal a few days later. In early July we day-tripped to North Haven Island with Beth and Jared aboard and a few days later made a day trip to Belfast, ME with Jared aboard during the week he spent with us after the 4th. We got underway with just the two of us on July 31st for a five day trip. We anchored the first night a few miles from Mt. Desert off Buckle Island, where we had spent a day last August, and then spent two days in Northeast Harbor and a day and a half on Little Cranberry Island before transiting home via another overnight for weather avoidance (rain and fog) off Buckle Island. We did have clear weather for a day and a half in Northeast Harbor and a day on Little Cranberry between foggy spells and much enjoyed visiting our favorite spots in both places. Last Saturday, the 11th, we cruised five miles North of Camden to a mooring off Lincolnville Beach so that we would be ready to act as one of the volunteer Course Safety Boats for the annual three mile swim race from Lincolnville to Islesboro Island which started at 7:00 am on Sunday. Our job was to act as a boundary for the swimmers as well as to watch for anyone in trouble. Each swimmer was accompanied by either a paddle boarder or kayaker to act as their eyes and safety monitor. The day was cloudy and cool but visibility was good. The first of the 140+ swimmers finished in an hour and the last in just over three hours. The event was a fund raiser for the Maine LifeFlite rescue helicopter service which fortunately was not needed during the race. Pictured is one swimmer and escort as we directed them back onto the course. I’ll add some more pictures to our picture gallery for this summer.

We got underway this morning for a few days of cruising the islands of Penobscot Bay. We didn't launch Brilliant until the 14th of June as we spent the first two weeks of the month on an outstanding Viking river cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow. We're enjoying the Maine island scenery but do miss the host of servers and cooks as we cruised through Russia. We're anchored off privately owned, but partially open to the public, Butter Island. The view is from the top of the highest point on the island looking across to Deer Isle.

We did visit Thuya Gardens overlooking Northeast Harbor early yesterday and found them as beautiful as we had remembered (see picture). After lunch on board we made our dinghy outboard happy by filling its tank at a neighboring marina, one of two we have found in Maine that offers ethanol-free gas, and then departed. We anchored yesterday afternoon off privately owned and uninhabited Buckle Island, along with three sailboats. The island's owners allow visitors so we beached the dinghy on shore this morning and hiked around the small island. Highlights were great scenery and a series of fairy houses left by previous visitors. After lunch we continued west toward Camden and moored for the night off North Haven village, where we had a truly excellent meal at the Nebo Lodge restaurant that we have been meaning to try for several years. Tomorrow we will head for home.

We finished up on Little Cranberry yesterday with a morning visit to the island's artist coop art gallery, the recently opened Ashley Bryan "Storybook Center" and the island museum which had a new and interesting exhibit on the history of the island's long term summer and year round families. After lunch on board we transited the four miles to Northeast Harbor and moored in time to spend some time on the porch of the Asticou Hotel enjoying drinks and snacks and a revisit to their Japanese garden. Today we took the free island bus to Jordan Pond (pictured) in Acadia National Park where we hiked the three mile path around the pond and again enjoyed some drinks and snacks in their outdoor restaurant overlooking the pond. Jordan Pond is one of the most popular attractions in Acadia and unlike our solitary walks on the islands we were joined by a small throng of tourists from various states and countries. Tomorrow morning we will revisit the Thuya Gardens on the hill overlooking the harbor and then depart for a meandering three day trip back to Camden.

We got underway yesterday morning for a week of cruising with a forecast of continuous clear dry weather with daily temperatures in the high sixties and low seventies for the entire period - we shall see. Our first destination was Lunt Harbor in Frenchboro on Long Island, about 30 miles east of Camden. Rich's sister Andrea and her husband Ben were also out on his boat, Gizmo, and we planned to have lobsters together on the harbor dock at Lunt's Lobster Deli. Unfortunately when we arrived ashore together at 5 pm we saw a handwritten note on the door saying that for the next two weeks they would only be open for lunch until they close for the season on Labor Day. We then decided to meet there for lunch today and this morning discovered a new handwritten note saying closed today due to no help available. We did enjoy a very scenic two hour hike around the island during which we learned from a local that today was the one day that two ferries were scheduled to and from the island so that the Deli help was probably taking advantage of being able to shop on the mainland and return on the same day as there is no shopping on the island. Rather than wait to see if the Deli would really open tomorrow we moved on to Little Cranberry Island this afternoon and had a really nice meal at their Dock restaurant with our neighbors from Camden, Evelyn and Harvey, who live here in the summer. The picture is looking southeast as we hiked around Long Island.

We have spent some time entertaining friends and neighbors on Brilliant this month. On the 10th our friends Dave and Kate joined us for a trip to Searsport where we used a free town mooring and revisited the excellent Penobscot Bay Maritime Museum. On the 15th we planned a day trip with our neighbors Len and Jeff and former neighbors Dan and Sue but dense fog for the entire day resulted instead in a long and enjoyable lunch on board tied up to our mooring in Sherman Cove. Beth and Jared also came to visit for a few days last week but on the two days that Beth was not working remotely the weather again precluded a planned overnight boat trip. Jared and I did spend one day in the outer harbor taking turns in our kayak and dinghy - his first time solo driving the dinghy - and a good time was had by all. Yesterday we (Hildy and Rich) cruised to Hurricane Island, off the southeast side of Vinalhaven, where we moored overnight and spent this morning hiking around the island. It is privately owned but the owners only use one end of the island where they have a fairly impressive unique looking house. The remainder of the island was used for years by the Outward Bound program, which moved to the mainland a few years ago and it is now used by the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership which is a nonprofit for marine research which runs summer programs for teen students and workshops for teachers and adult learners in the fall and spring. Apart from all that the island was a granite quarry and polishing center until the early 20th century and has spectacular scenery and hiking trails that we thoroughly enjoyed. The picture is of a granite outdoor oven and stove used by the program with Brilliant moored in the background. More pictures will be added to the gallery.