Day 179 - Kennebunkport, ME
23 September 2015
Day 179 - Tue 22 Sep 2015
Docked - Kennebunkport, ME
[photo: the Bush compound - my camera settings were off so the picture is not very good]
Well, we thought the different mooring would be OK, but we were awakened about 0530 by a loud thump on our starboard side where we sleep. I jumped up to investigate and found the sailboat on the mooring currently astern of us had turned almost 180 degrees and had bumped us. It did not look like there was any possibility of damage, but it could easily happen again. We resolved to move to a marina if we stayed another day.
It got to 50F last night, so the generator came on for heat and battery charging, and the coffee pot was pressed into service yet again. I checked the weather to find that we really would not likely be happy out in the ocean today. Since we are close enough to make Newburyport in one day if we have to, there was no rush to leave. The only negative was that moving to the least expensive marina would cost us $4 per foot. That is much higher than the previous high of $3 per foot in Mystic, CT a few years ago, which we thought was ridiculous.
I forgot to mention that yesterday as we were putting around in the dinghy, I saw a man at the edge of the river with his fishing line stretched tight and it seemed like he had snagged the bottom. I figured with our dinghy I could pull the line the opposite way to free it, so I started towards him. All of a sudden I saw him drag a big (40 inches or better) striped bass onto the bank, at which point the line broke. He was lucky to land the fish. We congratulated him on his good fortunate and skill. He said if it was just him, he wouldn't keep the fish, but his wife likes it. We were ready to offer to take it if he didn't want it, but that didn't work out. I hope his wife really likes the fish and he gets lucky again.
When 0800 rolled around, I called the marina and we were invited to come on over (about 100 yards from our mooring). A dockhand helped us tie up and we got the power cord plugged in and the heater on. This is the last full day of summer, according to celestial reckonings, but up here right now it feels very cold, damp, and raw.
By 0900, it was still too cold to ride our bikes into town and make other explorations of the area, so we made a plan for starting to sort stuff on the boat. We have things that are coming off the boat permanently since we really don't anticipate using them and it is better to minimize the weight. We also have things that have to come off and go home with us, only to be brought back next year. We are using the spare stateroom to stage piles, baskets, and bags full of sorted items. It will save a few hours once we get to Newburyport in a few days.
After a light lunch, we got the bikes out and had a nice, long ride. Well, it was long considering the hills and the fact that our one-speed bikes are hard to pedal uphill. We headed S along the famous Ocean Avenue past many large, beautiful, old estates, and some very large and gorgeous Inns. Sometimes it was almost hard to tell the difference until you saw the signage.
Before too long, we came to the home of former president G. H. W. Bush. It isn't an ostentatious placed by any means, but rather large and impressive, especially with its location right on the water. We continued riding up and down little hills, but mostly down. Since we were doing a loop, that only meant that we would have mostly uphill later on.
There were a few times when we both had to walk the bikes up the steeper hills, but mostly it wasn't too bad. As we left the coast and headed more inland, the homesteads became more modest. In some places in the US, these properties might be worth $500K to $1M, but here they are probably worth much more. Nevertheless, these were the slums, relatively speaking.
At last, we rejoined Maine Street (yes, that is the correct spelling) and that is where we were going to take another ride to a butcher/market. Well, I was not as good a navigating on land as on the water, so after a quarter mile in the wrong direction, I decided we should head to the smaller market in town, HB Provisions. The center of town was packed with people, mostly very elderly from (we assume) several buses. We walked our bikes to the market and found that it lacked the one thing we were hoping to find, good meat.
Satisfying every provisioning need but that, we stopped at The Clam Shack to buy some fresh seafood. We got enough scallops for tonight and some salmon for another night. It was difficult walking away because the numerous baskets of clams/scallops/lobster/fish and fries were looking and smelling really good. Of course, all the prices in this town are very high, reflecting in part its tourist status.
We had a nice ride back to the marina and stowed the provisions and bikes. About 1600, I prepped our supper by making the Alfredo sauce, cooking the penne pasta, and poaching the quartered scallops. When that was done, we took our shower stuff and Clyde up to the facilities where Diane watched Clyde in the somewhat secure picnic area while I showered. She then kept Clyde in the shower area with her while I tended to the grill. There were too many places for a cat to escape in that picnic area, so it was best he was confined.
She finished and took Clyde on a dock walk back to Diva Di while I browned the last of the hot dogs for later consumption. Yes, they are already fully cooked, but a nice grilling always makes them taste better. When that was done, I got back aboard the boat and proceeded to finish making supper. It was quite good and we still have a bit left for a light lunch.
The weather was improving and it was actually warm enough to sit in shorts and shirt on the flybridge. We hope for this to continue at least for a few more days. Since we got stuck here an extra day, tomorrow (Wed), we need to move to Portsmouth, NH. We had suggestions for the Isle of Shoals, but I think that will be one of those places we will try to visit on a future trip up here.