We awoke to an overcast sky and a likely promise of rain. I chose this morning to pull out the second cinnamon roll kit and made hot, homemade, cinnamon rolls for the crew. We ate them with coffee and juice; what a way to start the day. While we were poking about the boat in the morning, we saw Dick entering Camden Harbor. Dick is an 89 year old man from Marblehead that is cruising about in his 45' MJM motor yacht with his wife. We first met him in Portland and he has shown up at every port we've been in since. He's an interesting fellow to talk to. I asked him and his wife if they were following us. More power to you Dick, keep on cruising!

We went ashore in Camden and we brought our 10# propane canister with us to get it filled. Wayfarer's told us that we could get it filled at Willey's Marine and this we did. After dropping off the tank at Willey's, we walked about the town and explored the various shops there. It was in an art shop that I saw the coolest piece of art I've ever seen. It was a 6ft long slice of old Chestnut wood with a bear and a turkey painted on it, along with a 3D deer carving that was so good it could have been alive. The deer head was implanted with hairs from a bear rug and the entire piece was incredible. I would have loved to have the piece, but for $3600 it wasn't going home with me no matter how cool it was. Hunter stayed enthralled with the scrimshaw work as he has taken to it as a hobby. His work is quite impressive. After cruising various harbors since early June, I have yet to find a replacement straw hat that suits me. I finally found one in Camden and it did go home with me as it was only $35.

I bet you can't guess what came next...food & wine of course! We walked past most of the restaurants because I stated that I couldn't bear another menu that offered lobster, scallops, haddock, shrimp, chowder, etc...etc... I was in the mood for something different and I still had a hankering for some unique pizza (for those of you not from the south, "a hankering" means to desire something). So we walked on, with stomachs growling and a mutinous look in the eye of the hungry Admiral. We hadn't walked long before we say a small hand crafted sign that referenced Paolina's Way, a small Italian Bistro located in a back ally and featuring gourmet wood fired pizzas - bingo! We circled around the street and into an ally and we knew that we had found our place. Paolina's Way was a quaint little bistro with a real wood fired oven and a bar in front of the oven allowing you to sit, watch, and eat. We opted to sit as the bar, as I stated that I would like to sit there just to see this cool oven in action. This turned out to be very entertaining as we got to watch this authentic Italian cook turn out pizzas and other dishes in this hand crafted wood oven. Paolina's Way turned out to be a family owned business named after the Grandmother Paolina in Italy. The staff was the real deal and they constantly shouted instructions to one another in Italian across the kitchen and restaurant. They became very busy and we soon learned why. The food was awesome! The pizzas were a thin wheat crust that came in interesting flavors and were toasted crispy out of the oven. It was like having pizza on a crispy wood fired cracker. My pizza was made with tomato sauce, cheese, prosciutto, and topped with fresh arugula greens and parmesan cheese. All I can say is - wow. Amazingly, Austin had a pizza because he normally doesn't like them and he stated that it was the best pizza he's ever had. All the Song's were clean plate rangers at this one. If you go to Camden, go there. Nuff said.

After lunch, we strolled through the town a little more as the sun came out to greet us briefly. We took off our wind breakers and soaked it up. I must say that the weather up here in New England has been fabulous. We've had cool temps, usually in the mid 70's and lots of sunshine. We've had very little fog and only a few squalls. All in all the weather is more stable than that back home and great for cruising. Oops, I spoke too soon because we had fog on this night. The sun came out briefly, but was soon overcast again and a blanket of fog could be seen working its way across the Penobscot Bay and towards Camden. Austin & I motored around the harbor looking at boats while Amy and Hunter took showers at the marina. The fog rolled in and at some points we could not see our boat. We still knew where it was and we could navigate back to it, but just the same I saved the location in my phone navigation app in case we got turned around in the fog and could not find the boat visually. We found the barky with no trouble and we were soon tucked warmly away and enjoying more episodes of 24. We bought the DVD's of all three seasons of 24 and this has been our evening entertainment during this voyage. Tomorrow we plan to sail to Pulpit Harbor, just across the bay.

Cap'n Monty
s/v Song Of The South
Moored in Camden Harbor, ME