Cruising on the Schooner Mary Day
28 October 2013 | Camden, Maine
Fred
Our Summer Cruise
Penny and I had the opportunity to join 12 other couples that we know for a four day and night cruise onboard the 100' Schooner Mary Day in Camden , Maine. The interesting thing about this boat is that is doesn't have an engine, and runs on battery power to light the one light in our cabin, and hot water and cooking is by a wood fired stove in the galley. Not much use for hot water as you have a cold water tab in your cabin and there are only two heads (bathroom) for the entire crew, that is the 26 of us and the 9 crew! And only one of them has a shower! There is a deck shower that the men used as we are not as bashful as the ladies and really don't care what our hair looks like.
We boarded the boat in Camden and were shown to our assigned cabin. Penny and I were one of the lucky ones to get a cabin with a double bed and two plastic buckets. Guess what they were used for as we only had a small sink.
We left the dock with a yawl boat towing us. A yawl boat is a utility boat and this one was 20' long with a 85 HP turbo charged Yanmar Diesel engine. It did very well towing us out of the very crowded and tight harbor and then it came astern and pushed us along with nobody in the yawl boat. We got outside the harbor and raised all 5,000 sf of sail and took off sailing through a virtual sea of lobster pots covering the ocean as far as you could see.
We stopped at an island late afternoon and dropped anchor under sail and launched the three rowing dinghies and were shuttled ashore to a nice beach. The crew unloaded the fire pit and two big wash tubs of lobsters and set about cooking while we enjoyed happy hour complete with cheese and crackers. Next up was lobster, all you could eat, boiled potatoes and corn on the cob. Really tasted good as fresh seafood does.
Upped anchor and sailed over to another island for the night and had a nice quiet evening talking among friends and playing games. Next morning we awoke to hot coffee on deck and then the bell rung to go below for breakfast. Somehow all 26 of us sat down to a hearty breakfast complete with fruit, eggs and bacon and fresh baked bread all cooked on a wood burning stove, except the fruit of course.
We spent the next three days and nights sailing around Penobscot Bay and anchoring at different places for the night. On Island was Isle de Hoe and we went ashore to walk around and were told to look at the cars and the license plates. We did and discovered that no one bothers to renew there license tags as there are no police on the island! I think the oldest I saw was 1988. But the did have an excellent chocolate shop that made there own chocolates and even though it was supposed to be closed we convinced the owner to open up for us. I'm sure it was a profitable day for him.
Arriving back in Camden we were looking forward to seeing how they were going to maneuver the Mary Day back to her dock where she was backed in. It went quite well with the yawl boat pushing and then pilling the bow around while another small rubber dinghy brought out the lines from the dock. All done very professionally and with no fuss. The crew and the Captain really knew what they were doing.
It was a great trip and with a good group of friends, much like an Airstream rally group. We highly recommend the trip and we may make it an annual event.