Day 173 - Wed 16 Sep 2015
Moored - Boothbay Harbor, ME

[photo: our lobsters for supper. That is a 10 inch dinner plate and a full-size fork]

After a wonderful night, Diane served up some of the great sourdough bread from the Atlantic Bakery Company in Rockland for breakfast. We dropped the mooring at 0700 and motored in beautiful conditions with the sun over at our backs. The vast majority of boats plying the water were lobstermen, but we saw a few ferries, one freighter, and a few cruisers.

The wind was light from the SW, our direction of travel, but except for the continual residual wakes from all the lobster boats running around, there was not much more than a gentle ocean swell. They call this the Gulf of Maine, but from ESE to SSW, there is nothing but thousands of miles of open ocean, so anytime it is relatively calm is a great thing. We got to a point due S of Port Clyde and made a decision. We would take advantage of the wonderful conditions and move farther towards our eventual goal of Newburyport, MA. Our second potential stop was an anchorage between Harbor and Hall Islands, but even that was too close. We carried on to Boothbay Harbor and arrived at 1230.

We stopped at the dock to fill up with water, and then found the dockmaster for the Tug Boat Inn to get a mooring assignment. We relaxed aboard and took care of business, and at 1500 got the dinghy down to go ashore. We walked a ways clockwise around the waterfront, with me carrying a large jug of waste oil from the oil change I did yesterday. About one-half mile later, the Mobil station was happy to take my oil. The guy even said, "Thanks; this will keep us warm for a few hours this winter." If he was serious, they must burn the waste oil for heating purposes.

We retraced our steps until we came to the wooden footbridge (built in 1901) to the other side of the harbor. From the other side, we walked W until we came to the Fishermen's Co-Op. Hard shell lobsters over 1.5 lbs each were going for $8 per pound. Hard shells typically have more meat per total weight and command a higher price, so we ordered 2 hard shells, cooked. It was 1545 and they would be ready at 1630.

We walked back across the harbor in the gorgeous weather and took the dinghy back to Diva Di. We got a beverage to go, and motored slowly around the waterfront until we got to the Co-Op dock. Diane went inside and within minutes was back with the lobsters, fresh out of the steamer. We got back to the boat, took nice showers off the stern, and then relaxed until 1730.

I got the lobsters out and confirmed that the hardshells are definitely more difficult to open and extract the meat. I also confirmed, at least in this one case, that there was more meat and less juice than in the common softshells. Diane was impressed with the amount of meat and couldn't help sampling the lobster as I piled it into the pan. I warmed it in a little butter and heated the leftover rice pilaf and the frozen peas. It was an absolute feast, but we only ate about 2/3 of the lobster. That will be enjoyed later with the leftover cod.

One of the many large waterfront dining establishments here had a singer/guitarist and his tunes carried across the water nicely to allow us to savor the last of the waning light of the day. Boothbay Harbor is definitely a tourist town, and while there are certainly a number of shops and galleries here, it holds the largest collection of waterfront restaurants that we can remember seeing. All in all, it was a great stop for a night.

It is getting dark near 1900 these days, but life is good. We now plan to travel up the somewhat intricate passage to Bath for a night, and then move back S and W to another destination, yet to be determined.