Gone With The Wind
| Vessel Name: | White Wings |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Catalina |
| Hailing Port: | Mount Pleasant, SC |
| Crew: | Laurie and Frank Thigpen |
| Social: |
 |
28 July 2021
Travel to Tashmoo Lake
We departed Marblehead and motor sailed to Plymouth, MA. As we were sailing past Boston and down the coast, we couldn't help but notice the haze. Then, when we were anchoring, we saw this incredible SUN. This is not your typical "red sky at night, as sailor's delight". It looked more like a rising full [...]
26 July 2021
Marblehead
As I mentioned, Marblehead has become one of our favorite cruising destinations this year. We arrived Saturday) of their big "Race Week". We knew it was going to be crowded and we also new that it was going to be rainy on Sunday. So, we dropped the DINGHY in the water, mounted the engine, changed our [...]
24 July 2021
Isle of Shoals
So, we left Maine today (sniff). We spent our last night in Isle of Shoals. It's a wonderful little atoll about 10 miles off the coast. A couple of the islands are in Maine and a couple of the islands are in NEW HAMPSHIRE!
22 July 2021
This Ole Boat
Old is a relative term. Twenty eight years old doesn't sound too bad by my standards, but for a sailboat that has spent its 28 years in the corrosive environment of salt water, 28 years is older than dirt! Everything metallic (think engine, transmission, mast, cooktop, oven etc, etc) is subject to corrosion [...]
Mt. Desert
The locals pronounce Mt. Desert as Mt. Dessert like it was some big chocolate cake or something. Well, all desserts need a recipe and here is the one for this fantastic island:
Start with a solid block of pink granite - oval shaped with rough dimensions of 15 miles by 8 miles and about 1500 feet high. Then trim, scrape and claw the block with a large glacier over many geological millennia until you have created fjords, elevated alpine lakes and majestic cliffs dropping straight into the ocean.
Following the scraping, remove the glacier and allow the block to weather some until it has a deep bed of rich soil and is covered with an amazing list of trees, ferns and bushes (think Hemlock, spruce, pine, fur, cedar, birch and a gazillion other plants). The plants do their thing and attract a bounty of wildlife including beautiful eagles.
Next, and this is the hard part, bring in humans (a very dangerous step here, carry out with care!!). The humans will start to log and cut down everything in their path but at just the right time (around 1870's) bring in some rich philanthropists who are so enamored with this unique place that they buy up about 80% of the island and turn it over to the young, national park service of the USA. Once this happens, you will see hiking paths, carriage paths, bike paths, rock climbing routes and so many other wonderful things start to bloom on the preserved land.
Leave the other 20% of the island to the humans to develop great restaurants, bars, kayak rentals, bike rentals, whale watching boats, hotels, museums and so important, a free bus system that takes people all over the island and even moves their bikes! This last item is provided free of charge by L.L. Bean corp.
Last but not least, place the island in a far north location so that people can only use it for the months of July, August and September. That lets the island recover after each onslaught of summer visitors.
The final place is amazing. The miles of hiking and biking paths are incredible and would take you many visits to even scratch the surface. Temperatures range from the low 70's to the low 80's, so it's shorts during the day and long pants and sweatshirts during the evenings. I would recommend this dessert to anyone who loves the outdoors
 |