Then the fog rolled in.

August 6, 2022 Saturday

Sharon baked blueberry muffins made with the tiny fresh blueberries that Maine is famous for while we did some straightening up of the boat and then I launched the dinghy and headed into shore. I picked up Sharon’s Aunt Suzy and Uncle Dave around ten at the upper town dinghy dock. I was a little apprehensive about getting them into the dinghy but they managed the acrobatics fine. They are visiting Maine on vacation from their farm in Pennsylvania and we were excited by their visit, we don’t get many visitors so this was a special event.

At Monarch I gave our visitors special instructions on how to go from the dinghy to the boarding ladder on our boat’s stern and they manage to get aboard without getting wet. I got the dinghy back on the davits and the outboard on the rail while Sharon gave Dave and Susie a quick orientation of the boat. They have visited us before in Maryland so they were familiar with our home.

We started the engine, dropped the mooring ball, and headed out of the harbor and north into Somes Sound. We had a nice breeze from behind so we set the headsail and killed the engine and enjoyed a quiet sail up the sound with a couple of other sailboats doing the same thing. The sky was clear and the air cool as we talked and watched the mountains of Acadia drift by.

We picked up a mooring ball in Somes Harbor and enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches of sliced roast beef, turkey and provolone and Havarti cheese. We don’t have cold cuts onboard often; it was a nice treat with lettuce and sliced tomato on a French bread.

After lunch Sharon and Suzy took the dinghy around the harbor with the electric outboard and explored the beautiful setting while Dave and I enjoyed a beer and talked about life on the farm. Farming is new to Dave so it is fun to see him so active in retirement learning how to take care of the land. They love the country living with lots of privacy after the years they spent running a small grocery store off a busy highway in a small community where privacy was a non-existent commodity.

It was getting on by the time we had the ladies and the dinghy back onboard so we motored on back down Somes sound into the breeze and we were greeted with building fog out on the water to the south of Mount Desert and it was clear it was going to come our way. We did a quick tour around Northeast Harbor checking out the beautiful boats that summer there including a three-hundred-foot yacht, Archimedes, that was anchored at the entrance. Suzy looked up the operating cost of the vessel that could take 12 passengers with 19 crew to look after them and we were shocked to hear it takes eight to ten million dollars a year. Then she looked up the owner's income as the owner of an investment fund and decided he could well afford the boat.

As we left Northeast Harbor and headed back to Southwest Harbor the fog was rolling in. I turned on the radar and after some searching, we found our mooring ball and made secure to it. Dave and Suzy offered to take us out for dinner at Beals Lobster House to thank us for the boat ride but we convinced them to let Sharon make them dinner onboard where we had the best view on the harbor.

Sharon made a pasta dish to go with a couple of steaks I grilled. The pasta had a smooth pesto sauce with roasted vegetables. As we ate the fog would come and go in thickness obstructing our view and at times the ships moving about the harbor would sound their fog horns that made a deep rumble. Other times the fog would lift or move away leaving us lovely views of the harbor and hills beyond and giving the scene a heavenly look of floating in the clouds.

The sunset was lost in the fog but I knew it was time for the mosquitos to visit so Sharon made a quick goodbye and I motored our guests back to the town dock through the now building fog. I didn’t walk them to their car because I was getting worried about the fog and as soon as they were safe on the dock, I made way back through the gloom. Only a few boats had anchor lights running which was the only thing visible in the fog and after checking out two other boats I was happy to find Monarch.

The harbor wasn’t the only thing fogged in and it slowed Dave and Suzy in getting back to their campground. They texted Sharon when they were safely back.