Mary Lou and Jay's Place
13 September 2008
by Mike
13 Sep 2008
Saturday, Billy's Shore in Sabbath Day Harbor, Isleboro Island.
44 16.382'N : 68.18.721'W
I am starting tomorrow's post today since I am feeling relieved in more ways than one. First, the new alternator is installed and working. The modern one is much more efficient in terms of effectiveness and space than the old one. Second, to achieve the first I have been "relieved" of about $1000. This sounds like a lot but I really don't begrudge a penny. The alternator cost $400 And the shop only charged $280 in labour, which, when you consider the effort it took to get the old one off, is nothing! Add to that the work from the marine electrician who diagnosed the problem in the first place and did a lot of the work to pull off the regulator and the alternator charged the grand total of $200, we really can't complain. And thirdly, the shop that did the work is on the waterfront and they have let us stay at their dock for the last two days complete with power and water at no additional charge. This doesn't seem like much but if you compare it to the local dockside prices of $3/ft/night (and they measure the boat and the dingy so Nelleke would be in the order of 50' or $150/night) they have done us a favour. It makes it easier if Barb decides to walk to the market or the library and much easier to give Peri his comfort stops. Last but not least I am writing this while BBQing dinner with a wee dark rum in my hand. Life is very good!
Tomorrow we will start of on a sort of inside power route to Isleboro Island. We have selected this for two reasons: 1. We're not certain of the weather and the planned route is very sheltered, and 2. It will give us a chance to very up close a lot of the Maine coastline.
For those of you back in Halifax that might be reading this, we can very highly recommend cruising the Maine coast if you are looking for some place that you could spend 2 weeks or so of holidays. With those of you still chained to the workplace, you might have to bring the boat here in stages: a couple of weekends to Yarmouth via Liverpool and Shelburne, and then the jump across to Mount Desert Island. Don't let them tell you that you must clear in at Bar Harbor. If you get that line from Houlton Customs call back later and try to get someone else on the phone. I have sat here and watch a dozen Canadian boats clear in at Southwest harbour and even the inspector that cleared us was really annoyed that someone at Houlton was giving us bad info. Even the whole issue of the lobster traps isn't as bad as it could be. The lines all hang straight down; they don't use floating line, so I have had more worries getting into Louisburg harbour during their lobster season with all their polypropylene lines floating on the surface. You just need to be able to see them which means traveling during daylight in good visibility.
It's now morning, Barb's birthday, so I am up early working on the blog and letting her get a little more sleep. It rained a fair amount last night but has stopped mow and I live in hopes that the sun will come out or at least it won't start raining again for today's trip.
We had Barb's Birthday breakfast, of her choosing, then motored over to pick up some fuel at Beal's dock, two over from where we are, only to discover that the power was out over the whole town. There had been a thunderstorm overnight and I guess that knocked it out. They gave us permission to come alongside and wait for the power to come back on which was only moments. I guess that was one of Barb's birthday presents, too.
We had a really pretty trip over to Isleboro Island by way of an inside passage. Even during an overcast day we got to view a lot of the coast an marvel at the houses. We figure that a lot of folks from Boston and New York, well heeled people who have made loads of moola, must be buying up houses or land and building on it, since the homes in many cases can only be described as palatial. We arrived at Mary Lou and Jay's place by about three o'clock. They contacted us by cellphone and VHF and guided us into a space mooring right in front of their "cottage". Their cottage is a marvellous place with an unbelievable den/office on the second floor overlooking the bay through a huge semi-circular window - an incredible place that they will save as a pied-au-terre and rent out to support the cruising kitty. We had never met but they are definitely kindred spirits with their own boat currently in Maryland and making their maiden voyage in her the winter too. They were kind enough to allow us to do laundry and shower (I had an outdoor shower - an experience not to be missed) and then when they found out it was Barb's Birthday, they insisted that we have a dinner together - twist my rubber arm. We had a Pot Luck meal with wine and what seemed like gallons of Pina Coladas. Finally at 9 o'clock we begged for mercy and got a commitment from them to come out to Nelleke in the morning for breakfast and rowed back to the boat for the night.
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