We did it! We took a break and the boat didn't scream in outrage, in fact she almost seemed to relax a bit and enjoy herself too.

As planned early Sunday AM we slipped our lines and headed out on the short hop to Meager's Beach at McNab's Island but not before we met a really nice couple aboard Toto a 65' Outer Reef with a two person professional crew. I had already met the crew at the Binnacle and I had hoped to meet the owners, Stuart and Robin Ray as they lived on Islesboro Island just down the road from our friends Mary Lou and Jay and this was our last opportunity. They were really nice folk and I was happy to have been able to give them some local knowledge as to where they could stop for lunch on the way down the shore and other places to stop off at. Then, much as I hated to see them go, I helped them slip their lines and get under way. They have a winter home in the Bahamas so perhaps we'll see them there on our way north again in the spring.

Shortly after that it was our turn to depart in bright sunshine and head over to McNab's. We got the anchor down and were relaxing to see if we had a good hook when the cell phone buzzed and it was our friends Mike and Heather Murray aboard Windsong II just returning from their sail down the shore. They came over and rafted up for a chat which turned into a walk on the island and dinner which turned into an overnight stay. The walk was particularly enjoyable as Mike is a former Director of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and as such had a wealth of knowledge about the island's past and gave us a personalized walking tour. It was during that walk that we had one of those encounters that you only hope for and rarely get. We were on the home stretch, walking along one of the roads back to the beach where we left the dingy when I happened to look into the woods and was startled to see a deer looking back at me. This was no ordinary deer. Oh no. An eight point buck with velvet still on his antlers! All we could see of him was his head, neck and shoulders and indeed someone voiced what we were all thinking: "Is it real?!" That was enough to break the spell. That or Mike reaching for his camera, and the deer calmly turned and bounded away.

Back to the boat for a great diner of pork tenderloin, 'taters and veggies and a drink or three, before turning in for the night.

During the night the rain settled in (no surprise there) but Windsong's scuppers were somehow blocked and the cockpit filled up with water causing her to settle at the stern and wake up Mike and Heather. They spent the early morning bailing her out to keep her from foundering and when we got up they had decided to forgo the breakfast we had planned for a quick return to the dock. Good thing that they were aboard. Otherwise they might have sunk at the dock!

We were just congratulating ourselves on our good fortune to not have problems like that, when as we were raising the anchor we were obviously fouled on something. As we struggled to get the anchor to the surface we saw that the reason that we had such a firm pick was that the flukes were lovingly entwined with two cables. Although the no anchoring icon on the charts was crossed out clearly there are still remnants of the DND listening station that used to be based on the island. After a brief struggle and some choice words we were free to return to the dock and get ready for the visitors. We are expecting two groups: 1. A fellow who will be buying the generator and, 2. Fang, the Japanese Dufor that we had met in S Carolina on the way north this spring.