7/27/14
Today, because of approaching bad weather, we’re headed to Camden, just a couple of hours SW from Warren Island. Our small flotilla departs, but with a SSW wind we’re motoring all the way there. We pick up a mooring in the outside harbor (more about that later) and notice that our bow thruster is sounding different. It may be that the propeller, which is made of a nylon type material designed to sacrifice itself when something gets caught in the tunnel, has gotten bunged up. Anyway, I’ll deal with that another day. We dinghy through the harbor to Wayfarer marine, to sign in and go ashore. Camden is a great town, with lots of shops and stuff like that. First off, we stop at Cappy’s for coffee and a Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Cream Puff. The jolt of sugar from the cream puff gives me the energy I need to keep up with Debi as she pops in and out of all the shops. The rains have come and so we duck into the Waterfront, a restaurant/bar in town, where we meet up with some of the Corinthians for a beer and conversation. When the rain lets up, we hop back into our dinghy and make our way to River Rat, where we dine on ravioli and marinara sauce, followed by some Ben and Jerry’s. Off to bed, but sleep does not come easy. The harbor is open to the SE, and the seas are gently rolling in from the east. The operative word here is rolling, so as each roller hits River Rat, she rolls from side to side. (she yaws, as opposed to pitches). This happens all night, so we promise ourselves we’ll head somewhere else tomorrow, regardless of the weather.
7/28/14
Tomorrow has come, we head into Warefarer to pay our bill, get a couple of parts and let Debi upload her pictures in a place with lots of bandwidth. The fog is all encompassing now, and rain is on its way. Of course, at about noon when we begin to make our way to River Rat in our dinghy, the skies open and we’re drenched. On board, we strip down, turn on the generator and the heat, warm up, redress and eat lunch. We’ve decided to head across Penobscot Bay for a couple of hours to get to Pulpit Harbor, which is a completely protected anchorage. The rain comes down heavy, but the fog has lifted as we make our way out of Camden harbor, with a vow never to get a mooring in its outside harbor. The alternative is to pay $2.75/foot (X 45 feet) to raft up with other boats on a floating dock, but we’re too cheap for that. The rain lets up and our passage to Pulpit Harbor in Northhaven is uneventful until we are about a mile from the entrance. The skies open for about 10 minutes and we can’t see a thing, so we head into the wind and tread water until the storm passes. The entrance to this harbor is hidden, until just before you enter it, but it turns out to be easy. Inside, we drop anchor and hail our friends Joanne and Jim on Grayce (who’ve been here for a couple of days) to come over to share an “arrival beverage”. After good conversation, we eat leftover ravioli and head to bed, for peaceful sleep.
7/29/14
It’s a sunny morning in Pulpit Harbor, so off we go on our collapsible bikes to explore this beautiful place. Before we leave the public landing, we run into a guy who farms oysters (Northhaven Oyster Company) here and runs lobster pots on an old red boat named Ocean Rider. Then, just a mile or so down the road is a freshly stocked small market. After riding up and down rolling hills for another few miles we come into a pretty little town, with shops and a great lunch place (Cooper’s Landing). Debi orders some kind of veggie packed sandwich and I have a crab roll (they’re out of lobster). We eat outside on picnic tables and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. On our way back, we take pictures and meet Nick and Bridget (who sailed their 44’ catamaran named Isis from the UK to the Caribbean and then up here), who also biked into the town from Pulpit Harbor. All day long, Debi has been trying to buy lobsters for dinner. First she called Randy, on Rock Me Baby, but his voice mail referred her to April, the CEO of Bubba Gump Lobster Company. Debi and April traded voice mail messages all day, so no luck on the lobsters. As evening approached, we pulled steaks from the freezer to grill, but just then April calls. She’s pulling lobsters from her pots in the harbor then, and brings 2 she just pulled to River Rat for $15. Away go the steaks for another evening. Lobster is now the main course. Beautiful boats have come into the harbor for the night. Just before sunset, an old schooner sails in (the schooners do a lot of charters in these waters). She’s beautiful silhouetted against the setting sun. I steam the lobsters and we devour them along with a salad Debi made from the last half of her sandwich. And as you might guess by now, we had some wine to wash it all down. The sun goes to sleep behind the hills of Camden, directly across Penobscot Bay, and after we bake some cookies, our sleepy heads hit the pillows. Spending today with my bride in this beautiful place was absolutely joyous.