From a very foggy approach, mostly in the dark with lobster pots all around and a few fishing boats that suddenly appeared out of nowhere (I.e. they didn’t show up on radar), the ensuing few days have shown us that the challenges of the passage to Maine were worth it.  Rockland was a good place to land in the heart of Maine’s cruising waters and far enough from Boston to be removed from the crowds.  It also provided us opportunity to stock up our provisions, do a bit of laundry and hear what the locals recommended for further cruising anchorages.  The local yacht club gave us a big welcome and prepared a fantastic lobster dinner for us the night after we arrived.  We then set off for Seal Bay to join about 8 boats, mostly ‘Salty Dawgs’ and a couple of Rockland Yacht Club boats.  The passage there was an experience, with a lovely sailing breeze across open West Penobscott Bay, then through the relatively narrow Fox Island Thorofare to the beautifully sheltered Seal Bay which, true to its name, had seals sunning themselves on a rock when we arrived.  It was so magical with rounded granite rocks lining the shoreline and pine trees behind, made even more special when Nick aboard Rubicon played ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ on his bagpipe around sunset.

The next day we headed to Coot Island, which involved winding our way through another myriad of lobster pots in Isle Au Haut Bay, then through Deer Island Thorofare with the busy fishing/quarry port of Stonington on the left to another lovely anchorage off Coot, Island.  The photos were taken during our Happy Hour ashore when the tide had left the dinghies quite dry.

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Yesterday we joined Hank and Seale who have a Catana 47 ‘Flash’ and another couple, Jimmy and Donna, who also had a catamaran in Center Harbor near Brooklyn which is another charming anchorage, filled with well-kept mostly traditional styled wooden boats.  We visited the local Brooklyn Boatyard which was in the process of building 2 custom boats, one a cold-molded carbon fiber reinforced 72 ft cruiser/racer and the other a more traditional cold-molded 49 ft boat. They were most impressive, both real works of art using modern technology but with beautiful wood finish both inside and out.

Now we are in Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island, which is the home to the Acadia National Park.  After feasting again on lobster at the famed Beales tonight, we should have plenty of strength to tackle a decent hike in the park tomorrow.