imageimageimageWe have been so lucky with the weather after the initial fog cleared so Maine has really been looking her best in bright, clear, sunny skies.  We managed to get a good flavor of the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island by taking the free LL Bean bus from Southwest Harbor across the island to Bar Harbor and from there to Jordan Pond where we enjoyed a relatively easy about 3+ miles hike around the lake.  The water was pristine and we spotted several loons along the way.  Our reward was a late lunch in Jordan House, which included popovers (larger versions of Yorkshire Puddings) eaten with strawberry jam – yum!

Next port was Castine, which involved retracing our path through the Eggemoggin Reach but this time, we continued past Center Harbor, under the Eggemoggin Bridge.  It was half-tide at the time so we were fairly confident we would be able to pass underneath the center of the span (85 ft) but it did look ever so close…. Castine is another charming town with well preserved large older homes and trees lining the Main Street that has a  reasonably steep incline down to the town dock. We enjoyed a drink with Ingo and Jeri (Ladyhawk) in a quirky restaurant bar that had all four walls filled with an eclectic mix of collectibles and pictures of dignatories and villains such as the Romanoff czar and czarina alongside Lenin.  We chose to eat in Dennetts on the wharf and had our first taste of kelp as a main ingredient in coleslaw, delicious!

Now we are in Camden, having called in briefly at Pulpit Harbor which is beautiful but we found it to be too busy.  Camden is home to several large schooners and is preparing to host ‘A Parade of Sail’ this weekend so some beautiful classic yachts are beginning to gather in the harbor.  We were invited to join Tom and Jane (Bravo) whom we know from the SD Rally in the fall and live in Camden, for a fascinating seminar yesterday evening in the Camden Yacht Club given by Captain Tolley who is a former naval officer, merchant ship captain, and now a Columbia River pilot in Oregon. He had many interesting tales to tell of his challenges at sea, including 60 ft waves off S. Africa, and skirmishes with Somalian pirates, stowaways and Syrian refugees, not to mention the challenges of piloting vessels through the treacherous waters where the Columbia River crosses a bar to meet the Pacific Ocean.

So, tomorrow or Saturday we hope to head towards the Cape Cod Canal, making our a way back through Long Island Sound so we can drop William and Karen off at a reasonable place for them to make their own way to Newark airport for their flight on August 3rd. Maine, and Penobscot Bay in particular, will definitely be on the list of places we want to return to and explore some more….