Charmed For Lunch

Belfast Maine Public Library

We came into the harbor today and rented a mooring. Belfast is very reasonable and provides good facilities. When you come here be sure to meet harbormaster Cathy. She's a pip.

Our Westsail friends, Don and Margaret met us in town and invited us to their home for lunch. What a treat! They have a charming little cottage in Bayview. Bayview was a former religious retreat with lots of cottages all built around the same time mid 19th century. When Libby and I first set eyes on it, we both exclaimed "Round Lake." Round Lake is a village near Saratoga Springs NY that is also very charming and of the same concept and style as Bayview.

Margaret runs Bayside Cottage Rentals as a business, and Don helps out. They manage weekly rentals for 35 cottages in and near Bayside. It sounds like a rat race. They described for us how they have to scramble every Saturday to turn around the rentals in just 5 hours. One family leaving, clean up, then another family arriving. Their dream is to live the cruising live on Heron, their Westsail 32, much like what Libby and I are doing. Working as hard as they do, it's easy to understand how appealing cruising would be.

Check out their web site. I'm sure that a number of our friends would love one of these Bayside cottages for a vacation.

We heard Margaret and Don both describe how they plan to adapt their life styles and their avocations to accommodate the wishes of the other. Two people that willing to adapt have an excellent chance of succeeding in living their dreams. We wish them fair winds and safe voyages onboard Heron. Hopefully, someday we might meet them in some cruising location.

Margaret is not only lovely but also talented. She does art with ceramics and plastics and she has already figured out how to do it onboard the boat. Perhaps they could supplement their income that way.

Don and Margaret