Belfast

Belfast Maine, N 44 44.842 W 68 49.385

Monday, August 14, 2006

Well we reluctantly left Moore's Harbor this morning. Boy did we like
that place. We were driven however by business. I had to check on the progress of the estimate for repairs, and to check with our son John about transportation from Rockland. Our cell phone didn't work on Isle Au Haut (usually a blessing) so we had to leave to find a cell signal. We'll see. Perhaps we can get back there this week.

On the way up here we stopped for lunch at Butter Island. I spotted that on the way to Isle Au Haut last week. Butter Island has something very rare and desireable -- meadows; wild meadows. It's been a long time since we walked in a real meadow on a sunny day, not a hay field, not a lawn but a meadow. Hopefully there would be berries to pick. We anchored, found a trail and hiked up to the top of the hill where the meadow was. It was just as pleasant as we hoped, except that the berries were all picked or dried up. Too late for that. Anyhow, Butter Island is very nice.

After Butter Island we set sail again. The winds were brisk, about 20
knots. I went below for my nap. After the nap Libby said that she and
Tarwathie had been having a great time. We were surging along at more than 7 knots, and Libby said that we passed three larger sailboats as if they were standing still. People keep saying that Westsails are slow. Actually, when the winds are 20 knots or more, she is stiffer and can outperform many boats up to 50 feet long.

Tomorrow I'm going in search of a library in Belfast to see if I can
post these blogs.

Next week we're going to Rome NY to babysit the grandchildren for a
week. Libby really needs grandkid time. Our thought is to leave the
boat in Rockland near the place who will repair her. Perhaps they can
do it while we're gone or upon our return.

My watch is unhappy. It is the kind of watch that automatically
synchronizes with station WWV in Fort Collins Colorado every night.
With nightly synchronizations to the time standard, it is alsmost always accurate to with 0.5 seconds. However, Maine must be too far from Colorado. The watch hasn't succeeded since July 31. Now it is three minutes off. Tsk tsk.