Busy Busy

Penobscot Bay
N 44 17 W 68 53

Sorry, I missed a couple of blogs. We've been two busy.

We had a delightful evening at dinner with Don and Margaret. We really like that couple. Even Nick was entertained with our endless string of sailing stories. Don and Margaret had some really hair raising experiences during their trek north last spring. They nearly did themselves in with CO in the cabin. The CO and smoke was coming from a diesel cabin heater that they had running all night. Then they badly misjudged their boat speed and the speed of a tanker in the Saint John's river. Their
reward was an extreme close up (macro mode?) of the tanker's hull.

Yesterday morning we returned to Belfast briefly to pick up our new outboard motor. She's a beauty. We hope that this Honda 2hp will prove to be much more reliable and simpler to operate than our old Mercury 2hp. We left the Merc at Northport Yacht Club with a sign saying Free For The Taking.

After Belfast we continued on to the city of Castine. Castine is the home of Maine Marine Academy. Libby and I heard bout MMA's programs at the gam. They train young people in a quasi military environment to become deck officers or propulsion engineers in the merchant marine. Navy ROTC also has a recruiting office there. As I remember, Navy ROTC will pay 100% of your four year college costs if you sign up for a 6 year tour. Nick's stated interest is forestry, not marine. Nevertheless, it
doesn't hurt to learn about alternatives.

Unfortunately, we got there at the wrong time and the wrong day to get a tour of the campus, or a tour of MMA's ship, State of Maine. We wandered around on our own and found some unattended bridge deck simulators that we played with a bit.

On the way back to the boat we found an oyster bar, and we introduced Nick to oysters on the half shell. We each had two oysters. They were very expensive, $3 each! Nick was polite but I don't think he liked them. I'm not surprised. I think that probably more than 50% of people think that raw oysters are yucky.

Returning to the boat we discovered a nice breeze. 15 knots from the SE. It was the best wind we've seen since Nick's arrival, so we took advantage of it. Up with all the sails, and out in to the bay we went. We had a really fun sail, lasting till about 1800. Then we pulled in to a tiny sheltered cove and dropped anchor. It was as if the wind was shut off with a switch. It was totally still and quiet in the cove. Really nice.

This morning, we had to wait until 1000 for the fog to burn off. Now we're en route to Isle La Haut. We hope to find wilderness there for Nick. That's what he loves best. Wilderness and no people.