Leslie and Mike being silly

Lobster feast in Winter Harbor

yum! yum!

Richard, John, and Willard

feeding the baby

pre hurricane party in Smith cove

me too

Gail and Willard go hunting for mussels

and gathering

Sept. 6 Gail and Willard Welsh drove me back to Rockland and John picked us up at the dock. After loading Zalty(the dinghy) on the top deck,  we sped to Bucks Harbor to meet up with my brother Mark and his wife, Laura. We wanted them to see the boat and have dinner with us all on the boat. We arrived at dusk and anchored. john went ashore to get them and we all had a fun dinner together.

Sept. 7 It was gray and rainy and windy, so we went to Smith Cove  where we could gather mussels  for the next night’s dinner. After we dried off and had dinner, we played Chinese checkers! That was a blast from the past.

Sept. 8 The sun came out and we headed to Pulpit harbor so we could walk to the grocery store on North Haven. Along the way, we all picked wildflowers for an arrangement. Dinner was a seafood pasta made with the mussels Gail and Willard had collected. This time, we played dominos together.

Sept. 9 A beautiful clear day greeted us and we left the harbor and the osprey sitting on her nest (pulpit) and headed for Winter Harbor on Vinalhaven.  Soon after anchoring, we were joined by Algonquin and eventually Rita Maria. Some people went up to the top of Starboard Rock and some in the dinghy to see Seal Bay next door. Dinner was for 10 on Windermere out on the aft deck. Algonquin treated us to lobsters and I made an upsidedown rum cake with plums, blueberries, and pecans on top! By 9:15pm , we were all ready for bed. Can’t stay up and party like we used to in our yourh!

Sept. 10 After breakfast, everyone braved the lobster pot gauntlet across a small bay to our east and on to Merchant Row and McGlathery island. After lunch, we all went ashore and walked along the rocks and enjoyed a glass of wine. Cocktails and dinner were on Algonquin and this feast was more of a pot luck feast. The Welsh’s brought chanpagne to add to the party. Gail and I worked on a great  card for Mike and De’s first anniversary. Leslie made a dense chocolate cake. There were lots of toasts and merriment but by 9:15 pm, we were all pooped and went back to our various boats to bed.

Sept. 11 Yet another sunny day and time to take the Welshs back to Rockland. As we went through the Fox Island Thoroughfare, John navigated the lobster pots and the rest of us sat up on the flybridge enjoying the view. All of a sudden, a big bird flew right across our path- an eagle! and then flew back the way he came to his perch on a big rock island. That capped off the trip for Gail and Willard. Once back in Rockland, they treated us to lunch and left for Mystic. John and I raised the anchor and headed up the bay to Islesboro to have dinner with some of John’s old friends on the island and spend the night there.

Sept. 12 Sunny once more and we love it. Back down the bay to Rockland to wait for Chris and Corey’s arrival.

Aug. 22 We sat in Rockland and waited for the airhorn part and did some window shopping in town.


Aug. 23 The part arrived in the morning and we were able to head out into the bay and over to Bucks Harbor. Our friend Larry on Algonquin was there on a mooring  waiting for his wife,Leslie, to return on Friday from a business trip. Another reason for picking Bucks was a visit to our friends from “Steadfast” Buz and Rosemary who have a house on land nearby. They picked us up and took us for dinner there. There house is like a three story tower with great views of the bay. We met their daughter and son in law and grandson and had a fun dinner.

Aug. 24 Larry was doing varnishing chores so we kept him company till it was time for lunch. He had a rental car so he took us to the Bagaduce river and a greasy spoon restaurant. It took several tries to find it though so we saw lots of Maine countryside. That afternoon buz and Rosemary brought over the younger crowd to see the boat and socialize.


Aug.25 “Spirit of Zopolote”was in the harbor so we went by to say hi. On our way back to the boat we stopped by to see “Ariel” whom we had met in Conception Island last winter. Small world! The wind was piping up and we were basically exposed to it in our spot so we decided to move around the corner to Smith Cove. Hurricane Irene was on her way and we wanter tog et a good spot before the anchorage filled up. We found just the right spot at the head of the bay and put the anchor down for good.


Aug. 26 Rosemary came to the town dock near us and took us to Blue Hill and Ellsworth to do chores and have the morning off the boat. She dropped us off in Bucks where we met up with Mike and De. They drove us to the town dock in Smith Cove and gave us back our booze that they had kept for our Canadian trip. The rest of the day was quiet.

Aug. 27 Larry and Leslie on “Algonquin” and Mike and De from “Rita Marie” came over for lunch. “Algonquin” had come into the harbor to sit out the hurricane. Mike and De drove from Bucks. We had a lively lunch out on the aft deck. All three couples had owned Mason 44 sailboats and Mike still did. Mike and De went back to guard their boat in the hurricane and we went with Larry and Leslie to Castine for groceries and to poke around and then to dinner on their boat.

Aug. 28 The big day! The rain was quite hard in the morning and the wind came and went. At one moment, the sun actually tried to come out. We spent most of the day watching several of the  other boats fussing with their anchors or moving. Many of the sailboats had already taken their jibs off for the storm. There were at least 40 boats of all sizes and types in the big harbor. We did chores and watched movies. Steadily throughout the day the wind picked up and the rain slackened. We never really saw any horrible winds but John stayed up late to keep watch. We had picked a good spot to weather the storm.

Aug. 29 The morning came with glorious sun and lighter winds. I checked in on the VHF radio with several other boats that belonged to friends in Bucks and Smith harbors. Then Leslie picked me up and took me for a girlie day. She had a rental car and we drove all over the countryside basically heading for Blue Hill and Ellsworth where she had to return the car. The weather was clear, sunny and just the most delicious temperature. I wanted to find my niece, Heather’s, new house in Blue Hill so we headed there and succeeded! She and her French husband had just returned from France and the house was stiil a work in progress but it was fun to see and catch up with her a bit. Then, it was off to Ellsworth for lunch and some shopping. A friend of Leslie’s met us at the rental place and drove us back to the town dock in Smith Cove. That evening we had cocktails on Windermere and dinner in Castine at a wonderful restaurant.

Aug. 30 A clear crisp morning and it was time to move on to another piece of paradise. This time, we were treading new ground with a new anchorage for us. In Penobscot bay, there are many islands of all sizes. We had never been to the tiny group of them called the Barred Islands which were just down the bay from Castine. The entrance is a bit narrow with rock ledges on both sides but we managed to pick our way in carfully and anchor in the middle of the mini archepelego. during the rest of the day, the 11 ft tide slowly went out and our world changed. Now we were almost completely surrounded by either islands, sand bars, or big rocky ledges. After lunch, we took the dinghy out for a ride to explore our area and let John have a cigar. Later on, 4 sailboats arrived and filled in most of “our” little anchorage. One hit a ledge on the way in and had to wait for the tide to lift him off.

Aug. 31 Another beautiful day but cooler temperatures and time to move to Rockland. John will stay here on the boat while I go and visit my mother in Greenwich for Labor Day weekend.

Wendy playing Edith Ann at the garden

Kingsbrae garden in St. Andrews

heaths and heathers

hydrangea close up

foam around boat in Saint John

going up river through the reversing falls

coming back down

yeah, we are through

John and Krista on the way to St. Andrews