Portland to Boston with a stop in Isles of Shoals

DiMillo's Marina in Portland has a large ferry boat used as a restaurant and very nice shower and laundry facilities.  It is located right in the middle of the old Portland waterfront.  We arrived on Friday, 8/30/19, Labor Day Weekend.  The plan was to stay a couple days and then continue on towards Boston.  We liked Portland and DiMillo's so much that we stayed until Tuesday.

After rinsing off the saltwater and scrubbing the deck and hull (Bryan) and polishing the Strataglass windshields (Polly) on Saturday morning, we walked to Trader Joes, CVS pharmacy and West Marine.  On the way there, we passed Portland City Hall where a wedding ceremony was in progress.  We had a very delicious dinner at DiMillo's restaurant that night.

On Sunday, we heard a voice call out, "Sandusky Yacht Club!!!" A friend who used to dock near us at SYC was entering the marina and docked a couple slips down from us.  He had sold his Catalina 47 Drop of the Dew and bought an Oyster 53 in Fort Lauderdale and was sailing through Maine.  It was such a surprise to see him and we enjoyed catching up.

Monday morning, we walked to Becky's Diner for breakfast.  Some friends had recommended it and there was a bit of a wait but my bacon & asparagus omelet was delicious and Bryan said his steak omelet was good, too.  We definitely did not need lunch!

Tuesday, we headed out to Isles of Shoals, a group of nine small islands about 6 miles offshore from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Five of the islands are in NH and four are in Maine.  The islands are very rugged and beautiful and apparently a popular spot in the summer time.  Portsmouth Yacht Club maintains 6 mooring balls that are first-come, first-served and free but there are no facilities ashore.  It was not so busy being Tuesday after Labor Day and most of the mooring balls were open.  I fixed Curried Carrot & Bean soup for dinner and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Weds. we left Isles of Shoals by 8:00 and headed for Boston.  It was rough and windy and "on the nose" once again.  We motor sailed with the main up along the NH/MA coast in mostly cloudy weather.  As we rounded Cape Ann Peninsula, the fog rolled in as the wind picked up.  We were happy the fog only lasted about an hour.  The sun came out and we had a nice fetch for about an hour as we headed more westerly towards Boston.  We were tied up at Boston Waterboat Marina at about 6 pm, just in time for a short, but windy & rainy thunderstorm.

Isles of Shoals

Sunset at Isles of Shoals

Isles of Shoals

Moon over Star Island Resort, Isles of Shoals

High Tide at DiMillo's

DiMillo's Marina

This Coast Guard Buoy Tender was leaving Portland at the same time we were.  We saw them a day later doing maintenance on a buoy as we rounded the Cape Ann Peninsula on our way to Boston.

Star Island Resort, Isles of Shoals

Customs House in Portland

Portland City Hall

There was a marriage ceremony going on at the city hall.

High Tide

Low Tide

Rockland to Portland with a stop in Ebenecook Harbor, Sheepscot River

We had a great few days in Rockland.  The Hamilton Marine store was just half a block off the water front, so we bought parts to rebuild a sink drain pump and plumb the deck wash pump as well as a spare impeller for the generator.  Although we anchored off the city marina and mooring balls, we bought tokens to take showers at the city harbor master/Rockland Yacht Club building.  The water traffic was interesting, with Coast Guard ships, ferry boats, a cruise ship, several schooners, a tugboat converted into a cruiser, lots of varieties of sailboats and of course, lobster boats.  From Rockland, we planned to go about 35 miles to Five Islands on the Sheepscot River.  We left Rockland on Wednesday morning, 8/28/19, a gray, foggy day.  By the time we reached the Sheepscot River, it was sunny but not much wind.  We motored up the Sheepscot River towards Five Islands, but as we approached, we saw that it was very small and quite crowded.  We decided to head another couple of miles up the river and anchor in Ebenecook Harbor.  Ebenecook was peaceful and beautiful and the sunset was gorgeous.  It was a great spot to anchor for the night.
The next morning, we motored out the Sheepscot with the wind and waves on our nose.  Once we got past Seguin Island, we turned down along the shore and had a fast, fun sail with just the jib down the coast to Portland.

Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island to Rockland, 8/26/19

The 2 weeks (8/13/19 to 8/26/19) we spent on a mooring ball in Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island, is the longest we have spent in any one place since leaving Algonac, Michigan on June 29. NEH was beautiful and a convenient location for our activities ashore but we were ready to get back on the way south. We dropped the mooring ball at 8:50, shortly after high tide so that we could head out with the tide and take the “short-cut” between MDI and Great Cranberry Island, which is a little too shallow for our comfort at low tide. We weaved through the lobster pots with the motor only and headed for Rockland, Maine. It was a sunny day but there was very little wind and we ended up motoring all the way. The lobster pots kept us busy and made it a little difficult to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery going by. Maybe some get used to the lobster pots but so far, we have not. We were happy to anchor in the Rockland Harbor at about 4:00 that afternoon.

Looking into Northeast Harbor

Lymans fit right in with the Maine boats!

Vacation in Maine, 8/16/19 - 8/24/19

We had a wonderful time with our *bestest* friends from Ohio.  We were so happy they came and stayed on the boat with us for a week!  The hardest part of being a live-aboard cruiser is leaving friends and family and we hope to have many more friends and family come stay with us.

We had a very foggy but fun day in Bar Harbor.  It was great to take the free (Thank you, L.L. Bean!!) bus from Northeast Harbor to Bar Harbor and avoid traffic and parking problems.  We all had lobster in one form or another at the Bar Harbor Inn, on the patio with the yellow umbrellas.  The next day, we had happy hour on Joli with Burt & Prue from Exuberant.  Fun times with Ohio friends in Mount Desert Island, Maine!

We enjoyed the Bubble Rock hike with Burt & Prue and Mark & Beth so much that we duplicated it with Bob & Beth, including the stop at Asticou Inn.  It was another beautiful day in Acadia National Park.

Although we weren't able to sail (it was "on the nose" there and dead downwind back, plus we had to play dodge'em with the lobster pots), we took a day trip to Frenchboro on Long Island.  We had the best lobster ever at Lunt's and enjoyed being out on the water.

Bob & Beth had rented a car, so we took a drive to Brooklin Boat Yard.  Although it is not that far as the crow flies, we had to drive up Somes Sound, off Mount Desert Island and down to Brooklin.  We also took the time to get some groceries in Southwest Harbor since the grocery store in Northeast Harbor is extremely expensive.  Brooklin Boat Yard was quite spectacular and we were allowed to wander through each of their buildings on our own.  Several employees took the time to talk to us and explain some of the projects they had going on.

Finally, we did another hike in Acadia, on the Ocean Cliff Trail.  It was an awesome day with beautiful views at every turn of the trail.  To top it off, we saw Rebecca, a 140' ketch out for a sail.  Wow, is it ever a beautiful boat!

Bubble Rock hike photos below:

Below photos from the motor-boat ride to Frenchboro

Photos below from Brooklin Boat Yard, Brooklin, Maine

Pictures below from Ocean Cliff Trail, Acadia National Park

Photos below from Bar Harbor