| Tourist: "When is it summer in Maine?" Old Mainer: "Well… this year it was July 26th." Like all humor there is a bit of truth in the story. When the weather report was for a "hot and sticky night with lows only in the mid sixties" we knew summer had arrived. This sort of weather, with highs consistently in the 80's, only began to be regular in the last two weeks of July. Now, after the middle of August, temperatures seem more like Fall again. This morning it was clear, calm, and 47° at daybreak. We are sleeping in our sleeping bags again. |
| Fog also is more prevalent in the Maine summer when warm moist air moves over the cooler water. We had our first experience of thick fog on the Fourth of July in Rockland. We have been fortunate in having no schedule to meet, so that we could just enjoy the anchorage or port another day and avoid navigating on foggy days. |
| With the exception of a few days, the weather has been fine with light to moderate winds and some good sailing. We took our time and explored Penobscot Bay during this Maine "summer". For ten days we had our grandson, Connor, with us. We sailed, caught and baked fish, collected and steamed mussels, explored tide pools, and ate lobster at the 60th annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, ME. His visit was the highlight of the "summer", as we caught his enthusiasm for all of this. |
| Among our favorite places have been Pulpit Harbor, on North Haven Island, a quiet well protected harbor with beautiful views, a town landing, and good small market a quarter mile walk from the landing along a country road. The "Windjammers", large schooners carrying passengers on three and six day sailing cruises, often anchor in Pulpit Harbor for the night and provide additional entertainment. |
| Castine, ME is a beautiful small town for walking with many old houses dating back to the early 1800's and even 1700's. It is also a "college" town, the home of the Maine Maritime Academy. There is a very interesting array of classic wooden yachts moored there, and many can be seen sailing on a nice day.. |
| Smith Cove, near Castine, is another quiet anchorage, which has a unique set of pools which fill on the high tide and spill over a natural dam at low tide. Winter Harbor/Seal Bay on the east side of Vinalhaven and Perry Cove on the Fox Island Thorofare, were also beautiful and each unique. |
| Belfast, is relatively "undiscovered" as compared with the other cities on Penobscot Bay. However, its main street consists of beautiful, century-old brick buildings with convenient services for the cruising sailor. |
| We have now moved east to Mount Desert Island another wonderful cruising area. We will share our impressions of it in our next Note from Maine. |
| - Jay and Jane Stormer 08/21/2007 |
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Created with iView MediaPro | Tuesday, August 21, 2007