Sharing Maine

NOTE:  due to a dead battery in our InReach tracker, the map on our blog homepage makes it look like we haven’t moved since August 4, but I can assure you...we have moved!!

For the first time, since we started cruising, our social calendar was bursting at the seams.  We were scheduled to pick up our niece (Allison, 19) and nephew (John, 16) from Portland, Maine on August 11, and scheduled to return them to the Portland airport on August 18.  Since our pick up and delivery plans included a day at a marina (to facilitate laundry and groceries) we thought it would be easiest, for all involved, to schedule our second set of guests (Patricia and Dave, friends driving in from NH) to arrive on the same day Allison and John departed.  Patricia and Dave planned to stay with us for 5 or 6 days.  Keith and I spent a significant amount of time planning for our upcoming company and identifying the places we really wanted to share...exciting!

On Wednesday, August 11 we arrived at the marina as planned, and once laundry was done we head to the grocery store.  We were ready for the adventure to begin, but as soon as we returned to the boat we found out the flight had been cancelled.  The next Southwest flight from BWI to Portland wasn’t until Friday afternoon...ugh!  On Thursday morning we returned to Jewell Island (about 12 miles outside of Portland) to wait for the Friday arrival.  On Friday afternoon we head back to Portland.  As we were entering the harbor we received a text that said  the flight was cancelled (15 minutes before boarding)...UGH!  We agree for one more try on the next scheduled flight the next day at noon. 🤞🤞🤞

Now, best case scenario, we will have them onboard for 3 full days and 2 half days...time to cut our itinerary in half!

How can we possibly show them the ‘best of Maine’ in 3.5 days?  We had three non-negotiables on our list.

1) We want to take them to a great place to kayak! 

Their plane landed at 1:42 on Saturday afternoon, and after a short taxi ride to the marina (we weren’t staying at the marina, but instead hovered outside until the plane landed) we conducted a curbside pickup with a brief ‘touch and go’ off the dock, and were quickly on our way to Quahog Bay.  Located approximately 24 miles northeast of Portland, Quahog Bay offers excellent protection with several small islands to explore. 

1) = ✔️

They weren’t fans of the mud at low tide, but they loved the rocks!

We came upon an oyster farm in these protected waters.

2) We must get fresh lobster directly from a lobster boat!

On Monday we returned to Jewell Island, and soon after anchoring Keith took them out to find a lobsterman/woman willing to sell some if his/her catch. Someone got a little excited when the lobster started flipping its tail.

At $6.00/lb a bakers dozen was in order.

After we each made a selection for dinner, we processed the remaining 9 for the freezer.

Fresh lobster dinner...priceless (or $6.00/lb)!

2) = ✔️

3) Hike and explore our favorite anchorage in Maine...Jewell Island.  I love climbing on the rocks!

They like it too!

3) = ✔️

However, Jewell Island has much more to explore than just beautiful trails and amazing beaches.  We also discovered two watch towers, a gun emplacement, and an underground ammunition storage bunker left behind from WWII...creepy!!! This tunnel has numerous rooms branching off.

Once inside, the rooms are pitch dark...I think I’ve seen enough!

I much prefer the great outdoors.  


Already it is time to return to Portland to exchange our passengers.  We return to South Port Marina, which was a wonderful place to stay.  Everyone (Mandy rocks!!!) was very accommodating and extremely helpful when it came to working around our airline issues.  Patricia and Dave arrived in the afternoon, and we delivered the kids to the airport.  As we were researching restaurants in Portland, to secure dinner plans, I received a text that included the words “flight cancelled”...unbelievable!  

Since the two of them were flying to different locations (one home, and one to college) they were on different flights, so Allison was the one we returned to the airport to retrieve.  Her cancelled flight allowed her to join us for our dinner debacle in Portland.  We started at our restaurant of choice and placed our names on ‘the list’(no place would take a reservation).  We were told it would be a wait of 45-60 minutes...no problem, let’s take a quick walk around the harbor.  We returned 30 minutes later to learn that no one had left and it is still a 45-60 minute wait...OK, let’s take a walk down main street...30 minutes later, still a 45-60 minute wait...ugh!  By this time we were all starving and were worried places would start closing before we found food. We got rejected from two other places before finding a restaurant that put us on a 20 minute wait list, that actually was 20 minutes.  Our grand plan of a wonderful seafood dinner turned into a pleading prayer for burgers and fries.  Apparently Portland is also having trouble hiring help.

The next morning we sent Allison back to the airport via taxi, and we left the marina bound for Jewell Island.

We decided to start at Jewell Island (since it was a Thursday and we knew we would be able to get in), and move to a less popular location for the weekend.  

This time we knew the direct route to get to the highest tower. This concrete structure is amazingly intact considering its 80+ year age.

It takes 8 flights of steps, but the view is amazing!

Oh crappers...were we gone too long?  I have mentioned the extreme tidal range in the past, and this time our planning was not sufficient.  We knew the tide was going down, and we rigged a rather ingenious (thanks to Keith) pulley system to anchor the boat in deeper water. You can see the two lines on the left of the boat that allowed us to exit the boat on dry land, then pull it back out to the anchor in 3.5 feet of water.  Clearly 3.5 ft wasn’t enough for a two hour hike...ugh!  Luckily, a group of helpful people saw our quandary and helped us get Shrimp back into the water.

In addition to reenacting the lobster feast (Keith and Dave went out on the Whaler and returned with another 12 lobsters) on Friday, we celebrated our last morning together on Saturday with stuffed French toast, bacon, and mimosas...delish!!  After watching the forecast for hurricane Henri, Patricia and Dave decided it might be best for them to cut their trip short and return home before the storm arrived...😢.  They have assured us they will make up for lost time when they join us in the Caribbean!

And so...after returning them (again a touch and go drop) to South Port Marina. Keith and I headed to our hurricane hideout to ride out the storm, which ultimately turned out to be a non-event...just the way we like it👍

During lunch one day we were mesmerized by an ongoing fight between an Osprey and an Eagle.  They were squawking and swooping for a very long time.  The ordeal didn’t end until a second Osprey came to the aid of the first, and started dive bombing the Eagle.  Finally, the Eagle broke off pursuit and flew away.  We had no idea what the whole disturbance was about, and speculated it must have been territorial.  It wasn’t until I went back to enlarge the pictures did I realize the Osprey was carrying a fish.  That Eagle put a lot of effort into trying to steal that fish, but in the end he/she didn’t get it!