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One Week in Maine: Day 2

One of the many classic wooden sailboats at the boat show in Rockland. We had motored through thick fog that morning, some six miles diagonally from Isleboro Island back to the mainland. Navigating on open water through thick for was no picnic, or at least that's what Fred thought. I am less cautious, and had considerable faith in the laws of probability. (Also, my son wasn't in the boat, miles from shore!) Our GPS and coarse charts weren't quite up to the job, which was actually rather excellent. If we had always known exactly where we were, we'd have had a much less interesting time.

We tied up to a beautiful 40' or 50' sailboat (parking was non-existent), escaped the boat show, and walked through town for supplies and ambiance. I'm afraid I wasn't a very happy camper that afternoon, late lunch can play havoc with my mood. But ultimately it was memorable and excellent, briefly living the cruising life in a community of other boaters.

Our next adventure was a 7-mile open-water crossing to Vinalhaven/North Haven Islands, which started out with beautiful sunny skies, sparkling water, and the occasional dolphin.

Then, difficulty struck again. I was on the edge of serious seasickness, and had to take a nap. (Normally napping below decks isn't the prescribed solution for seasickness, but it seems to work for me.) Meanwhile, Fred was having a small navigational crisis. This can happen when your eyes tell you one thing, and your GPS and/or chart(s) seem to tell you another. The result is a crisis in confidence, exacerbated by the fact that you're still moving and possibly compounding the problem. (Pilots, traveling at 100+MPH and with an endurance measured in minutes, really hate this!) And it doesn't help that your navigator is busy getting his much-needed beauty sleep. But then I awoke, refreshed, and together we easily figured it out. Turns out the GPS was still working after all! For the rest of the day, we weren't much in the mood for pictures. Proceeding through the channel between Vinalhaven and North Haven, we beached near a house, and were happy to lay in the sand (well, gravel) for awhile. Continuing, we were surprised to see all of the large houses and the small town of North Haven. Many of these islands are served by auto ferries. We stopped for the night in the last sheltered cove before the end of the channel, within sight of two other similarly-minded boats. After a walk on the beach, we both indulged in "water-bottle showers", using a bottle of water and a little soap to good effect. Pushing off, we anchored, and sat on the roof of the cabin to enjoy yet another excellent dinner and beer. I remember that the conversation was also quite pleasant and possibly deep, before the mosquitoes forced us to seek shelter and sleep.

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