Good-bye Maine

This is a hard blog for me to write. We will be leaving beautiful Maine in a few days. I LOVE MAINE! The coast is dotted with islands big and small, the shoreline is rocky and tree covered, the fishing villages are cute and the people are friendly, and the lobsters are plentiful. We've had very little rain and fog which makes the travel easier and my disposition a whole lot better.

Our last night in the "true cruising grounds" of the Penobscot Bay was spent in Stonington. This port has a reputation for loud and rude lobster men who really don't want cruising boats in their water. There are reports that they rev up their exceptionally loud engines at 4:30 am and "buzz" the boats of the sleeping cruisers. If the noise doesn't wake you, the wake will. We were there on a Saturday night and the lobster men don't fish on Sundays. Lucky us!

We met out friend, Dave Himes, from Chicago on Monday in Rockland. We took him and his friend Bill out for a great morning sail and returned to pick up the Rogers family.....Todd, Sarah, and Everett.....for an afternoon sail.







Todd used to crew and captain on the schooners in this area. He loved all the "tweaking" that can be done on Tequila to fine-tune the rake of the mast and the angle and flatness of the sails. I don't think he stopped grinning the whole time he was helming. Sarah and Everett (7 years old) did just fine on their first sail on an old racing boat. Everett liked standing on the bow.

Everett liked us well enough to invite us to watch him race his mountain bike that night. I was so impressed. He's a strong little guy and can really handle his bike. The race was at their local ski hill.

It was a really fun day with this family and two great sails. It seems that we have to motor a lot when we're going from Point A to Point B, but when we're "fun" sailing, we can go with the wind.

Todd, Lou, Everett, Donna, Sarah

Dave will be sailing with us as far as Portland. We need to thank Diane, his wife, for sharing him with us. He LOVES looking at all the different boats in the harbors. He wants Diane to know that they all look better than his 22' Catalina. Dave is a sailor and likes all the "stuff" that sailing involves. He's another good "boat buddy."