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Isles of Shoals, NH White Island Light

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Too lazy to stand up to frame the shot

We left Isles of Shoals with a nice breeze, calm seas and a clear sky.  What could be better? We sailed to Rockport, MA where we once again tucked in because of rainy, windy weather.  We caught up with old friends, spent hours in the local library, ate strudel and gelato.  Not too bad.

We’ll continue heading south, we have things to do.  We are in the process of buying a house in the Adirondacks.  And as if that weren’t enough, we are going to be winter caretakers for Goldmyer Hot Springs near North Bend, WA beginning in December.  Lots to do!

Looks like I’m on a monohull

Rockport Habor

A Different Sunset

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We picked up a mooring in Wood Island Harbor, ME, which was another of the prettiest harbors we have seen.  The next day we ran around like maniacs on our bikes.  We are in the process of buying a house in the Adirondacks and paperwork is never easy from  a boat.  First we had to find a store to receive faxes and relay that info.  We faxed contracts back and forth, went food shopping, talked to a bank and even had lunch.
Yesterday we had a rocky sail to Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals.  We were able to sail at 5-7 knots all day.   The cats took cover and slept in my sleeping bag.  We picked up a mooring here and took the dinghy ashore to Smuttynose.   We were here earlier in our trip but didn’t  explore Smuttynose.  It’s hard to imagine that at one time 1500 people lived here in a vibrant community.  Today there are only a few scattered cottages among the Isles.
Today it’s off to Rockport, MA where we will tuck in for a few days w

Wood Island Harbor, looks tropical

Sea and Sky

Star Island Behind Smuttynose

Smuttynose, ME

Red Smuttynose

Berries to eat or not to eat

Shirley and Loki after a hard day at sea

Cliff Island Sunset

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We hunkered down on the south side of Cliff Island while a cold front passed through.  Naturally, we looked at real estate because it is an ideal place to live.  It’s within the boundaries of the ciry of Portland, with ferries, garbage trucks and probably taxes, but feels like it’s a world away.   We met lots of very friendly people, but alas it’s out of our range.
We headed to the deepwater port of Portland.  Last year we heard large ships hail the Portland Pilot boat and this week we got to see it in action.  There were tankers, large barges and at least 4 cruise ships that came into the harbor during the 3 nights we spent there.  We got to enjoy the navigation lights.

White over red, pilot ahead

We spent several days at a great marina where a stranger let me take his van, with his wallet and breakfast on the dashboard, to go food shopping.  We’ve had offers in the past to borrow vehicles but it was raining and this was the first time I took someone up on it.

We had time to meet family and friends.  We visited my cousin Gary’s off the grid “camp” complete with dishwasher and walked the trails on his property.  Then we met up with Tim’s college roomate’s son who is a luthier in Portland.  We got to tour his shop and see some of his beautiful craftsmanship.

Different ways to travel

Yesterday I learned that my foulies float.  We had left our mooring without much preparation and they had been drying on the bow since I got soaked on Saturday in Portland.  When I went to the bow to get something, they had mysteriously disappeared.  We turned around and performed a foulie overboard drill with a coast guard crew watching.  All souls accounted for.

Cruise Ship Listing to port

This Cunard ship came in the day we left and Tim noticed that it was leaning a little to the left and this was without passengers.

Clean that waterline!!

Portland Head Light

Autumn colors

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All in all we are having a wonderful time cruising, with the cats, but last week I had a run in with a boat hook and fractured my cheek bone.  I was basically OK until I blew my nose and my cheek puffed out.  That was it for Tim, I was off to the Mid Coast Hospital ER, where I had my very first CT – I have the CD here for those quiet nights when we run out of NetFlix.   Friends and staff couldn’t have been nicer.  Cyndy picked me up from the ER and Ethan replaced the broken boat hook with one made of Ash, just like the Lousiville sluggers.
Tim was feeling a little sheepish because he thought people may have thought he was responsible for my disfigurment but when we stopped at a Marina in Maine, the first thing they suspected was that we had run aground and that I had been tossed around.  Mainers!
I want to live everywhere we have been.  We have been to offshore islands and beautiful coves.   We’ve seen beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  A few nights ago, Tim could hear seals breathing and diving next to the boat.  Last night was a bit of a disaster because for various reasons cat litter went flying.  Now the cockpit has never been so clean.

Where’ve ya been?

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I’ve been under the radar or at least without internet for the past week. We left Salem, MA 9/3 and sailed out through the Annisquam Canal to Massachusetts Bay.  We had a couple of short sailing days, to Plum Island and Harmon Harbor, NH, the home of the Seabrook nuclear plant, the narrowest bascule bridge with rip currents and power boats only.

 

From there we’ve enjoyed reunions with old friends.  We sailed to Isles of Shoals, which is in both NH and Maine and picked up a mooring for a night.  We met up with Malcolm and Carl, who were heading south after their sail in Maine.  We walked around Appledore and enjoyed the garden of Celia Thaxter, which has been recreated.  Star Island has a large facility for religous retreats and we had dinner there.  Isles of Shoals is about 9 miles out of Portsmouth, NH and there have been some grizzly events there over the years.  One is retold in Weight of Water.

 

Weather was forecasted to get rough so we only stayed one night and then headed back to last year’s lighthouse, Seguin Island, ME, 57 miles away.  It was wonderful to head to the lighthouse from the water with that marking our destination.  We saw whales and dolphins along the way.  We could see the island from about 16 miles out.  We spent a rocky night in the cove and walked the island.  Tim thought it looked smaller than last year, kind of like seeing the bathrooms in your old elementary school.  But it was great to be back there.  We needed to provision and headed into Casco Bay to Sebasco Harbor.  We picked up a mooring and took advantage of all the shore amenities, laundry, shower, internet, restaurants.  Shirley tried to jump ship when we were at the dock,  She jumped onto the dock but quickly returned to the boat.  We even went for a bicycle ride and were greeted by an old friend, Ethan, who knew it could only be us on our goofy fold up bikes.  We returned to Seguin and met the Friends of Seguin there because it was lighthouse day in Maine and then they were closing up the island.  We reconnected with Cyndy, Connie, Dave and Linda and Jim. 

 

We toured the lighthouse and marvelled at the wonder of the fresnel lens.  We had a delicious lobster dinner and each ate 2 lobsters!   It was foggy so we got to hear the foghorn and see the umbrella effect of the light.  We hiked the trails and picked up the trail markers.  There was even a bald eagle on the rocks.  Our experience was complete.  The next day we put away furniture and boarded up the house.

 

Yesterday we had a great sail to Squirrel Island.  We went ashore and ran and hiked around the island.  We are taking advantage of good internet connection this am while we charge our batteries with the generator and then we are sailing off to Damariscove Island.  

 

Photos to follow

Moving Day

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We are moving for a change.  We finished all this year’s projects and winterized and stormproofed the house.  Then we hauled our stuff down to the beach in wheelbarrows and took several dinghy trips out to the Boston Whaler.  We moved everything onto the S/V Water Lily and ran lots of errands in town getting her in shape for the trip.  It was more tiring than any day doing work on the island- the running around part.
We spent a night on the mooring in the harbor.  When we finally untied our mooring lines for good, it was 6:30 pm.  We headed back to familiar territory and spent a night offshore.  It was a full moon and we got to see it rise over the house.
It was a very exciting day for me because I got to speak to my favorite knitting podcaster, Kelley Petkun from Knit Picks.   It was like talking to an old friend.  It made me realize how much fun it is to talk to other knitters.  Tim always expresses interest when I show him my lated lace stitch or spun yarn swatch …but it’s just not the same.  I look forward to hearing it.  It was more exciting for me than when I was on TV or the radio related to my medical practice.
We had a great sail today.  It was a glorious fall day, although the wind was fairly gentle–did I just say that!!  I hope it doesn’t come to get me while we sail in Maine this fall.  Most of the stuff is stowed on the boat, under everything.  Once again I stopped storing things when I could no longer use my head to hold up covers to storage compartments.  We are at a lovely anchorage now, surrounded by wetlands and apparently all the seagulls land on only one boat.
Whaler loaded with our stuff

Rising Moon

Parting Shot

No time for time out

Seagull shuffle

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New Arrival

The New Order

We are wrapping up our projects, putting up storm windows, fixing the rock wall, caulking, mowing – well actually Tim is doing all of that –  I am sorting through my huge bag of fleece.  My goal is to get most of it cleaned and to store it in the car.  I’ll get a chance to spin it when I travel to Long island later this month.I read the Sunday Times yesterday and was happy to see a story about my favorite spot for italian ice in Oyster Bay, NY.
It looks like a crisp fall day today.  We’ll be wearing our wool again when we move back aboard the boat this week.   Maybe I’ll get a lemon ice.

Invasion of the tree swallows

We are over run by tree swallows that arrived about a week ago.  I can’t possibly capture how many are flying overhead.  All the specks in this photo are birds. Are there enough insects for them all to eat?

Swallow swarm