As I expected, the town of Rockland was less pretty than the entrance to the harbor. We went for a stroll, and planned a tentative itinerary at a cafe. Alice and I were going over potential stopovers while Katya was catching up on work and Anton was chasing after Leo. When Anton came back with a brochure advertising puffin watching on the way to Monhegan island, Alice and I found the same tentative day 1 trip through other resources, so we were ready to get back to Salty Ginger to cook dinner and get some rest.
As we were turning in for the night it started to drizzle, and kept raining for most of the night. However, once we got to the easternmost end of Rockland harbor rain changed to fog. There was no wind, so we motored while tracking boats, buoys, and landmass through radar, chartplotter, and AIS.
Sadly, Katya's stomach disagreed with the waves we encountered so she went for a 4 hour nap as we were weaving between small islands towards Eastern Egg Rock. When the fog lifted we got drizzle back, so even though it wasn't particularly windy, layers of clothing and foul weather gear was in order.
Eastern Egg Rock is a wildlife sanctuary where puffins were reintroduced in 1970s after leaving these waters earlier in the 20th century. In some ways the Rock is similar to Pearl island in Nova Scotia, although quite a bit smaller. We did a circle around the island, took some pictures of puffins and other birds and then headed for Monhegan island, about 5 miles to the south. Yay, pretty puffins!
The harbor at Monhegan is totally open to the southwest, but since the winds have been predominantly from the north for the past day it wasn't rolly at all when we got in, although the night was a different story.
I believe it's the first town in the US that I see with no paved roads. They have dirt roads for cars, pretty well maintained trails for hiking, a brewery, a post office, a small church, and even a school. Perhaps by virtue of being closer to the continent than Isle au Haut, it gets more tourists, and apparently more permanent residents as well.
I believe it's the first town in the US that I see with no paved roads. They have dirt roads for cars, pretty well maintained trails for hiking, a brewery, a post office, a small church, and even a school. Perhaps by virtue of being closer to the continent than Isle au Haut, it gets more tourists, and apparently more permanent residents as well.
To the west of Monhegan lies a smaller Manana island (the harbor is essentially the waters between the two islands) which also can be explored. It used to be a US Coast Guard outpost, but now it's private land which is used as pasture for goats and sheep. We climbed the hill just in time for a lovely sunset and then returned to cook our two lobsters that we got at the shop in the harbormaster building.
When dinner was served we saw a full yellow moon rising over the island, illuminating one of the buildings in a haunted sort of way. It was dark by then, so extra illumination from the moon was pretty and welcome.
When dinner was served we saw a full yellow moon rising over the island, illuminating one of the buildings in a haunted sort of way. It was dark by then, so extra illumination from the moon was pretty and welcome.
We decided to spend the first half of Wednesday walking on Monhegan island trails so as to tire out Leo and stretch our sea legs. At the end of the walk stopped by the local microbrewery to sample their beer. The stout got a nod of approval from us, but berliner weisse was subpar.
Outside the harbor we found fresh 10-15 mph wind putting us on a straight shot to Portland on a close reach. As we settled into the motion of sailing and got lunch snacks out we got hailed on the radio: "Salty Ginger, Salty Ginger, Salty Ginger, this is Ujam'n, Ujam'n." Wow! We sort of lost track of Jeff and Marcia since seeing them in Lunenburg. We were in Northeast Harbor at the same time, but they came by when we were hiking. Later they suggested we visit Seal Cove on Vinalhaven island, but for logistical reasons we couldn't see them. And now they were going to Monhegan and we just left the island. We passed by close enough to see each other and take pictures of each other's boats. It doesn't seem like we will run into them this summer as we'll be heading southwest and they are staying in Maine a bit longer. Hopefully, there will be other opportunities to see one another.
Today was a perfect day of sailing, doing 7-8 knots. The wind and the waves picked up in the afternoon, so we had to reef the sails. It was one of those days where handing the steering to the autopilot seemed wasteful. It was simply great to steer Salty Ginger.
Portland harbor greeted us with a Wednesday night regatta, so we had to duck between J22s that were flying spinnakers. We got our mooring in time to pick up a key to the shower and then had a nice meal at East Ender restaurant.
Portland harbor greeted us with a Wednesday night regatta, so we had to duck between J22s that were flying spinnakers. We got our mooring in time to pick up a key to the shower and then had a nice meal at East Ender restaurant.
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