The continuous cool rainy weather was a bit of a disappointment, as for all 3 weeks in Maine, we failed to have even one really sunny, warm day.  Of course, as soon as we reached Connecticut, bam! we were greeted with days of very hot & humid weather featuring a heat index of 100+!

Sunset over Sandwich Marina

All in all, a good trip.  We were able to achieve most of our “must-do’s”:

• Newburyport, MA  One of our favorite towns to spend a few days.
• Rockland, ME  Lots of great, lobster restaurants.
• Belfast, ME  Although the famous French bakery had closed down, but we found a new favorite, The Only Donut, only a short bike ride away.
• Rackliff Island  Finally anchored next to “my” island & enjoyed (very) local lobsters.
• Boothbay, ME Tourist central, but still a fun place.
• Five Islands  A calm, free mooring with a great lobster stand within sight.
• Dolphin Marina, Harpswell, ME  A nice marina with a great restaurant!  Joined some cruising friends for a fantastic meal.  Known for bringing blueberry muffins to your table in place of dinner rolls, plus delivering blueberry muffins to your boat every morning with coffee!
• Harpswell Harbor  We returned twice in attempt to visit our favorite restaurant Morse’s Cribstone Grill located by the famous cribstone bridge linking Bailey Island with Orr’s Island. Unfortunately, due to COVID staffing issues, their hours/days were so severely restricted, we just couldn’t make it happen.  Each time we stopped, the weather was too rainy & windy for the dinghy ride to their dock.
• Portland, ME  We weren’t able to get a slip at a protected, downtown marina, so plan B: we rented a mooring at nearby Falmouth Foreside & took an Uber into Portland for the day.
• York, ME  A peaceful mooring in a tiny harbor.  Memorable as our first overnite stop on our sailing cat in 2010.
• Rockport, MA  A tough spot to stop, as you’re pretty much anchoring on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean with little protection, but our timing was good for a fairly calm night.  Used to have a restaurant which made the best ever lobster pizza!
• Sandwich, MA  At the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal.  Our first time stopping here – officially on Cape Cod.  A nice little ice cream shop a short walk away.
• Hadley Harbor  A peaceful, protected harbor with free moorings courtesy of the Forbes family who have several family compounds on Naushon Island.
• Cuttyhunk, MA  A favorite for over 25 years.  Timing … timing … we missed great pizza sold from a resident’s house (he was off-island for the night) and missed their big fireworks (the next night).
• Lake Tashmoo, Martha Vineyard  A great dinner at the lovely house (with a dock!) of friends from the Bahamas – great to catch up!
• Block Island  What to say … always crazy busy, but crazy fun.
• Hamburg Cove, CT  Nice & quiet on weekdays.  Been going there for about 55 years!

Portland offered us 2 great donuts shops, The Holy Donut & HIFI Donuts. The Holy Donut was opening a closer in-town shop, but not until the next week.

It’s not all fun & donuts folks … sometimes you have to pump your own … waste.

We’ll be in Deep River, CT for a month preparing for our trip south this fall, driving up to visit Benj in Vermont for his birthday & other fun stuff.  Keeping all eyes on any east coast  hurricanes & of course the continuing COVID concerns.

Ever since we drove upon “my family’s” island 32 years ago, I thought it would be cool to someday visit by boat. We needed very calm weather, as you’re pretty much anchoring in an unprotected cove right off the Atlantic Ocean. Rackliff Island is a small island, connected to the mainland with a causeway, in the vicinity of Port Clyde.  My Rackliffe family (their variation at the time was without an “e” at the end) has northeast roots going back to William Rackliff who settled in Portsmouth, NH in 1640. Within a few years, the expanding family moved northward throughout Maine.  300 years later, best I can determine, Rackliff Island was likely owned by Alvin Rackliff as he lived on nearby Weir Point.  Alvin was a lifelong lobsterman who passed away in 2012 at nearly 92.  Until age 78, he was still hauling 800 lobster pots. Alvin would be a bit surprised (& disappointed) that his island has been subdivided into lots with houses running $600,00 – $2,000,00+.

That’s us with Rackliff Island in the background

While anchored there, I zoomed off to a passing lobster boat & bought lobsters right off the boat. The best lobsters ever!

This is an unedited photo of sailing schooners sailing by in Penobscot Bay – the weather was a bit funky, which gave it a great look

A rainbow over Boothbay Harbor

You can never outsmart the lobster boats … one night we anchored far away from any lobster pots & away from any channels or fairways so we would be able to sleep past 5 AM without being waked or hit by one with a forecast of heavy fog. Apparently we found their favorite foggy day Menhaden (bait fish) spot as 4 lobster boats surrounded us very early with their nets.

One of our favorite stops is at Five Island Lobster Co. in Georgetown. They have 3 moorings for boaters to use & their lobster is great! Some of the tiny 5 islands have rustic cottages & it’s fun to kayak around them.

We’ve seen hundreds of seals, but usually just their heads looking around before they swim under. This guy was going crazy trying to eat an entire school of fish.

The Marshall Point lighthouse used in the filming of Forest Gump. Forest (Tom Hanks) concluded his cross-county run on the walkway out to the lighthouse.

The weather has been unusually cool & rainy up here the last few weeks – we were hoping for the same glorious July weather we experienced 3 years ago, but … not this year.

We’re continuing to head back south – Lori says we can’t stop until we find some warmth!