Boating in Eggemoggin Reach and Bucks Harbor (Tuesday August 25th, 2015)

It’s foggy again this morning, which Steve and I are really enjoying. Fog in Colorado means that it is extremely cold, and here in Maine, it’s foggy and very warm (in the 70’s). Steve and I took a swim in Tony and Sarah’s pool this morning, it was brisk, but so refreshing, overlooking Eggemoggin Reach (the body of water between deer Isle and the main land. Sarah had a wonderful breakfast of eggs, toasted corn muffins and bacon ready for us when we came out of the pool.

While Sarah and I were cleaning up breakfast, Steve and Tony made a run to the local bread artisan and came back with some delicious danishes and breads.

Although it was foggy, Tony and Sarah really wanted to take us out on their boat, which we were extremely excited to experience, to get a different perspective on coastal Maine.  So we headed northwest through Eggemoggin reach to bucks harbor. Steve and Tony headed out first, to the dingy to retrieve their boat. 

Tony rowing out

 When Sarah and I reached the dock (the same one that Steve and I walked to yesterday morning), Steve was waiting for us on the pier.

Steve and Sarah on the Pier while Tony fetched the boat

Soon Tony appeared with the boat; we all got in and headed northwest through the fog. Apparently the fog is somewhat unusual this time of year, but so beautiful. We used our fog horn, radar and other instruments as we passed through the reach and under the bridge to Deer Isle. 

Driving through very thick fog

We were driving up the reach under full instruments. We could see everything on the screen in front of Tony. Depth, shoreline, all the navigation buoys, and all the other boats, etc. Then when we got within ~100 feet of another boat, Tony would blow his horn to make the other boat aware of our vicinity. Very exciting. We went several miles in the fog like this then drove out the other side of it. 

The bridge to Little Deer Isle

We soon came out at Bucks Harbor, where Tony and Sarah are members of a very traditional, community yachting club. It was started by three Bostonians who summered there. There was a picture in the building of the men sitting on the porch, on rocking chairs, with a caption that read. “Time to relax, the work’s been done.” This picture was taken in 1912 when the yachting club was first completed. 

The dock leading up to the yachting club.  A very nice young man came running out to help us tie up

Inside the yachting club

Tony and Sarah are life long members of this yachting club, where their kids grew up and learned to sail. They still hold square dances in the building, and only in the last 2 years have allowed alcohol. Steve and I sat down on the front porch rocking chairs for a few minutes, looking out over the harbor, and could have easily stayed there all day.

As we pulled back out of the harbor, we went over to their small sailboat that they moor in Bucks Harbor, a took a few minutes to straighten out some ropes that were rubbing. It was fun to jump from the power boat to the sailboat and back after fixing it. 

Then they said, “now let’s go see some seals”, and they took us out to two small rock islands a little further west. As we approached the first one we saw a single harbor seal, but as we approached the second island, it was covered with adult and baby seals, they were absolutely mezmorizing to Steve and I. Tony cut the engine, and we relaxed and enjoyed a wonderful lunch as we sat and watched the seals, as they also watched us. 

Just look at these cute faces

When we left the seal rocks, we headed back east through the foggy reach to their little harbor.

As I am typing today’s blog, a lobster boat is coming in from their day’s work in the lobster fields. They run right up into the harbor by Tony and Sarah’s house. So fun to see!

In the afternoon, Sarah took us for a drive over to Little Deer Isle and Deer Isle. There is a beautiful bridge from the mainland to little Deer Isle, and a causeway from Little Deer Isle to Deer Isle. These are two incredibly beautiful islands, which before the 1930’s could only be reached by ferry. The ferry business was passed down from generation to generation until the bridge went in. The largest town on these islands is called Stonington, and has a beautiful downtown area with a commercial lobster pier, as well a huge art community and many shops.

One of the large piers.  These were used in the late 1800's for steam ships and ferrys

A lobster cage love seat

Stonington Commercial Pier

The Stonington Opera House, a historic landmark

When we got back to the house, Sarah put out appetizers of blueberry cheese and peekytoe (rock) crab salad. It was all incredibly flavorful, and so fun.  Tony and Sarah have truly gone out of their way to make our stay unforgettable, and they have far surpassed what we could have ever imagined.  We sincerely hope to be able to return this favor to them someday!

Boothbay Harbor, and Coastal Maine (Sunday, August 23rd, 2015)

We woke up to rain this morning, but that won't slow us down, so we got in the car and headed north to Boothbay, Maine! This is a very popular tourist town, so we were really lucky it was rainy as it wasn't very crowded.  We found a parking place with no problem and took our time walking around town. 

The Boothbay Town Center, near the harbor.

Boothbay Harbor

Another view of the harbor

Over the harbor, there is a very cool walking bridge, with a very interesting house in the middle of it.  The only access to the little house is the walking bridge, as the house is literally right in the middle of the harbor.  The little house was built in 1902, and is 1,076 sq. ft.   It appears that it has changed hands many times, and served many different purposes in it's lifetime.  The last tenants used it as a house.  I am giving so much detail about this little house because it is currently for sale.  For the low price of only $695,000, you could be the proud owner of a house in the middle of a harbor.

The little house in the middle of the walking bridge.

Sorry about the glare, but here is the inside of the beautiful little house in the harbor.

When we finished looking around town, we started thinking about lunch.  We had done some research before we left home, and found a restaurant called Shannon's Unshelled.  It is a very small seaside building (probably 10ft by 12ft total).  

See the tiny building to right of Steve, that's Shannon's Unshelled

The owner (Shannon) is a very nice woman who has run this take-out restaurant for the last 2 years.  Since it was raining, she was considering closing for the day, but once we ordered our lunch others began to show up as well, and I think her day turned out better than expected.  The only thing on the menu at Shannon's Unshelled are lobster rolls!  They are just lobster on a toasted roll with melted butter on the side. So good! No mayo or fillers, just lobster.  We really enjoyed our lobster rolls at her outside tables by the bay. 

This is about as good as it gets!

As we headed back to the car, we saw a Canadian bowling alley, which was really interesting.  Our youngest daughter's boyfriend has told us about them, but we have never seen one, so this was a treat.  They use fewer pins and smaller balls that you just palm instead of having finger holes drilled.  

A Canadian bowling alley in Boothbay, Maine

Everything grows everywhere up here.  I think I could even be a successful gardner in Maine

Once we were in the car we headed north again. We drove through so many beautiful small towns along the way, and finally ended up at Sarah and Tony's house. It is off by itself, right on the ocean with the most beautiful views. Their current house was built in the 1970's, but before that the family had a cottage right up the road from their current house that was built in 1889.  There is so much family history in their little community.  Such a rarity in today's busy no roots world.  We sat on their back porch and enjoyed catching up over snacks and one of the most beautiful views we have ever seen.  

It doesn't get any better than this.  Enjoying the evening with wonderful friends!

And the view's not bad either!

Tony and Sarah had planned an authentic lobster dinner for us for our first night, so this meant going down to the ocean to fetch water to cook our lobsters in.  Apparently everyone in Maine knows that you always cook lobsters in ocean water.  It is salted perfectly!  Those of us from Colorado certainly were not aware of this, probably because it is very difficult to fetch ocean water in Colorado!  We also learned that tides change about every 6.5 hours.  We love learning new things!  

It is very hard to walk along the shore at low tide because the rocks are so slick, and it is a long walk to reach the water, so at high tide we fetched our water and took it back to the kitchen.  I've never planned my dinner around high tide before so this was really fun! 

Fetching our water for dinner

We had the most amazing lobster dinner with bread and salad and homemade blueberry pie.  

Fresh off the boat!  

Then we went down stairs to look at a slideshow from a previous over seas trip they had taken. What an amazing  day and evening!