Day 31 Rockland to Vinalhaven Aug 1st

By
Yesterday was the start of the Rockland Lobster Festival, with carnival rides, lobster fixed every imaginable way, live music, and all the standard other fair fare. We didn't go to the festival, but our dock was front row center to watch & listen.

Instead, we borrowed the marina's courtesy van and drove to Hannaford's- one of the nicest chain groceries I've ever been to. (And this from a connoisseur of grocery stores!) For example- 15 lineal feet x 4 shelves high of refrigerated space devoted only to all things hummus. YES!  So after walking up & down almost every aisle, we are provisioned to eat quite well for the next 3 weeks.

Next we loaded Shelby up in her wagon and walked approx 1/2 mile to downtown's Main St. This is a very clever quilt showing the downtown business locations.
I enjoyed visiting some shops; one was even a fabric & yarn store.😊  Ice cream was involved in the 2 block detour to visit the famous (?) Hamilton Marine.  Funny how after seeing the glossy mail catalog that almost all boaters have a copy of, their actual building looks so humble.  Very nice people working there. Or maybe I am swayed by any store that's so enthusiastic about giving my dog a biscuit & letting her roam the store with me.

Today there was an appointment with a rigger to tune up our boat's rigging.  It was fascinating to listen to him talk about all the minute adjustments required to make the boat perform.  He went up the mast in his bosun's chair- there's another job I wouldn't want to have. We haven't yet had a sailing day to test whether we can tell a difference in performance.

Once the rigger was done we motored to Vinalhaven Island, staying in pretty much the same spot as we did twice last year.
  The shoreline here is huge granite boulders. In fact, a large percentage of granite blocks for buildings built in the 1800's were quarried from this island and shipped all over the country.  Once you land on the narrow margin of sand, you're surrounded by hills covered with evergreen trees and ragged boulders covered in ferns & moss. It looks quite ancient and lush.

Brent's evening is being consumed with a sticking transmission cable on our starboard engine. We have had trouble getting it to shift into reverse, usually at very inconvenient times.  I'm very appreciative that he knows how to diagnose and fix mechanical things. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 2-4, 2023 Myrtle Beach to Cape Lookout

By
Image
 We slipped away from our place on the dock after three nights at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and turned into the ICW heading north. An hour later we turned into Little River Inlet to pass into the open Atlantic Ocean.   We sailed north about 30 miles before returning to the ICW via Cape Fear River.  The Cape Fear River was in flood tide, which was very helpful making 15 miles north to Carolina Beach.  We took a mooring provided by the city of Carolina Beach after talking on the phone with Larry the Dockmaster who is just about the friendliest guy you ever met. He was very welcoming.  Sam was anxious for some shore time, so we dinghy-ed to the town dock and walked 1 block to the ocean beach. She seemed happy to ve back near the surf. On our last visit Larry told us the best burger in town could be found at the gas station next to the dinghy dock. We enjoyed it last time & it seemed like a good way to shortcut dinner while also filling our fuel jugs. ...
Read more

Fri Sept 11 Patuxtent River to Little Choptank

By
Image
We woke up to a ruckus.  These two were being quite chatty and apparently we were anchored near their tree.  They would jabber to each other, fly off to do some fishing, then come back to the tree to brag about their catch and, undoubtedly, the one that got away. We had some nice sailing leaving the Patuxent River, light rain with the sun peaking through now & then.  The skies began to darken and the wind picked up about 3 hours into the sail.  We ended up skating though 4-6 foot seas with 17-20 kt windsfor the rest of the day.  Lots of waves over the bow, a few crashing up over the cockpit windows.  We received a text message from friends Ed & Lynn that they were anchored in the Little Choptank River.  We were not far (as the crow flies) from there, and decided to join them. A few more hours of navigating the rough water and we dropped our anchor 100 feet away from them just at dusk.  They kindly invited us over for snacks ...
Read more

Day 22 & 23 Glouster, Mass- A Brief Intermission....

By
Image
When we arrived in Gloucester, MA Sunday afternoon it was incredibly hot, part of a heat wave involving most of the nation.  We turned on air conditioning; it was lovely. Monday we had planned to relax and not move the boat, waiting for more favorable winds to allow us to move north.  That turned out to be a good call, because I was feeling under the weather and slept most of the day.  Brent made me some pizza for dinner and we played a couple rounds of cribbage. (He won as usual.)  Sometime in the evening it started to rain, and continued to pour down all night. We needed to pull out a quilt to sleep under. Tuesday morning the rain had washed the boat thoroughly, and instead of being unbearably hot we were digging into our cooler weather clothes for sweaters and wool socks. What a change! We grabbed a lull in the rain to take Shelby ashore and explore.  We walked for a couple hours in a mostly light rain.  We toured downtown Glouchester, enjoying th...
Read more