Seal Bay

I've been home barely a week and we've already had a nice overnight cruise aboard Spray. This past Saturday we untied from the mooring and headed for the Castine town dock, where we took on a few groceries and filled our water tank. We then headed south down Penobscot Bay, towing Sheila's Monhegan skiff 'Razzle Dazzle' : past Cape Rosier, past Western & Pond Islands, past Butter, Great Spruce Head, & Eagle Islands, and on to Vinalhaven Island.

Seal Bay is an inlet on the east side of Vinalhaven and is probably the most beautiful spot in Penobscot Bay, with amazing granite formations and lots of good paddling options. We dropped anchor between Hay and Burnt islands at about 3 pm and within an hour we (Sheila, Riggs, Katie & I) set off in Razzle Dazzle for a rowboat circumnavigation of Penobscot Island. Its about a 2 hour row, with time for exploring nooks and crannies, and must be done near high tide.

We returned to Spray and made a nice supper of pasta and green beans and spent a comfortable night at anchor.

Sunday's breakfast was pancakes, then another long row around Seal Bay. We had lunch aboard Spray and then pulled anchor for a really pleasant cruise back to Castine. There was surreal fog rolling over some of the islands (top photo). We were back at the mooring in Hatch Cove by 4 pm.

One of the goals we have in cruising this summer is to try to get Katie more comfortable when cruising. She did pretty good on this trip, but still gets nervous in rougher conditions. Hopefully she will eventually adapt to boating as well as Riggs has.

Today I got going on some varnish work on Spray, plus I changed her engine oil. Lots more maintenance work to do this summer, and lots more cruising of the Maine coast, too.