Something a bit different

This past Friday was a beautiful day. Sheila was again up in Milo emptying her mother's apartment (almost done!) so the two pooches and I cruised down to Pond Island for an overnighter. The dogs love the beach there and played and swam for an hour or so after we dropped the hook. We were back aboard Spray, leaving an empty stretch of beach, when two light planes flew in from the west at very low altitude (maybe 100 feet up).

They circled a couple of times and then one came in and, to my surprise, landed on the sloped beach right where we had been playing.

Since the beach is soft there the plane rolled to a stop in a very short distance, and had to really goose its engine to turn around and taxi back up the beach.
The second plane came in and landed too, although on its first try it bounced up and circled around for a second attempt. Each plane had only a pilot aboard and they got out and chatted for a half hour or so.
Finally each plane took off and they headed back to the west. Runways? They don't need no steenking runways!

Overnight getaway

Sheila has been dividing her time lately between her job and trips to Milo ME to empty out her mother's apartment (Mom's in a nursing home), so its hard to get time for cruising. Last weekend we squoze (squeezed?) in an overnight trip, leaving Saturday afternoon and returning Sunday.

We planned to overnight at Pond Island but on Saturday afternoon the sea breeze had kicked up and the typical 3-4 foot rollers were coming down the bay. The bouncing wasn't too bad but it was making Katie anxious, so I suggested we turn in behind Holbrook Island, and we dropped anchor within sight of Castine village. This turned out to be a great anchorage since a short dinghy ride brought us to the north end of the island, which we and the dogs enjoyed greatly.

We had a supper of spaghetti and green beans and a pleasant night. In the morning we had coffee and doughnuts and another visit to the island. By 9 am we were on our way down to our original goal of Pond Island and we got there early enough to have the island to ourselves for a walk around its perimeter.

We returned to Spray and camped on the flying bridge, reading books, noshing, and enjoying the warm day. I took a row around Pond Island. Since it was a beautiful Sunday in July, more and more boats arrived and by 1 pm we shared the island with maybe 15 other boats.

We stayed the whole day and had an easy run back to Castine. It was a real nice getaway.

July 4th in Camden

Do those people above look hot? From left that's Allen, Barbara, Sheila, Janet and Jarlath (Katie & Riggs in front row). We had all just had some lunch in Camden's waterfront park and the temp must have been in the upper 80's.

We had left Castine aboard Spray at about 11 am and cruised for about 3 hours, down the east side of Islesboro Island, up through a portion of Gilkey Harbor, and down into Camden Harbor. Conditions were calm and out in the bay it was probably in the 70's - very comfortable. Amazingly, even on the 4th of July, we were able to get a slip at Camden's town dock right in the inner harbor (Camden really welcomes visiting boaters). Once off the boat, the heat really hit us as it was maybe 15 degrees warmer in town.

After lunch, we proved how batty we were by walking to the northwest and climbing Mount Battie, which rises 780 feet above the harbor. It was a short, strenuous, and HOT climb, but still enjoyable and with great views of the town below and much of Penobscot Bay. There is a stone tower up top which provided some shade, and there was a breeze too.

Climbing down was easier. We had ice cream at Camden Cone and boarded Spray for the return to Castine. It was nearly 6 pm and the bay was glass calm and the air out there felt great. This time we went up the west side of Islesboro, and about halfway up the island we tied to the dock at Warren Island State Park for a quick visit. We moved quickly too since it was dusk and the bugs - especially Satan's insect the Deer Flies - were nasty. We hiked to the beach at the south end of the island where Katie swam and we skipped some stones.

Back aboard Spray we continued up the west bay and rounded Turtle Head as it grew dark, keeping a keen eye out for lobster pot buoys. As we approached Castine Harbor, we could see various fireworks displays and added a display of our own by firing off a flare: ooooh! It was an amazingly calm and balmy night. We felt our way to the Castine Yacht Club dock to drop off passengers, then Sheila and I (and pooches) groped our way into Hatch Cove and clipped onto our mooring at about 10 pm. We were pretty tired so rather than hassle with gathering the gear and getting to shore, we instead shared some wine bread & cheese and then prepared to sleep aboard Spray.

Before we hit the hay we had a nice surprise when Alan Snapp, who rents cabins on the north side of the cove, set off his own fireworks show right off our starboard side. Not a bad show either.

This morning was beautiful and still glass calm. We had coffee on Spray and then rowed to shore for wonderful showers and breakfast. All-in-all it was a great trip.