Day 4 - Portland to Boothbay Harbor

We left Portland at about 8:15am. The headlines for the locals was that they were about to get the heat that the rest of the country is suffering – their predicted high temp is 80degress. I am sure all of our friends in warmer areas are not weeping for those from Maine.

As we came into DiMillo’s marina yesterday we saw our first wildlife – a harbor seal. No time to take a picture as I was turning Prairie Gold 180 degrees to reverse into the marina. After we docked and went for showers, the first since Wednesday, we had our second wildlife sighting – one of local unsavory characters.

Dinner was at a local favorite of ours, Vienola, which is just down the road from the marina. They have a peculiar beer list worth trying – one was brewed from raspberries, and it tasted like it too. Not certain if I liked it. Yolande had a cilantro beer. Quite tasty.

As we left the marina this morning we took a few shots. First of the big boat “DiMillos that was adjacent to the marina and is a restaurant, then we got shots of the Maine Lobster boats – think of them next time you eat a lobster, and finally of the characteristic Portland lighthouse.

For much of the day the wind was from the stern and insufficient to sail above 3knots. While this is normally sufficient we decided to press ahead under engine power until the wind grew in order that we could make it to our destination with sufficient time to enjoy the town. While motoring Phil made a great breakfast (well according to him) of poached egg on toast with bacon.

After breakfast we decided to head to Boothbay harbor. Here is a picture of Seguin Island and its lighthouse, just before we turned slightly to port to head into Sheepscot Bay. At this point we started sailing and were able to get up to about 6 kts.

After we crossed Sheepscot Bay we turned further to port around “The Cuckolds” and entered into Boothbay.

We then arrived at Boothbay harbor at 3:15pm and docked at Boothbay Harbor Marina. This is a quant marina run by an elderly lady who has had the marina for 23 yrs. As we arrived she was cursing about another sailboat that came in and entered the wrong slip and banged up her new finger pier – who can blame her. At the end of the marina is a little red hut that she sits in. We proceeded to shop. When I say we……… But it wasn’t so bad as we had gelato and iced coffee and found a great local jewelry store (harborstones.com) where the husband and wife owner make their own jewelry as well as have their daughter make items. We brought a couple of pieces, one made by the daughter. It was great to chat to them as they could tell the story of the jewelry including where the stones were mined.

Back at the boat now getting refreshed with a couple of cold ones. Here are some shots of the harbor