Belfast, Maine

John blows a kiss over a terrific lunch

The camera is turned on me for a change

After our visit to Islesboro to attend the SSCA Gam we motored down to Ames Cove and walked around Dark Harbor. By the way the Indian name for Islesboro was Pitaubegwimenahanuk. I can see why it wasn't kept. In the midst of the beautiful homes were two fun stores, an Grocery/Souvenir/Craft/and lunch counter place, and the Artisan Books & Bindery. The first seemed right in place but finding a first class bookstore on this island was a miracle.

I LOVE the elephant. Nice to see old movie theaters still

Next we sailed north up to Belfast, whose Indian name was Passagassawakeag - try saying that at all.

Looking down the Main Street

This beautiful town has a wealth of antique architecture; Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate mansions and civic buildings. We wandered around getting a feel for the place and then settled in for dinner at Delvinos Grill & Pasta. What a treat. We all had wonderful food (I rated it Excellent on TripAdvisor) but John's seafood chowder was so good we decided to come back the next day for lunch.
Before that we walked up to the big Price Chopper and did some grocery shopping. The local Coop was really attractive and had a nice looking cafe as well, but rather expensive and we needed general groceries.

The art project here was benches - yeh!

The dock was busy so we decided to motor over to Buck's Harbor, spend the night there and fill up with water and fuel the next morning. The weather had been very nice although we dodged a severe thunderstorm the day before, and it continued sunny and calm.
Buck's Harbor is a picturesque quiet little spot but with a small but busy dock/marina. The next morning the water was so flat I took some lovely pictures of the reflections (see below). Then we were off to Swan's Island and the Sweet Chariot Music Festival - covered in my next post.

Great architecture for a small town

Another view down Main St. to the harbor

Great mini garden

Even smaller and in a old sink!

The oldest shoe store in America

Rocky beach but lovely park along side

Several busy docks and marinas on the harbor

Another great bench

The Visitor's Center is part of the oil company office bldg

We saw at least 20 benches and they were all different

Back in the dinghy and off to Buck's Harbor

This is the view that greeted me in the morning

Another view of this lovely harbor

An Outward Bound group anchored near us for the night

Busy fuel dock at Buck's Harbor

SSCA Gam in Islesboro, Maine

John and Scott chat in Willow's cockpit

While Brenda and Scott keep an eye out for our mooring

 Our great friends John Magrauder and Brenda Free have returned from the western Caribbean and are cruising the Northeast coast on their Mason 44 "Willow". They invited us to join them in Maine for a week. We suggested scheduling it during the SSCA Gam in Islesboro and the Sweet Chariot Music Festival on Swan's Island.
Luckily they had reasonable weather to make an overnight passage up from Marion, MA to Rockport, Maine in time to meet us on August 1st.
It was a beautiful sunny day when we pulled up at the public dock in Rockport. "Willow" was tied up

Busy Rockport Harbor

Solving the world's problems, one at a time

 already. We had an exchange of bags. Our duffle bag and lots of bags of food went on and their emergency life raft and a few other boat items went into our car (items usually stowed in areas we'd be occupying for the week). Of course there were also lots of hugs and exclamations as we haven't seen each other since Mexico last year.
It was 6 pm by the time we settled everything and cast off the lines. John had arranged for us to park right there for the week and rented a mooring for the night. It took a bit of work to find that mooring among the hundreds but soon we were fastened on and pouring drinks. We had brought dinner with us - curried garbanzo beans, naan and salad so it was an easy evening. We had lots of catching up to do and many a funny story. It was lovely to crawl into our bed and feel the gentle motion of the sea again.
We had a nice relaxed morning with a great breakfast before setting out for Gilkey's Harbor, Islesboro. This was our 3rd Northeast SSCA Gam (and the Gam's 23rd anniversary). We came here in Scott Free in 2004 and 2005. The Gam is held at the home of Richard and Kathy DeGrasse and started with a dinghy raftup Friday night at 6 pm August 2.  It was an easy motor over to Islesboro from Rockport and we arrived early afternoon. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well and called the DeGrasse's for some advice. Kathy made an appointment at the local clinic, picked me up at the ferry dock and accompanied me. Luckily they saw me, gave me antibiotics and we managed to get back in time for the dinghy raftup at 5 pm.
The raftup was a hoot. Imagine 40 plus dinghies filled with people trying to talk, hold their drinks and pass the pot luck appetizers. Sorry, you'll have to imagine it as I didn't bring my camera (wish I had). We met up with Tom and Kathy on "Jumbie", old friends of John and Brenda's.
Next morning John and Brenda were busy making cole slaw for the luncheon pot luck. By this time

Surface mist on the water in the early morning

 there were 60 boats represented! The weather meanwhile wasn't cooperating fully and it was raining. But the sun gods shined and it stopped only a half hour after the Gam started, and the sun came out full blast.
The food was excellent and there were lots of old friends to meet and greet - some we hadn't seen for many years. Richard welcomed everyone and introduced the speakers; Rob Synder and Heather Deese from the Island Institute (The Island Institute works to sustain Maine’s island and remote coastal communities. The core program areas—including economic development, education, community energy, marine resources, and media—are driven by the requests of community members themselves.) 

A quiet dawn outside the harbor

 and Harbormaster, David Sleeper.
Attendees were encouraged to meet in groups headed by experienced sailors who could answer questions about their experiences. There were a number of round the world and ocean crossing sailors in the group.  Commodores were encouraged to sponsor qualified Associates for Commodore Status. Scott and I have been Commodores for many years now and fondly remember our sponsors who signed our application at the 2005 SSCA Gam!

Now in Islesboro, near sunset

 After this marvelous afternoon we enjoyed a quiet evening on the boat with a great dinner. The sunset was amazing with an intense golden light that transformed the surrounding boats, sea and land. Both nights we'd enjoyed this but Saturday night the sunset was particularly gorgeous.
More stories of our times in Maine in future posts.

Golden light on nearby boats

Morning coffee in Willow's snug salon

Making up the cole slaw for the pot luck

Light rain still falling as we come in to the dinghy landing

Hardy volunteers help cruisers land and moor their dinghies

Just a section of the huge crowd at the Gam

Another view

Our host Richard DeGrasse welcomes us

Sunset that night

Looking over to the ferry dock

Fourth of July 2013

Dick's timed photo of our Fourth of July group 2013 (minus David Wood who had to leave early)

Piper and Lisa enjoy some quiet reading time

It was a wonderful long Fourth of July party this year. Twenty one friends and family gathered yet again to celebrate together. The Wolfs, Silversteins, Bond/D'Arpas and Barns families were all well represented. Both our sons came up for their vacations with their significant others; James & Morgen (newly engaged) and Sean & Will. Piper drove up from Washington with her girlfriend Lisa. David Wood joined us for the first couple of days but the Youmans were unable to make it this year. In the large picture above top row from left to right is Dick Bond, Julie Wolf with boyfriend Jeff, David & Leslie Silverstein, Piper, Lisa, Sean, Will, Heather and Scott

Sean and Piper look unusually pensive

The second row is Larry Barns, Marty & Russ Wolf, Morgen, Jenny, Luke, Molly and Debbie D'Arpa. James and Scott are down in front.
The weather generally cooperated with occasional showers and thunderstorms later in the afternoon or in the evening. We managed to eat outdoors most of the time. There were daily trips to Spring Lake and the waterfall on the river. Most walked up and maybe down to the lake and on the Long Trail. We all cooked and ate at least three times a day with lots of conferences on the menus. And the food was amazing! On Saturday night the Silversteins, Sean, Will, Luke and Jenny went up to their home in Waitsfield to get some sleep before the

Lots of conversation groups form out on the deck

Scott and Deb

Mad River Marathon on Sunday. Sean and Will ran the full distance and Jenny, Scott and Luke each ran one third as a relay team. Will and Sean had hoped to qualify for the Boston Marathon but this was an extremely hard race with 1,000 feet of elevation change. Nevertheless Will came very close to the 3 hours and 5 minute goal and although Sean came in later, he was still in the top twenty. Our relay team, with little training, ran the whole way and did great. Scott and I drove up very early Sunday morning and were there for the 7:30am start. Afterwards the Silversteins had a terrific barbecue lunch for us all.

Deb, Marty, Jenny and Luke

The two tables are packed at mealtimes

Looking the other direction

Scott and Leslie are rapt listeners

James and Sean brought up lots of board games

Larry and Russ pack up the endless beer and wine bottles

Marty and Deb cook up a storm

Games and conversation in the living room

Relaxing out on the lawn

Scott whips up some Bahn Mi sandwiches

While Lisa and Piper make special orange cocktails

Enjoyed by pretty much everyone 

Since no one went fishing we're not sure what was that big

Sous chef Mollie sets up the buffet table

James made fantastic asparagus risotto

Why can't I have some? says Sam

When the side deck was wet we had our coffee up front

Will and Sean stayed two weeks - Yeh!

Milling about on the front lawn

Jenny, Lisa and Scott relax in the kitchen

My camera's version of the group shot