Maine is Cool!

Maine is Cool!

While back in Florida our friends are suffering record heat and humidity, we are thankful (and a little guilty) to be enjoying pleasant cool temperatures and easy breezes at our Mount Desert Island marina.

Summer here got off to a slow start this year. Rain and fog blanketed the coast during almost all of July. Tourism and boating activity was way down from what we’ve seen in the past. We had a decent weather window for our 50-mile trip from Rockland to Southwest Harbor early in the month and a few breaks in the following weeks that let us get away from the dock a couple of times for short day trips, only going out and back to a nearby island or two. 

Day trip out to Duck Islands to see Puffins - skunked!

 

On to Baker's Island attached to Little Cranberry Island.

We enjoyed an excursion to Baker's Island with Pat and Judy. A pleasant walk on the island to explore the graveyard and 1828 lighthouse was followed by picnic of cheese and crackers and bottles of water on the rocky landing beach. On the way back to Great Harbor Marina, we paid a return visit to the Islesford Dockside Restaurant on Little Cranberry Island for another delicious meal.

 

Part of Acadia National Park, Baker's Island has four private legacy residents.

 Restaurant with a view - Islesford Dockside

  

And at the boat building shop next door to the restaurant we met a very nice young lady working on their youth boat building program. She is a 21-year old native of Islesford, now a student at a Maine college, alumni of the youth program since the age of 7, and is now mentoring another generation in the construction of small wooden boats.    

She's studying environmental science and climate change. Sadly, the excesses of our generation have made her future full of wide-open opportunities to meet the global challenges.

       

Then after a few more days of fog and rain, the sun came out for us again. Taking advantage of predicted good weather, we cruised to Frenchboro, a lovely quaint community on Long Island, spending a couple of peaceful days on a mooring. We want to return again to walk more of the island’s 10 miles of trails. We were not daunted by getting lost and having to bushwalk our way back to the main trail, including climbing over boulders on the beach and wading through a bog.

Long Island's Little Beach - no sand!

At the protected cove at Frenchboro we met two interesting musicians making an inaugural run at the only commercial establishment (besides lobster fishermen) in the small community. The affable Davida and Jason were enthusiastic and engaging. We hope their lease of the Lunt's Deli and Take Out will be successful.

AQUAVIT on a mooring at Frenchboro

The weather has informed much of our activity this season. We pass the time with boat projects while waiting at our safe marina until the weather clears. There’s always something the fix or improve. Marvin painted the windshield frame while Lee worked on crocheting a baby blanket and knitting booties for friends' newborn. 

Also, we're using the time to edit the next two novels Marvin has written, in preparation for publication when we get back home. (BTW - thanks to all who purchased Across Florida Straits on Amazon.) And, we have traveled around Mount Desert Island a little bit, taking in the views and "enjoying" the craziness of Bar Harbor for a couple of hours.

NPS photo

 While driving around Mount Desert Island, we've noticed a few French names so we looked into the history of the Acadians. We thought, wrongly it turns out, the story was just about French settlers being driven out of Nova Scotia to their new home in SW Louisiana. But a little surfing on the web revealed that Mount Desert was ‘discovered’ and named by Champlain in 1604. He noted the bald rocky summits looked like mountain deserts.

After a brief settlement, the French left. They were displaced and driven out of these northeast wilds by the English colonists, not to mention the French and Indian War. Some went on to settle in Louisiana. Their exodus is chronicled in the epic poem Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. So I suppose a little bit of New England heritage resides in the Cajun heart.

Anticipating Bill and Lisa from Brunswick Georgia this weekend, we’ve got our waterfowl aligned to have a great time even if this nice weather doesn’t hold. We have planned more day trips to islands and shoreside visits to Acadia National Park and a lobster boil on the marina's deck.

We are looking forward to cruising downeast to Cross Island National Wildlife Refuge a little later this month, keeping our fingers crossed that we will have the weth-aah for it. 

Thanks for reading.

Marvin and Lee

08.01.2023

AMAZON LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/Across-Florida-Straits-Cuba-West/dp/B0C8QSW1Q2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1690942700&sr=8-1