Coastal Cruising: Bay Breeze & Aquavit

Morning fog after a spectacular sunset....can we make 40+  miles to Southport? The coast is clear, but only for a couple miles out... Waiting a bit for the fog to burn off on the advice of Melvin, a retired US Marine and accomplished local boat captain, we walked over to the HQ of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuges. We wanted to see their wonderful office and visitor center and get our Blue Goose Passports stamped. We were delighted to see a few familiar interpretive panels still in service that we had developed for the refuge long ago. We took in their wonderful orientation video to wait for FWS staff  to access the ink stamps for the passports. Surprisingly, it was the Refuge Manager, Brian Benedict, who came to unlock the bookstore so we could stamp our passports. He'd been at the refuge for 27 years and logged enough sea miles working on the refuge complex to circle the planet several times. Props to him! It was flattering...

Sometimes the Plan Goes Awry:  A Foggy Run to a Safe Anchorage The weather was a gray cloudy day with rain in the morning, predicted to clear up in the afternoon. We were in a hurry to leave Dysart’s Marina in Southwest Harbor, so we walked to town to have breakfast at Sip’s Cafe which was reasonably priced but so slow. Then to kill some more time we walked to a Hamilton Marine to browse this wonderful exclusively Maine marine supply store. It started to rain, but fortunately “Island Boy”, Miller Dupuis, from Dominque was at Hamilton and gave us a lift back to the dock. We had met Miller at the docks while he was doing the brightwork on an adjacent boat. It was great to discuss the variations of Caribbean cuisine - beans and rice vs rice and beans, or peas and rice, or rice and peas. Back at the dock the rain subsided to a mist and we bid farewell to Pat and Frank as their 28 ft Honey Badger  left the dock bound for McGlathery Island. We thought we might join them...