We sailed off into the sunset, er, sun for the 4th of July weekend. I was selling my soaps at the farmers market on Friday night until 7:00, so that can easily become a late night. We opted for going down to the boat on Saturday morning.
Saturday night we stayed in our own harbor and cooked a great dinner. I made crab cakes in the oven that Captain finally got to work. He replaced the oven solenoid during the day and we were in business. I also made some grilled bruchetta with fresh tomatoes.
Reservations were needed at any harbor one would sail to on the weekend of the 4th. While we had planned on heading to Boothbay Harbor, we where shut out. Boothbay was all booked up, but we put ourselves on a waiting list. Next choice, Sebasco Harbor Resorts.
http://www.sebasco.com/ Captain called and we scored! 2 nights at Sebasco and we got the very last reservation. They also informed us that there would be fireworks on the 4th and we had full use of their resort. This includes: salt water pool, gym, showers, 2 restaurants, golf, kayaking and more.
We loaded up the boat and headed out around 11:00 Sunday, with very little wind. The sun was shining and we were sure to put on our sunblock. We motored out of the harbor and headed out into Casco Bay. The sails were raised and we were on our way. I was a bit worried about getting sea sick, as there are parts of this trip where you get some good rolling and large waves coming from the open ocean. And we did get those big rollers. I was sure to keep my eyes on the horizon and avoided looking directly at the rolling ocean.
Here is Captain, checking our course with the GPS. We are on track!
The trip was fairly uneventful, a nice slow sail. We motored a bit to keep on course and to get to the harbor in a reasonable amount of time. Sometime you just have to do that. If you are from the Northeast or heard on the news, the weekend of the 4th of July in the Northeast was killer hot. This hot air wasn't going anywhere, as there was also barely a breeze.
We head out to Eagle Island and take a left. Eagle Island was the summer home of Admiral Perry. On April 6, 1909 Admiral Robert E. Peary, accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Inuit natives, planted the American flag at the North Pole. They were the first humans to reach the northern most point on our globe. You can grab a mooring there and take a launch or your dingy in and walk around the island, tour the house, have a picnic. It's a state park.
http://www.pearyeagleisland.org/
We arrived at Sebasco Harbor Resort after about 5 hours. I radioed the dock house of our arrival and the launch came out to escort us to our mooring, how nice! The harbor was indeed full and then the tricky part. With everyone watching and Captain at the helm, my job is to stand up on the bow with the boat hook and reach down and grab the mooring, and grab it on the first try. IF I was to miss, Captain has to drive the boat around in a large circle, around the other boats moored there and we try again. With a full harbor and our arrival, everyone was watching us. Often times, when we see other boats come in and do this maneuver, the husband and wife get into loud arguments. Blaming each other for the failure to pick up the mooring. Captain isn't like that, I don't think he has ever yelled at me. We snuck right up on that mooring and I got it on the first try. This actually was easy, as last time we went to Sebasco we sailed (motored) into the harbor after dark and I was on the bow with a flashlight. I got the mooring first try that night too, but the flashlight I lost forever as I absentmindedly tossed it in the ocean in my excitement!
We called for the launch and headed into shore to walk around a bit, and visit the resort. We ate dinner on the outdoor patio at the resort this evening. I snapped these pictures of these wonderful boats in the harbor! Look at them all decorated with flags for the 4th. I think I need some!
Captain warned me that I may not get a great night sleep at Sebasco, reminding me that last time we were there it was tough sleeping due to large rolling waves rocking the boat most of the night. I guess I had forgotten this, but now that he reminded me....I thougth "oh great". But this was not the case, as there was no wind and not much action on the water.
Beautiful pink sunset!
And of course, fireworks on the 4th! We had an un-obstructed view from our boat. Lucky lucky us! See the reflection on the water of the fireworks? They were fantastic.
The next day(s) consisted of fishing, reading, napping, eating, hanging out by the salt water pool, on the boat and walking along the shore. Captain caught a few mackerel, we both got a bit sunburned, I started and finished a book. We exclaimed how the day/weather was just perfect.
He's got one on the hook!
Sunshine! Can we bottle this warmth for winter time?
Dipping my toes in the water to cool off a bit.
The sun goes down on another fine day.
We headed home on Tuesday morning.
Many of the other boats had already left, we extended our long weekend by a day. Some sailing, some motoring as again, the weather was hot and still.
A few Friendship Sloops we spotted on the way home.
We made it back to Freeport in about 5-6 hours. About 1 hour before we grabbed out mooring and approaching the land, we felt this wall of heat hit us. Heat was coming from the land! We were so very lucky to have spent those hot hot days on the water and at that open harbor. What can be a nuisance (sleeping while those big ocean rollers come in) really was an advantage this time. The open harbor allowed us cooler temperatures during those hot days.
See your next weekend!
