Avatrice

A couple of weekends back, when we were at Sebasco Harbor Restort, we met the Captain and First Mate of  Avatrice, a 44' ketch.   The  Avatrice offers 3 day sailing and learning trips for women out of our own home harbor, Freeport.  The often hang a large banner on the side of the boat Women Under Sail!  You may catch them sailing around the harbor from time to time.

We met and chatted with Captain Sharon and First Mate Jane while waiting for the launch to take us to our respected boats.  Actually, we chatted during the launch trip as well.  We had a lot to talk abut, both being from Freeport and all.  Later we ran into Jane on land and spoke with her again for about 1/2 hour.  Both are wonderful women.   They had a crew of 5 women with them this weekend and were teaching them all the fine points of sailing.  Beautiful weather was in their favor as they took off a day before us back to homeport. 

What a wonderful concept!  If you are interested in a trip, check out the website:  http://www.womenundersail.com/ 

Sailing To Eagle Island

A wonderful Saturday sailing in Casco Bay with my parents.  My dad has seen the new boat, but mom had not.  And neither of them had sailed with us yet this season.  Mom tends to get motion sickness so this was a big deal trip for her.  She was up for giving it a try and brought along all her potions to help her get through it.  Happy to report, she wasn't a bit sick. 

We headed out to Eagle Island.  I've mentioned the island before, but we hadn't made it there to step foot on it yet this year.   It is a Maine State Park, but you have to find a way to get there first.  Only by boat.  Mom packed a delicious lunch and we headed out.

Here is some Eagle Island info:  http://www.pearyeagleisland.org/

"Eagle Island:  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. This event represented the fulfillment of Peary's lifelong dream.

A second dream was fulfilled beginning in 1881, just four years after Peary graduated from Bowdoin College, with his purchase of Eagle Island in Casco Bay".

Pretty smooth sailing, hardly any wind forced Captain to run the engine a bit.  Once we finally (it took about 3 hours!) got to Eagle island the waves were really picking up.  This made for a tricky transfer to the State Park Rangers little boat to take us to shore.  Once on shore, we had a wonderful picnic lunch (mom made a Muffaletta, ever have one?  You HAVE to !  Sooo good!  recipe on Food Network.com  Mufaletta ). 

(Some people say Mom and I look alike, what do you think?)

We had a great tour of the house and the grounds.  Such a beautiful place.  But since it took soo long to get there, how long would it take us to get back?  We had to get moving.   The sail back was much quicker.   Captain didn't have to run the engine very much at all and we sailed home at 3-5 knots.  Dad even took the wheel a bit. 

We saw a bunch of Harbor Seals and Mom and Dad were lucky enough to see dolphin swimming off the Port side!  What a treat!  And we also caught a sailboat with it's Spinnaker up.  How pretty!

Dolphin Behind Our Boat!

Very exciting!  As we headed back to our home port in South Freeport on Saturday, the seas were almost flat calm.  This, combined with a depth of 120-150 feet usually brings along great viewing for sea life.  Harbor Seals were everywhere.  And we were keeping our eyes peeled for whales when Captain spotted Dolphin off the Port side of the boat. We caught site of them several times, in fact we thought there might have been more than one pod of dolphin.   After a bit, they ended up behind our boat and swimming in great circles.  The must have been feeding!  They were all over the place and continuously breaking the surface.  I had plenty of time to grab my camera to get some video to share:

Captain did some research and we believe they were Harbor Porpoise which are often 4-6' long, 120 lbs. or so.  They eat Herring, Mackerel, Hake, Pollack and Squid. 

A Fog Video

I didn't post this earlier.  Here is a video, complete with me yakking away, while we were in the fog.

Hanging Around

A relaxing day, just hanging around.  We toured the Sebasco grounds and went for a nice walk, talked with some folks.  Back at the boat we fished (Captain), read, napped (me) and hung out.  Literally.  Here's me, on the boom.

Almost A Full Moon

The Moon over Sebasco Harbor.

Another Boat Rescue

Captain and I were on our way into Sebasco Harbor when another sailboat overtook us.  We were happy to see another boat had made it through the fog and heartily waved at our new friend.   As we entered the harbor we put our sails down.  Captain headed the boat into the wind and I hopped up on top to assist in taking down the main sail.  I try to bring it down as neat as possible and then quickly tie it up so it is out of Captains view.  Captain furled in the jib.  We were all set to enter the harbor.  I radioed in and confirmed our arrival for mooring #25.  Yes, we were all set. 

That was until we noticed that our new sailboat friend had run into some trouble.  We circled around and asked him if everything was okay.  Everything was not.  Seems he was sailing alone and when he hopped up on deck to take down his main sail, the long rope that was pulling his dingy had gotten wrapped up in his prop.  We offered to give him a tow to the entrance of the harbor.  I radioed ahead and the launch agreed to meet us at the entrance to assist the sailboat.   I caught the rope as he tossed it to me and we hitched it on one of the back cleats.  While sailboats are really not built for towing, we were willing and able to help a fellow sailor out.   Everything was going great until I noticed we wernt' going anywhere. "Captain", I asked, "is the tide coming in"?  "Are we fighting the tide"?  "No", he said, "something is wrong".  We looked back at the other sailor and he gave us the stop signal.  Seems he picked up a lobster pot.  We threw back the rope and radioed the harbor.  They were on there way to help him out.  After some diving and some untangling, the boat was back on it's way.

Here is Captain, towing the other boat.  Which incidentally, was from Freeport, just like us!

The Lighthouse At Sebasco Harbor Resort

Captain and I have been admiring The Lighthouse at Sebasco and often wondered what was it like at the top?  Can we, guest of the resort, but on a mooring, climb our way to the top for a view of the harbor?  I inquired and got a wonderfully exuberant YES!  We made our way to the top, 3 curly flights of stairs later to see a most spectacular view of the harbor!  We got there as the sun was starting to set...

This is the cute little harbor that makes up Sebasco!

 

Sea Mist from afar...

I sat down in the Victorian wicker lounge to enjoy the view...

And Captain gazes out over the harbor...

My FAVORITE photograph from the lighthouse...

This is The Lighthouse all light up as the night closes in.

You can SLEEP here!  Seriously!  10 rooms all with wonderful views.

Some history:  The Lighthouse at Sebasco Harbor Resort is the ideal place for guests seeking comfort with incredible oceanfront views. It was built in 1945 by Nathan Cushman, the original owner of Sebasco. Though never intended to be a working lighthouse it has served as a landmark for mariners ever since.

Back to Sea Mist for us.  Captain on the dock waiting (well, for me) and the launch to take us back to our boat.

Sebasco Harbor

We just love it here.  What else can I say?  The harbor is beautiful.   The amenities at the resort are wonderful.  2 different restaurants to choose from, tennis courts and golf (although we haven't played yet), boccie, croquet, special activities, a bowling alley (!), salt water pool, kayak, canoes and more!  We haven't had a chance to do/use/enjoy all these activities, because, well, there are just soo many!  One fun thing we did is take a ride upon The Ruth.  The Ruth is the Sebasco Harbor Resort tour boat and has been in service since her launch in 1935.

Captain and I took the noon cruise over to Cundys Harbor on Great Island.  We were thrilled to see an Eagle on the way!  They are such huge birds, unmistakably!  The Ruth takes us right to the town wharf and while there wasn't space to park on the town wharf, the captain dropped us off at the working wharf.  I snapped this picture of some lovely and most definitely dead, red fish.  Red fish is commonly used for lobster bait. 

We headed over to Holbrooks for lunch and enjoyed some of the best clam chowder I have ever had (and almost everywhere we go here on the coast, I order clam chowder), fried clams and yummy onion rings.  we sat on the deck overlooking the harbor and remarked at what a beautiful day it was to be on the coast of Maine. 

There is a cute little gift store to browse around as well as a general store.  Captain did the right thing and walked over to the general store to get us some cold beer to drink with our lunch.  Thanks Captain!

If you have the chance, visit Cundy's Harbor.  boating that it is the oldest commercial fishing village, since 1841!   It's soo very Maine!  http://hstrial-eprybylo.homestead.com/

On our way back to Sebasco we caught a few glimpse of harbor seals and learned a bit about Malaga Island.   Here is a quick little bit about it:

" In 1912, a mixed-race community of about forty-five people was evicted by the state of Maine from Malaga Island, just off the coast of Phippsburg. It was an act motivated by economics, racism, eugenics, and political retribution".

Learn more here:   http://www.malagaislandmaine.org/index.htm

We had a great time, and enjoy as much as we can where ever we are. 

A Harbor Seal, Caught On Tape!

I was simply videoing some of the "pea soup" fog we were sailing in the other day and a harbor seal popped up behind the boat!    You can hear the surprise in my voice at the end when I see him pop up.

The Foggy Rainbow

Here is a quick video Captain took of the rainbow breaking through the fog.

Fog

We were on our way, off to Sebasco Harbor Resort.  We had been there 4th of July weekend and headed back as Captain was on vacation this week.  The weather this summer has been fantastic and we were lucky enough to get another excellent stretch of good weather.

On our way out to Sebasco, we encountered a HUGE fog bank.  I mean HUGE!  We saw it coming.  We called ahead and asked Sebasco if they were fogged in and they said no, crystal clear there.  So, all we had to do was get through the fog bank.

See it.   Looks like low clouds.  It's fog.

See it again?  Just on the other side of this sailboat.  Big, thick fog.  The day was otherwise sunny.  In fact when we were in the fog, I still wore my sunglasses.

Right before we entered the fog, Captain got out our air horns, safety box of goodies, the bell was ready (normally we keep the donger taped up so it doesn't gong every time there is an ocean swell) and life jackets were snapped on.  My job was to sit on the bow and listen and look for other boats. Captain continually blew the air horn to alert other boats of our presences and I kept an eye and ear out for motors and vessels.  We only saw a few other boats in the fog.  A group of guys fishing, a couple of lobster boats and another sailboat. 

And here is the Little Mark Island Monument.

Looking for some history?  This monument was built in 1827.  Here is a link for more information: 

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/photos/US-East/MarkIslandME.htm

The momument looked like this (below) last time we came through this way!

Sometimes, when Captain felt the fog had lifted a bit, he took a break and let me take over the helm.

You can see the fog has surrounded us, but it really had lifted a bit.  It was much thicker early on and did get thick again.  And see how it is bright?  I had to wear my sunglasses.  And later, put on my hat.  My scalp was getting sunburned.  Captain spotted a rainbow trying to peek it's way through the fog:

See the rainbow over my left shoulder?  And note the life jacket?  We were super safe in the fog.  You never know if someone else is going to plow into the side of your boat and you'll end up in the water.  We were very safe.

And here we are, (below) out on the other side of the fog!  This is headed into Sebasco Harbor.  You can see that there is fog beyond Sebasco.  They were indeed crystal clear.  It was like a little piece of paradise!

Safe on our mooring at Sebasco Harbor!

This Was New!

So, looks like paddle surfing has made it to Maine!

Want to learn more?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_up_paddle_surfing

Cooking On Board

I was determined to use the oven again.  I just can't help it!  I LOVE to cook!  Tonight I made a wonderful fresh tomato and caramelized onion tart.  I need to get use to the oven, as it doesn't seem to heat up like the home oven.  Captain thinks it is because of low pressure with the gas.    Anyway, the tart was wonderful!  First caramelizing the onions on the stove top and then piling them in a pie crust with slices of vine tomatoes and small grape tomatoes.  De-lish!

Cooking up the onions...

Smile!...

Checking the oven temperature...

Caramelized onions, tomato and a bit of cheese....yummy!