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!