Somes Sound to Gloucester, MA

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Somes Sound - Mount Desert Region
September 3, 2005

Anchorage: N44021.577  W068019.544

Somes Sound was a place I truly wanted to go but the Captain was not much in favor of it. I finally convinced him to spend at least one night. He wasn't crazy about the 30 foot anchoring depths but I thought it was one of the prettiest anchorages we'd had in the Mount Desert Region.

On September 12th, we returned, once again, to Northeast Harbor where we stayed through the 20th.

Home Harbor - Penobscot Bay Region
September 21, 2005

Anchorage: N43058.902  W069004.451

This was just a stop for the night. Really pretty area but very hard bottom, making it hard to get a good set on the anchor.

Bar Harbor - Mount Desert Region
September 5-11, 2005

Mooring:

We moved to Bar Harbor to be close to the ferry terminal for our trip to Canada with my sister, Betty. This was an absolutely miserable anchorage (mooring). It is totally exposed to most every wind and the traffic is very heavy. There was not a minute of any day or night that we didn't rock and bounce.  The good news was that we did get a rate of only $120.00 for the week. More good news was that we only had to spend four of the seven nights on board there. The other three we spent in Nova Scotia. 

Bar Harbor is not a place I'd go out of my way to go to but it is a very pretty town. It's 100% touristy (3-4 cruise ships/week) but in a classy sort of way. Betty and I spent one day just checking out the shops. In the afternoon we decided it would be nice to sit down and have a beer.  We checked several places but couldn't find anyplace to have just a drink without a meal. We'd already had lunch, were tired of walking, and sure didn't want to go back to the bouncing boat. We happened upon a nice arbor, nestled between several shops. It was complete with tables and chairs and right next to a liquor store. We went inside the store, bought a six pack, called Bob to join us, and sat in the arbor drinking our beer. The guy in the liquor store told us to be sure to "brown bag" it, so we did. Talk about sinking to new levels.

Boothbay Harbor - Midcoast Region
September 22-27, 2005

Mooring:

We picked up a mooring from Tugboat Inn at a really great rate of $18.00/night. This was another touristy town but perhaps not so much as Bar Harbor. Our first few days in Boothbay Harbor were spent getting ready for a visit from my daughter, Sylisha, and son-in-law, Cory. After their arrival we enjoyed the waterfront, the shops, restaurants, and just walking around.

Sylisha & Cory had flown into Boston. We rented a car to pick them up and used that as an excuse to spend the day touring Boston. We enjoyed the day, complete with lunch at Cheers, until we returned to the parking garage to find that the rental car had been sideswiped. Of course, the guilty party didn't bother to leave insurance information. We never take the rental agency insurance because it is so expensive and we thought we had coverage with our insurance company. In fact, Bob had just discussed it with them a week or so before. When all was said and done, we learned that the non-owner liability insurance we carry does not cover any car we are driving. The company did agree that because we had been given incorrect information they would cover this one accident, if the credit card company doesn't cover it.

At this point, we still don't know who is going to cover the damage or how much our part may be. Enterprise always tells us, when we decline their coverage, that in case of an accident they will automatically charge our credit card for the damage. That hasn't happened yet either. We also don't know if there will be a problem renting cars from Enterprise in the future.

Portland - Casco Bay Region
September 28-30, 2005

Mooring:

This tied with Bar Harbor Harbor and Chubb Cay, Bahamas as being one of the worst anchorages of all times. The motion never stopped. To make it even worse, we were there for a major storm with gale force winds. I know that, depending on weather, most every anchorage has the potential of being miserable. I'm totally convinced that some places will never, under any circumstance,  make a good anchorage - Bar Harbor, Portland Harbor and Chubb Cay.

We did a walking tour of the town the day after the storm passed. It's a typical town but we did find a really neat market and an Italian grocery with all sorts of good stuff. Other than getting to spend time with Cory and Sylisha, that was the highlight of Portland.

Neddick Point - Penobscot Bay Region
October 1, 2005

Anchorage: N43010.630  W070036.113

OK, add this to the above list of worst anchorages. It was a stop for the night only and we were more than ready to leave.

As we said "goodbye" to Maine, I reflected on some of the wonderful things we'd enjoyed. The whole area is so beautiful. Yes, there is often fog but more often there isn't. The temperature could not have been more perfect. We weren't bothered by insects. Oh, and one of the best things - we had almost zero wakes from power boats. The Maine Coast is sailboat country. Other than the work boats, that put up very little wake, I don't think we passed more than one or two. What a treat that was.

Next Port: Gloucester, MA to NYC