August 4 -- NE Harbor to Bar Harbor

A nice sunny warm day and six more are forecast, boding well for our trip down east.
After using the municipal marina's showers, I learned that its internet access in the lounge by them
was too weak to be usable (the only not classy thing about this municipal marina) so I repaired to the public library, which, Lene had told me, had outdoor benches near electrical outlets and a very strong signal. And there the last two posts were published.
And as a result we got underway at 11 and had weak wind at first which built so we shut off the engine after about twenty minutes and sailed east on a very broad starboard reach. The island is perhaps best viewed from the water. Nice homes too.

Once well past the eastern side of MDI we jibed and headed north to Bar Harbor with the wind a bit closer to the beam at speeds of more than six knots. Upon approaching The Thrumcap rock, which looks like the top of a big thumb tack with a green grassy or mossy cover, the wind went well forward of the beam, or so it seemed. Actually the wind totally died and our own momentum carrying us forward through the still air made it seem that the wind was coming from forward. We furled the sails and motored the last 1.5 miles to our mooring.  A Holland American cruise ship, the Maasdan, was in port.

As a result all manner of lighters were in service, ferrying the horde of some 2000 passengers from ship to shore and back and making wakes that rocked our boat. These passengers also made it difficult to walk the clogged sidewalks at a pace. We visited Hannafords supermarket for a major provisioning. We wheeled one of their shopping carts from the store to the dock (and took it back after unloading the provisions). I took cat food cans out from under the aft cabin and while there added battery water before stowing all the stuff there neatly amidships and making up Bennett's berth. I sailed on his boat on the Harlem YC summer cruise of 2011; he sailed with us on the Baltimore to New York leg of our two winter Caribbean cruise and Lene and I sailed for a week with him and Harriet on On Eagles' Wings in the Virgins this past winter.
I met him at the bus and after getting his gear stowed we had a good dinner at Gaylin's restaurant. Sailing the rocky coast of Maine has been a 20 year goal for Bennett and he is psyched! Lene took a spill climbing out of the dink which raised a huge bruise on her shin. The Maasdan left before five, its lighters' wakes replaced in the early morning, by those of the lobster boats. Hey, I'm psyched too!!