Maine to Newport RI

 

We are sitting on anchor in Newport, Rhode Island, waiting for a window to make a jump to New York and points south, route TBD based upon weather. It’s currently blowing 20-35 knots with whitecaps in the anchorage, and no one is going anywhere. We got here yesterday and entered the harbor as an international invitational sailing race was starting. Newport is a major sailing harbor in normal conditions, but we found the entrance packed with lots of beautiful fast sailing racing boats! It’s hard to explain the feeling of entering a crazy harbor like this after two big miles sailing days. Not only was a race happening, but boats of every kind were moving at full speed all around the harbor: very exhilarating!! 

‘To go back in time to the last blog entry…

At the end of July, we anchored in Salem, Massachusetts and had Christmas in July thanks to friends Jenn and Jeff who allowed us to have things shipped to them. It was great to see these friends after sailing with them 17 years ago (!), and really special to get to know their charming daughter Remy. From Salem we headed north and had an exciting time in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where there is a ton of current in the Piscataqua River; we took a mooring from the Portsmouth Yacht Club, used the launch to transport bikes and biked to do errands before heading to Maine! From Portsmouth we began the luxury of spending August on our boat in Maine. We packed the month full of fun, friends, and family and a month was not enough time!

We spent most of August in Penobscot Bay anchorages and were surprised to find some spots we previously loved were no longer our favorites. The reason was partly because our priority was no longer playgrounds or parks, as when the girls were with us, but also places had changed. Multiple mega yachts in places like Belfast, with its relatively tight waterfront, detracted from the small town charm and reduced accessibility.

We relied on the huge anchorage in Rockland for accessibility to provision, including a fabulous farmers market; the waterfront had plenty of places for necessities like lobster and laundry! All month we ate tons of seafood, including whole lobsters cooked aboard Khira ($15 for two, purchased straight from the fisherman!). We have been visiting lots of art galleries including the Farnsworth Museum while in Rockland, with its multiple Wyeth pieces. We were happy to host Judith’s brother Bill and his wife Gerri on a gentle sail from Rockland, and we had a lovely visit with brother Jim, wife MaryAnn and family, also in Rockland.

We stopped in Boothbay both on the way north and south: we like Boothbay Yacht Club for an out-of-the-way mooring in a busy harbor. We happened to be at the yacht club during a gathering of all previous commadores and wives (wives were referred to as the “commadorables”), and as we were enjoying cocktails, a suit-coated man (we later were told was the club host) came over and asked David to please remove his cap: for better or for worse, east coast yacht clubs are a different from those back home!

We visited Christmas Cove and spent a few days with David’s Aunt Barbara as she was at her cottage along with other family members from Washington DC and Boston. We sailed through the lovely "Thread of Life" in front of the cottage, multiple times, blowing the conch horn and getting the attention of relatives on shore! On the way south we spent a few more days moored in Christmas Cove, and were fortunate to get a couple bonus visits with David’s cousin Jennifer who is writing the family history.

On the island of Vinalhaven, as we pulled around the corner to enter the protection of Perry’s Creek, we spotted friends we had sailed with 25 years ago in the Bahamas: Allen and Kathy, aboard Evening Star. It was a huge treat to see them again! They haven’t changed a bit, but they did immediately note that we had “given up on the varnish,” since they were used to seeing us aboard “old Khira” with her bright varnished hull. We waited out the remnants of Hurricane Ida in Perry’s Creek; the impact consisted of two days and one night of steady rain with virtually no wind. We had nice hikes in the woods over moss-covered hills on the island of Vinalhaven.

We saw lots of osprey, eagles, porpoises and seals and did lots of swimming from the boat to shore, around the boat, out and around other moorings, and in creeks and beach waves. We anchored, kayaked, and had beautiful morning runs in sweet places like Castine, Isle au Haut, Pulpit Harbor, Port Clyde, Tenants Harbor, and Stonington. We had a wonderful hike in Camden, climbing up the front of Mount Baddie to fabulous views of Penobscot Bay. We had a couple memorable hikes and much relaxing fun with Minneapolis friends Sarah and Eric Tarleton-Heinneman on Mohegan Island. Time with them and their family on Mohegan, anchoring in this cool offshore island was a highlight for sure!

We plan to quickly get out of Rhode Island, through New York and New Jersey – hopefully within the next week, weather permitting, and will post occasional progress reports on Facebook.  Thank you for staying in touch. We love hearing from friends. ‘Miss you all.