Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): August 2016

Aug. 31 - Camden, ME

Lyman Morse Marine Mooring

Risk more than others think is safe.

Care more that other think is wise.

Dream more than others this is practical.

Expect more that others think is possible. - Claude T. Bissel

Camden without doubt is one of the most scenic harbors in Maine where the mountains come right down to the ocean. Mount Battie forms the backdrop for this stunning harbor and three of Camden’s largest windjammers dock at the head of the harbor putting the crowning touch on creating a postcard perfect sight.

The town has always been a “tourist town”, with its lakes, rivers, harbor and mountains. People started coming to Camden in the 1850's for vacations in guest homes. By the 1890’s wealthy people from all over the country were taking advantage of the natural scenic beauty and accessible harbor location and began to build large summer “cottages” here. Today, sprawling estates and mansions can be seen all over Camden. During the late 1800s to the early 1900s, these wealthy families showed generosity towards the town itself and contributed to the further development of Camden. The Camden Opera House, Camden Amphitheater, and Camden Public Library are only some of the examples.

The Camden Public Library

The Public Landing

View of the harbor from the deck of the Smiling Cow

View from Mount Battie taken on our last trip here in 2013

A video of Camden Harbor

Aug. 30 - Rockport, ME

Lyman Morse Marine Mooring

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” –Author Unknown

We're going to be in Camden all week, but today we decided to ride our bikes over to Rockport. It was only a two-mile ride, but it seemed much longer. The hills around here are a killer. I think hiking last week in Acadia was much easier.

Rockport is a small harbor village that was first settled in 1769. Originally, Rockport was a part of Camden, known as Goose River but the towns officially separated in 1891.During the 19th century, the primary industries were shipbuilding, lime production, and ice exportation. Today, Rockport is known for being a cultural and artistic town with a large community of local artists.

Rockport has a wonderful marine park. Besides being a great place to take in the view of the harbor or enjoy a picnic, it has three restored lime kilns originally used in the 1800s and a replica of a locomotive that was used to transport the prosperous lime. It’s a tie to the town's historical past.

In the 1970s and 80s the town was home to Andre, an abandoned seal that was raised by the harbormaster. He was a favorite attraction for visitors and locals. There's even a marble statue of Andre the Seal in the park that he unveiled himself in 1978. Andre has been the subject of many books and a 1994 feature film. Rockport is definitely a quieter town than Camden, but a very pretty place. You can go to this link to read more about Andre.

Rockport Marine Park

Andre the Seal

Old lime kilns in the park

Aug. 29 – Camden, ME

Lyman Morse Marine Mooring

“Mind on a permanent vacation, the ocean is my only medication. This Champagne shore washing over me, it’s a sweet, sweet life living by the salty sea.”—Zac Brown Band

Our destination today was Camden, just across Penobscot Bay from Pulpit Harbor. Camden is a picturesque town in the center of Maine's mid-coast region, nestled at the foot of Camden Hills on Penobscot Bay. Its slogan is “Where the Mountains Meet the Sea” and is considered by many visitors (us included) to be one of the most beautiful places in New England. Coming into the inner harbor is enchanting...boats of all kinds and sizes, old buildings, action going on everywhere and the beautiful mountains as a backdrop to it all.

This is one of our all time favorite places on the east coast. We are on one of the floating docks at the head of the harbor…we have an unobstructed view of the Windjammers that are docked here. Camden has a large fleet of these tall-masted schooners. A Windjammer is a type of merchant sailing ship used in the 19th to 20th century, there are ten docked in the harbor during the summer months. Some are used for short day cruises and others can be booked for overnight cruises. The day cruises came in and out of the harbor all day, filled with passengers wanting to experience the same sights we've seen on our way into Camden and the nice thing is they come right by the boat.

We’ve decided to relax and spend the week here. There’s a lot to do, plus it’s fun to watch the parade of boats that come in and out of the harbor. But the main reason for staying all week…the Windjammer Festival is this weekend and we will have a front row seat to all the activities. It should be fun.

Our home for the next week

Olad - Originally called the "Whistle Binkie", Olad was designed by Chester A. Crosby and built in 1927 as a private yacht. Originally 47' 9" overall, she now measures 57'.

Appledore II was launched on August 22, 1978, the Schooner Appledore II is the largest of her four sister ships, Appledores I, III, IV, and V. The last schooner custom built by the Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol. She now sails in Camden during the summer and Key West in the winter.

Our entertainment this evening

Aug. 28 - North Haven, ME

Pulpit Harbor - Anchorage

“Changing your perspective changes your experience.” –Author Unknown

We spent extra time this morning enjoying our breakfast on the flybridge. What an amazing way to start the day...the sky was clear, the temperature a little crisp, but not too chilly, the view was outstanding and the water looked like glass. We love these beautiful slow mornings watching the world come alive.

Like all good things the perfect morning couldn't last all day and it was time to move on. The weather predictions were for a strong south wind to come in during the night and we wanted an anchorage that offered better protection. So by late morning it was time to move west to a new spot. Our travel day was short, we only moved about 20 miles...we love these short days. There are so many places to explore along the Maine coast.

Our morning

We're in Pulpit Harbor with a great view of Pulpit Rock at the entrance to the harbor and the Camden hills across Penobscot Bay. After getting settled we went ashore to find a little general store for a few essentials. The store was less than a mile away, but the walk took us awhile. Along the way we found apples, raspberries and blackberries...we ate as many as we could. What a treat. On the way back we picked a pint of blackberries to take back to the boat. They're the sweetest blackberries I've ever eaten. We spent the evening like we started the day...on the flybridge enjoy our meal with a view. It was interesting watching the fog developing over the Camden Hills.

Pulpit Rock

The back of Pulpit Harbor

Some of our finds

The cute general store

Our evening view

Dinner...coconut curry lobster

Aug. 27 - Stonington, ME

Devil's Half Acre - Anchorage

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." – Joseph Campbell

Today our anchorage was in an archipelago of islands called Merchant's Row. These 30-40 islands that lay between Deer Isle and Isle of Haut are unsurpassed for beauty anywhere in Maine. The islands are wooded and fringed in pink and white granite. The islands are close together and are a wonderful place to explore on a dinghy or kayak. At low tide there were sand beaches on all the islands surrounding our anchorage...a great place to enjoy a warm late August day.

Stonington is a working harbor, busy with lobstermen bringing in lobsters to sell to the coops. The town flourished in the late 19th century in the granite industry. Stonington granite built parts of Rockefeller Center, the Smithsonian Institution, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and several NYC bridges. While exploring some of the islands we could see where huge granite blocks were cut from the shoreline. You can see hundreds of huge blocks of granite scattered like toy blocks on several of the islands. Only one quarry is still operational today.

Granite rubble left behind on one of the little islands in Merchant's Row

The quarry on Crotch Island

We've stopped in Stonington before, but never spent any time exploring the town. So this afternoon we took the dinghy to town, walked through the small village, visited a few shops and bought lobsters from the coop. The harbor is very busy with lobster boats scooting around everywhere. We enjoyed a wonderful evening in our quiet anchorage grilling lobster, gazing at the amazing scenery and watching a beautiful sunset.

A few of the boats we saw before we got to our anchorage in Hell's Half Acre

Low tide...six hours later this was a small harbor

Stonington waterfront

Lobster Coop where we bought our lobsters off a boat

Fresh Maine lobster...right from the boat

...to the grill

Aug. 26 - Swan's Island, ME

Opechee Island - Anchorage

“Life’s a beach and I’m just playing in the sand.” —Unknown

We could probably stay on Mount Desert all summer and find plenty to do, but that nomadic urge to keep moving pulls us away to the next new adventure. Our stop today was just 15 miles west in a little archipelago of islands north of Swan Island.

We spent the day beach combing the shores of Opechee, Black and Sheep Islands. Here in Maine we're not looking for the normal beach items like sea glass, sponges and shells...although we have found some nice pieces of sea glass and a few large shells. Our prize is a little more unique to Maine...lobster buoys. We're a little limited on space so we can only keep the best ones and we found a lot of great buoys today. In fact we found so many wonderful buoys today we had to take some of the ones we found earlier back to the beach...it'll make someone's day to see the pile we left on Sheep Island.

Maine has over 5,900 licensed lobstermen, they work about 3 million lobster traps and more than 30,000 are lost every year and their distinctly colored buoys wash up on shore. Each boat has their own unique color for their buoys and the colors have to be displayed on their boat. These colorful buoys help the lobstermen locate their traps.

Aug. 25 – Northeast Harbor, ME

Northeast Harbor Mooring
Mount Desert Island

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” —Helen Keller

We woke to another beautiful day here in Northeast Harbor, but high winds were predicted for later in the day...so we decided to spend one more day hiking the trails of Acadia National Park instead of moving on. There are so many wonderful trails and carriage roads in the park; we could spend weeks hiking all of them.

This morning we headed over to the eastern shore to hike the Gorham Mountain Trail and part of the Ocean Path Trail. These trails gave us views of the rugged east side of Mount Desert Island, Sand Beach, the Atlanta Ocean, Egg Rock Lighthouse and the Otter Cliffs. The trails are closer to Bar Harbor and were a lot busier than the ones we did the past two days. Despite the crowds we enjoyed the views and finding more berries. The mountain is covered in blueberry bushes and we picked at least a quart of the delicious little berries.

We began our hike at Sand Beach and made our way to the peak of Gorham Mountain and along the ridge before we descended toward the ocean and met up with the Ocean Path trail. It was fun at Otter Cliff watching climbers repelling the cliffs that are 110 feet high...one of the highest headlands north of Rio de Janeiro.

I have an app on my phone that keeps track of how many miles I walk in a day and how many flights of stairs I climb. According to my app we've hiked over 19 miles since we arrived and climbed the equivalent of 146 flights of stairs.

The beginning of the Beehive and Gorham Mountain Trails