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July 20 - Jewell Island, ME

Cocktail Cove - Anchorage

We spent a wonderful day exploring this beautiful island. The tide fluctuates 12 feet here every six hours. It's amazing to see the difference in the shoreline from high tide to low tide. We actually had to wait for the tide to go out a little before we could get ashore. As it was we anchored the dinghy in shallow water and returned to find it stranded ten feet or more from the water. Luckily there were several other men on the beach and they helped us lift it up and put it back in the water. We were just going to drag it over the rocks. This way saved the paint on the bottom...at least this time.

Jewell Island was used as a military look out installation during WWII, and we could easily hike to ruins from the beach where we left the dinghy. Thousands of troops were stationed on Maine Islands during WWI & WWII. Jewel Island was one of ten islands that guarded Portland Harbor from attacks. In 1942, a German submarine surfaced off Jewell Island and was pursued and attacked by destroyers. There are ruins of barracks, bunkers and watchtowers scattered throughout the island. We climbed up the eight-story concrete observation tower and were rewarded with a great view of Casco Bay, the Atlantic and Portland. We hiked the rest of the trails on the island and did a little more beach combing. We found quite a bit of sea glass and a lobster trap float on the beach at the southern end. On our way back to the dinghy we hiked by the Punchbowl, which is a beach that is completely encircled by ledges during low tide. We wandered through this area yesterday and enjoyed it again today…we even saw a small lobster close to shore.

The temperature has dropped some and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we ate dinner on the deck. It was a wonderful day…everything we imagined Maine would be.

Low tide
The same spot at high tide
A pretty view from the trail
One of the observations towers on the island
Looking over Casco Bay from the observation tower
A view of the beach from the trail
A little far from the water!

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