August 2025 Rockland, ME to

Friday August 1st

Rockland to Tenants Harbor

No wind initially, motored. Wind picked up to 3, tried code-0, then picked up more changed to S SW

sailed into Tenants Harbor. Beautiful. Never saw it last time due to fog. Saw multiple dolphins on our way out of Rockland.

Saturday August 2nd

Checked oil this am and it's down to 1/3 of the line. Will need to keep an eye on that and put more in. So far we have run the engine ~150 hours since she went in this May.

Motored a bit then wind picked up from SW SSW so sailed the rest of the way to Matinicus.

Tiny harbor, lots of rocks. Asked lobstermen where moorings are and on the other side. Low tide 7-8 ft of water.  

Met Jim Sheppe who has a summer home on Matinicus. Walked to his home and walked all over this island that is  2 x 1 miles big. My Fitbit says we walked 5.8 miles 

I felt like I was in a Robert McCloskey book. There is a "piwate" (pirate) lookout built on the small beach, made of things that have washed up from the sea Driftwood, lines, lobster buoys and crates. Some of the young boys who initially made it claimed it was a "piwate  lookout". Emily's Mom, Eva, is the local baker, we have Anadama bread and ginger molasses cookies from her bakery. Honor system like Baily's. Met another woman, Peggy, who in her former life was a college professor and Dean of Graduate studies in Ohio, and sat on her porch with drinks and snacks and chatted. Some lively discussion.  Jim offered to make some dinner, but it was getting late and we did not want to go back to the boat in the dark; we didn’t bring the bright light.

Sunday August 2nd

Laz forgot his sunglasses at Jim's and was getting the dinghy ready to go to the dock when a fisherman brought it over. He saw Jim standing at the dock and said he'd deliver it. Very kind of him.

Sailed out to Matinicus Rock but alas no puffins. Beautiful out there though. Great steady wind, used the jib as it was 30-45° angle

Tacked and went by the rock again. One long tack with good wind, on the jib as it remained strong. When it softened below 10kts we furled the jib and brought out the code-0. Coming up the St. George River we went wing. Sailed into Maple Juice Cove. Gorgeous. Anchor seemed to set well.

Monday August 4th

Slept in. Got the anchor up with care and no issues. Yay! Headed out of Maple Juice Cove and put up the main sail once in the St. George River proper. Motored a bit until we cleared some of the rocks and small islands, then pulled out the jib. We were able to sail most of the way to Boothbay.

The sky was so hazy due to the Canadian wildfires. Clearly not the fog we had last month, but it definitely dampened the details. Passed Pemiquid.

Found Tugboat Marina. Aft in portside tie, tight little fairway and not a big one either. Got in with help of bow thruster and judicious forward and backward. The guy in the motorboat to starboard was impressed. He called someone to tell them “this lady docked into the space next to me, backwards, like a professional!” There was minimal wind, which helped.

Washed down baji-naji with the non skid soap and then made dinner. While it was in the oven, we defrosted the fridge and threw out anything we didn’t want since we are going to Hannaford for provisions tomorrow.

Dinner was a sort of breaded chicken (used the multigrain from Little Notch in SW) with thyme, oregano, s/p, olive oil and lemon juice. Roasted zucchini and shallots and added the last of the Wildgrain sourdough rolls.

Tuesday August 5th

Dance class this am! The wifi is a bit rough, so I got the whole class, but not all the music.

Breakfast at Kelly’s. Yum.

Back to Eventide Specialties. Got a pineapple white balsamic vinegar and a garlic olive oil as well as a foucette (mini foccacia) and some scones. Their stuff is so good!

Then off to Hannaford. This nice man who was cleaning his dinghy loaned us his car, an Infiniti, as he owns a parking space up by Ports of Italy. Apparently he owns the building as well, which he leases to the restaurant. We traded him a magic sponge for loaning us his car. A fair trade. Back to baji-naji to put away provisions and work on the log.