George and I have birthdays in early July and a trip to Maine has been a favorite tradition. We had intended to sail to Maine early in the month, but the weather delayed us, so we went by car with Dennis and Pat, our dockmates, instead.

Camden ME was much cooler, cloudy with showers but such a great relief from the humid heat. A delightful town with an active picturesque waterfront. An afternoon sailing on the 57' windjammer Surprise, with Capt. Jack and Barbara Moore, was our birthdays treat from Pat and Dennis. A relaxing sail around nearby islands with great views of the harbor followed by an evening drive to the highest of the Camden Hills, for the spectacular waterway vistas made a perfect day.

The term "windjammer", originally a scornful nickname steamboat men gave to all sailing vessels, now applies specifically to cruise schooners. The fleets out of Camden and nearby Rockport have 1-6 day cruises, and since 1936 has been the marine equivalent of the western dude ranch. Monday AM sailings and Saturday noon retuns are an event.

This seems a great place to spend time on a boat, marine services and supplies, provisions, books, restaurants, day trips are plentiful. In fact the best blueberry pancakes, muffins, pie and lobster omlettes we have ever enjoyed, were at the Village Restaurant, and local lobster rolls were good too.

Mount Desert area (Bar Harbor , Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor) are as wonderful as always. Cool sparkling days and evening showers cleared the air.

We found rooms for 2 nights at a waterside resort near Canoe Point, where we had spent a B&B weekend "getaway for gourmets" several years ago. We enjoyed morning coffee and evening wine watching The Cat'a high speed ferry to Nova Scotia.

We stocked a small cooler with water, sodas and homemade bread sandwiches at the Full Belli Deli in Northeast Harbor and took a naturalist boat tour of Somes Sound. This is a true fijord, the only one on the East Coast, with narrow, shallow entrance, high mountains rising from deep water on both sides. There was a 30-min stop on Little Cranberry Island, where we sat on a grassy knoll with a view back to the mainland for our picnic lunch.

A 2-pound plus lobster dinner made my birthday special.. Great lobster and corn at Beals and Margaritas with super nachos at Miguels have been our tradition for about 15 years.

Northeast Harbor is another favorite, less touristy town, where we could while away several days, weeks even, on the boat.

The breakfast menu at The Deacons Bench in Southwest Harbor proved too tempting for only one choice each, so we ordered an extra...light-as -a -feather (uh huh!) cheese blintzes, French toast made from blueberry swirl and cinnamon raisin bread ,and blueberry pancakes fortified us for a walk up The Bubble trail. The trail felt similar to the hiking trails and "moon rock" behind our Colorado house. Absolute quiet but for the breeze in the pines and birch trees, clean clear air and deep blue sky.

The drive up Acadia mountain to Cadillac Ridge to walk along the summit was a revisit to favorite vistas of the coastline and bays.

We are just back from a 2-week cruise to Block Island RI, a popular cruising destination .located about 14 miles off the coast. Known as "Bermuda of the North" because at the turn of the century this was a haven for the wealthy seeking health benfits of fresh sea air.

Walkers, bikers, and those who canoe or kayak have many trails, ponds and shorelines to explore. We made a couple of stops to await weather windows, enjoying the luxury of managing our time to avoid battling the weather and the weekend crowds.

First, several days in East Hampton, Long Island area at Threemile Harbor. A protected, idyllic anchorage surrounded by beautiful summer homes on wooded hillsides, several beaches and marinas only a short dinghy ride away, and fabulous sunrises/sunsets unspoiled by the "lume" of any nearby city (there are none).

Coincidently, this was the weekend of the annual fireworks display by the Grucci family, so we were not alone on Fri & Sat nights...after several days enjoying the quiet and isolation at anchor, we were amazed by how many boats loaded with people paraded through the long channel to anchor, swim, BBQ, and have their hordes of crying kiddies quietened for the 9:30 PM spectacle.

The water reflected each dazzling burst, and the "smiley faces" and "hearts" displays seemed to be headed for our boat. A night of many oohs and aahs.

Following a day of thunderstorms, we left early Tuesday to continue to Block Island. Just as we were to turn past Gardiner Island at 0800, we heard a revised weather report of fog and rough seas and decided to delay once more and headed back across Long Island Sound for the 3-hour passage to the Mystic River. There was a challenging bit of navigation to find the proper channel at the mouth of the river, then 45- minutes up the river to the Brewers Marina with the reward of first class slips (finger piers on both side, G's favorite).

This westerly side of Long Island Sound was sunny and breezy. We walked around Old Mystic town for 3-hours and lunched on a delicious Mystic Pizza (anyone remember the Julia Roberts movie of that name?)

The 0730 trip through Watch Hill Passage was an easy non event, with no wind and 1' rolling seas...what a difference a day made! Block Island was clearly visible on the horizon, a rare event in this area notorious for thick fog, and we were relieved and delighted by the line-of-sight navigation. Nonetheless, we were disciplined and used the GPS (Global Positioning Sattelites system) and computerized chart program to augment paper charts, because fog can swirl in at any moment.

At Great Salt Pond we snagged the first mooring we saw and were happily settled in by noon. Hooray, wow, yahoo... we finally made it to Block Island.

A short, bouncy dinghy ride through light chop took us to shore for a 21/2 hour walk to and around the village, New Shoreham. We battled through tourist clogged streets to pick up fresh meat and produce then hurried back aboard for the quiet and peace afloat. An early bbq dinner, a long evening sipping wine, watching the sunset, a blazing orange disc sinking through the haze, finally dropping suddenly into the sea. A near-full moon rose. We were asleep by 2100.

Our week at Block Island was relaxing, the weather partly sunny and breezy, 80's, much better than the record 100's heat and humidity in NY & CT. We had planned to go further to Newport area, but each day was foggy with squall lines on the outbound horizon, and we opted to stay on in this lovely place.

0800 brings the cry "Andioandiomore" (let's go) throughout the harbor, from Aldo's floating bakery boat laden with crunchy cinnamon twists (puff pastry), fruit turnovers, Portuguese sweet bread (made fab French toast), Italian loaves and coffee. A great start to any day.

Dinghy rides, beach and town walks, watching the boats go and come filled the day. The local classical station was all music, no ads or news, so the world indeed seemed far away. We didn't even read much. At 1630 Aldo's is back with shrimp cocktail, bread, rolls, cookies and pies. The blueberry pie was made with fresh berries. We were very good and the pie lasted 2 days.

Pat and Dennis of s/v Sapphire joined us Fri and Sat to enjoy walking the town in search of the perfect Margarita ( Miguels in Bar Harbor are still the best) and great fish at Dead Eye Dick's. Sun they left in patchy fog at 0500 that became thick on the open water. Later we learned they had an 8-hour trip with Pat at the foredeck peering into 50' visibility, Dennis posting frequent location bulletins on VHF radio and tooting through 2 cans of air on the horn, all the way to CT.

Sunday evening we were surprised to see s/v Euphoria with Ed and Sue from our dock headed towards the mooring behind us.

They came aboard for sundowners and a visit then we "potlucked" a BBQ of swordfish, Portabella mushrooms, keilbasa, risotto, and salad aboard Euphoria. Pretty good eats for the 2nd week afloat. Wedgewood china and crystal goblets of a lovely champange for Ed's Birthday made this a very classy evening for us after nearly 3 months of melamine galleyware and Correlle.

The next day, G and I took a moped ride all around the 7 1/2 mile perimeter and across the island, that looks very much like the British Isles. We roared along (amazing what several months travellin by boat does to your perception of speed), over rolling hills with lemonade stands run by local kids at the mid- point, past freshwater and saltwater ponds, marsh, and meadows dotted with weathered cabins & bordered with stone walls.

We visited the "must-see" lighthouses and Mohegan Cliffs. At dusk we hosed down and donned dressy duds for a fine dining experience to celebrate Ed's birthday at Manisses, a Gourmet Magazine recommendation where the flowers, herbs and many vegetables are grown in the gardens on the property.

We stayed several more days walking, swimming and dinghying waiting for the fog to lift. We decided to forgo Newport area and head back to CT for mail, for G to work on a project, and to do more work on the "boat needs" list in preparing for the trip south in September.

The return trip through Watch Hill Passage from 0600 to 0900 was a little rough with 3' swells, moderate chop and measly gusts, no steady wind. We made good time, until we hit a submerged lobster pot off Napatree Point. The engine quit and we hailed Sea Tow by radio to get us to safety and to send a diver to free the prop. The top of the lobster pot marker float.had been sliced off and wedged against the hull by the prop.

The 2-hour delay put the current and the wind against us, so it was a very slow, long, return trip, over 12 hours to get back to the slip.

After a day of washing the salt off us, the dinghy and the boat all seemed good as new. Our clothes, towels and bedding always feel damp from the salty air, so the laundromat is a first priority. Clean, dry clothes and linens are a treat.

Tracey is in the throes of moving to Brooklyn. She is going to spend a week in a cabin at New Harbor, on the mid-Maine coast before starting her new job.

Geoff is off on his "Baseball Home Games Oddysey" to Cincinatti, Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit and Pittsburgh. The Rav will see lots of miles and miles. He is enjoying his work since the company merger, and has settled into his new digs.

And we are back to "life at the slip" for a couple of weeks, answering mail, maintenance chores, installing gear, walking the beach, weekend visiting and bbq with dockmates. The next projects will be revising the engine start mechanism with a solenoid, installing a GPS Differential antenna, then solar panels to trickle charge the batteries when at anchor.

We are looking forward to a visit from my brother Steve and his wife Jackie in late August.

G is in heaven: on the boat, tied to the slip, dock-buds to gab to, and cable TV. Hope your summer is going well

Love from J&G
another-year-older-salts
aboard s/v Alegria