Guillemont

 9/12- Rockland ME

   We left Dark Harbor a little more timidly than yesterday after getting beat up. It did help when someone called us on the radio and said they were nervous also. It turned out to be a fine day even if the sailing was a little rough. The wind had picked up out of the west making for some lumpy seas but it was no problem. 

    We had for some time been wanting to stop in North Haven as we had never actually been in the town. We pulled in and picked up a mooring at JO Browns. We had not been off the boat for three days so we took a walk through town and beyond. We came back in later for some very good pizza at Calderwood Hall. 

    There was less than zero wind this morning so we just motored back to Rockland and picked up our mooring. We had plans to have dinner with a friend up in Belfast so we hopped in the car and drove up there. 

    For the last couple of weeks I have been noticing a Guillemont hanging around our boat every morning. He comes pretty close to the boat until I come into the cockpit and then he goes about doing his Guillemont things. 

    In case you don’t know Guillemonts are these cute little diving birds. I think they are somehow related to Puffins. They struggle mightily to get airborne and often will crash spectacularly in the attempt. 

    The bird that seems to be watching over me is an immature one as it is gray and white speckled. I know it seems weird but this bird is there when no other Guillemonts are around. He is my guardian Guillemont. He checks in with me each morning to make sure we are all right before heading off. It’s good to have a friend. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Swans

 8/11- Swans Island ME   The wind was up early this morning but it didn’t get too far up. We waited around until 9:30 or so and thought we detected a wisp of a breeze. It was of course directly behind us which is a poor point of sail for us. After dodging a few bunkers we finally got to run the head sail out and ran wing on wing for a bit. Once we turned the corner we ran down Jericho Bay quite nicely. By the time we got near the harbor entrance the wind was steadily decreasing but we managed to sail right into the harbor.     It’s been quite a while since we have been in here so we picked up a mooring with a soda bottle for paying. We then hustled over and walked up to an old quarry where we went for a swim. The water was warm and fresh and it felt good to just lay in the water.     After a nice nap we dinghied back over to the other side for a group lobster dinner. It was a kind of unusual place. It was called lobster in the rough. The guy cooke...
Read more

What a Ride

 8/14- Rockland ME    The day dawned bright and early this morning. With the sun shining and the wind up we shoved off. The wind was northwest so we struggled a bit at first as it was directly behind us. It was gusty enough to get us around the corner without having to jibe. Once around the corner though the wind turned west and piped right up. We put a reef in around Lincolnville which settled the ride down a bit. We were now averaging 7 to 7.5 knots just flying down the bay. In the end over the 25 mile stretch we averaged 6.5 knots hitting 8.5 once. Wow , what a ride!!     We went to Camden to have a final dinner with all the participants of the cruise. It was a good time and we all got together to brag about our exploits on the trip down. It was another good cruise. 
Read more

Better weather

 7/24- Rockland ME   We hung around Rockland for a while as usual. There was more bad weather predicted so we just decided to hang and wait for it to pass. We did spend a day blueberry picking up on Beech Hill and then we walked out on the breakwater to see the inside of the lighthouse. They did open it but the woman who opens the door to the lighthouse never showed.      The big storm was pretty much a bust here though I guess other places had it rough. About the only real effect was a night of rolling and bouncing. There was no wind but the wind was strong out at sea and it drove an uncomfortable swell in to the harbor.     We finally dropped the mooring lines and headed down past Owls Head and Mussel Ridge. The wind was primarily out of the west and it shot us along even through the narrow passages. We hit over 8 knots at times and hovered around 7 knots a good part of the time. Once we cleared the last buoy and were on open ocean the wind pipe...
Read more