Log of Monday, June 9, 2008

Monday, June 9th, 2008 -- Awoke to a beautiful, sunny, glassy calm Pulpit Harbor. Victory Chimes was perfectly reflected on the water so we had 2 of her--one right side up & one upside down. Warm Sun on our backs & Victory C. in front of us made for a luxurious breakfast of coffee, juice, cereal, banana & yogurt!

This is what we had hoped for over the weekend while we were cruising with the girls. But they got to experience a more rugged version of "Cruising the Maine Coast" and seemed to enjoy it none-the-less. Overnight we had a bit of rain and some gusts as the front came through and the wind shifted, but nothing to worry about in our snug anchorage. Our "usual spot" to anchor in Pulpit is straight in from the entrance just shy of the Cabot family moorings at the south corner of the harbor. We have taken to using this as a simple and nice retreat within striking distance of Rockland.


Now we will be off to Rockland, where we plan to leave the boat for a few days while we return home to take care of a bit of real life. Then on Thursday we return and pick up where we left off--a bit more cruising followed by delivery to Lewis Bay where North Wind summers.

Began weighing anchor at 8:50, took until 9:05 to scrub the mud off the chain & anchor.

9:05 Set out to Rockland, motoring with a very light NW breeze. No point in raising sail. Clouding up, we see some "patchy fog". B.

10:45 Approaching Rockland. Owl's Head at port beam. Saw a few birds on the trip over. We think they were 3 Bonaparte's gulls and then later a family of Thick Billed Murres (Mom & 3 adolescent chicks following in line.) b

Noon--Buying ice at O'Hara (across street from Journey's End)--the SOURCE: $1/block

1:25--on mooring #5 having tidied up & loaded truck. Paid thru to Thursday.

Betsy came back from her ice buying trip with a tale of standing in the door of the ice house until someone noticed her and allowed as how she probably wasn't there to buy ice by the ton. She ended up with a couple of "straps" of ice--the local term for three 10# blocks bound together with plastic strapping. This was plenty to keep our icebox going while we were away. The box is huge and seems to be reasonably well insulated, so once it is cold, it does quite well. Cooling it down initially can eat up quite a bit of ice, however.

After cleaning up and setting things straight, the final step was to rent a mooring and put North Windon it. A cheerful young man took our money, assigned us a spot and refused our contact information on the grounds that if anything went wrong, we would know when we got back by the masts sticking out of the water.

So we were off for a drive to Boston and a couple of days on shore.