Sail Pandora: A mobile vet on Frenchboro, a hike and off to Blue Hill

After leaving Little Cranberry we motored out to Frenchboro for our second visit of the summer, a trip that’s not very long, about two hours. We had waited until the fog had lifted somewhat only to find out that as we headed offshore, that the fog was as thick as ever. However, with the combination of radar, a plotter and a sharp lookout, we were fine and arrived with a minimum of fuss.

We had decided to have lobster for dinner so I headed ashore to find a fisherman to buy some. There was a very nice fellow who was ready to fill my order. He headed down to the dock and pulled up a crate just full of the critters.

He plunged his hand into the squirming mass and pulled me out three great looking lobsters. Perfect. They don't get fresher than this.

When I was ashore I spied this sign on a boat tied up to the dock. It was a mobile veterinary clinic.

The vet in charge was a very nice lady out of Kennebunk, Dr. Margaret Shively. She and her husband spend time on the water and away from her practice for a few weeks each summer providing care for island animals, both large and small on the islands. I am fascinated by the culture of support that has developed over the years for these island communities. As business was a bit slow we had a very nice chat and she showed me around her "clinic".

It seems that she and her husband John have been doing this for a number of years and are popular with the island folks. As you can imagine, it's difficult to get care for animals without heading off island so this is a great way to take advantage of a needed service and keep pooch in good shape. Her husband keeps a website and here's a link to some information about her practice and some nice photos.

After lunch we were invited by our friends Miles and Loreen along with new friends from the UK to go for a hike on the island. The path took us around the water and offered us grand views of the surrounding sea and far off islands as the fog had lifted, finally. The granite in the area is a lovely pink. This was a typical view down to the water.

It's hard to imagine how many terrific views there were at every turn.

You can see how the fog is beginning to settle in again and soon the visibility was cut to feet. Our friend's Miles and Loreen and their boat Ariel just behind us on a mooring. In the distance, the couple from the UK. They had purchased their most recent boat in Nova Scotia where they got a boat that had sunk at the dock. As you can imagine, they got a very good price for the boat and spent several months rebuilding her. They are now on their way south for the winter and expect that they will end up in Grenada by spring. For a number of years they have split their time between a home in the UK and their boat.

Yesterday we headed up north to Blue Hill, that's on the western side of Mt. Desert and had great sail for the 25 miles north to the very northern part of Blue Hill Bay. While this area is very pretty with nice restaurants, but they don't get that much boat traffic because it's so far up into the bay. Another benefit of visiting Blue Hill is that they have a terrific little market, one of the best around that's pretty well stocked and not terribly expensive. With the prevailing winds, it's easy to get here but tough to get out. Another strike against visiting is that the town dock dries out when the tide is low so if you don't want to drag your dink over the mud flats back to water, you have to be sure that you are off the dock before the dock dries out which means being off two hours either side of low tide.

This nice little day sailor makes for a pretty view this morning.