It's Friday morning, the sun is out and I'm not working today!

The sun has risen over the trees here at Snow Island and I am sitting in the cockpit of Pandora checking on e-mail and thinking about the next three days.  The weather is perfect with temperatures in the 60s over night and forecasted highs in the low 80s for today.  The sun is out and we are looking at a three day weekend.  What more can you ask for.

We have been aboard Pandora in Maine for two weeks as of Saturday and have settled into a nice routine.  However, with the occasional few hours off to clear my head, I have worked two full weeks aboard.  There is a big project that I am trying to make headway on before the end of the month and happily it's coming together.  My hope is that I can take some real time off in August prior to heading back home and to real life and what will certainly be a long winter while I prepare for summer of 2012.  However, I am getting ahead of myself.

While my partner and I are the only two full time employees in our company, we are talking to a sales rep, someone that we have worked with for years in the past, about joining us as well as perhaps taking on a third partner.   These big steps will allow for more growth and perhaps a bit more flexibility for me personally.  For sure, there is a lot going on and having a few days off is very appealing.

While the weather is looking wonderful, we are a bit uncertain about where to go.  One option is to head up the Kennebec River to Bath but after talking with some locals last evening who said that the currents are tremendous, we are not so sure.  The prospect of heading 12 miles up a winding river with currents that can run 8 knots is a bit daunting.  However, if they can get Aegis Cruisers from Bath Iron Works up and down the river, we should be able to make the trip in Pandora.

The guide books say that the flood tide is largely offset by the current headed downstream but that the ebb plus the water running down what is the longest river in Maine, is a sight to behold.

Well, I guess that we will have to make a decision and get on with it.  As there is not much wind in the forecast for the next few days make a trip under power up the river sound appealing given the fact that we are going to motor mostly wherever we go.   However, there is that current.  Tough call.

Brenda is up now so I am going to sign off.  However, no morning post is complete without some serene photos.  This place is so beautiful it hurts.

Did I say that we have an eagle nest about 100 yards from where we are anchored?  It's very close but it doesn't seem to bother mother or chick.  Not sure that chick applies as it's nearly as big as the mother.  It's got to be dangerous to feed a baby that's as big as you are. Here chicky, chicky... No, quit it with the pecking.  I hate pecking!!!  Get that blood of of your face. Stop acting like a birdbrain.  Kids...

Interestingly, there is an osprey that doesn't think very highly of mother and baby and spent much of yesterday buzzing the mother eagle sitting in a tree near the nest.  I am not sure if, sharp pointy beak and talons and all, that I would divebomb an eagle twice my size even if I were an osprey and had the pointy beak and claw thing going for me.

To complete the picture, here's a shot of my computer out in the cockpit.  Not a bad place to write.

The view is hard to beat and I couldn't resist these shots.  It's just so calm.

Pretty amazing, right?

And dont' forget the view forward.

Yes, it's really this calm.   Can you repeat after me?  Serene, Serene, Serene.

Perhaps a good place to end a post of serenity at Snow Island is with a shot of last night's moonrise.  A full moon so bright that you could see your shadow and read a book.  Well, perhaps you could read a book if it had REALLY LARGE TYPE.  

Now, I need to focus on where we are going to spend our time for the next three days.   Signing off for now. 

Where eagles dare? Snow Island Maine, it would seem.

Yesterday we made a short run under power from The Basin to Snow Island.   As is so often the case with travel in Casco Bay, we headed nearly 5 miles back to the Gulf turned a bit west and went another 5 miles north and up to Snow Island.  While we covered nearly 10 miles we ended up only about 1.5 miles from Cundy's Harbor where we had started.  However, as is so often the case in Maine, the environment was very different.   Fishing boats were much less in evidence and it was clearly a place dominated by summer folks, or "from away" as the locals would say.  

One local, perhaps viewed as "from away" by some and a resident of Snow Island for many years was Dodge Morgan, successful business man and one who was the first American to sail solo around the world non stop in only 150 day in 1986.  The previous record, with stops, took over twice that amount of time. Dodge purchased Snow Island in the late 80s and build a modest compound of three buildings on the property. Particularly notable, given all of the huge homes on the water these days,  is the fact that the compound is indeed modest in spite of clearly having the resources to build a huge monument to himself.   His plan was to build something that blended into the landscape and he commissioned the architect that designed the Maine Maritime Museum to design it for him.  The work won an award in 1999 from the Maine chapter of the American Institute of Architects, with the work described by the judges as "a triumph of programmatic virtue in a natural setting that demands nothing less."  You can learn more about Dodge's home in this article from the Boston Globe.  Interestingly, the buildings can hardly be seen from the water and are tucked into the landscape.  Very nice.  The article makes it sound just wonderful.  Sadly, Dodge died last year.  

Dodge's voyage on "American Promise" was the subject of a book by him that is worth reading and it clearly showed that he was not a man to be underestimated or messed with.  

It seems very fitting, given the area's famous resident,  that one of our first images as we approached Snow Island, where we planned to spend the night, was a pair of Bald Eagles drying themselves after a passing shower.   I have to say that to see such a powerful bird up close was quite moving.  

On our trip over we were hit by an impressive thunder storm and after anchoring, another passed by to the north.  What dramatic clouds and a display of the raw power of nature. 

The light was just fantastic and a great way to show off yet another eagle sighting.  Note it's really small, but the dot in the tree y itself to the right is an eagle.   Really, trust me on this.  It's not too often that you can see eagles but to see three in a short time is really amazing.  

We are still planning a trip up to Bath on Friday for a few days but for now Snow island is a great place to be. 

Leaving Cundy's Harbor, sort of, and a surprise gift

Yesterday we decided to leave Cundy's Harbor to make the short run over to The Basin, a wonderful harbor that's nearly landlocked just across from Cundy's Harbor.  As we headed out of the mooring area in Cundy's for the 1 mile run, a lobster boat named "Life After" hailed us and came up along side Pandora.  At first, I thought that they were going to tell me that I was at risk of tangling with some newly set traps but their mission was very different.

The captain asked if we were "Barbara and Steve's friends", the folks that we had been visiting for the last few days.  When I said "yes", he retorted that "I have some lobsters for you".   My only reaction to this was a simple "what?", thinking that I had miss-heard him.   He retorted with an answer of simply, "I want to give you some lobsters.  Do you have a bucket?".    No more explanation needed for me so I dived into the locker to retrieve a bucket that was buried deeper than I realized.  However before I was able to find mine, they were ready with their own bucket and 4 lobsters which they handed over to us before roaring off to tend their traps.  I yelled an uncertain "thanks" to their stern followed by "let me give you your bucket back" but they simply said, "keep it" and they were gone.

"What was that all about", Brenda and I wondered aloud as they roared off and were gone.

Later that evening Steve and Barbara came over in their runabout to visit for a drink and the first words out of her mouth were "did you enjoy your lobsters?".  It seems that she had told her lobstering friend Paul about us and he had agreed to make a gift of lobsters to us, someone whom he had never even met.

I guess to that lobsterman any friend of Barbara and Steve is his friend too.  A small gift perhaps but one that amazed us since we hail from the land of "in God we trust, all others pay cash".

Maine is indeed a great place to visit.

As I write this in The Basin the sun has just peaked up over the hills and again, what a view or should I say, view"s".

Even the big boys enjoy visiting this place if only with the "proper help".   This boat is called "Grumpy".  I wonder if he is?  I have seen Grumpy in prior years.  Funny name for a boat.

Even a dock looks lovely in the early hours.

While not our "lobster boat" from yesterday, one of the locals tending his traps.

Sometimes you feel like you can walk across the trap buoys there are so many of them.

A lovely little Friendship Sloop, the sort that used to be used for lobstering in this part of Maine years ago, reflected on millpond still waters.

Off to Bath today after work and with the tide for a two or three day visit to the Museum.  Great weather for the next few days.   Time to get to work so signing off now.   Weekend in a few days. Perhaps I will make it a long one.   Hmmm....

Cundy's Harbor, Casco Bay Maine

Since Sunday we have been visiting Cundy's Harbor in Casco Bay.  This area of the Maine coast is made up of long peninsulas and lslands that run north/south.  Unlike Mescongus and Penobscot Bays, these indentations in the coast don't offer much in the way of east/west passage which means that in order to go east to west you have to head all the way back out into the Gulf in order to get to your next destination.  And to add insult to injury, with the prevailing winds blowing from a southerly direction, you are very likely to find yourself motoring into a smart SW wind as you head back out.

Cundy's Harbor is primarily a fishing village with few summer residents "from away", or not Maine native,s as they are often referred to.  Our friends Barbara and Steve, from near by at home in NJ, purchased a small home on the banks of Cundy's Harbor a few years ago and have been splitting their time between the NY area and Cundy's ever since.

It's interesting to speak to them about how they are viewed by the local Mainers, as they are definitely in the minority.  I expect that most of the locals have never visited New York and might very well feel out of place in the busy metro NY area.  The area around Cundy's is very peaceful and most of the boat traffic is lobster boats.

Barbara and Steve's place is right next door to a lobster bait business with all of the comings and goings you would expect in a busy working harbor and very different from Camden or other harbors that cater to tourists.  No Tee shirt stores here.  Cundy's is still much the same as it was 40 years ago.  

As you can see from this shot, the homes are set very close together and line right up with the high tide line.  No risk of beach erosion here as the homes are perched on top of granite outcroppings.

The view from their home is lovely as from our boat.  Not bad at all.

Any which way you look, the view is to die for.

Early this morning we had a passing shower and the rest of the day looks like it will be very pleasant.

Later today or Wednesday we expect to head up to Bath which is 5 miles out into the Gulf and another 10miles up the Kennebec river.  There is a terrific museum there, the Maine Maritime Museum and of course, Bath Iron Works where they have been building ships continuously since 1884.  Even today they are one of Maine's largest employers and the home of the largest crane in the world that can lift 100s of tons.

Of course, a trip up the Kennebec has to be done with a mind toward the tides as the ebb runs very fast and can make a two hour trip up the river to Bath take twice that long.

Well, it's time to get to work.  More to come on all of this in a few days.

More to come on that.

Bailey's Island ME, new friends and a mud oven

The sun is out, we are moored in a little cove on Bailey's Island in Casco Bay and all is well. When we were in the harbor, the Gosling's, the other day we invited a very nice couple to join us for lunch and asked them about where their favorite places were to visit in Casco Bay. One of the spots that they mentioned was near the rock crib bridge on Bailey's Island.

Located at the end of long peninsula jutting out into the bay, the harbor is very compact and nestled into the nortern point of the island. We arrived late in the afternoon and as it was fairly windy, the outer harbor unappealing at best. Instead, we decided to head into a more protected area further in and picked up a mooring. After getting settled in I set out to find out who the owner of the mooring was. After a few stops at various boats with folks working on them,  I was told that the mooring belonged to a couple, Charlie and Sally who lived in the house on the point. After tromping right up to their back door and introducing myself, Charlie readily agreed that we could indeed use their mooring for the night.  He also did one better and invited us to visit for coffee the next morning which we did and had a wonderful time.

Their home was lovely and was full of Scandinavian touches, the details of which warmed Brenda's heart as it would any weaver who was particularly fond of Norwegian things. We sat with them for several hours at ease immediately.

Our original plan was to head out on Saturday afternoon to join up with our friends Barbara and Steve who own a small home in nearby Cundy's Harbor that evening. However, when I called Steve to make  announced that they had been invited to an outdoor pizza party and would we like to join them. As luck would have it, the party was actually less than a ten minute walk from where Pandora was moored. Talk about luck. We could have gone any number of places and yet chose the one place on the Maine coast that was the site of a party were our friends were headed. We do live right.

On top of that, our new friends Charlie and Sally were also going. What a small world. As if that wasn't enough of a coincidence, I was also speaking with someone on the boat next to ours, a Valiant 40 named Calypso, also a Bob Perry design (he drew the SAGA 43 design years later) only to learn that John and his wife Margo had sailed Calypso around the world for ten years some time back and, no lie, that he was a good friend to Steve and Barbara, the very folks that we wanted to hook up with.

There's Pandora on the right and Calypso on the left  but different none the less.  Note the Norwegian flag on the dock.

What a small world given who we ran into on such a small island. I have always told my boys that you have to be very careful what you do in public, no matter where you are, as you never know who you might run into. Coincidence upon coincidence at Baley certainly reinforced that point to me.  It also reinforces the point that you have to reach out and meet folks whenever you can.

In any event, off we went to the party, and a outdoor mud oven pizza party at that. I had never seen a mud or beehive oven before and was immediately smitten. I have to have one and after enjoying wood fired pizza and beer.  No the beer wasn't wood fired.  Brenda and I have decided to build one ourselves when we get home in the fall. What fun.

 And of course, you can buy a book on the subject from Amazon, Build Your Own Earth Oven, and it's the 3rd edition, at that.  Thank you, I think I will.  Perhaps I will order a copy and have is shipped to the Tugboat Inn in Booth Bay Harbor so I can read it as we cruise the Maine coast.  Perhaps we will have to get a donkey and goats to go with that.  Perhaps not.

Anyway, back to the mud oven. Theirs was built on a rock base and the oven itself was made of a mixture of clay, sand and straw, vaguely shaped like a fat fish with a big mouth, and there it sat, in all of it's glory, under a small lean too with a corrugated steel roof.

You have to love it.   A giant pile of mud that you can cook in.

Here's our hostess, complete with straw hat and Birkenstock shoes.  The perfect combo for wood fired pizza.

Here's Brenda and some of the other guests, feeling relaxed and well "pizzaed".

There were many types to choose from including Gorgonzola cheese and pear, artichoke hearts, onion and even chocolate chip, marshmallow and strawberry pizza for desert.  One thing for sure, it wasn't possible to get a photo of an entire pizza as they were cut up and eaten so quickly.

Well, off to Amazon to order a mud oven how to build it book. It's just so awesome.

Back to our mooring hosts, Charlie and Sylvia. They have built a terrific home on the point and have landscaped it wonderfully. A particularly nice feature is their tidal pool built into a rock ledge on the edge of their gardens fed from a pump out in the cove. While the ledge is almost 15' above sea level, water is pumped up from the harbor and cascades over the rocks back over the rock ledge. It's very charming.

The view from their porch is fabulous. It's hard to believe that there is such a wonderful place on earth, and Maine is full of such views.

There is also a really unique bridge just across the harbor, the only rock crib bridge in the world.   Supposedly, there used to be one in Scotland but it was dismantled during World War Two, and was never rebuilt. The construction technique is really interesting, as it's built of a lattice of granite slabs dry laid in a Lincoln Log style with no mortar.  Probably not something that would be a good idea in an area prone to earthquakes.

The bridge is over 1,500 feet long and is a source of pride to the local residents having been recently rebuilt by the state.  Check out a bit of history of the bridge.

The details are impressive, and it's hard to believe that it's nearly 90 years old.

The detail work is quite impressive.

Also, I forgot to mention that John and Margo, with the Valiant 40, on their decade long cruise around the world, decided to purchase land in New Zealand and now split their "summers" between Maine and New Zealand. How wonderful is that?

Now, the next step for us is to decide where to go tonight as it has to have good Internet coverage. Not sure but it's 9:00 and time to decide.

We now have a number of new friends, a place to return and soon a mud oven. Life is good.

Casco Bay Maine and it's Friday!!!

We have been in Maine for nearly a week and have settled in on Pandora.  We are particularly enjoying our new cockpit cushions and updated fabric in down below.  Work has been going well and I put in a full week working aboard.  It's certainly not as easy as working in an office but the view is certainly better.   The cell phone booster is also coming in handy as it makes a weak cell signal a lot better.  I do have to be mindful of where we are anchored to be sure that I can get my e-mail and make calls that sound clear.

While working aboard can be tough, a decided benefit is to finish up at the end of the day, jump in the dink with Brenda and head out on an evening cocktail cruise around the harbor.

For much of the week we remained in Falmouth, just north of Portland, where we had made landfall last weekend.  Our friends Frank and Gail have been terrific hosts even going as far as lending us their car so that we could run our car up to Rockland so that it would be accessible at a location that was at the mid point of where we expect to spend time cruising for the rest of the summer.

We ran our car up to Rockland late on Wednesday afternoon and left it near town boat ramp, a place where we had parked several times over the years.  This year I wasn't certain if it was a good place to park as there weren't any other cars in the area.  In past years we have left a car on the grass just off the parking lot along with others that had done the same thing.  However, this year there wasn't a sign of anyone parking there and I just wasn't comfortable in leaving it there.  The thought of leaving a car for more than a month and coming back only to find that the car is gone wasn't appealing.  However, after speaking to a number of folks that happened by I found someone who was friends with the Rockland Harbor Master and made a call for me to see if it was OK to park there.  Happily, she put me on the phone, I explained my plan and happily, he said yes that it was just fine to leave a car there.  I guess that makes him my new favorite harbor master of the week.

What a relief to have that part of our cruise logistics solved.  Well, back in the car for the 90min run back to Falmouth and Pandora.   As luck would have it, the picture perfect sunny Maine afternoon deteriorated as a massive storm cell rolled over the area complete with wind, heavy rain and impressive lightning.  By the time we dropped off our friend's car and I hoofed it back to the town landing, the rain had not let up much.   I was a little damp, for sure.

Earlier in the week I had decided to move Pandora off of the club mooring to save $$ and had moved her waaaaaay over to the other side of the harbor in the lee of a very pretty island.   That was the good news.  The bad news was that we were now looking at a mile plus run in the rain, with no rain gear, to get back to Pandora.  To make it even more fun, it was nearly dark, except for the constant lightning in the distance lighting up the sky.  That did make it a bit easier to see where we were going when it flashed. The positive side is that the storm had mostly passed and it was perfectly calm.

As you can imagine, a mile is a long way in a dink when you have to go really slow.   However, in spite of the fading light and thankfully, calm conditions we were soon zipping along on a plane with the dink and in about 10 minutes,were safely aboard Pandora.

I have to say that Brenda was a champ about the whole adventure.  In spite of being soaked, a glass of wine made everything about right.

Fast forward to Friday morning as I write this post and the weather is wonderful. It's not too cool and though the sky is somewhat overcast, it's clearly going to be a great day.  With good weather in the forecast for the coming weekend, we are looking forward to the next few days.

Not a bad view to see first thing in the morning.  This is the early morning view as I write this post.

The light in the early morning is just so warm and a great welcome to a new day.

One particularly nice thing about cruising is that you can get the best views and there is always a water view.

You can often see delightful and unexpected things on the water such as this group of Opti sailors being towed out for a day of sailing lessons. These little folks were just so cute and looked like a bunch of moths skipping across the water.

For the big kids it's always nice to fly over the water in an ultra light.  The pilot and his passenger took off from a nearby field and buzzed just over the water, around a small island, and headed off into the distance or should I say, off into the sunset.  I hope that they had life preservers on board.

All and all, a very nice first week aboard.  And did I mention the wonderful roasted pork dinner with onions and carrots that we enjoyed last night as the sun was setting?  Very nice indeed.

How much stuff can you fit on a SAGA 43?

It's Monday morning and we are sitting aboard Pandora in a wonderful little cove about 15 miles north of Portland Maine, the Goslings.  The fog is thick following a rainy night and it's as peaceful as you can imagine without  a ripple on the water.  We headed out from Portland Yacht Club yesterday afternoon after jamming all of our stuff aboard from the car that Brenda brought along from New Jersey.  We wanted to head someplace close by as we are heading back today to the club to view the fireworks aboard Frank and Gail's SAGA Alcid.  You know, the one that they sailed to the Med?  Thought so.

So back to the question posed by the title of this post.  Some time back two boat shoppers considering a SAGA 43 visited me and Brenda aboard Pandora to take a look at her as they were considering what sort of boat that they wanted to purchase.  The questions were varied but as they planned to live aboard for several years while they got their cruising kitty in order, one of the big areas of discussion was "how much storage does she have?".  The answer is complex as perhaps the better question is "how much stuff to you have to have with you?".   They were trying to decide between a SAGA and an Island Packet, two different vessels entirely.  I have spouted on and on about what a great boat Pandora is but it's sufficient to say that she will certainly out perform most other boats her size and certainly will outrun an Island Packet, a design known for ruggedness but not speed.   However, the Island Packet will certainly out perform a SAGA in the "store your stuff" department as they are a much wider and voluminous design.

So, how much *%$# can you put aboard Pandora?  I am glad that you asked as I have been wondering too.  Well, we certainly are putting her to test as we move aboard for two months in Maine.   It seems to me that, as this photo illustrates, you can put a good deal of &%^$ on a SAGA 43.

And that's just what Brenda brought along to meet up with me here in Portland.   There is literally several tons of stuff aboard and we never seem to take anything off.   It's always a one way trip, it would seem. 

Alas, there is order in life, at least aboard Pandora.

Did I mention that I raised Pandora's waterline a full 2 inches over the winter?  Thought so.   So, will she still perform under sail?  I guess the answer to that an other cosmic questions will have to wait until another post.