Sunday 24 August 2014

Penobscot Bay, Matinicus, Portland and Nova Scotia...

The farthest north we have come is
44.13.75N

The scenery has been spectacular…




Loster pots everywhere!




While at the Lobster Festival we met some guys from Matinicus Island - the easterly most island in Maine.  They said to us "you must come visit" - so we did...


Again, the generosity was unbelievable, being "given" lobsters every day…
Even in a crate to have in the water to keep them alive...

So I said thank you by making them a tray of cupcakes...

We went for a walk on the islands - lovely...



Another beautiful sunset - Matinicus Island...


 We have been doing a lot more motoring then we thought we would be, 
due to there being not enough wind…

We arrived in Portland to a most unusual sight…
Tug Boat Racing...

In this part of the world, they race what they can - the Lobster Boats do Lobster Boat Racing… some of the engines in them are extremely "grunty" for this reason!

We went ashore and found a wine bar with these lovely murals…
This first one showing prominent wine regions - we were thrilled NZ was so well presented on it!


 We then headed to Southport Marina - a great marina which we would highly recommend (www.southportmarine.com), where Our Rose stayed for 3 nights 
while we went via ferry to Nova Scotia

We stayed at an amazing B & B called Guest Lovitt - Twler who owns it is beyond amazing - again we would highly recommend (www.guestlovitt.ca)

We went on a heritage walk, visited gardens...



Check out the tidal range - the height of the wharf compared to the boats!..








Maine...

Entering the harbour at Cape Porpoise 
was the introduction to us at to how many lobster pots 
we were really going to have to navigate around in Maine!

Going ashore we had lunch at a very quaint restaurant (decorated with buoys)

 with all of these posters over the ceilings and walls.

We arrived in Rockland and celebrated my birthday,
Richard had decorated Our Rose with balloons all over…


He brought me a bag of presses to open in bed, 
 with a glass of something special, and some cookies with a candle and marshmallow.

In the afternoon Beryl arrived...

she had come up to join us for 5 nights.

We had a lovely time, exploring Rockland together
enjoying winerys, gardens




The Rockland Lobster Festival was fun…

 With a great parade...






Richard even found an appropriate beer...

We met Mary Ann and her husband David.
Mary Ann does the most beautiful weaving…  She is also an absolutely beautiful person...

Mary Ann and David invited us into their garden to talk 
and she insisted on "giving" us two of her beautiful placements - what amazing generosity!


We went for a walk along the granite breakwater to "Breakwater Lighthouse"
Beryl flew back to Nashville the day the festival finished.
Richard and I went to see the "lobster crate" race 
People ran from one end to the next until they fell off - great fun…


What a beautiful sunset in Rockland…