IT'S SO PERFECT IN MAINE

AUGUST 26, 2016

It has been about six weeks since we arrived in beautiful Casco Bay, Maine.  As in many places we have visited, we picked an anchorage that we like and call it home.  Broad Cove is very large with little traffic and almost no lobster traps.  With the mud bottom to anchor in, It's Perfect sits safely on the hook.  This anchorage is close to the town dock where we can get water or leave our dinghy.  Falmouth, about 2.5 miles away is the nearest town.  When we are in need of groceries or parts we put on our walking shoes and we are off.

TOWN DOCK

GATHERING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
WITH BETH ATKINS

The locals are friendly and have been helpful in pointing out other anchorages.   We have taken It's Perfect into the islands and necks (what we call peninsula's) to explore new parts of Casco Bay.  Sometimes for days at a time, always returning to Broad Cove.  Casco Bay is about 20 miles long and 7 miles wide. The shores are made up of Necks that we call peninsulas with small islands dotted in between .  Spending the summer on the boat in the  cool waters of Maine has been an experience we will never forget.

WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M SWIMMING AS

FAST AS I CAN!

PATTY PERKINS MELANDER

Last weekend we had more visitor's.  On Saturday Patty Perkins Melander arrived about noon to take us on a tour of the nearby towns.  Patty has been a friend for years and we met when she was visiting her mother who lived next door to us in McKinney.  She has lived in Maine over 35 years and she seems to know everyone.  We drove up the coast to Freeport, home of L.L. Bean for a lunch of lobster.  Then it was on to Bodoin and her home in the country.  She and her husband Earl bought 30 acres to build their home on.  Earl was very handy and built the house, barn and bunkhouse.  In the summer in between work he grew all kinds of vegetables and tended a field of small spruce trees.  In the winter people came to cut their own Xmas trees for a fee.  After an tour of the grounds and a long visit we drove back through the wooded hills of Maine.  At the end of the day we were back in the cockpit in time to watch the sun set over the water.  Who knows next time we are in Maine we might take Patty up on her invitation to stay at her home for a few days.

ANTHEM OF THE SEAS

PREPAIRING TO DOCK

LUNCH AT THE DOCKSIDE GRILL

Our morning started early on Sunday.  First we went in and did laundry at Handy Boat Marina.  We are doing it about every other week and there were 4 loads to be done.  That finished we just had time to get dressed and meet Larry and Pam Shelton for lunch at the Dockside Grill.  While we finished It's Perfect on the dock at Watergate Marina in Kemah, Texas, Southern Girl, their Catalina 470 was across the dock.  Boat work continued while our friendship grew.  They have since taken their boat as far as the Virgin Islands where she awaits their return.  It was great hearing all their news and the news of the people we left behind on the dock.  Larry and Pam arrived in Portland, Maine aboard the cruise ship Anthem of the Sea.  They went aboard in New York and will travel north to Nova Scotia before turning south to disembark in New York.  Their timing couldn't have been better.  They arrived in Portland and found us just about 10 miles up the coast waiting for them.  In November they will return to Southern Girl to continue their sailing adventure in the Caribbean.