July in Maine

Merchant Row

Maine is home to many spectacular harbors. Our plan this month was to return to our favorites.

Vinalhaven

For us, the middle of the coastline including Muscongus Bay, Penobscot Bay, Jericho Bay and MDI are the best of the best. (We also have a few favorite spots along the Bold Coast down by Canada, but in an effort to keep our schedule leisurely, we did not go east of MDI this year.)


We did some hiking in Acadia from our anchorage in Valley Cove, Somes Sound. A dive off the rail was a good way to cool off upon return to the boat.

Somes Sound
Acadia
Our home at anchor

We foraged for food. Clams in Vinalhaven, Quahogs in Merchant Row, and Blueberries in Acadia.

Bill helps sometimes.

We went on many rowing/paddling excursions. Including an epic 9 mile round trip row from Seal Bay to Northhaven and back via the inland, high tide only route.

I row one boat
And Alex paddles the other one.

Bill sometimes rides in the rowboat, but he has made it clear that he prefers the paddle board.


Sailors often schedule a cruise to Maine for August when the chance of fog is low. This July, coastal Maine was blessed with exceptional weather. Cool nights for sleeping, warm water for swimming and almost no fog. My theory is that fog begets fog. No sun gets through, the water stays cold and fog returns more fog. The opposite corollary also holds. A stretch of sunny days early in the season warms the sea water and that staves off the fog. This is not a proven or researched meteorological theory, just me thinking…


Happy days with a happy dog


MDI was the eastern most point in our cruise. The moment we pulled anchor and sailed west and south from there, was also the start of our long trek towards winter in The Bahamas.


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