As summer nears its end, the air turns cooler, the sky deepens to a richer blue, and there’s always one maple tree in a hurry — the first to blush red while the rest hold stubbornly green. This flamboyant nonconformist wears its color like a statement, seemingly unaware that it will also be the first to stand bare. Vanity gets you nothing.
Watching the season advance is always a time of mixed emotions, preparing for the looming transition from sea to land. Sure, we stay connected when cruising and share time between work and fun, but living on the water offers a sense of respite from life’s stresses. Some live onboard year-round. Although the transition is hard, I’m glad we return to land-based living each Fall. After all, there’s always next season to look forward to.
In this somewhat rambling post, my first topic is oysters. Besides the emblematic lobster, Maine’s oysters have developed a strong following among serious foodies. Personally, I only ever tried French oysters until discovering the local ones. There are oyster farms scattered around the coves of the Midcoast area, producing some of, in my humble opinion, best oysters available. The indiginous Eastern oyster is the primary variety, with subvarieties named after the location from which they’re harvested, such as Pemaquid and Damariscotta. European flat oysters have also been introduced into the region, such as Belon’s, named after the famous Brittany oyster. Our friend, Stuart, is an oyster farmer and co-owner of Love Point Oysters. My favoriate oyster restaurant is North Beacon Oyster in Rockland.
Early in the week, we left Rockland and started heading home to Falmouth. Our cruise isn’t over, but we needed to take a weekend off to attend a wedding back in Rochester, NY.
The first stop was Boothbay Harbor where we hosted our friends, Bob and Heidi, and their two daughters Sally and Delanay onboard for dinner. Sandy made her award-winning Jumbalaya, and she topped off dinner with pastries from the Norimoto bakery in Portland who’s owner was the 2024 James Beard Outstanding Bakery award winner.
We then moved on to Great Island. The Maine coast is characterized by necks (peninsulas) and coves (inlets). So a relatively short distance as the crow flies can take some time by road or by sea. Great Harbor is up a cove that gets progressively narrow with shallow ledges on the sides, so it takes careful attention to navigation charts to stay in the deeper channel. We visited Great Island because it’s home to the new boatyard we chose to service Fregata and store her for the winter. We had some challenges with the Lyman-Morse yard we’d been using in Camden for several years. We’re looking forward to working with the new yard, which is also closer to home.
Last Spring, as one of my retirement projects, I joined the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. This part of the US Coast Guard is a volunteer organization that assists the Coast Guard with all its activities, excluding law enforcement and military actions. We conduct public education, vessel inspections, search and rescue missions, and assist with any other coast gaurd activities as required. I spent much of the first part of the cruise having a security background check, and studying for no less than 10 exams required to be qualified. I also qualified as an instructor and look forward to teaching classes on seamanship, safety, radio operations, navigation, and more during the off-season.
On our way home, Sandy and I had an opportunity to assist a boat that was dead in the water, and drifting toward the rocky shore. We towed it to deep water and waited alongside until a professional tow boat arrived. This wasn’t official coast guard businesss, but nonetheless a good warmup exercise.
To our American readers, have a nice Labor Day weekend. See you next week
