Maine cruising isn’t easy – between the fog, thick carpets of lobster traps, and unforgiving rocky shoreline, you’ve got to be on constant alert. But the more of the Maine coast we explore, the more I find myself falling in love. I’m a total lighthouse nerd, and I am in absolute heaven – we see new lighthouses in beautiful spots every passage (sorry not sorry for the barrage of lighthouse photos to follow in this and subsequent posts). One of the things we’re finding most difficult about Maine cruising is decision paralysis. There are so many wonderful places to visit, and everyone you talk to adds at least one new “must see” location to your list. On the flip side, it’s almost impossible to make a bad choice.
We didn’t have great wind (yet again), so it was another day of motoring for us. We were also trying to outrun some storms – forecasts showed some nasty weather coming in later in the evening (fortunately that broke up and never made it to us) – so even when a little breeze did fill in, we just kept motoring.
We passed beautiful island after beautiful island, saw dolphins, seals, and I think puffins (four small birds flew off our bow as we were passing an island where puffins breed, but I didn’t get a close enough look to be sure), and of course, there were tons of lighthouses. We passed through an island chain as we approached Rockland, and it was some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever seen. Whitehead Light Station marks the beginning of the channel, and Owls Head Lighthouse guards the other end.
When we arrived, there was a navy ship anchored out off the breakwater, and the Coast Guard’s training barque, Eagle, was anchored up a little farther in. We were too late to catch the lobster festival that was being held in town… everything was shutting down as we went ashore, and all the restaurants were fresh out of lobster.
Our HYC friends Adam and Jenni (and their adorable Maine Coon, Max) on Soulmates met us here – we arrived within 10 minutes of each other coming from opposite directions. They’ve been cruising Maine this summer and are starting their return trip to Long Island Sound. We went out to dinner Sunday night and had dinner on their boat on Monday, sharing good food and good company, stories of cruising/boat work in exotic places, favorite anchorages, and lots of laughs.
We hopped in Williwaw and headed over to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse before work yesterday. The lighthouse is in rough shape due to storm damage, but it was still a pretty spot to have our morning coffee, and we had a nice chat with a family who’s just starting out cruising.
We didn’t get much time to explore on shore, but it looks like there are a lot of cool spots here – the Maine Lighthouse Museum, Bixby Chocolate (Adam and Jenni told us about this place and kindly shared some of their chocolate… I’m hoping we get back this way so we can visit too!), and Ruckus Donuts are just a few spots we would have loved to make it to (being responsible, working adults sucks sometimes!).
3 replies on “Rockland”
It was great seeing you both in Rockland. Soulmates is back at Huguenot and the repairs to the refit are continuing.
We’re so glad we were able to catch up! Good luck with the continued refit/repair list.
I love lighthouses and Kristi loves them too and spent a lot of time exploring them (me Paul and Tori tagged along sometimes). New England is certainly the place to see lots and they are all so beautiful!