Saturday’s forecast was miserable and we were getting low on provisions, so we took advantage of the Island Explorer bus system to go grocery shopping in Bar Harbor. It would have been a relatively quick trip, but we misread the schedule and ended up waiting on the side of the road for an hour, then had to switch buses at Jordan Pond because it was time for the driver’s lunch break. But on the plus side, we meet a nice couple from California who saw our foul weather jackets and struck up a conversation – they were newer sailors who were thinking about doing some cruising, and we enjoyed getting to chat.
We had a late lunch at Leary’s Landing Irish Pub in town (we like it because it doesn’t try to be super touristy – it could be an Irish pub anywhere, whereas most of the restaurants in town are over-the-top/gimmicky) before stocking up at Hannaford. It started raining the second we walked out the door, and by the time our bus showed up, we were absolutely drenched. Fortunately we’d brought our own grocery bags, because if we’d had paper bags, they wouldn’t have made it. By the time we got back to Windara, there wasn’t a dry stitch of clothing on either of us. But having provisioned gave us the flexibility to pick a nice day to head to Bar Harbor instead of having to rush over before our food ran out, so the tradeoff was worth it.
Yesterday was gray and muggy, but thankfully the rain held off. We decided to extend our stay at Abels for one more night and go explore the west side of MDI a bit more. After having sailed past Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse three times, I was curious to see it from land. There’s a bus stop within an easy walk, so we caught the bus over in Somesville (a quick dinghy ride), where we ran into the cruising couple whose boat we’d seen in the harbor. (We also discovered a little museum and garden in Somesville that we’ll have to go check out sometime.) There was a long line of cars waiting to access the rather limited parking lot at the lighthouse, but we were able to walk right in, see the light from up close and from the rocks below, and still make it back in plenty of time for the next bus.
Since we had time on the way back, we got off in Southwest Harbor and walked around – unfortunately being Sunday, there wasn’t much more open than last time we visited, but it was still a nice stop and I was finally able to find a Southwest Harbor sticker for the log book. Afterwards, we decided to have appetizers and a sundowner at Abels (the chowder fries were amazing!)
This morning I awoke to bright sunshine and tendrils of mist coming off the mountains. It was calm and quiet (except for the occasional bark of the seals) – a perfect morning.
On our way to Bar Harbor, we stopped at Little Cranberry Island to visit the artist shops, Islesford Boatworks (a community boat building school), the Islesford Historical Museum (part of Acadia National Park) and have lunch at Little Cranberry Lobster. After lunch, we raised the sails and headed to Bar Harbor. Being at the helm for the raise, I got completely drenched – we hadn’t zipped the sail cover, so it was FULL of water from Saturday’s rain. It was good for a laugh anyway!
It was probably the best sail we’ve had this season, and we’re now anchored just on the other side of Bar Island. I was worried that there would be a lot of boats here, but there was only one other sailboat in the anchorage, so we were able to find a good spot clear of the mooring field. I’m looking forward to getting in some hiking and for Chris’s brother-in-law and his fiancée to visit us later in the week!
