Back on Track

It’s been quite an emotionally exhausting week worrying about the possibility of replacing an engine. Luckily, all is well-- yesterday’s sea trial went fine.

We distracted ourselves by hiking and taking frequent trips to town. Southwest Harbor was a wonderful place to be stuck – reminds us a bit of Door County in Wisconsin. The people at Dysart’s Great Harbor Marina were very generous to us. They let us take their truck twice to Walmart and to Hamilton Marine. Nice restaurants - we had some very good meals and discovered the early bird special which runs from 4:00-6:00 in this part of the world and fits in well with our preferred dining schedule. The library and the internet café (conveniently set in an ice cream store) were useful since connectivity was so spotty. We also borrowed a DVD from the library – saw a fun Cary Grant movie which was probably the most recently filmed movie on their shelves!

Yesterday we cruised around the corner to Bar Harbor – a bit more populated – more stores, restaurants, and hair styling salons. The first order of business was haircuts. Norm was unhappy about paying $12 which didn’t even include a beard trim – hey, for his hair anything over $10 is a rip off! He’s lobbying hard for Vicki to get out those trimmers and save him some money next time. (Fixed incomes can drive you to extremes.) Vicki went to the New Image Salon where Cassie gave her a pretty good and mighty short trim. Not bad for a first experience out of the trusty hands of Lorraine in Delaware. How was this particular salon selected? Easy – there are two in town and this was the only one with availability. Undoubtedly not the best selection criteria, but the hair was getting shaggy. And the $36 price tag was very reasonable.

We’ll be in Bar Harbor on a mooring at least through Sunday, recuperating. Today is a hiking day – going to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest point in Acadia National Park. There is free and very comfortable bus service throughout the park making it very easy to get around. Beautiful day for a hike – 78 degrees, a light breeze, and partly sunny. We have had the best weather on this trip and it continues.

Norm writes.........
Enough about the hair, already. We're moving on!

After installing the engine and transmission oil coolers and the engine heat exchanger and refilling the coolant we fired her up and she ran great--still a couple of hose clamps to watch. The cruise to Bar Harbor went well running at 1800 RPM all the way in calm seas. We're going to run a few more days on this side of the pond until I feel we have given the engine a good sea trial. Then we'll decide when to make the crossing to Nova Scotia. We've been in touch with the mother ship. She and its lone resident, Jim, are doing fine in Halifax. We hope to see them all in the not too distant future.