Happy Birthday, Vicki!

What a day! We arrived in Boothbay Harbor about 1.5 hours earlier than anticipated due to favorable tides. That’s the good news! We cruised over six hours in dense fog with only ¼ mile visibility. VHF radios were chatty all day with boaters confirming radar blips and arranging port or starboard passes. It was very stressful, but very good experience. We’re moored at Carousel Marina mooring field. This is a very well-maintained mooring field (clean painter lines and well marked mooring balls) and very nice people operating the marina. They even volunteered to come out and move a lobster trap buoy if needed. (Isn’t that a switch from Northeast Harbor?) They also have a well-stocked ships store, restaurant, condominiums and hotel. The showers and heads are spotless. We have some nasty weather approaching, so our plan is to remain here for 3 nights.

Happy Birthday, Vicki! Yesterday, (Aug 2) was Vicki’s birthday. So, we celebrated by Norm taking her to dinner at a restaurant of her choice and giving her a gift of a lifetime—a hardback version of Chapman’s Illustrated Essential Marine Knots. Wow, what a guy! Actually, it was just what Vicki wanted—more knot know-how—really!! We ate at a restaurant named “93 Townsend” and it was great upscale “downeast” food. Fried asparagus appetizer followed by Lobster mac ‘n cheese for Vicki and dry-rubbed Ribeye for Norm. In short—fantastic.

Today, we had plans to hike the trails on the outskirts of Boothbay but the thunderstorms we were expecting arrived. Some pretty nasty lightning and buckets of rain have fallen so far and more to come. Norm will have to go out and bail out the dinghy before the next front arrives. Oops, too late!