Mom Tuckered Us Out!

Mom’s visit was lovely, but too short. She returns to Tucson today. It’s been good to see her relax – she’s usually a whirlwind of activity. Mom got a sampler platter of life on the water which is just what we intended. Marina and anchoring (but no mooring ball), rain, fog and sun, calm waters and rolling (but no waves more than 2 ft), hiking, shopping and exploring, waste management, water management and energy management (more about these in an upcoming blog)—and, of course, an adventure around every corner.

For the last two days we anchored in the crotch of Cliff Island, Casco Bay, Maine. Saturday we dinghied over to Eagle Island where North Pole discoverer Admiral Robert Peary built a home resembling a boat (scuppers on the porch, portholes, a simulated bow). Yesterday we dinghied to Jewell Island for a couple hours of hiking and a picnic lunch. Jewel Island was an observation outpost for spotting German U-Boats during World War II. There were over 400 troops assigned to the island during the war and they had two 6-inch guns that could hurl a 100 Lb shell 10,000 yards and several 90mm anti-aircraft batteries. While they did not see any fighting action, they did spot one U-Boat.

Later in the day we landed the dinghy on Cliff Island in search of a Sunday paper. The locals on the beach gave us directions to the lone store on the island. It turns out that you need to sign up for a paper in advance and the store proprietor has that many papers delivered to the island – we were out of luck. A disappointment as we wanted to read about the Olympics.
Vicki was very disappointed not to be able to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We were at a marina in South Freeport Maine on Friday night when the broadcast occurred and thought we would be able to plug into cable there, but no such luck. And there wasn’t a TV available in a public area nearby, and we couldn’t access any online streaming. So, if any of you recorded the opening ceremonies on DVD (not tape) and wants to send us the disc, we would be grateful. Generally we like not having television because it’s too much of a sedative, but we’re thinking that we’ll get some rabbit ears to try to bring in a program now and then (Dancing with the Stars and Boston Legal come to mind). The rabbit ears may not work, but it’s certainly worth a try. The onboard satellite TV systems cost several thousand dollars – not worth it for us, in spite of missing the Olympics.