Ok, I know we were spoiled when we were in New Jersey. It was the end of May and it was 30 degrees Celsius. Now, I love the warm weather, so I was perfectly content. Jay on the other hand likes it more about 20 degrees or so. Unfortunately for both of us, it has been raining alot and in the low teens for the past 5 days. We spent 4 of those days in Portland, and today we had our coldest crossing yet. We left Portland at 9am and in the mist and light rain with 15-20 knot winds and we headed for Boothbay Harbour, a mere 35 nautical miles away. I had 5 layers of clothes, a wool hat and winter mittens on, and still felt chilly. I guess that makes me a fair weather sailor. No sailing in the artic for me! This photo was taken before I resorted to the wool hat and mitts, but you get the idea.
We arrived in Boothbay Harbour, a very pretty little town with lots of shops, restaurants and whale watching cruises about 3pm and took a mooring at Tugboat Inn Marina. We took Ducky down from the davits and went ashore to explore. My big purchase was some warm slippers to wear on the boat. With this weather, my feet have been cold and I hate wearing boat shoes below decks. We are picky about footwear on the boat. We have our sandals or sneakers for going ashore, but they are never worn on board. We have our boat shoes for when we need to wear something on the deck because of the cold, but we prefer to go barefoot when aboard if we can. However, 10 degrees Celsius does not lend itself to bare feet!
We had dinner at a wonderful italian restaurant called Ports of Italy in Boothbay Harbour tonight. The food was delicious! Unfortunately, when we left the restaurant, it had started to rain. Luckily for me, I had taken my rain pants ashore, so I didnèt get my bottom wet on the dinghy ride back out to the boat. So now I am sitting at the table in the salon, listening to the gentle patter of the rain on the hull. It is warmer now that we are out of the wind, so between the nice hot meal, my comfy new boat slippers and the warmer air in the boat, I have finally thawed out.
It hasn't just been the weather that has changed since we left New Jersey. It is interesting how the coast changes so much between New Jersey and here. The coastline there is very sandy. Here it is very rocky, reminiscent of Nova Scotia. We are seeing less recreational boats out on the water right now as it is still early in the season here. We are seeing lots of lobster boats, ferries and whale watching boats. We are also getting extremely good at dodging the colourful lobster pots which riddle the seas here, even in the middle of the channels.
Tomorrow, if the weather holds, we will continue sailing north. There are so many beautiful places to explore in Maine that we wish we had more time. We are already talking about making another trip back here in the future to explore the coast more fully.
Love the pic!
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