Leaving Northwest Harbor in a sunny dead calm, we headed for Castine. We motored slowly -- no rush here -- and in about an hour or so, we completed a loop that we had begun ten days before when we left Pulpit Harbor.
What had seemed in the months before we reached Maine to be a challenging and perhaps treacherous collection of islands and rocks had turned out, in reality, to be, if not simple, at least pleasant.
We watched a number of sailboats with their sails raised edging along Eggamoggin Reach to the north as we slanted northwest toward the main body of Penobscot Bay. Ahead lay Islesboro, a long, slender island that bisects the bay between Camden, to the south, and Belfast to the north.
In Castine, there was a good anchorage. But it was well away from the town, and we hadn't been ashore in three days. So when we got close to mouth of the Bagaduce River, we phoned the Castine Yacht Club and got instructions for tying up to their dock.
The price was right: A required donation of $20 for the night, plus $3 each for showers. We walked ashore -- no dinghy necessary -- just after noon and walked a block to a place that made great sandwiches.
A young man eating his sandwich on the rooftop deck at the shop had a yellow lab puppy on a leash and the pooch was sound asleep, the picture of contentment. He wasn't roused when a woman diner crouched with her camera to take his picture. He wasn't roused by the aroma of the food. He didn't open his eyes when his belly was rubbed, just sighed.
The local ice cream counter had run out of all but five flavors, none among my top ten, but was expecting a shipment tomorrow. I couldn't wait and bought a pint of coffee ice cream at the small grocery store across the street.
Then we did some reconnaisance for our dinner meal and decided on a waterfront restaurant. We went back to Robin and rested for the exertion of another meal ashore.
At about six o'clock, we arrived at the restaurant and were seated on the deck under a canopy. I'd heard someone mention approaching electrical storms. They arrived with our entrees, and we got to watch people scrambling in from the uncovered part of the deck.
The meal was great and the rain stopped by the time we were ready to head back to Robin in the dark. It was certainly nice to not be faced with a long dinghy ride.
Normally back in Cambridge, if we were tied to the dock, we would have plugged in to shore power to use the air conditioning. That wasn't necessary because, although it had been a warm day, the night once again was cool.