Long Cove to Rockland Harbor

Day 28: July 26, 2015

Several days ago, Janine and I discussed the fact that our down comforter was perfect and had kept us warm in the cool Maine evenings.  And then!  This morning the discussion was that it almost wasn’t up to the task.  It got down to 54 degrees in the cabin and, although I toughed it out, Janine got up and put on a jacket in the middle of the night.

Rockland Harbor breakwater light in the fog

But, the steaming sausage gravy and toast with hot coffee made us both feel better.  It was foggy and dreary-misty out so we had no incentive to get under way early.  Our destination of the day was Rockland Harbor.  Rockland will be our last port of call.  We will head back to our friends, the Trimners, to pick up our truck and trailer in preparation for the trip back home.

The weather forecast called for showers off and on all day so at about 10:00, we dawned our “Frogg Toggs” (rain gear), dropped the line from the mooring ball and headed out.  The fog had lifted’ giving us a visibility of better than a mile so the trip was easy.  There was a south wind and it would have been a great sail, however, with the mist and rain, we decided to motor on in.  The trip was only  8 miles.

 

Our neighbor in Long Cove

We have been dodging lobster pots continuously this entire trip and have snagged only two until we entered Rockland Harbor. The engine stopped abruptly and the boat jerked to a halt.  We finally wrapped one around our prop.  I raised the motor out of the water and got into the dinghy and finally got the mess untangled.  I had to loosen the nut on the prop and slide it out to get the last bit of rope unwound. We appreciated having two sailors stop and ask if they could help.   The bigger boats mount a knife on the propeller shaft in front of the prop that spins and cuts the lines if they get entangled.  I talked to a lobsterman back in Acadia and he said that he understands.  He gets into them periodically himself.

Once we found our mooring ball amongst the hundreds of boats and balls, we headed into the dock to make our arrangements.  They have showers for $2.00 for an 8 minute shower.  They give you a token and that starts the timer on the water valve.  We were willing to pay!

Second order Fresnel Lens

From the dock, we headed into Rockland and the Maine Lighthouse Museum.  This a marvelous collection of lights, lenses, and all forms of memorabilia dealing with lighthouses.  We had been there back in 2000 when the museum was in a house.  The gentleman on duty that day walked around with us and gave us a wonderful history of the materials on display.  They have now moved it into a large new building and expanded the displays.  

From there we went to the Wyeth Center at the Farnsworth Art Museum.  What a wonderful collection not only of works of art from three generations of Wyeth’s but also many other artists mostly from Maine.  The Wyeth family spent a lot of time in Maine where they still have a home today.  This town and these museums must be a subparagraph in your Maine entry on your bucket list.

We walked back towards the boat in the rain,

stopping at Hill’s Seafood Company for a lobster roll.  Although Hill’s was not on the recommended list of our guide book, we found the food to be good and the bar patrons to be loud and entertaining.  

We returned to our boat, gathered our shower gear and went to redeem our 8 minutes of warm water pleasure.  I realized that I normally don’t take an 8 minute shower, but since I paid for it, I used every minute of the time.

Back at the boat, we prepared for bed.  The boat was rocking around quite a bit and promised to be a bumpy night of sleep.

Bell stack for a bell bouy.  Each provides a different tone/

.