Day 21: July 19, 2015
This day was another fantastic day. We awoke at our usual time and had sausage
gravy and toast for our first nourishment of the day. It rained again last night and the morning started
out quite foggy
.
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| Low tide in the fog. Rockweed (genus Fucus) on the bolder |
Janine and I got in Damn Dink Too and rowed to the shore. The tide was out and this cove has an amazing
beach at low tide. We spent probably a
half hour just wandering around on the stone beach. The shore has a large outcropping of
slate. It looks like you could just take
a saw and cut them for a roofing job.
The layers were on end sticking up through the beach stones.
Our destination today was the town of Belfast,
Maine. We headed out at
 |
| Typical makeup of the beachs |
about 10:00 just
as the fog was lifting. Further out in
the Penobscot River, the fog intensified and visibility dropped to about a 1/10
of a mile. We have a sophisticated radio
on our boat that tells us in a big boat is in our area. It is a bit earie to be motoring along and
suddenly another boat appears out of the fog.
Our original plan was to tie up to a mooring ball
for the day so we called ahead and got our assignment. Catching the ball is a bit tricky but so far
this trip, we have done well. We put on
a set of Blue-Tooth headphones
 |
| Slate outcrop |
so that we can hear each other over the engine
and then I go forward with a boat hook while Janine steers the boat up to the
ball. She has gotten really skilled at
putting the boat right alongside of the line leading from the float so that I
can snag it with the boat-hook. So far
on this trip, we have caught the ball on the first attempt every time.
We grabbed a Spam sandwich and a PBJ before heading
into town where they were obviously engaged in their annual Celtic Festival. We
wandered
 |
| Local news anchor trying his luck. Real poles on the ground |
|
about past venders selling kilts, cotton candy, all forms of food,
trinkets and Guinness to be consumed. In a lower field right next to
the harbor was being held a contest amongst burley men doing ultra-man
things.
The first contest we watched, guys in kilts were
taking a 30 foot pole, standing straight up, picking it up, balancing it,
running with it and hurling so that it would go end over end. Only two of the burliest actually go it to go
over perfectly straight. The next
challenge was to toss a 58 pound weight with one hand over a bar that was about
10 feet above in the air. They would
stand under
 |
| Slinging the 58 pound weight over the bar |
the bar, take the ring on the top of the weight and start swinging
it back-in-forth to get up momentum and then finally sling it backwards over
their head. We saw about 4 guys actually
do that. They also had a lighter weight
with which some burly ladies also competed.
The final contest we saw was a cross between a shot-put throw and a hammer throw. The weight
was mounted on a rod that appeared to be about 4 feet
 |
| Hammer throw? |
long. They would stand behind a board, start the
weight swinging around their head and then release it. Some guys could sling the thing probably 40
yards.
We walked into town where we made some purchases and
missed probably the most interesting event of the afternoon which was a cheese
roll where I understood that they rolled large wheels of cheese down a
hill. While all of this was going entertainers
were playing and singing Celtic music.
It was obviously a
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| Local schooner being pushed by an unpiloted tender |
big event that started Friday night and was still
going strong Sunday evening. (Remember—this is Belfast.)
Although the wind was blowing into the harbor and Second Wind was dancing around her
mooring ball a bit, we decided to spend the night. For a $30.00 fee, we could use their showers
and dump our trash. We stopped at the
Dockside Family Restaurant where we each enjoyed a Belfast Lobster Ale, an appetizer
of steamed clams, “steamers”, and a lobster roll.
 |
| Neighborhood loon eating a crab |
After dinner, we returned to the boat,
gathered our shower gear and headed back for a refreshing warm wash down.
We got back to the boat just before dark and bed.
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