One of the most unique museums we’ve ever seen: The Sail, Power and Steam Museum in Rockland, ME. The proprietors, collector, and chief storyteller (we suspect mostly true) was Jim Sharp. Jim was on hand, as he usually is, to walk us through some of the exhibits and to spin a yarn or 3. He just had his 89th birthday and still seemed as sharp as when he was the Captain of the schooner Adventure. His memoir is titled “With Reckless Abandon,” a title that tells a lot about him and his life.
A pendulum demonstrating the earth’s rotation.
Lots of old navigation instruments, including some personal ones belonging to Bowditch himself.
Where are we, again? Determining latitude by artificial horizon and sextant.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
We visited the small town of Eastport planning to tour Raye’s Mustard factory. In 1900 J Wesley Raye, the 20 year old son of a sea captain, founded the business in the family smokehouse to produce mustard for Maine’s sardine industry. In 1903 Wes moved the mill to it’s current location enabling Raye’s mustard to be shipped out by both rail and steamship. Today, the trains and steamships as well as the sardine canneries are just a memory. The original mill still produces mustard but the museum has closed to the public because of disrepair.
In an interesting twist, we stopped at a small local restaurant recommended to us by some locals. We sat in a back room next to one other couple. We asked them what they recommended which started an interesting conversation. Turns out that he is, John Raye, the grandson of the founder of Raye’s mustard factory. He’s also an author who writes for local historical magazines. We’ve since found a couple issues and read some of his articles – they’re pretty good! One ironic tidbit he shared is that his grandfather started the factory to sell mustard to the sardine packing plants. A colleague named French wanted to get in on the business and so they struck up a deal: Raye would get the lucrative sardine business and French would get the tiny consumer business. Of course, we know how that turned out. The sardine business collapsed when it was overfished and French’s Mustard… well, you know the rest of the story.
Raye’s Mustard mill factory.
We visited the town of Calais, Maine and the Native American museum where we learned about hand made birch bark canoes.
The oldest chandlery in the US. Still in business, although it’s more of a tourist shop than a real chandlery.
Unfortunately, they no longer have Sasparilla…
Eastport waterfront
The seaport town of Cutler Maine. Not much town, but a beautiful little harbor.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
One of the joys of traveling is the opportunity to visit churches along the way. It’s a delight to experience worshipping with others and to hear God’s Word preached by different teachers. Of course, the best part is meeting other Christians in those churches. While in Lubec, we found a small (<20) congregation in a beautiful old sanctuary. Friendly and welcoming, indeed! When people found out we were visiting, the topic turned to what our plans were while in town. We shared that one item on our list was a ferry ride up to Eastport, another small town a little to the north. Hmm, was Craig’s response. Not sure if the ferry is running, he said. Let’s ask the Captain. The ferry Captain was in the next pew. Nope, still waiting on parts for the diesel was the response.
No worries, said Craig. I take my boat out just about every day so I’ll call you one day and take you for a ride.
The ride turned out to be a 4 hour tour of the local waters, up into Canadian waters, a stop in the town of Eastport, and an all around fantastic time. What a delightful surprise!
Minke whales are the smallest baleen whale in North America. They grow to about 35 feet long. We watched Minke whales and dolphins eating on the incoming tide.
Head Harbour lightstation located on Campobello island on the Quoddy River in the Bay of Fundy.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
Beautiful Maine!! Lubec is the eastern most town in the US on the Bay of Fundy. There are bumper stickers that say “The real Maine starts east of Ellsworth” We understood the saying as we worked our way up the coast. The crowds went away, the weather cooled off and the pace slowed considerably.
We had a view of Johnson Bay from our campsite.
Mullholland Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse was across the river on the Canadian island of Campobello. Yes, that’s how close Canada is to Lubec Maine.
Low tide…there’s a 24 foot tide in the area of the Bay of Fundy. It was amazing to us to watch these huge tide differences. We also experienced lots of Maine fog!!
We enjoyed several town events in Lubec.
Kayaking at Indian Lake was a favorite way to spend time while in Maine. Yes, we went to a lake to kayak so we didn’t have to take into account where the tides were!
High tide…
All the stories about Maine fog rolling in are true. Temperatures would drop 20 deg and visibility would go to almost nothing in a matter of minutes. We learned to keep a fleece in the car all the time just in case.
West Quoddy Lighthouse is the eastern most lighthouse in the US. We hiked all the trails around the lighthouse…several times!! It has such beautiful views…in bright sunshine and fog!!
The views along the shore were breathtaking. Lots of photographers and painters all around.
Fog rolling in.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
Summer in the mid-Atlantic is hazy, hot and humid. So off to Maine we went!
Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse Maine
Maine seems to have more than it’s fair share of ice cream shops. And, of course, we had to sample many of them to compare!
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Rockland Maine. An amazing hike out on the breakwater to the lighthouse.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
January to March 2022
Anchored off No Name Harbor
Sunsets over the water are beautiful!
Iguanas are everywhere – turns out they are an invasive species.
Cape Florida Lighthouse
Stiltsville, Cay Biscayne, Florida. Biscayne National Park
Key Largo Florida
Sunrise in Key Largo.
We worked our way back and forth from Key Biscayne to South Beach, Miami depending on the wind direction. Biscayne was much prettier and quieter, but was also more exposed.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
Each year when we sail down the coast, we hear frequent radio warnings about avoiding right whales. The warnings are so frequent that they have become background noise. About the only good thing is that the Coast Guard doesn’t broadcast the warnings at night so we don’t have to listen to them when doing an overnight passage. No more. From now on, we will listen more attentively.
On December 17th, 2021 we were enroute from the St John’s river (near Jacksonville, FL) to St Augustine, FL – a fairly short day trip. Weather was beautiful. Seas calm with a gentle southeast breeze. About 2 miles offshore and 5 miles south of the St Johns river sea buoy, Lyn saw something. She didn’t yell “thar she blows,” but she could have. Sure enough, a right whale headed north no more than a couple hundred yards farther offshore. Never blew again, but we could clearly see the back of a right whale.
Right whales are endangered with only about 400 left in the world. Hence the Coast Guard warnings about being careful during Right Whale mating and migration season.
We called the Coast Guard to report the sighting and had a fairly lengthy conversation about what we saw, where we were, etc. Then about 30 minutes later, we received a phone call from a researcher at Florida Fisheries. Another lengthy conversation with more detailed questions. At the end, Tom told us that a spotter plane was due to make it’s daily flight looking for whales and they would take a look at where “our” whale would be based on our sighting and guesstimate about course and speed.
That’s what we thought would be the end of our little bit of excitement.
Then about 2 hours later, Tom called back. Our whale was right where we projected but was not alone. Apparently we saw a yearling that was in company with 2 other whales. The spotter plane found them, took some more photos and called to thank us for the report.
Our whale is an as yet un-named calf of a Whale named Binary. It is Binary’s third documented calf.
Tom emailed us these pictures taken by various researchers.
As a cool sidenote, our yearling will be eligible for naming next year. Tom said that he would submit the name “Paperbird” as one of the choices for the researchers to vote on. How cool would that be to have a right whale named after your boat?
But if not…
As we were enjoying the Fernandina Christmas parade, we heard about another event here called Dickens on Centre (Main Street here is named Centre Street) It sounded like fun so we stayed an additional week and were very glad we did. Enough so that we’re hoping to put it on our calendar to return next year!
The opening show was a dramatic reenactment/reading of the entire book A Christmas Carol, all 26 voices performed by one actor. Took 90 minutes and every minute was spellbinding. An incredible performance!
Bigger than life version of the title page of A Christmas Carol
Marley is dead, but he walked the streets of the festival each night!
Lots of period outfits. She told us the skirt was very difficult to move around in.
More Dickensian characters
The Festival stage where the various groups performed. Lots of choirs, actors and such. This was also a unique seat to enjoy a small orchestra.
They set up an outdoor theater, mostly for kid-oriented movies like Polar Express. But they also snuck in a 2017 movie called The Man Who Invented Christmas, about the inspiration and writing of A Christmas Carol. Excellent movie about the book, especially if you are at all curious about the authoring process.
Victorian ladies on stilts!
A gentlemanly doff of the cap as he slowly pedals through the crowd
More characters. folks told us they break out their outfits just for this one festival.
The Chimney Sweep
A series of paintings from the book. Each was probably 8 feet tall and very intricate!
We watched this mural progress through the course of the festival. Each day, the artist added a bit more, filling in additional detail to the scene.
And each night there was a great fireworks display. Friday night, it was timed to start at the exact moment of the end of the dramatic acting out of A Christmas Carol.
The one worrisome bit about the fireworks is that they were launched each night from a barge anchored about 100 yds from Paperbird. We kept a bucket filled with water on deck just in case a stray ember headed our way. Fortunately, the winds blew debris away from us each night.
A beautiful Christmas tree to remind us of the real reason for the celebration: the birth of Jesus!
But if not…
Christmas Parade in Fernandina Beach FL
Lots of Christmas lights and music made for a festive time at the parade in Fernandina Beach.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
Blessings…Greg and Lyn
First sunset in Florida!!
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 1Chr 16:10
Blessings…Greg and Lyn
