Four Days in Castine

We did not find a library to update the blog, so I just kept notes.

July 1

Left Rockland headed for Castine, home of the Main Maritime Academy and lots of history. A 20 mile (or so) journey, we sailed and motored. Had a bit of trouble reefing the main sail. Managed to break a a few of the cars that hold the sail to the mast in the process. The seas and winds ended up being a bit more vigorous than we had expected, so we were very glad to get into Castine. We tied up at the dock in fron of Dennet's Wharf restaurant. Mostly folks just come in for dinner and don't stay the night. Dennet's was the only place that had space for us. We tied up and went up the ramp for a lovely dinner of scallops in butter with bread crumbs. After listening to the weather report, and hearing a bit from the locals, it seemed best to just stay where we were. Thunderstorms on the water are more excitement than I am wanting to deal with right now.

Dennet's Wharf has a gimick (not knowing what else to call it). They tack dollar bills to the ceiling by placing a thumbtack right in the middle of the bill, backing it with a 50cent piece, and giving it a couple of folds to make a sort of dart. When thrown the bill sticks in the ceiling, and the 50 cent piece falls back down. Dennet's donated the bills on the roof to the 9/11 cause, and again to Katrina relief. Now they are building back up. It is interesting to look up and see the bills hanging from the ceiling. Reminds me a little of all the ties at the old Traildust Steakhouse.

July 2

We dozed a bit and just sat around below decks being quiet company. When we finally went topside we found another sail boat had docked just ahead of us on the dock. I did not recognize the boat at first, but we did recognize the people - the folks who gave us all the cheeses (which we have not eaten up yet.)

When we finally got moving, we headed into Castine to see the forts, the Historical Society and the Wilson Museum. The collection at the Wilson Museum started as an individuals private collection. Pretty impressive. Things from all over. Pots from the Southwest Indians, tools and weapons from all over Southeast Asia, fossils from the Rockies and items from tribes here on the East Coast. We walked all over the fort (only made it to one) and spent a good bit of time with the blacksmith at the museum. Hungarian fellow, came over in 1957 or thereabouts. I have been teasing my husband about the "5 1/2 hours of history" but it was an interesting walk. In spite of the forcast, winds inland were mild, and no thundershowers found us in Castine, although we heard it was a bit rough out in the Eastern Penobscot bay area.

We stopped for dinner at the local seafood shack, than wandered over to the Maine Maritime Academy docks where we found the crew of the schooner Bowdoin loading groceries. Not being at all shy my husband offers to help, and we end up with a tour. The Bowdoin was purpose built to be an arctic explorer. She had one of the very first Cummings diesel engines. Lovely boat.

We had missed the last tour of The State of Maine which had been a US Naval research vessel and is now used for training students at the Academy. You can see the large vessel in the webcam picture. We did meet the officer of the watch out walking his dog. Decided we would catch the first tour the next day, before we headed out to Buck's Harbor.

July 3

Took the tour of The State of Maine. Large vessel, full of stairways and metal. Definitely not a luxury cruiser. Our tour guide was one of the few female cadets, they only 19 out of 230 total on the last cruise. I can see that the maritime trades are still largly male, although we did see several lobster boats with women as "sternman" and one that looked like an all female crew. (It can be a little difficult to tell in the coveralls and such.) This young woman is quite enthusiastic about the whole thing, and admitted she enjoyed the 30 Foot Jump. Everyone who takes course work for working on vessels is required to jump off the deck of the State of Maine, a 30 foot drop to the water. Like a parachute jump, it does take a little training. I suppose the theory is that one might need to jump from a ship in distress. The folks taking other majors are encouraged to participate as well. I suppose as a sort of right of passage.

Got our selves all organized to head out to Buck's Harbor, with a reservation for a spot on the dock and headed out. As we reached the harbor marker our high-water alarm went off. Not a comforting sound. I went below and started the check of the through hulls. All good and dry. I ran the manual bilge pump, and we were a little heavy on the water. While Dave turned us around I got on the radio and called Eaton's Boatyard, (the next dock down the water front from Dennet's) and they had someone who could look at things and help us figure out what our problem was. Through hulls all tight and dry. (A little condensation had formed on some of them, but a few beads of 'sweat' is nothing.) The stuffing box was holding. (The stuffing box is the bearing for the propellor shaft where it goes from the engine inside to the propellor outside.) Turned out we had a leak in the cooling water system that was pumping water into the boat. More water with higher rpms. Had to replace the hose. And since they had to run to the next town for parts, we were not going to get moving for awhile. We cancelled our reservation at Buck's Harbor, and went next door to Dennet's for lunch. The owner was a bit surprised to see us.

After repairs were completed, it was late enough in the day to be difficult finding a place to stay. The dockmaster at Eaton's said we could hang on the dock overnight, but needed to be off by 9 am to make room for a boat race the next morning. We watched a 40 some foot schooner come in alongside of us to lace on sails. The skipper charters this boat for a few weeks most years, and was just getting the season started. We offered to help with the sails, figuring that everything we learn is useful.

During the afternoon someone from the Castine Yacht Club was getting fuel at Eaton's and encouraged us to stay for July 4 and invited us down to the yacht club mooring.

July 4

Awoke early (for us) and were getting our breakfast when a fellow stopped by to talk. He had owned an Allied Seawind for several years. Conversation revealed that he had owned THIS Allied Seawind for several years. We invited him aboard, took his photograph and had him sign the guest book page in the boat log. Very nice conversation.

By then it was getting on and the yacht club moorings are 'first come, first served' so we felt we needed to move along to be sure of a place. We picked up CYC guest #1 at 8:15 am and sat on the mooring all day. There is a little day sailer called a Castine boat, and this was the day for the Castine class race. We got pictures of much of the race, and one lovely shot of one coming streaking by us with its spinnaker still out.

Along in the late afternoon we see a schooner come into the harbor, followed closely by several more. This is the Great Schooner Race up Penobscot Bay, ending in Castine for the fireworks show. We had a full dozen schooners rafted up across the mooring field from us, most of them boats we are familiar with, including the Bowdoin back from a short run out. The fog rolled in as the day faded, and we began to wonder if the fireworks would be delayed.

Guns started going off. Some were deck guns that the schooners had, and I think there were a few in town. A sort of historical recreation with the Americans firing on the British position up at the fort, and the British firing back. The fireworks started when it was full dark. By then the fog had lifted a bit. The large shells made the clouds glow all sorts of colors, and for the really big ones a few stray sparks would fall out of the bottom of the fog. It was an interesting effect.