14 Sep 14

It rained and gusted last night, so we went to bed early. The morning dawned clear and cool, but warmer than yesterday, although the wind is still N15-25. Since we wanted to walk around Jordan Pond, we decided to move the boat to Northeast Harbor, where we picked up a mooring ball. The wind was right behind us, so we had a lovely downwind sail back down Somes Sound under jib. We packed a sandwich lunch and caught the 11:15 bus from NE Harbor to Jordan Pond. It was still blowing a half-gale, but we set off around the pond on a 3.2 mile circuit. We ate lunch at a sheltered, short stretch of beach. When we got all the way round, we stopped at the Jordan House Restaurant and had tea and popovers (traditional fare of MDI hikers for the last 100 years). Jordan Pond and the surrounding mountains are beautiful. My knees were barking after the walk, so we caught the bus back to NE Harbor, poked around town for a bit, then came on back to the boat for happy hour. We have decided that NE Harbor is the best of the lot on this end of the island, especially at this time of year. The bus stops just yards from the dock master’s office, so no long hikes, and it comes every 30 minutes, as compared to every 3 hours at SW Harbor and Somesville. Plus, it is a pretty little harbor and is virtually bullet-proof. Should have come here days ago. Dinner aboard. Spent a bit of time planning itineraries for the next few days; time to start heading south. 44-17.771’N, 068-16.983’W