25 Aug 14

The tides and tidal currents ruled the timing today, so we got the anchor up at 09:45 and departed The Basin to head over to the Kennebec River for the trip up to Bath. On the way, we passed Cape Small, Seguin Island (and lighthouse), and Fort Popham. We also discovered that the macerator pump for the forward head is not functioning (i.e., it is not emptying the holding tank), so that means a lovely maintenance job some time in the future. When we got to Bath, we had to go past the Maine Maritime Museum and under the Maine Central RR lift bridge to get to the Bath Municipal Dock and their free pump-out facility. Then, we came back under the bridge and tied up at the Deering Dock for a few minutes to fill the forward water tank. Finally, we moved to the mooring ball adjacent to the Museum. Since we have paid for a week on the mooring ball, the museum is giving us free admission - kewl. Next, we picked up a rental car from Enterprise in Brunswick. After we got the car, we drove back to Bath, did a quick tour of town and selected Solo Bistro for dinner. Finally got back to the boat about 19:30. 43-53.705’N, 069-48.823’W. 

26 Aug 14

About 04:30, we were waked up by the ebb current flowing past the boat and the mooring ball. We were hanging on a single pennant, which I had looped over the starboard cleat, so we were lying at about a 30 degree angle to the flow of the current, which must have been more than 2 knots. Nothing bad happened, but it was a bit disconcerting. After we got up, I put two pennants - one from each side - through the loop in the mooring ball pennant. After breakfast, we went in to the Maine Maritime Museum, which is a really good museum built on the site of the shipyard that built the biggest wooden sailing ship ever built - “Wyoming” - a six masted sloop. The have a full scale sculpture erected on the site of the original ways to show the size of the ship, and it was huge. Displays include a blacksmith shop, mould loft, sail loft, treenail shop, and other interesting facets. After lunch at The Cabin, we drove over to Thomas Point to buy tickets for the Bluegrass Festival, but they are not available until “on the day”. We also checked out the Bath Sheds where they are building a full-size replica of the “Virginia”, which was the first ship built by English colonists in the New World. Then we did a quick grocery shop and came on back to the boat for dinner aboard. Ran the generator for a couple of hours to top the batteries up a bit.

27 Aug 14

After breakfast, we went back into the Maine Maritime Museum and spent another 5 hours there; really a fascinating place and it is nice not to have to rush through it. By mid-afternoon, my knees were hollering “‘nuff”, so we hopped in the car and drove down to Fort Popham and Phippsburg for a quick look. Then, back to Bath, where Terri did some shopping at Halcyon Yarn and I had coffee and read up on how to make a half-shell boat model; I now have some plans for the winter break. We had dinner in Bath at Best Thai II; OK, but nothing remarkable. Then, back to the boat, a quick run into the dock again for showers and back “home” by 20:00. Nice day, altogether.

28 Aug 14

Nothing much to do today, so we drove to Woolwich, to visit the Shelter Institute, which sells a fantastic collection of woodworking tools. Then, on to Georgetown Pottery, followed by 5 Islands Lobster Company where we bought ice cream and enjoyed the views of the bay. In the evening, we attended a lecture at MMM by Harold Youngren, a designer on the Emirates Team New Zealand Americas Cup Challenge in 2013; he has some fantastic videos and interesting insight into the design process of these super-fast, performance catamarans. Late dinner aboard; scrambled eggs.

29 Aug 14

Laundry and boat chores day, followed by a grocery shopping run. Then, on to the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival; we heard Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Steel Wheels, Lonely Heartstring Band, Barefoot Convention and The Gibson Brothers.

30 Aug 14

Showers in the morning, then back to the TPB Bluegrass Festival - Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass, Steel Wheels, Lonely Heartstring Band, Spinney Brothers, Balsam Range, and the Del McCourey Band topped off the night with a double set. Back to the boat after 22:00, tired but happy.

31 Aug 14

Last day at the TPB Bluegrass Festival - we arrived before noon and heard a bunch of bands, many of whom we heard yesterday, but new ones included Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, and Dailey and Vincent. It was all good until about 17:00, when a light drizzle commenced. The precipitation rate increased steadily as the evening progressed, so that by 21:00 it was a steady rain. We sat there in our foul weather gear and listened as the bands played on. When it started to lightning in the distance, we decided to exercise a bit of discretion and made a run for the car, finally returning to the boat just before 22:00, wet as a couple of drowned rats. I finished Farley Mowat’s “The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float”; this is an apparently true story by a wonderful story-teller and it is absolutely hilarious. There’s 2/3 of the year shot. Only 9 weeks of cruising left for us this season.

1 Sep 14

We did not wake up until after 09:00; guess listening to bluegrass all day long for 3 days on the trot is more tiring than anticipated. The day dawned calm (for the first time in a week) and clear (after the morning fog - compliments of no wind - burned off. After a leisurely breakfast, it was time for monthly maintenance chores on the boat and laundry. Then, we did a big grocery shop. We were going to leave today, but the mail we ordered forwarded from Houston does not arrive until tomorrow, so we will stay one more night and catch the late morning tide tomorrow, hopefully. The boat is ready to go and we have a few miles to put under the keel before we turn south for the winter. After a bit of research, it is beginning to look more and more likely that we will park the boat for the winter in Jamestown, RI, rather than make the long trek all the way back to Deltaville, VA. Clarks, in Jamestown, is a bit more expensive than Deltaville, but not much and it will save us 2 weeks’ hard travel each way to/from the Chesapeake. The drawback is that the sailing season will start later in Jamestown, so we have to weigh that in the balance. Back on board for dinner and a quiet evening.