A Lake and Three Harbors: 72 Hours in Maine in the Nutshell Pram; Post 3 of 4 Camden and Rockport

A Lake and Three Harbors

72 Hours in Maine in the Nutshell Pram

Post 3 of 4 

Putting In Rockport, Maine

Camden

Camden Harbor; Sizing up a Put In Spot

After a lunchtime sail in Belfast, Maine and a walk on the Harborwalk we decided to head south and find another place to put the Merry Rowe II in the water.  We had been to Camden a number of times but never with the boat so we went there first.

Camden Harbor: Beautiful Annabelle Hydrangeas

There are very few towns from which we cannot find a place to launch this boat and then a place to park.  We've been to Gloucester, MA.during festivals and Rockland, ME. during boat shows and launched without issue or harm to our wallets.  Sadly,we could not find a place to plop that boat in at Camden and when I think about it there have only been two other towns where we have had that issue - Marblehead, MA. and Newport, RI.  What these towns have in common, in my opinion, is that almost every inch of land on their inner harbors has been claimed by someone or something and if that something is a park - it is not a boater friendly park.  There is a great little park on the harbor in Camden and we thought about draggin' that boat over a wall (photo above) and into the harbor but the tide was out and in the end, tired from the salt and sun in other places, we settled ourselves into a nice restaurant on the water for a drink and a snack and came up with a plan for the evening and next day.

Camden Harbor Moon Rise

We decided it was time to find a place to put our heads and get dinner so we could try putting the little boat in at Rockport in the morning.  First though, I put a phone call in to the Oaklands Seashore Cabins to see if they had a room for the night.  The Oaklands is a great place to stay if you like a rustic cabin on the water.  We stayed there once before on recommendation from a friend and remembered there was a little beach down a not too steep incline to the water where we might be able to put the boat in.   There was no room at that inn, unfortunately, but we have that plan stored away for another trip.    We ended up staying at another place for the night - the name escapes me but I will add it after I figure it out.   It was a very nice little place with a pool, a clean room and a great breakfast in the restaurant.  Ahhh - I found it (Towne Motel http://camdenmotel.com/)  After breakfast we got on the road to Rockport.

Rockport

Boat in Rockport Harbor

Rockport is another of those towns we had been through many times but not with the Merry Rowe II. We headed down to the town dock and paid a nominal fee to put the sailing dinghy in the water off the town dock. The first mate will scramble over almost any wall or other impediment with that boat on his back so we can avoid paying to launch it (usually about $5) but in this case I just wanted to see the harbor from the harbor and so we paid our fee, took the boat off the car and put it in off the town dock.   Rockport has the most beautiful collection of boats moored in the harbor. You can, and I did, spend hours looking at them and photographing them.  Each one is different and quintessentially New England.

Osprey!

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Boats of Rockport

Easy Access in Rockport Harbor

Rockport, Maine:
Sometimes Smaller is WAY Better

Rockport, Maine:
Run Back to the Harbor

We had a great sail in Rockport with the wind against us on a very hot day going out and then a great, very quick run back to the harbor dock.  We walked around a bit to see the statue of Andre the Seal (this is his home port) and to check out the abandoned lime kilns (a major industry in the 1800's) then decided to head out.  Next stop and currently my favorite Maine coast town, Rockland!

A Lake and Three Harbors: 72 Hours in Maine in The Nutshell Pram Post 2 of 4:: Belfast, Maine

A Lake and Three Harbors

72 Hours in Maine Our Nutshell Pram

Second of 4 Posts

+Belfast, Maine

Belfast from the Pedestrian Bridge

The Merry Rowe II (MRII) loaded on the Ford Focus, we checked out of The Cottages at China Lake in China, Maine after breakfast on the morning of our second day in Maine. The wedding on the lake was fabulous and we loved staying in our rugged little cabin on the lake with our new found friends. We had a great couple of rides on the lake and even got to share the boat with other party guests who love to sail. On our second day we found ourselves without wind on the lake and decided it was time to head to the Maine coast where we are always certain we will find a least a breeze. Within an hour we arrived in one of our favorite Maine destination spots - Belfast.

Loaded Up!

Belfast, Maine, even on a hot day in July is less crowded then most Maine harbor towns. It is a bit of a drive up the coast if you are starting in the south (2.5 hours from Kittery, Maine to Belfast, Maine) but entirely worth the drive. On this day we were able to put the nutshell pram in off the town dock and find a place to leave the car nearby.

Putting in the MRII Belfast, Maine

While the first mate put the boat in I found a street stand and got some lobster rolls, liquids and snacks for lunch. We took a wonderful sail around the harbor. The tide was on the way out but we still had plenty of wind and water to sail around the moored boats and get our first view of the Belfast Harbor shoreline from the water. The great thing about Belfast is that its is (almost) as enjoyable to be on land as it is to be on the water. There is a wonderful pedestrian way - the Belfast Harborwalk -( http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g40508-d7340198-Reviews-Belfast_Harborwalk-Belfast_Maine.html) that leads you past the new marina (the only place I've seen boats this big was in Newport, Rhode Island) and over a walking bridge across the river (Passagassawakeag River). It is absolutely worth the walk to the bridge.

The First Mate Takes and Tourist Break

Belfast has wonderful shops and restaurants. We had the best pad thai we have ever had in Belfast at Darbys Restaurant and Pub on High St. on a visit the prior year! We hemmed and hawed about staying in Belfast for the night but in the end decided to make our way south and put the MRII in another harbor in another town! Next stop Rockport (after a nice little pit stop in beautiful Camden).

A Lake and Three Harbors: 72 Hours in Maine in The Nutshell Pram, 1 of 4 Posts: China, Lake

A Lake and Three Harbors

72 Hours in Maine in The Nutshell Pram

The First of 4 Posts

The Bridal Party Arrives by Boat

When our dear family friend decided to marry the second of two men named Jack in China, Maine on a Thursday in July we did not think we could make it due to kids, work, and life in general. In the end, we RSVP'd late, missed the deadline for the publication of "the gift" (a recipe book filled with recipes and photos of all invited guests) but lucked out and slipped into a cabin bunk with a very hospitable couple that we had never met. Later for all those things, we made sure we were early for the wedding so that we could put the MRII on the lake before the festivities began.





The wind was up when we arrived after a 3 hour ride from our home base of Exeter, NH. After two years of carrying the MRII on the Ford Focus to lakes and harbors around New England, we have the process down to a science. As long as we can find parking and a put-in spot (any flat piece of land abutting water) the MRII can be ready to sail in under 15 minutes.





China Lake is a 3845 acre lake with property in Vasselboro and China, Maine which are northeast of Augusta, Maine. This is a beautiful lake. It is longer then wide and is very undeveloped along the shore. We put in at the beach at China Lake Cabins but according to www.maine.gov there are two access sites open to the public on China Lake. "There is an improved boat launch facility located in Vassalboro on the west basin near the outlet and a site located at the north end of the lake in the town of China.” https://www1.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/lakesurvey_maps/kennebec/china_lake.pdf

MRII Finds a Friend

The wind can be fickle on lakes and rivers and though we tried to catch a ride, the second day on China Lake was a bust for us. We packed her up early and made for the Maine coast. Next stop, Belfast.

On China Lake

Problems in the Head

Its been a bad house week.  On a really bad gardening day in my business we are fond of saying "there are days when a cubicle looks really good'.  On a really bad day dealing with issues in the house I'm fond of dreaming of the day I can say "kiss my ass I bought a boat I'm going out to sea" (Thanks Lyle Lovett).

This story is all about basements and sewer pipes and why a big boat looks really good right now.  I live in a very sweet old house that I got long-term, albeit temporary use of in the big D and most of it has seen improvements over the last 12 or so decades but the basement, well, I just don't think of improving it until its too late and I just MUST go down there. To get in the right space here you need to understand that my basement is a place I loathe to go.  It is the "dark place" "the dirty place" "the place for that stuff I can't take to the thrift store" and it is full of all the systems of the house I can't fix - the boiler, the water heater, the oil tank, etc.   Going down there gives me anxiety.  Its dirty.  Going down there gives me a sinus infection.  Hell, thinking about going down there gives me a sinus infection. I try very, very hard NOT to go down there unless it is to feed my compost worms (they live down there in their bin in the winter) or bleed the boiler which I need to do on occasion because, well I don't really know why I need to bleed the boiler but I've been told I need to do it and, well, I'm in charge of the house.

On Wednesday as I sat in my down jacket and hat with my warm coffee on the sofa in front of the warm wood stove, I hear the upstairs toilet flush and the downstairs toilet, well, it blurped.  In the recesses of my mind I pull up a vision from 12 years ago of a basement with water so I sprint to the "dark place".  Water.  I immediately bash my head on the cast iron heating pipe that hangs too low as you make your way to the bowels of the house and then break an unprotected and very important light bulb with my noggin.  So before I can even figure out what is leaking I must find a potato (I just knew I was saving that moldy sweet potato for something) so that I can get the remains of the light bulb out of the light fixture - thanks to the "ex" for that tip.  Light on the subject I realize that the leak is indeed from the area of the sewer pipe.  Shit!  Really?  Shit, shit, shit.

Being a girl and hoping beyond hope that it was not going to have to be ME in the basement cleaning for the next few days and realizing I need to stop the leaking, somehow, if I can, as soon as I can, I call my boyfriend (BF) and my ex for knight in shining armor backup.  However, and as usual, by the time they had it all figured out (neither on their way to help) I had it all figured out and had been to +Arjays for cleaning supplies, had instructed my kids they could not generate a drop of waste water in the house and had an appointment with +Rotor Rooter scheduled for the next day.

The sewer pipe from the street had clogged and had started to back up into the pipes in the house.  Lucky for me, I have an old defunct and leaky cast iron sewer pipe that has been cut and capped but still is connected to the sewer pipe that leads to the street.  So when the pipe clogged it backed into the leaky pipe and alerted me to a problem before it all backed up into the house.  Sometimes it pays to have old leaky things (there is a boat dream analogy in there somewhere).


There are times when I think owning a house, even one that I really like, sucks, but this little incident has almost sent me over the edge.  As you can imagine, I have been in loathed basement cleaning shit (literally) for the last two days and I am not done.  As I contemplate my third (and hopefully, final) day of being in the "dark place" and take another shot of Flonase to fend off the sinus infection I take a few minutes to search Craigslist for the beautiful 30+' boat that me, my kids and my BF can move onto sooner rather then later .  Ya see, problems in my house always make a boat look better.  I know, I know the grass is always greener. But humor me.  Its been a bad week.  Also, understand that in this living on a boat dream I am living in a place where I do not have to drink my coffee in a down jacket. No Craigslist saviors this day:(

In my newbie sailor mind, when I weigh the pros and cons of living on a boat, not having a basement is a huge plus.  First of all, you cannot own all that crap.  You can't own it because you can't  just "put it in the basement".  The grass seeder that you inherited from your ex-in-laws when they moved to Florida 10 years ago and that you have never, ever once used?  Ya, no.  The rocking horse that you had as a child and your kids used exactly once?  Ya, no.  Beanie Babies, baskets, boxes, books, broken rocking chairs, the cast iron sink from the downstairs bathroom remodel?  Ya, no.  There is just no room for unnecessary stuff on a boat.  It is downsizing on steroids.

In this weeks edition of my "I wanna live on a boat dream", what with the very dirty water in my basement, the closest thing to a basement you have on a boat is maybe the bilge. This is also kind of disgusting place.  The bilge can get pretty gross but jeez, it just seems so much more manageable then an entire disgusting dirt floor basement with cast iron pipes jumping out at you and your old rocking horse staring at you from the back corner. So, on a boat I'd have less stuff and a smaller "basement" to deal with.

I KNOW I KNOW you boaters screaming at me over the internet -  issues with a head on a boat are legendary.  But, having read some stuff and assuming any issues are related to the workings of the head and are not structural to the boat, I feel pretty confident that I could (hopefully, fingers crossed) fix whatever goes wrong with the cost of supplies and without writing the $534 check to Roto Rooter.  In my dream I get a certain satisfaction from at least trying to fix it myself.  Actually, in my dream I fix it myself in under 2  hours for less then $50 and then go to the beach.


I also think about the fact that if I had lived on a boat, say, for the last 10 years, I would not have purchased that big ole Dell desktop or any of those printers, telephones, computer screens or televisions that I realize are still lurking in the space below.  I don't think I'd have the 4 kids bikes (suitable for ages 3-12).  I definitely would have chucked the bin of canned goods from Y2K a long time ago (you don't want to know).   I am absolutely sure that the 5 pair of old skis and poles down there would be gone.   I have to think that my throw away possessions would be significantly less.  My entire footprint would be less- less crap, fewer throw away purchases, a smaller living space.

For now, though, my 16 year old does not seem keen on giving up his potential high school basketball career to take up the nautical life.  So its house life for me for the next little while.  I will take some satisfaction in the fact that "the dirty place" is now fairly clean.  The thrift store has possession of a least two loads of stuff that I didn't even know I had and I hope someone else will find a use for those items.  After trash day on Wednesday the bags of waste generated from my cellar will be a distant memory.  I am taking solace in the report from Cliff - the Roto Rooter guy ("been doin' this for 18 years") who says my sewer pipe to the street is in good shape.  Perhaps the next time the pipe decides to clog up I will be dealing with a head instead of a bathroom and some other good soul will be here to clean up the "dark place".

Build it and She will Sail

We have just returned from a sailing school vacation with Swain Sailing on a 36' Beneteau out of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. This brilliant idea was mine - an attempt to get my butt on a warm sandy beach while keeping my first mate cognitively and physically engaged in his surroundings.  Ya see, I've come to realize that he doesn't really "get" my concept of vacation (whereby I sit on a beach with book and rum) so I thought it would be prudent to try to keep him busy while I veg.  It was a busy week but one that we both enjoyed.   The BVI are a great place to learn to sail!

Sailing the BVIs

As I sit here in my down jacket in front of the wood stove eating the first mates awesome veggie chili, I have to say I am missing the Caribbean and our stay on the boat.  Nothing can compare to crawling out of your berth, grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting in the cockpit in the warmth of the early morning sun.  Hope is in the air here in NH, though.  It is late February and this winter has been incredibly balmy by NH standards.  This morning I had my coffee on the side porch in the sun (in my down jacket and hat).  A walk around the garden this morning turned up green sprouts of daffodils.  It is all happening quickly and early this season and it has me looking forward to our first sailing day of 2016 and thinking about how this sailing thing started for me.

My still fledgling sailing career actually got its kickstart  in a garage in Kennebunk, Maine.    In 2011, the first mate and his Dad conceivved to build this little gem of a sailing dinghy from a plan they bought from +Woodenboat Magazine.  Its called a Nutshell Pram and it is 9'6" long.   They finished her in 2013 and christened her in the Mousam River (alas I was not there to photograph the moment).  Here is the link to the boat plans if you have any inclination to try this at home: http://www.woodenboatstore.com. She is called the Merry Rowe II.

The MRII in Progress
Kennebunk, Maine

They built the boat over a number of weekends, one heart attack (Dad) and one back operation (Dad). The fruit of their efforts has been my gateway to the sailing world.  This little boat has taken us all over Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Well, of course, WE have taken IT all over Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  It is literally a boat in a bag.  It stows quite nicely on the top of the ole Ford Focus and all its accoutrements fit in one perfect bag.

Here it is on the +Ford at +Potts Harbor, Maine.  The sail is always rigged and all the lines, sail, yards and mast fit nicely on the car and under the boat.  Oars fit too!  The little box is actually the remains of my fathers cat, Wolfie - the reason we were in Maine that weekend and a story for another time.  The mast was a struggling  Colorado Blue Spruce growing in Parsonsfield, Maine, again, a story for a later date.

The MRII on the Ford
Harpswell, Potts Harbor, Maine

Here is "the bag" -the cream/green thing - on the beach at Sebago Lake, Maine.  That's the first mate under the MRII and yes, this is how we get her in the water (another subject deep enough for an entire post).  The rudder, tiller, centerboard, oar locks, belaying pin, bailing supplies and PFDs fit in that bag.  The other bags are the stuff the first mate can live without but I cannot- beer, sunscreen and a fleece at minimum.

The MRII on the First Mate and the bag on the Beach.
Sebago Lake, Maine

The first mate has patiently taught me to sail this little boat over the last 3 summers.  We have sailed it on rivers, lakes, bays and harbors.   There are conversations popping up here about retirement, bigger boats and smaller houses- longer term adventures of the sailing sort on a vessel with a galley and a head.  For now, these are hopeful dreams for the future.  This year, as in past years, it will be the MRII that will get us up and out on warmer weekends for sailing adventures of the smaller kind. I hope to keep this blog up to date with stories about our adventures aboard the MRII!

Martin Lutin King Day

No, that's not a typo. "Martin Lutin King Day" is what my kids call it.

What I did Today...
Instead of doing all the stuff I should have done today (read...review paperwork for D.), I took the little guy to return his jeans. Ended up with $81 worth of stuff we probably would not have owned unless I had made that original $19.99 purchase for a Christmas present. How's that for stimulating the economy?

On the Business Front...
Ahhh, the life of a small business owner. Of course, this deserves a blog all its own. We continue to deal with this issue of independent contractor vs. employee which threatens to drive us back to cubicle world. I should be writing letters to my congresspeople and senators explaining exactly why it is that we need an "intermediate" level of employment that allows small business (and especially seasonal small businesses) to reach a level before they must enter the world of "payroll". Yikes, I hate that word. Instead I created my blog.

The Big D...
Still have not looked in the folder.

On Politics...
I received yet another radical muslim email today. I cannot believe that so many people have chosen to forward such ridiculousness. I have done my part and voiced my opinion to the sender and all those to whom she cc:d it. Heard through the grapevine that I took the email "personally". To which I say, well, everyone otta. At the very least I took it seriously.