Boothbay, Maine...the way cruising should be

     The fog held off long enough for us to easily find and secure Doc's Holiday on a very stout mooring.  The mooring field seemed very well protected with surrounding hills, no hint of ocean swells and even with working lobster boats and several cruise boats, tolerable wakes. We settled in with a cocktail (or two) while I fired up the barbecue. Beth prepared the salad and fresh organic bread we had purchased in Rockland.

                                                                           

 Second most photographed church in Maine. Apparently JFK attended this church when visiting Maine.

     We knew we had run over a lobster buoy mooring so we hooked up the new fish camera to our boat hook and looked down at the props.  There it was, a rope around our starboard prop. It just happened that a boater in a dingy was passing by and when I asked if he new of any divers in the area he told me to call Cage, in the pump out boat.
     Cage was a nice young fellow, who when not running the pump out boat, made his living lobstering and diving for the local lobster boats to get rope off of their props.  Ha! Ha! victims of their own bad deeds.....putting pots in navigation channels and around our moorings!
Cage came back the next day with his lobster partner, and in just a wet suit, let out a couple of yelps as he hit the cold water. He did a free dive and cut the line from our prop as well as checked out the stabilizers and the port side prop.  Damn! I can't hold my breath that long on the back deck, let alone in the cold water of Boothbay Harbor....I know I tried to hold my breath when he was down!  It's hard to beat youth.
                                                                             

                                                                                 

      By the next morning the fog lifted, so we launched the dingy eager to take the dogs for a run and explore Boothbay. This turned out to be a long walk from Carousel Marina, so when the dogs began to tire we took them back to the boat and used the dingy to putt around the harbor. Once we found the town dingy dock we tied up and ( in the sunshine and shorts)  did a walking tour.
     Stately old Captain's houses, now turned into Bed and Breakfast lodgings lined the main street across from the tourist shops and waterside restaurants. I will let Beth's pictures do the talking on the tour, however I have to mention Kaler's Crab and Lobster House. I have consumed many bowls of fish chowder, clam chowder and seafood chowder in my life, but Kaler's lobster/corn chowder really is the best I have ever had.  They also have a touch tank with live lobsters for children and for adults, at high tide, a bell goes off and special drink prices go into effect.

                                                                               

                                                                  Old B&B
                                                        
                                                                                  

                                                                  Tug Boat Inn


                                                                               

                              Yummy twin lobsters at Browns Wharf Inn on our second night.

                                                                                 

                                                   Along with a beautiful sunset!



     The weather is forecast to be patchy fog with 1 to 3 miles visibility and only 1 to 2 foot seas.  We planned on leaving in the morning to head for York Maine, however I noticed a problem.
     The generator was smoking. At first I thought it was the effects of cold air but when it did it in the warm sun, the smoke got my attention.  Closer observation revealed a dark diesel stain on the hull where the generator exhaust streams. Since on this trip we plan on holding down our marina costs (some of these places are charging $3.50/foot per night plus a charge for electric and water!) and we are headed to a place where without air conditioning a used to the cold Canadian would die, we decided to redirect to Portland to get a mechanic to check out the problem with the generator and the port motor starter.