Maine - places to see this summer

[kben]

Guys:

My husband and I are going to the Wooden Boat show in Rockland, Maine, in July. We've never been to the state before, but are planning to spend 10 days there. We'd really appreciate your suggestions of which areas/yards/marinas/museums are not to be missed by owners and lovers of wooden boats. We built our own Herreshoff Nereia so have a huge interest in seeing some yards where there are interesting boat building projects going on, if we can weasle our way in. We're also planning to cruise up there in the next year or so (we hope) and so will be looking at anchorages, etc. Would very much appreciate your pointers.

Cheers,
Kitty

[ken mcclure]

Oh, no you don't. You don't come on here, tell us you've built a Neria, and then just blithely ask questions about Maine.

Here's the procedure.

First you post pictures of the boat. Then you tell us about building her. THEN you can ask away!!! tongue.gif

Anyplace along the coast of Maine is worth visiting. My wife and I liked Southwest Harbor, Bar Harbor, the Wells-Kennebunk area. I liked Brooklin because of this neat place that has a bookstore, a large boatshop and publishes a magazine about wooden boats. Can't remember the name of the place right now.

If you have the time, take the ferry from Bar Harbor over to Nova Scotia and visit Lunenburg.

[Bruce Hooke]

There are all sorts of wonderful places to visit in a boat...

The Penobscot to Blue Hill Bay area offers almost endless possibilities although you do have to be willing to explore a bit if you want to find solitude there in the middle of the summer. For example the area know as "Hells Half Acre" off Stonington will likely have a couple of dozen boats on a summer evening, often including one of or more members of the schooner fleet, but other nearby achorages that are less obvious or harder to get into may well be deserted. If you have the time to get east of Schoodic and Petit Manan you will find some spectacular and wild country with a lot fewer people. For information on which islands are accessable to the public visit http://www.mita.org . They are more focused on kayakers and other small craft folks but the islands that are listed as available for camping on by kayakers are also often nice places to stop for a walk if you are on a larger boat. I believe that to get their guide you have to join but it is a very worthwhile organization...

- Bruce

[Dave R]

How about a stop at Monhegan Island and Boothbay Harbor. If I remember right there's a great place for lobsters along Atlantic Avenue. It looks like they enclosed a section of the pier with a bunch of sliding patio doors. I think cleanup at night consists of hosing the place down.

I'll bet it's the Boothbay Region Lobstermen's Co-Op that I'm thinking of.

[ 03-27-2002, 10:02 AM: Message edited by: Dave R ]

[kben]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody. Keep 'em coming. Ken, you are so funny. Here's a link to a couple of pictures of Equinox. Hope this works: Equinox Photos (http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/svequinox/lst?.dir=/Equinox&.src=ph&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/svequinox/vwp%3f.dir=/Equinox%26.dnm=Spars.jpg%26.src=ph&.view=t).

Since you twist my arm I'll tell you a little about the project while trying not to bore you too much. As I said, it's a Herreshoff Nereia, built from the instructions and table of offsets in Sensible Cruising Designs. We began in 1986, launched in 2000 and just got the spars installed in January. Still no sails, but we're working on that. It's strip planked in cypress over yellow pine, both woods that are relatively cheap, durable and available here in St. Petersburg, FL. We did everything ourselves, and I mean everything. Collected lead tire weights to melt and pour into a cement keel mold that we built ourselves, etc., etc. We never, ever thought it would take so long to accomplish, but we're very happy now to be living aboard and making plans to go cruising. We have some interior work to finish -- not a whole lot, and we need to find a sailmaker that will return our calls (hard in racing season down here), but are hoping to be done in the next year.

Cheers,
Kitty

[bob goeckel]

we went last fall. thanks to suggestions we went all the way downeast to Lubec and then to Campobello (see roosevelt's summer home) don't miss it and ask around how to get to Jasper's beach! and take the ferry to Eastport. and go to the Woodenboat offices and school and warf and go see.........well just take every little road that runs down to the ocean. oh and go whale watching in the bay of fundy and......

[Dave R]

Kitty, I got an error message--something about a restricted area. And I was so excited to see your pictures.

And no, you aren't boring us with your boat. That's why we're here.

[Joe Dupere]

Originally posted by bob goeckel:
ask around how to get to Jasper's beach! ...Dangit! Who told you about Jasper's Beach!? It says right in the Maine state resident's contract,

"Revelation of the location of Jasper's Beach to outahstatahs is strictly prohibited".

Oh, well Bob, now that you know, isn't Jasper's Beach a wicked cool place? It's a great place to go with kids, we make an annual pilgrimage every summer.

Joe

[kben]

Darn. I don't know how to post pictures to this forum, so figured you could get to them at my Yahoo pictures thing. Sorry that didn't work. If anybody can tell me how to post them here (I've read FAQs, but don't see anything) I'd be happy to.

Cheers,
Kitty

[Doug Wood]

Kitty,

A few places to visit while you're here in the Great State of Maine...

- While you're in Rockland checking out the Wooden Boat show, you may want to visit the Farnsworth Art Museum - especially if you enjoy the works of the Wyeth clan.
- Just up the road in Rockport, you can visit the folks at Rockport Marine - world-class wooden boat builders.
- Camden is a great stop for viewing the fleet of Windjammers that call Camden Harbor home. Camden's also the home of Wm. Cannell Boatbuilders, and they're located in the American Boat House.
- Head up to Brooklin but on your way up, (Rt. 1) stop off and say hi to Charlie Dhyser at the Maine Coast Boathouse. Charlie usually has a great selection of small boats like H12 1/2's, Havens, Peapods, Whitehalls etc. - even an ocassional Friendship Sloop
- Once in Brooklin, head over to the WoodenBoat campus. Be careful though, you may not want to leave.
- Tons of world-class boat builders in Brooklin but you may want to check out Brooklin Boat Yard; again, a world reknowned builder and Center Harbor is right outside their window. It's usually filled to capacity with beautiful boats.

I'll stop now. Hope you enjoy your trip.

dsw

[Dave R]

Kitty, ya done alright here by just posting the link here. I think your problem is at Yahoo. Maybe you have some setting there that needs to be changed.

By the way, if you need help on your cruise to Maine I could help. I make good ballast :D

[ken mcclure]

Argh. Restricted area.

I'd love to hear how your Neria is doing. I've read through the plan/etc in "Sensible Cruising Designs" until the pages are becoming frayed.

I'm fascinated with the idea of attaching the garboards directly to the lead keel, and am wondering whether you built her that way and how it's working out.

I think that if I were to build a cruising sailboat, it would either be Neria or Marco Polo. Or maybe a Gartside design. Or maybe ......

[rbgarr]

Enough people know about Hell's Half Acre already... no need to tell anyone else about it!

But it's written up in Taft's "Maine Coast" one of the best cruising guides for the area.

[kben]

Ken and others:

I think you're right about the level of permissions on Yahoo, and I think I've fixed it (I hope)!

Try going to Equinox (http://photos.yahoo.com/svequinox) when you get a chance. There are a few things there, but the two photos of our boat are under "Equinox" on the left.

Cheers,
Kitty

[ken mcclure]

Well. Got a nice pic of a handsome little guy just waking up, but no boat. smile.gif

[bugeye]

hi,
Oh, there are so many places to go in penobscot bay! Holbrook Island, up near Castine is very nice. Anchor on the south side of the island. It is very well protected. It might be better to go at low tide, because there are some unmarked rocks that are visible only then. The island is a wildlife sanctuary, very nice. Also near Castine is Smith Cove which is like a mill pond even during a hurricane. Bear Island near the eastern end of EggMcMuffin reach is great. I have no idea why everyone seems to know of Hell's half acre, and nowhere else in the area. There are at least a dozen equally good islands to go to within sight of it. That's all that I'll mention here, if you want more, you'll have to come and say hello to me. I'll be working on my boat over at the north end shipyard, which is right next to Atlantic Challenge's dock, which is where the WoodenBoat show will be. And you should only go to Boothbay if you're interested in overcrouding and lots of powerboats.

[Steve Lansdowne]

I've done Maine sightseeing for the past two summers and was quite impressed with the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. It is on the water adjacent to a large shipyard that builds boats for the military.

Another fun place was the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head just south of Rockland off Route 73, adjacent to the Knox County Airport. This has all sorts of restored cars and airplanes, and all the plane are flown regularly. There is also a nearly full size copy of the Wright brother's plane.

[kben]

Thanx everybody for your wonderful suggestions. Much appreciated. I think (of course, I've thought this before) that the problem linking to two photos of our boat has been fixed if anybody wants to give it a try. They're at http://photos.yahoo.com/svequinox.

Kitty

[ken mcclure]

Oh, man. finally saw the 2 pics. Can't wait to hear/see more. Looks like you guys did a GREAT job!

[Bruce Hooke]

Just to clarify a point...I mentioned Hells Half Acre to make the point that I would probably NOT go there in high season both because it is too crowded, and because there are so many other nice spots nearby that nobody seems to notice...

The suggestion on Castine is a good one. After spending the night in peace and quite over near Holbrook Island or in Smith Cove head over to town and spend a little time walking around. It is a small, very picturesque town with quite an amazing history, some of which you can read about on the historic markers around town.

[bob goeckel]

Originally posted by Joe Dupere:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by bob goeckel:
ask around how to get to Jasper's beach! ...Dangit! Who told you about Jasper's Beach!? It says right in the Maine state resident's contract,

"Revelation of the location of Jasper's Beach to outahstatahs is strictly prohibited".

Oh, well Bob, now that you know, "isn't Jasper's Beach a wicked cool place?" It's a great place to go with kids, we make an annual pilgrimage every summer.
you sure can't sneak up on anyone there.

Joe</font>[/QUOTE]

[ 04-01-2002, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: bob goeckel ]

[bob goeckel]

joe i was trying to say you sure can't sneak up on anyone on the beach.

[brian.cunningham]

Went over to Bar Harbor when I went up to the WB show last time. Got out on the two masted schooner in the harbour.

If you have time there's a real nice National Forest near by.

[Hughman]

Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org (http://www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org)
13 buildings/largest marine painting collection north of Essex/3 buildings of boats/etc. etc.

[Jeff Evans]

I've enjoyed sailing through the Fox Isle Thoroghfare (sp?) and Isle au Haut. There are some great hikes from Duck Harbor on Isle au Haut - great pebble beaches and views on the south end. Harbor Island just north of Isle au Haut has a nice anchorage as does Damariscove Island just east of the Mouth of the Sheepscott River (although it's really tight getting in). Damariscove is owened by The Nature Conservancy and has a very interesting Human and Natural History. The caretakers are usually happy to show visitors around and explain a bit. I'll add more if I think of any.