The Log of the Jabberwocky: August 2009

Bar Harbor, ME

Actually doing this blog entry from the Bar Harbor Library. We managed to get to Ellsworth via the bus system with success and got a replacement phone. We got back to Bar Harbor around 2:30 and visited the campus of the College of the Atlantic a small private college that has a student body of 300 students total. They specialize in the arts and sciences. Lovely campus just out of town and on the water front. We saw their Natural History Museum and walked the grounds.

We are watching Hurricane Bill very carefully. It is due to be off the coast here sometime on the weekend. Forecasts put it off shore a couple of hundred miles, but I am sure we will see some affects of the storm if nothing other than a significant ocean swell working its way into the local bays.

One of our key entertainments in all the sea coast towns is the local libraries are having their late summer book sales. In Boothbay the library has its own permanent used book store with books on the porch for 10 cents a piece! Here in Bar Harbor we bought books at the Somesville Library and at least 3 times here at the main library. In fact there are more books for sale than I think he library has on the shelves.

One more day here. We plan on going to Jordan Lake up in the National Park and then head back to Penobscot Bay on Friday to stay over at Rockland Harbor and then go to Islesboro's Dark Harbor on Saturday if we can get on our mooring a day early.

Somes Harbor, Mount Desert Island, ME

We have progressed as far east as we are going this year. We arrived at Mount Desert Island several days ago and find ourselves in a place with no internet or cell phone access unless we go into Bar Harbor, ME a 20 minute bus ride from here and sit out side the town library.

Another interesting technology is the new digital TV. In prior years with the analog TV we could always get couple of stations in this are. They may have been fuzzy but you could watch and listen. With the "new" technology if the signal is weak then the TV goes blank and our TV antenna is 60 feet in the air. We have reached a point in this harbor with its surrounding 1000 foot hills that the TV has given up and just asks us to scan for stations, which we do to no avail. We not sure we are missing much!

I am sending this to our blog via email on my ham radio transmitter. I get good contact with a ham station in Halifax about 190 miles from here.

We really love this harbor. It is almost completely surrounded by land generally populated by pine trees. We can see the occasional house on shore and looking south out of the narrow harbor entrance we can see Somes Sound which is the only fiord certainly on the East Coast of the US. When we motor to shore, we walk up a short dirt road and can catch a bus that is sponsored by LL Bean every summer here and get to almost any where on the island (with transfers) that we want to go for free.

Our cell phone has sustained some physical damage and needs replaced. Upon calling ATT we found that the nearest store is 40miles and of course we are on foot. After a number of inquires we found out about a regional bus service that will get us to the town of Ellsworth, ME. These kinds of transportation problems are interesting as most people you talk to have a car and never use public transport and are unaware of how to use it. It leaves from the local Hannovers Grocery and I had to walk over there yesterday to get the details and fortunately they had a detailed schedule. So off we go tomorrow morning early. With getting the early express bus that we have to flag down on the main road and connections we will leave our boat around 7:10 am and get to Ellsworth at around 10 am. This is not bad for what would be a 30 minute car ride.

The weather has been extremely hot for Maine and we are seeing temps in the high 80's. Summer has finally come at the end of summer.

We are heading west back to Penobscot Bay on Friday or Saturday. Our nice Kristin's husbands family live on Isleboro an Island in the middle of the bay and we will be visiting for a couple of days. After that we will start our journey south with hopes of being in the Chesapeake the middle of September if the weather cooperates.

More Nantucket

Nantucket Whaling Museum

One of the working boats launched from the whaling ships to hunt and harpoon the whales.

An example of scrimshaw in an exhibit at the whaling museum

View of the main harbor looking east from the top of the museum.

The skeleton of a whale that beached itself on the Island a few years ago.

The Congregational Church. We climbed the steple to get a good view of the town.

Local home on Main Street. This neighborhood was occupied by whale ship owners and merchants. Note the cobble stone street that has been preserved in this part of town.

What owning a few whaling ships would buy you in the early 1800's. This owner built a similiar home next door for his sister as a wedding gift. Very lovely inside.

The oldest working windmill in the United States. It was and is used to grind corn.

View north from the top of the Congregational Church steple.

Early morning in Nantucket Harbor with the endless fog.

Some local summer cottages in one of the beach areas. This is very typical. Everyone generally has beautiful perenial flower gardens around their homes and businesses.

Another cottage by the beach.

Rockland, ME 14 August 2009

It has been a while since our last blog from Marths Vineyard. Since then we have spend a few days in Nantucket, MA and then passed through Mattapoisett, MA, Provinencetown, MA, Boothbay Harbor, ME and we are now at Rockland, ME (Penobscot Bay) and will head east to Mt. Dessert Island (Bar Harbor area) in a day or so. We had a most enjoyable time in Nantucket. It is such a lovely island. The whole island is listed as a National Historic Site. Just a beatiful place.

Joyce on one of the many beaches

Summer homes overlooking the beach.

We will provide more pictures when we can. Our Internet connectivity is poor here.

Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard, MA 2 August 2009

In order to travel from the Buzzards Bay side of the Elizabeth Islands off Massachusetts to Vineyard Sound and then on to Martha's Vineyard we passed through Woods Hole. This is a narrow passage between the town of Woods Hole on Cape Cod and Naushon Island, the first Island in the chain. The tides run hard here to 4 knots and we entered against the tide yesterday around midday and at times were only making about 2.5 knots of forward progress through the Hole. You can see the turbulent water.

These are very large buoys and they are bent over in the current. It is very hard to control our boat in these conditions and we were glad to be through it.

Here is the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

One of the endless stream of ferry boats that brings people, cars and trucks to Martha's Vineyard from Woods Hole and Hyannis.

The Tisbury Town Hall. The area was settled in the late 1600's

A local schooner at sunset. Something that is popular with the local turists.

We are anchored in the main harbor at Vineyard Haven and this morning the local yacht club had its starting line for Sunday races about 100 yards from our boat.

We will spend the day here as yet another cold front is coming through with the promise of more rain and then hopefully head to Nantucket tomorrow. It is about a 30 mile trip.