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It is with heavy hearts that we pulled up our anchor one last time and headed South from Maine.
Not one of us really wanted to leave, even though the crisp chill at night and at sunrise was foreboding more and more signs of fall and winter.
All of us saw so many interesting things and had so many good times that it saddened us to realize our time was up. We’d like to be in the Chesapeake and to Annapolis by the end of September, and we need to spend a little time in our old stomping grounds in Rhode Island to clear up some loose ends and say some final goodbyes to friends and family. So coming up to last weekend, we saw the wind turning North on Sunday night and our weather window opening for a quick sail – so we took it.
If you’ve not been following all the posts, we’ve done some really neat things here and I think we all had some things we loved a little more or differently than the others. Speaking for myself, I love the quiet mornings at anchor, the rugged beauty of the islands and mountains, the abundant and varied wildlife, the quaint and neat towns, the helpful people, and of course the first rate lobsters!
For Danielle, I know the wildlife and animals were particularly special. No day was complete for her unless she saw a seal (pretty much every day was complete), the porpoises made her smile and the eagles, ospreys, loons and ducks were a never ending source of amusement. Particularly special to her were the Puffins on Eastern Egg Rock, and a small flock of well groomed sheep at the Blue Hill Fair.
Day in and day out Will was in a constant thrall from the parade of gorgeous boats. From the Hinckley sailboats (his favorite) and power boats, to the windjammers and gaff rigged sloops and schooners – as he put it he could go days without seeing an ugly boat. Even most of the lobster boats were notably more trim than we are used to down South, and there were a lot of interesting boats derived from the basic lobster boat around. He certainly enjoyed the wildlife too, but boats are one of his passions.
I can’t speak so much for Kathy, I know we enjoyed a lot of the family time together but I’m hoping to get her to find her voice out here too. All the wildlife and natural beauty, walks in woods, and the peace and quiet you didn’t have to look hard to find – we enjoyed these together.
We are all sad to know that it will be many years before we can come back this way again. Our long term plans have us being our of North America for some time before we can be back. But this summer we banked a lot of memories!
