Linekin Bay / Boothbay Harbor

Sunset on Linken Bay

Boothbay Harbor is one of the more well known tourist destinations in mid-coast Maine, it would have been a shame to pass it by on our way from Casco Bay to Penonscot Bay.  So we set our next stop to Boothay Harbor.

The sail over from near the Cheabeauge Islands was easy and fun, right until we turned more North and the wind went behind us and got light.  And the rolling started.  So to spare the sails and the boat from banging we motored the last couple of hours in.  We still saw a few pods of harbor porpoises!

Boothbay Harbor itself is fairly strict with anchoring.  It is only permitted in one small area of the harbor.  However nearby Linekin Bay is a short walk from the harbor and is much more open to anchoring.  As it turns out it is also quiet, beautiful, and has a couple of pairs of ospreys to keep you entertained.

One downside to the Linekin anchorage is the lack of a dinghy landing.  The cruising guide says “just pull the dinghy in at the town park” or some such nonsense…without regard to the twelve foot tides.  We really tried to work around the tide thing, and the dinghy DID end up pretty much were we expected it too.  It was just the water that ended up a lot further away than we expected.

The main inflatable RIB (or “Rigid Inflatable Boat”) weighs about 160 lbs or so, the engine weighs another 70 lbs.  Add in a six gallon fuel tank (mostly full…say 40 lbs), and a bit of gear and you get a pretty heavy boat.   Maybe, on a smooth flat surface wearing our shoes the four of us could pick it up and move it a few feet at a time…if it had decent places for handles.  In ankle deep mud, barefoot, on a bottom covered with rocks, shells, and crabs…not so much chance of moving it the seventy-five feet or so that it takes to get the boat afloat again at dead low tide.

Fortunately for us, we noticed that a four foot piece of 3″ PVC pipe had also been left stranded in the mud.  Quickly we put this to use as a roller under the boat which let us roll it down the beach one boat length at a time.  From there it was a question of just walking the boat out into enough water to float it with four of us on board, then rowing it out a couple of hundred more yards until it was deep enough to put down the engine…

Boothbay Harbor itself is a nice little town although the tourist influence is pretty clear.  We’d only planned a short stay, but it’s pretty clear that you could spend a lot of time in the area exploring the various parks, nature trails, breweries, shops and restaurants.

For us though, being anchored in a place like Linekin Bay is what it’s all about.