Rockland to MDI and Back

This summer Rockland has become somewhat of a "base" for us. For several reasons we keep returning every week or ten days. There are prettier and better protected harbors, but Rockland stands out for having convenient stores and marine services as well as good connections to the big city (Portland) which we have needed. It also has some good restaurants and an excellent art museum.

In other harbors the sunsets are spectacular. In Rockland it is the sunrises over the breakwater and Penobscot bay to the east that are the most beautiful. Of course, one has to get up very early to see the sunrise at its best (before 5 AM).










Since the last post, we spent several days in Seal Bay on Vinalhaven Island with friends on their boats. (There really are a lot of seals there, see photo to left.)










S/V TROPICBIRD anchored in Seal Bay.













Goose Rocks Light (Photo to left) is in the Fox Island Thorofare, a narrow waterway between Vinalhaven and Northhaven Islands on the way to Seal Bay.










After Seal Bay and a brief return to Rockland, we went further east to Mt. Desert Island.

Bass Harbor Bar Light (photo to left) is the "landfall" on Mt. Desert Island coming from from the west.









We anchored in Cranberry Harbor (adjacent to MDI) the first night, and then spent several days on a mooring at Northeast Harbor.

(Photo to left, view of the mountains on MDI from Cranberry Harbor with our friends Block Island 40 sailing.)





There is a free bus service that provides good connections around Acadia National Park and other locations Mt. Desert Island. We took one day to go to Jordan Pond and hike the trail there. (Photo to left, Jordan Pond and the "Bubbles")

Another day we took the bus to Bar Harbor.















After a few days at Northeast we moved a couple of miles to a Hinkley mooring in Southwest Harbor where we met friends who stay there for the season. Hinkley has very nice facilities and surprisingly is not particularly expensive.

(Photo to left, view up Southwest Harbor from Hinkley Moorings.)





We stopped in Buckle Harbor and Pupit Harbor on the return to Rockland. A line of heavy thunderstorms came across Penobscot bay and over Pulpit Harbor just before sunset. Just as the storm passed, the sky to the northwest over the Camden Hills cleared for another spectacular sunset.