Somes Sound to Camden, ME

Somes Sound turned out to be a very long stay. However, it was a very nice stay even though we had to solve our engine problem. Every day consisted of taking the LLBean bus to Southwest Harbor where there were all kinds of amenities, to try to find the right screw to close up the leak. Finally, we decided to bring the boat down to Southwest Harbor to have the diesel mechanic look at it. We were running dangerously low on water and we needed to get diesel too. On our last night at Somes Sound though, Ray and Helen from Rigamarole came into the Sound and we finally met up with them. They joined us on John Ray for dinner. We had chicken cacciatore a la Michele and dessert courtesy of Helen. Good fun was had by all. Even Ray was happy because he got to have meatballs too. Actually, he told me that my meatballs tasted like his Italian grandmother's meatballs. So I was quite pleased with my bad self.

We finally got the leak in the engine plugged up. After we finally found the right size set screw/plug or whatever you want to call it, it wouldn't fit in. Everyone we talked to at Yanmar and other diesel mechanics told us what it should be, but it just didn't want to work. So we travelled down to Southwest Harbor and had the diesel mechanic at Down East Diesel look at it. He had it fixed up in an hour. The problem was that the mechanic who did the install plugged it up with a metal screw and it had rotted out leaving pieces behind. Obviously, we couldn't fit the same screw in there when pieces of the old screw were still there. While Steve and the mechanic futzed around with the boat, Michele met Robb and Terri Lukens (and Eli and Casey) for lunch. Robb is a teacher at Michele's school and his wife teaches at Thayer Academy. It was very nice of them to drive down from their cottage to meet with us, and it was extremely nice of them to treat for lunch! Thanks guys.

So, with our boat in no danger of sinking, we headed to Swan Island and anchored at beautiful Mackerel Cove. The anchorage was very peaceful and scenic. The next day we reluctantly left Mackerel Cove and headed to Seal Harbor at Vinalhaven Island. We arrived fairly early in day, but the anchorage was already slightly crowded. There was still plenty of room for us though. We had the choice between Seal Harbor or Winter Harbor and chose seal. However, at high tide you're able to dinghy all the way around from Seal to Winter. Winter Harbor is where we saw the seals though. Both anchorages were beautiful. Again, very scenic and very peaceful. It was so peaceful that we decided to stay another day. We went ashore to a little island in the middle of the harbor and Steve collected a couple dozen muscles which he cooked up for dinner with garlic, butter and linguine. It was delicious!

This morning we left Vinalhaven and we arrived here at Camden Harbor this afternoon where we are doing much needed laundry. Domenic is meeting us here for a couple of days so we will be exploring the area around Camden.