Maine

We arrived in Kittery with a glimmer of light left and rather than anchor, we picked up a mooring. Something I’m not used to doing but it wasn’t too bad. We only stayed on the ball for the night, and then headed to Plymouth, NH just across the water, to get some fuel and water. Then onward to Cape Porpoise on July 10th.
Wearisome from watching for pots, I got the lines ready for mooring as we were picking up a ball that Brian’s friend owns. The line dropped overboard and I couldn’t pull it in, Brian was convinced it wrapped in the rudder. We were close to the narrow entrance with rocks and lots of lobster pots. He shut off the engine and hoisted the sail and called the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, I was sure the line wasn’t 60ft long (to reach the propeller), eventually it became unstuck from whatever it got caught on under the boat. He called off the CG and we continued into the Bay, barely skirting the pots. We picked up the mooring and let out a sigh of relief.
We explored the town of Cape Porpoise, and found a great coffee spot and a grocery store. We also went to a lobster Car (looks like an ice fishing hut) and bought some lobsters (on two different occasions) directly from the fisherman. We also visited the lighthouse and climbed to the top, and rang the bell on the odd triangle structure.
We rented a car from Enterprise in Biddeford. It was the same morning as a man was shot by ICE. After renting the car we went to the Laundromat, and learned about it after a confrontation happened with a man wearing a MAGA hat.
We visited several bookstores in the area and a health food store.
We returned to explore and visited Kennebunkport. Lots of neat shops, bookstores and trees. I think we bought nearly 20 books between all the stores we visited. We also bought SeaBags for the kids (beverage bags, made out of sails). We put wine, Perrier, sprinkles, nuts, chocolate, and a book and card from Dad. When we weren’t shopping we installed a new faucet in the forward head.
I had called the Border Protection in Portland about checking out of the country. Talked to a great guy, who wasn’t going to be working on the 15th when I would be in town but told me to call the 14th and set a time with them. I called back and they said they don’t do check-out and that we would have to use a form 1300. I downloaded it, but it has no spot for listing people onboard, so there was no point. I guess I’ll deal with the USA again when I go back. 🙄
On July 15th we went to Portland and walked through the museum, then to Mr Tuna to meet the kids. Then we went to the Airbnb in Old Orchard Beach (Pine Point). Phoebe and Ian went to the grocery store and the rest of us went for a walk on the beach, then the kids cooked supper and we went for another beach walk (the Canadian fires were making the air very thick, and cool). In the morning we went for another walk, and I made a big breakfast for all. We had gotten the sailing report from Chris Parker, who recommended we leave on the 16th. We said goodbye to Phoebe & Aiko, Marly, Ben and Bailey 🐾 and Ian at the 10am checkout and drove back to the boat, hoisted the dinghy and left by 12:30. We were glad we stayed the whole time in Cape Porpoise verse trying the anchor close to the Airbnb, a much safer alternative.Read more