The following day we did some provisioning and Little Cloud left already. We were planning to meet them again on Block Island. And we did. Block Island is a place we can highly recommend. It is a peaceful small island with about a 1000 inhabitants, accessible by ferry or private boat. Very close to the dinghy dock there is a bicycle rental place where we could rent a tag along for Amina and a bicycles for André, Jaël and me. We cycled first to the North Lighthouse where we caught up with Little Cloud then had pizza for lunch ) a nice garden restaurant. After lunch we cycled all the way South to see the impressive Mohegan Bluffs. What a great day we had! We all loved it! The following day we wanted to check out the local library with Jaël and Amina. Luca and Lucia joined. As soon as we had arrived in the library, Amina was completely over the moon… the library had an incredible play corner for kids of her age including a diner with a lot of accesories. It was very difficult to get Amina out of the library again. The bar was set high from then on. We visited a couple of libraries since then but the one on Block Island remained Amina’s favourite.
Nach Block Island hatten die drei Boote unterschiedliche Pläne. Die LITTLE CLOUD wollte nach Boston, um Michelles Familie zu besuchen, die ARIA wollte Newport sehen, und wir hatten vor, durch den Cape-Cod-Kanal zu fahren und dann Provincetown zu besuchen. Wir versprachen, uns in Portland wieder zu treffen.
Provincetown once was known for it’s fishing and whaling industry but now is a colourful holiday destination of the gay and lesbian scene. In the 80ies it was one of the first communities where AIDS patients were treated with humanity and respect. Today you find rainbow flags everywhere and people of every kind living together in peace.
There is a beautiful causeway to walk over to the Wood End Lighthouse and there is a great library very close to the dinghy dock too. It looks like a church from the outside and as soon as you are inside you understand why the building is constructed this way. There is a half-scale replica of the “Rose Dorothea” schooner on the first floor. In August 1907 a cup was offered by Sir Thomas Lipton for a Fisherman’s Race in Massachusetts Bay. Two of the competing schooners were from Provincetown. Despite loosing her fore-topmast in the final leg of the race, the Rose Dorothea won the race and brought the cup to Provincetown. In 1977, as a tribute to the great fishing schooner, construction began in the Heritage Museum, now the Provincetown Public Library.
We enjoyed our days in Provincetown and headed towards Portland as soon as the wind was in our favour. We wanted to pick up our new Lithium batteries. André had ordered them when we were in New York. Our old batteries did not perform very well anymore and it was time to make the move to Lithium. Coming closer to Portland we slowly understood what everyone was saying about Maine and lobster pots… there were already some around Cape Cod but there were definitely more and more towards Portland.
We anchored behind the buoys of Handy Boat and the Portland Yacht Club in Falmouth. Later in the afternoon it was getting very busy around us…. We were in the first row for the Thursday race. The starting point was set very close to our boat. It was great to watch the yachts trying to get the best starting position. There was a blue x-yacht named PHOENIX that of course caught our eyes.
André picked up the batteries and got rid of the old heavy ones with Karsten’s help. I left the boat on Saturday, 19th of June to meet my 18 year old “godchild” Leyla. After 3 months in Hawaii she was on her way home to Switzerland and we arranged to meet in New York. Meanwhile André was going to install the new batteries. Unfortunately there was some sort of stomach flu going around, which was bad timing… Karsten had got it first and then passed it to his kids. While André was installing the batteries Amina and Jaël had been playing with Luca and Lucia on ARIA so Amina got it Saturday! A day later Jaël got it as well.
Zum Glück war André dieses Mal nicht bei der Grippewelle dabei. Ich konnte nicht viel für sie tun, da ich bereits in New York war, als alles begann. Aber André tat mir sehr leid, weil er sich neben dem Einbau der neuen Batterien auch noch um zwei kranke Mädchen kümmern musste.
It was great to be back in New York. Another two and a half days to explore this incredible city. Saturday afternoon Xiaolei picked me up at the airport. After a city stroll through Central Park and 5th avenue we went for dinner and I could stay in her Air B&B. On Sunday I met Leyla for breakfast in Bryant Park. So fantastic to see her here and explore New York together. After breakfast we left the luggage at the U Hotel 5th Avenue, just two blocks away from the Empire State building. We grabbed a citibike and started our incredible city duathlon. We cycled all the way to Brooklyn, explored the Dumbo area and then cycled and walked all the way back up to the Lincoln Center, had dinner in the Hell’s Kitchen area and walked back to the hotel with a short stopover at Times Square. What a day! Don’t know how many kilometers we had made but it was a lot… we were very tired but very happy! Our flights were both on Monday evening, so we still had most of the day. After a delicious breakfast at the Hudson river we cycled all the way up to 79th Street boat basin and then headed to Central Park. It was a very hot day so we took it a bit slower. After an ice cream stop at Rockefeller Center we walked back to the hotel to get our luggage. We finished our city adventure at Bryant Park, where we had started the day before and then took the metro to Jamaica. These were unforgettable days and I was very glad that I took the opportunity.
Als ich zum Portland Yacht Club zurückkam, war es bereits 23 Uhr und die Kinder schliefen schon. André holte mich mit dem Beiboot ab. Er hatte eine unglaubliche Arbeit geleistet! Die Batterien waren eingebaut und funktionierten! Amina hatte sich bereits von der Grippe erholt, aber Jaël war noch sehr schwach.
Am Donnerstag ging ich an Land, um Wäsche zu waschen. Als André mich abholte, sahen wir die X-Yacht PHOENIX am Steg. Sie holten gerade die Crew für die Regatta am Donnerstag ab. Wir gingen hinüber und begannen mit ihnen zu plaudern. Das Boot gehört einem sehr freundlichen Paar, Sean und Kim, und sie luden uns ein, am nächsten Donnerstag mit ihnen auf der PHOENIX zu segeln. Die Regatten mit Mirabella in Tonga hatten uns viel Spaß gemacht, aber natürlich stößt man nicht an seine Grenzen, wenn man mit seinem schwimmenden Zuhause segelt. Es ist wie ein Rennen mit angezogener Handbremse, und so freuten wir uns auf die nächste Regatta am Donnerstag.
But before, we moved to Yarmouth which was where Andrew’s brother Stephen lived. He had invited us for a real Maine lobster bake and we were all excited about that. Stephen had already prepared the fire at the beach. On top of it he placed an eternit plate and a thick bed of seaweed. On that he put a cheesecloth. On top of that cloth followed first potatoes then lobsters, onions, wet corn cobs, a whole package of eggs, clams and even sausages in a net. He covered all that with a second cheesecloth and covered everything with seaweed again and aluminium foil. So basically the lobster and all the other ingredients get steamed in this package.
When everything was cooked long enough Stephen carefully opened the package and put everything in a wheelbarrow to bring it up to his garden. Before we had quickly built up a party tent with the help of everyone as it had begun to rain. It was a delicious meal in wonderful company. We felt very blessed to be so welcomed by Andrew’s family.
Die Donnerstagsregatta der folgenden Woche wurde auf Mittwoch verlegt, dann aber wegen Gewitter abgesagt. Sie wurde auf Donnerstag verlegt und André und ich waren ganz aufgeregt, mit Sean und Kim auf der PHOENIX mit ihrer Regattacrew zu segeln, aber leider gab es überhaupt keinen Wind und die Regatta wurde schließlich wieder abgesagt. Kim verwöhnte uns mit himmlisch leckeren Wurst- und Käsestücken und wir verbrachten einen schönen Abend mit ihnen und ihren Freunden. Jaël und Amina waren in der Zwischenzeit auf der ARIA.
Stephen invited us for the 4th of July parade in his neighbourhood. The color code for the parade was red and blue of course, and after a little brainstorming for ideas together with ARIA we decided to do paint some special T-Shirts. Kim (from PHOENIX) was so kind to drive me to Walmart and some other stores, where I found everything that we needed. We had great fun on ARIA to create our T-Shirts and the result of our efforts was amazing. It was a rainy morning in Yarmouth on the 4th of July, but we made the best of it and were by far the most colorful group. Even our foul weather clothing matched the colour code. Stephen and David had organized coffee with spirit, hot chocolate and donuts. It was a beautiful get together. A neighbour invited us to a live music concert in his barn in the afternoon and we promised to come. Back at Stephen’s place we had a delicious potluck (means: a meal or party to which each of the guests contributes a dish) in his garage. Stephen and David grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, Betsy (Andrew and Stephen’ s sister) brought a delicious salad and garlic bread, we brought focaccia, guacamole, rillette de thon and a chocolate cake it was simply a delicious lunch in great company. In the afternoon we walked over to the neighbour’s barn and enjoyed the live music. It felt so good to dance again and listen to live music after all this lock down period. What a great 4th of July!
We moved over to Falmouth again to invite Kim and Sean for dinner on Mirabella before leaving. They gave us a lot of useful informations and tips where to find the best anchorages and nicest places. We promised to visit them again on our way back South in autumn. Uups… yes I think I forgot to mention that…. we had changed our plan again when we were in New York! Plans of sailors are written in the sand… we had proofed that saying multiple times… As the plan of returning to Europe over Greenland and Norway had become more concrete we realized that coming home in October might not be the best timing for a new start… so we decided to do a Northern loop in summer, then sail back to the Caribbean in autumn and then do an early crossing to Europe end of March beginning of April. So we would be back May/ June.
On the 10th of July we left all these nice people in the Portland area with a firm promise to visit them on our way back South again. With all these islands and bays you have to plan your routing well, as you do not make as much progress. After a ?? mile passage which took us almost the whole day we arrived in “The basin” a beautifully remote anchorage with 360° protection as the entrance is very narrow and with a 90° turn. We went on a beautiful hike there, the Mika trail. The forecast for the next days was not brilliant so we decided to sail to Boothbay, a beautiful coastal town with a nice historic walk to do. That would also be fun when the weather is not so sunny. Stephen and David came up to Boothbay to join LITTLE CLOUD for a short weekend trip and we enjoyed pizza together in a small restaurant in town.
Wir fuhren weiter nach Camden, einer weiteren schönen Stadt an der Penobscot Bay, dem Segelmekka von Maine. Die Landschaft der Penobscot Bay ist in der Tat atemberaubend und Camden hat eine fantastische Bibliothek (zur großen Freude der Kinder) und ein paar nette Cafés, Restaurants und Brauereien. Wir haben eine tolle Wanderung auf den Mount Megunticook gemacht und Xiaolei, Michelle und ich haben eine wunderschöne Wanderung im Beech Hill Preserve mit vielen Blaubeeren gemacht!!! An einem Nachmittag gingen wir an Land und beschlossen, einen kleinen Apero im öffentlichen Park zu machen. Jaël und Amina fingen an, mit zwei anderen Kindern in ihrem Alter zu spielen. Sie spielten so gut miteinander, dass es eine Schande gewesen wäre, sie zu unterbrechen. Wir gingen zu ihren Eltern hinüber und fragten sie, ob sie mit einer Pizza zum Abendessen im Park einverstanden wären. Das war der Beginn einer weiteren wunderbaren Freundschaft. Ned und Kristin erzählten uns, dass sie ernsthaft darüber nachdenken, sich ein Boot zu kaufen und mit ihren Kindern zu segeln, so wie wir es tun. Was für ein lustiger Zufall, dass wir sie hier in diesem kleinen öffentlichen Park getroffen haben. Sie kamen jeden Sommer zum Campen nach Camden. Ihre Tochter Sophia war so alt wie Jaël und ihr Sohn war so alt wie Amina. Sie lebten normalerweise in Cape Cod. Wir verbrachten einen wunderbaren Abend zusammen und luden sie am Sonntag zu Lasagne und Tiramisu ins Mirabella ein, bevor sie wieder nach Cape Cod zurückfahren mussten. Die Kinder verstanden sich prächtig, und wir versprachen, sie auf dem Rückweg in den Süden in Cape Cod zu besuchen.
Wir fuhren weiter nach Rockland, das nur ein paar Meilen südlich von Camden lag. Der Ort selbst enttäuschte uns ein wenig, da er etwas heruntergekommen wirkte. Vielleicht mussten auch einige Geschäfte wegen des Covid 19 geschlossen werden. Es gab aber einen schönen Damm zum Leuchtturm, den wir zusammen mit Michelle und Cortland erkundeten.
The Fox Island Thoroughfare was a passage that everyone in Portland had highly recommended to us and it truly was one of the most beautiful sailing days we ever had on Mirabella. The sailing in this breathtaking scenery was simply magic and I will want to go back there probably for the rest of my life. After the beautiful passage we sailed on and passed Stonington. There we realized that the impossible is possible which means you can even put more lobster traps than we thought are possible. We could hardly pass with our boat without touching one and of course did not want to put the engine on. Many of our friends had already had lobster pots around their propeller and we were not keen on making the same experience. The last few miles to the anchorage was a real challenge as we had to pass narrow passages (with lobster pots and changing winds). But we finally made it and anchored in a spectacular beautiful scenery just off a small inhabited island called “Hells half acre”. We dinghyed over to Stonington, a beautiful small town with (another) fantastic library. They had an art program going on where kids could paint a square canvas tile to decorate the walls of the library. What a great idea! This was an excellent Saturday morning program! On an other day we planned a beach BBQ and Jaël and Amina collected wood.
Will, a good friend of Andrew was there with his boat as well and they invited LITTLE CLOUD and us for dinner on their beautiful boat. Andrew and Michelle moved to Deer Isle the next day as Andrew’s sister Betsy was there on holiday. We would have loved to see Betsy again but also wanted to enjoy this beautiful anchorage as it was exactly what we imagined of picture postcard Maine. We still would see Betsy on our way South in autumn.
On Saturday we dinghyed over to Stonington, a beautiful small town with (another) fantastic library. They had an art program going on where kids could paint a square canvas tile to decorate the walls of the library. What a great thing to do! This was an excellent Saturday morning program. In the afternoon we were planning to do a beach BBQ on the small uninhabited island. We brought Jaël and Amina over a little earlier to collect wood while André and me wanted to paddle around the island with the kayak. We invited ARIA too. It became the best BBQ ever! Karsten had brought potatoes but had no aluminium foil. We were just thinking what to do, when Luca suddenly found a thin stone plate. Perfect! We cut the potatoes in thin slices and put them on the stone plate with garlic butter! Delicious! As Luca found another stone plate we decided to grill also the pork tenderloin on the stone plate! It was simply delicious!!! We really loved this anchorage and this definitely was hard to top….
Aber Maine hat viele schöne Orte zu bieten. Unser nächster Halt, Mount Desert Island, war eindeutig ein weiterer Höhepunkt unseres Segelabenteuers. Wir ankerten zunächst vor Northeast Harbour. Das ist zwar nicht der beste Ankerplatz, da er etwas unruhig sein kann, aber Northeast Harbour ist ein charmantes kleines Städtchen, das man sich nicht entgehen lassen sollte. Es ist auch ein sehr guter Ausgangspunkt, um zu den Kutschenstraßen zu gelangen.
John D. Rockefeller wollte auf autofreien Nebenstraßen mit Pferd und Wagen in das Herz von Mount Desert Island reisen. Die von ihm von 1913 bis 1940 gebauten Straßen schonen die Hänge und Bäume, passen sich den Konturen des Geländes an und nutzen die landschaftlichen Vorzüge. Heute wie damals werden die Straßen von verschiedenen Nutzergruppen befahren. Fußgänger, Radfahrer und Pferdekutschen teilen sich die Schönheit dieser autofreien Straßen durch den Park.
We rented bicycles and made a tour up to the beautiful Jordan Pond, where we had picnic. It was like paradise… the scenery reminded me a lot of the Engadin area in Switzerland. The smell of the pine trees is divine and we loved the blueberries that we found everywhere. I even found a few chanterelles and made a sauce with them later. At some point we bumped into LITTLE CLOUD and ARIA. We had left Northeast Harbour at different times and we had great fun to cycle back all together to Northeast Harbour. It was such a great day, we loved it!! Another afternoon we did a great hike through the woods and ended up in the beautiful Thuya Garden. The woods in Mount Desert are magic. Like out of a fairy tale with lots of green moss, all kind of mushrooms and this heavenly smell of the pine trees. A little bit down the path from the Thuya Garden there was a perfect spot that Andrew and Michelle suggested for a small apero with snacks. All the “three down east musketeers” joined, which means ARIA, LITTLE CLOUD and MIRABELLA.
Northeast Harbour ist wunderschön, aber wie ich schon sagte, ist der Ankerplatz nicht der beste. Auf jeden Fall wollten wir auch das Gebiet des Südwesthafens und vor allem den Somes Sound erkunden. Somes Sound ist ein riesiger Fjord. Er ist so lang, dass er fast die ganze Insel Mount Desert zerteilt. Die Bucht des Ankertals sah perfekt aus. In der Tat ein sehr malerischer Ort. Von dem kleinen Strand aus konnte man sogar den Wanderweg erreichen. Wir haben dort eine tolle Wanderung unternommen, bei der wir auf den Gipfel des Acadia Mountain gestiegen sind und dann auf der anderen Seite zum Lake Echo hinuntergestiegen sind. Blaubeeren überall auf der Wanderung und ein erfrischendes Bad im Echo-See machten den Tag perfekt. In Maine mit seinen wunderschönen Wäldern fühlte ich mich so sehr wie zu Hause. Dabei wurde mir klar, wie sehr ich das Wandern in einem kühleren Klima vermisst habe. Die Tropen sind wunderschön, aber zum Wandern ist der Norden viel besser geeignet. Dieses Klima war einfach perfekt.
We stayed a while in the valley cove anchorage and visited the town Southwest Harbour with the dinghy. We were just about to move to Bar Harbour when a new boat anchored next to us. It was a family from Cape Cod with one girl and two boys. The girl was a little bit older and the boys seemed to be about the age of Jael and Amina. They were on their summer holiday with their sailing boat. The children got along very well and played for hours at the small little beach. They were building two huts and wanted to have dinner there by themselves. They even wanted to sleep there but unfortunately there was rain forecasted so they had to come back to the boat at some point. A fox came out in the dawn and watched the kids playing from a secure distance… Children connect so quickly with each other and nature is their best playground. It offers so many tools and leaves so much room for imagination and creativity. They fell into their beds tired and very happy full of excitement about their adventurous day with their new friends. Ed and Alison wanted to start their way back towards Cape Cod while we wanted to move to Bar Harbour to meet LITTLE CLOUD and ARIA again. We promised to visit them in Cape Cod on our way back South…
Our three months US visa was expiring beginning of August. Canada was opening its border for US citizens and as we had spent the last three months in the US we felt more US citizen like than anything else so we wanted to try our luck if they would let us in. But first of all we had to get a Covid PCR Test and that was not possible on Mount Desert Island. From Bar Harbor there was a public bus to Ellsworth where we could get a test. That plan worked out very nicely. After being told the price of one test (160$ per person) we decided that we do not get the kids tested… that would cost a fortune to get the four of us tested! Back in Bar Harbour we had to say goodbye to Andrew, Michelle and Cortland. They of course had no urgent need to leave the US and had way better cards to get into Canada as they were real US citizens. So we did not really know if and when we would see each other again. But somehow we hoped to see each other either in Canada or back in Portland, when we sail South again. It had been so much fun to cruise together with them.
Maine hat uns sehr gut gefallen und wir hätten gerne mehr Zeit dort verbracht. Wir können es als Segelrevier sehr empfehlen. Es bietet so viele schöne Ankerplätze und großartiges Segeln (achten Sie nur auf die Hummer-Töpfe). Aber vor allem haben wir dort einige der einladendsten und freundlichsten Menschen getroffen, und wir werden so viele schöne Erinnerungen in unseren Herzen behalten.
