Maine: The Schooner Heritage (5/5)

     Welcome back to the Schooner Heritage.  This is day 5 of a 5 day series - if you have not read the first four articles I suggest you do.  For #1 Click Here, for #2 Click Here, for #3 Click Here and for #4 Click Here.

     We awaken in a place called the "Little Thorofare" so we can explore another town tomorrow.  Doug decides it is time for a swim.

     The water temperature is:

     Now, I can't have an old schoolmaster out-do me, can I?

     The water is bracing - it feels great AFTER you get out.  The crew readies the boat to pull into harbor of the nearby town.

     Pulleys give the mechanical advantage needed to move heavy objects.  Pulling Superman up on the stern is harder than hoisting the sails.

     The crew lowers the boats and anyone who wants to heads into town.

     This is a town called Stonington Maine.

     I opt not to go ashore so I can chat with Doug and Linda.  One point of interest in the harbor is a small island with a stone hut built on it. 

     AT&T is real spotty for cell service in Maine - I have not had any service for a couple of weeks.  I had not looked at my phone on the trip, but decided to walk down to get it out of the duffel bag.  It was 11:11 and I had a chance to catch up on calls.  

    This town sits atop an area with very desirable granite.  Black powder and dynamite used to quarry the granite was kept on a little stone island in the harbor so that if it blew up it wouldn't level the town.  You can see the little structure they built atop it.

     Early settlers here fished during the summer and cut out granite paving stones in the winter.  They were paid 2 cents a stone.  The remains of their efforts can be seen cascading from the hills of neighboring islands.

     For a small town it has a very popular opera house.  I have heard people from all over Maine talk about attending events here.

     It must have a lot of interesting shops because it seems that everyone who goes ashore comes back with a bag of trinkets.  

     We cruise for the afternoon, and anchor in a small bay with three other schooners from the Maine Windjammer fleet.

     The Heritage is the newest schooner built, and the oldest commercial schooner in the United States is here with us.

     It is the Louis French, built in 1871.  This is one of the boats that Doug and Linda rescued and rebuilt before they built the Heritage.  There are three other boats that they did the same with.

     Tonight is "funny hat night."  The old time passengers have brought wild hats, and Linda has a grab bag with a few for folks that don't have one.

     At sunset the other schooners shoot off their cannons.  Doug waits a while, then loads the cannon on the Heritage.

     KAAABLOOMM!!   Doug has the biggest gun - the report reverberates off of the hills.  None of the other boats answer - Doug has had the last word on cannon firing for tonight.

     Annie and Doug play taps on kazoos while Linda and Rico hum along and dance to taps - how do you dance to taps?

     And before you know it, the sun rises on Friday - our last full day on the boat.

     Rico runs up the signal flags - he tells me they say 1 2 GO, signifying it is our last day out.

     Doug always has a few stories and jokes for the crowd at breakfast.

     The wind picks up strong.  We are off and running early, and move rapidly under brisk winds for the entire day.  Doug takes us out into the Gulf of Maine where we find some decent sized swells.

    Like any piece of equipment that has been well designed and built for a specific task, the Heritage seems to come to life and attack the waves.  This is what she was built for, and she seems to want more of it.

     I find out why the bar that hangs down to provide leverage to the stays is called a "dolphin striker."

     Dolphins often ride the bow wakes of boats, and more than once this post dug into waves.  We pass a couple more lighthouses, the first called the "Two Bush Lighthouse" because before there was a structure here there were merely two bushes on the island.

     And the Whitehead Lighthouse, built in 1852.

    My favorite spot is up on the bow - the ride rivals that of any amusement park. I am not sitting so casually when we are out today though.

     You can feel that it is the last day - everyone is enjoying it and no one is in a hurry to leave.

    I take a nap for a couple of hours - and sleep deeper than I have in a long time.  My bunk is in the bow, and as I rest by head against the wall the waves crash and gurgle as though I am right in among them.

     We cover a lot of territory, and pull into a spot called the Muscle Ridge Channel.  The moon rises - it seems fuller tonight than it did last night.

     I had this romantic notion about sleeping on the deck, so I decide I should.  I lay out a bunch of seat cushions, snuggle up in a bunch of blankets and watch the moon slide across the sky.

      Well, every time I would fall asleep the cushions would shift and part of me would get wedged.  Dew falling out of the sky made sure I was properly damp.  Sleeping on the deck turned out to be a lot sexier in theory than in practicality.

     Saturday morning is here and we head back into Rockland.  A  buffet brunch is served on deck.

     We round the ridge where Owls Head Lighthouse guards the approach.

     And just like that the week is done.  It has all moved so fast - I am not sure if it seems real at this point.

     We only got to connect with about half of the guests and really only learned a little about them.  We covered a couple hundred miles and yet it seems we just got started.  I can see now why so many come back year after year.  And you spend less on this trip than the average vacationer pays just for a week's hotel stay.

     I cannot help but be impressed with Doug and Linda.  They are a team in the truest sense.  Time after time in their lives they have chosen to act in spite of their fears and create a beautiful life that they can share with others.  And, by extension of their efforts, other folks have embraced the lifestyle and have brought numerous old boats back to life that would otherwise be rotting on the bottom of the sea.  This is in addition to all the young people that they "hire" - adopt is a better description.   I told them a few times that I respected what they do - but words don't seem to be able to capture it.  They are so intuitive of each other and the boat.  

     As we pull into the harbor we slide past a large naval ship.  It is here because this is Rockland's big Lobster Festival weekend.

     We aren't the biggest ship in the harbor this day.  The parade is underway, and even with all the goings-on the paparazzi is still waiting for us.

    Back at North End Shipyard we meet the other two Heritage employees.

    Adam McKinlay along with his wife and young child holds down the fort while the ship is at sea.

     And he is assisted by Shary Fellows who handles all the administrative work for the company.  If you want to book, you need to talk to Shary.

     You can contact her through the website by Clicking Here or by calling the office at 207.594.8007

    It is low tide, so the crew hauls out a set of steps for us to use.

     We pose for a group photo.

     And the week is over.  The crew is right to work cleaning and packing in a new batch of ice.  Linda heads right out to get provisions.  

     Soon another group of folks will show up - a whole new week with completely different people and personalities.  It is time for us to move along though - much territory remains to be covered.     

     Today's "Faces in the Crowd" is Peter doing his "Captain Doug" impersonation.

     I think Peter might do Captain Doug better than Doug does.

     And today's parting shot, from a book in the galley:

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Make it a great day !!
David

Maine: The Schooner Heritage (4/5)

     Welcome back to the Schooner Heritage.  This is the fourth article of a five article series - I suggest you read the previous articles for context.  For #1 Click Here, #2 Click Here and #3 Click Here.

     We are celebrating Rico and Peg's 11th anniversary, heading out to a little island that the captain claims is named "Lobstah Island," but further investigation reveals is "Shivers Island."

     

    Sean serves lunch on deck - fish chowder with sandwiches.

     It will take us a couple of hours to sail to the island, so we have a chance to talk with a few more folks.  Meet Joe Merritt.

     Joe is here with his wife of 52 years - Joan.  Joe is also retired CIA, but he and Dick didn't know each other before meeting on the Heritage.  This is their 24th cruise on this ship.  Early most mornings Joe can be found out rowing one of the dinghies - and he will stay out rowing for hours until we are getting ready to leave.  One morning there were three other sailboats in the same harbor, and he came back to report to us what each crew was serving for breakfast.  I would have been impressed with samples.

     Joe served on the USS Yorktown before she was retired and now is used as a museum in Charleston SC.  Back then he was working in naval intelligence - mostly handling search and rescue operations for downed pilots.

     Joe tells a couple of stories - one about a time when the CIA built a building for photo and map readers inside an old warehouse.  Somewhere along the way the press figured it out, and as they broke the story about the secret headquarters they interviewed an old wino who hung out across the street.  The wino was on national tv talking about how he didn't want to mess with those CIA guys because they would kill you dead.  Joe laughs that they were all basically pencil pushers who were analyzing aerial photos of other countries military sites.  Another story is the time a senate aide came in and tried to embarrass them by claiming in front of a senator that they had been fooled by a balloon decoy the Soviets had put out to appear as a submarine.  He informed the aide that the guy from Kodak who developed the film had said it was the first submarine he had seen that had a bend in it - before any CIA analysts had even seen the shot.

     I asked Joe the same question about 911 as I asked Dick.  Joe responded the same - he didn't say there wasn't any collusion, but he said he didn't know how it could be kept secret.  Things always get out he said.  

     Also along for the trip are Paul and Anne Murphy.

     They retired after 30 some years serving in the Methodist Church.  Paul was a pastor, and we talked at length about how the hierarchy in the church is organized and about trends in attendance.  Paul is one of those ministers that actually follows the intuitive voice - he refers to it as the "Holy Spirit."  He has much wisdom about following the voice of God and was a pleasure to talk to.  You rarely see Anne without a smile on her face.  They both say that they are glad to be retired because they can now do service work more anonymously.

     And so we arrive at our dinner destination.  You notice the dinghy was towing the lobsters in their crate.

     The island has a beach that connects two elevated granite sections.

     As are so many places in Maine, it is a beautiful spot.  We are all able to wander for a couple of hours while we wait for the crew to cook up the dinner.

     We meet Stephen and Tina Branton of Erie Pennsylvania,both on their first schooner trip.

     They met at a Christian Fellowship a few years back and are on this trip to celebrate their first anniversary.  Last year when they vacationed Tina found a lobster buoy - and she bought one at a gift shop.  She found another wedged in a crack in the granite here.  She is a lot more enthused about her find than Stephen is.

     On the first day, as we were just pulling out of the harbor at Rockland Tina asked me what my expectations were for this trip.  I told her that I am usually pretty comfortable in my own skin and thus don't really set expectations on things.  She laughed and said they didn't really have any either.

     We never had any extended conversations, but they were fun to share observations with as we cruised along.

    Passing by us was a family lobster operation.

     Now that is a quintessential "mom and pop" business if I ever saw one.

     A little girl in the bow of a boat approaches, and can be seen lecturing her dog as they near us.

     As soon as they get close she goes to the bow and starts waving.

     Perhaps she was giving the dog waving lessons.  Another boat passes by with a dog in a life jacket.

     The shout goes up that dinner is ready, and the crew pour the lobster into a bed of seaweed.  I am having trouble generating saliva without a bell ringing.

     But, before dinner is served they do the "Hokey Pokey" for us.  Sean has spent too much time in the galley - he was a half click behind.

     Interesting thing how things change.  The early settlers here called lobster "mud roaches."  Maine passed a law that prisoners were only allowed to be fed lobster once a week - more than that was deemed "cruel and unusual punishment."  Indians and early settlers found them so plentiful that they were used to fertilize fields.

     We all spread out and enjoy the lobster followed by s'mores.  But we can't tarry long - the tide is coming in fast.

     It soon reaches the fire, and the crew begins packing up the gear.

     That stretch to the next island - that was all beach when we arrived.  That atoll is where I took the photos off of the "cliff" that appeared early in this article.

     It takes a couple of trips to get all the gear and people off the island.  One woman gets panicky with the rising water, but everyone else seemed to take it in stride.

     Back on the boat Linda is waiting with buckets of water for everyone to wash their shoes and feet.

     As the sun sets the crew brings back the remaining guests.

     The full moon rises just as we board the boat.

     This is a blue moon - something that has different meanings to different folks.  The second full moon in a single month is common today - so we'll use that.  The old saying "once in a blue moon" means about once every two years.

     Sunrise comes early - ouch.  That is as bad as "It was a dark and stormy night" for those prose purists among you.

    It is a thick fog, and navigation is slow.  Doug made the pointer that he keeps on a map by the helm so folks can look to see where we are at any given time.

     Perhaps prosthetics are in Doug's future?

    Anton draws foghorn duties.

     Ben points and calls out obstacles such as marker buoys and other boats.

     I love cruising in the fog - it doesn't feel like we are moving - it just appears that occasional obstacles materialize out of the haze, drift by and dissolve back into the mist.

     Later in the day the fog begins to lift, we get to see Mark Island Lighthouse.  

     This was built in 1857 to mark the Deer Isle Thorofare.

     One thing I have not covered is the anchoring system the boat has.  An old 1921 one cylinder engine powers them up and down.

     Doug likes this motor because it generates its own spark and can run in the rain.  It hauls up the chains and can be used to run the sails up when needed.  It is called a "donkey" because a real live donkey used to be kept on ships to handle this work.

     There are two anchors up on the bow; only one is used except in real rough weather.

     There are four pulleys - one for each anchor and one on each side for sail hoisting.

     And lots of chain.  

     That brings us to today's "Faces in the Crowd - which today is related to the "Parting Shot."  Someone painted a picture of a walrus as the captain of the boat.

     I have no idea where they got such a notion.

Click Here for more information on Heritage cruises, Click Here if you can contribute help myefforts, and Click Here to email me.

Make it a great day !!
David