Throwing off the mooring pennant in Stonington was easy.
That’s the most dangerous thing about shagging on a moron-ball, they’re too easy!
You sneak in, pick up the pennant, look around to make sure nobody’s coming your way, you finish the engine and get drunk.
…But what you don’t get is the knowledge that what is holding you to the Earth is ground tackle that you put together and you know will hold you in almost any weather conditions. If you shag a ball you never know what’s under you and that always gives me (James) an edginess that ultimately keeps me awake at night and makes me want to get back on the hook in some thick-ass mud or some sand.
Stonington was nice but the whole time we were there I kept looking out at the harbor to make sure the boat was still there and there was nobody fucking with it. Also the whole goddamn town wakes up at 0400, gets in their lobster boats and takes off at maximum wake to go rape the local waters of ALL the lobsters! Stonington claims to have the largest lobster haul in the world, bringing in over $57 million a year of those bottom feeding sea-bugs.
We love to anchor! There is nothing quite like sleeping in a sheltered cove or a snug harbor at anchor cuddled up to the person of your dreams… Believe me, we know, we do it all the time!
For example, Isle au Haut.
We sailed, nice and slow, down through the rubble islands of Merchant Row, where granite was wrestled out of the ground and taken to the Kennedy Memorial, the Museum of Natural History, and many more iconic buildings. Wrapping up that short trip, we anchored in tiny Duck Harbor in the southwest corner of Isle au Haut.
Good thing it was a short trip, because the hike was epic.
It’s rated difficult by the park maps, and we discovered why as we approached the top of the world.
Duck Mountain Trail was 1.2 miles that took us almost 500 feet up from sea level, then back down on the other side of the island. The track we took back was longer, but took less than a third as long to walk.
At the top, we found another Geologic Survey medallion signifying the summet of the highest point on the island. I (Dena) love seeing these things. Makes me feel like an explorer.
Glorious, really. The views all around, the exposed granite, the moss and fern coverings, the mixed tree cover. Gorgeous.
Best of all, we got back to our boat and had a major veg curry, then conked out solid. In the morning, we were happy and fresh for the new day’s adventure.
(Yes, the hat doesn’t fit me now that James shaved my head. Oh, well.)
Glass, glass and more glass until finally we got enough wind to beat us all the way across Penobscot Bay to a nice little group of shoaling islands practically in the Atlantic Ocean. We set the hook in 15 feet of sand between Birch, Dix and High islands and watched a sliver of moon set off the starboard bow just after another mind blowing Dena-curry, and let me tell you, we slept like we knew what was holding us to the Earth!