Dolphin Marina, Harpswell, ME

Dolphin Marina, Harpswell, ME

The plan continues to evolve and we with it.

We were originally planning to spend my birthday here at the Dolphin Marina and my dear sister and friend April arranged for there to be an ice cream cake at the ready for our dinner the night of our arrival. Well – and I thank God it wasn’t my idea – our plan changed and we ended up arriving 3 or 4 days later – I lose count of days these days.

We did have a smooth day of travel leaving Southwest Harbor but the fog was pretty thick as were the lobster pots. We went for 8 hours to a small anchorage for the night – going much further would have been not only unsafe with the lobster pots but we were all getting pretty tired with the constant course corrections to avoid traps. In fact, Alec and I usually take 4 hour watches but with the work involved in this passage, we opted for 2 hour watches to prevent either of us getting to fatigued. Typically we would have preferred to go all night rather than stop for the night but we couldn’t do that with all of the these traps in our path.

So day 2 we left the anchorage and arrived in Dolphin Marina in Harpswell, ME. It was the sweetest little marina and the staff there exemplified customer service, even arriving in the morning with coffee and fresh warm muffins. The restaurant was lovely and after dinner, the server promptly arrived at our table with a very large, very delicious ice cream cake. So the birthday celebration continues… and based on the size of this cake, it will continue for some time.

We left Harpswell this morning with a plan to go to the Wentworth Resort and Spa in New Hampshire for a few nights. Looking at the weather forecast for the next several days, together with the likelihood that we may have to deal with the remnants or possibly worse weather of Florence within the week – we decided that we really needed to make a plan for where we would like to be for the next week – 10 days and what would be the safest harbor should Florence pose a real threat to us.

Midstream (so to speak) we called Anne Thyrre, our sister in law who together with Peter is in Onset aboard the stunning MY Aries. You may remember that we stayed in the same marina with them on our way up. We asked her if she could make inquiries as to dockage availability for the week there with them. We feel like there is no better place to weather out a storm than with loved ones so we have adjusted course and we are headed directly to Provincetown, MA. We hope that we can get there before too much light has passed (eta 2030) to make navigating the lobster pots a problem but at least they aren’t nearly as bad as in ME. April K is close in our wake and we will be together with them as we all wait to see what the weather will bring in the next week. Plan now is to anchor off of P-Town and head into the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow with the tide pushing us downstream to the Onset Marina. Hoping for an arrival before dinner tomorrow night.

Thanks for reading!
Lots of love,
Laurie, Alec and Jack