"We're now at 33,000 feet over the coast of Maine and from the front seat I can see the whole sweep of Cape Cod," said the US Airways captain.  I was on my way to join W887 Blue Mist and Dick Harrington for a 2 week cruise along the Maine coast of USA.
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 Dick met me at Boston's Logan airport and we were soon driving past such places as Marblehead and Kennebunkport.  We met W3475 Helga H and Abbey Gura at Round Pond on the lonely Pemaquid peninsula.  The Lobster Coop launching ramp and jetty enabled us to launch and provision the boats. (for smaller scale map of whole area, click here)
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 This was also Abbey's first boat camping trip and he brought even more stuff.  He had a whole pickup truck to fill and an LL Bean catalogue with which to fill it. I had already slimmed things down for the aeroplane flight.  In the end Abbey left a lot of stuff behind.  He was often heard to say, "Yes I have one, but it's still in the truck"!

 By the time the boats were stowed it was 7 pm and going dark. The mosquitoes were biting, the lobster stalls were closed and the prospect of cooking on a mooring less than appealing.  Luckily there was a handy restaurant and we retreated to eat clam chowder, scallops and chips washed down with Pemaquid Ale.  We continued the washing down process until all trace of mosquito activity had ceased.  We negotiated a night tied up to the jetty (waiting time supposed to be 15 minutes).  So started our cruise.

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 Our first meal afloat was venison served with onions and potatoes and local sweet corn.  No Spam and beans for us.  Dick is a bow and arrow hunter and this meat was from last winter's hunt.  The Coleman  petrol lamp gave much needed light and heat.  The DEET gave us some respite from the mossies.

  Abbey usually ate with us aboard Blue Mist.  Meals were a big part of life afloat and we spent much of the day deciding what we would have.  Standards were upheld with hors-d'oeuvres and drinks preceding the entree.  Both boats had a well stocked wine cellar.  Washing up is one of the easier parts of Wayfarer camping due to the ready availability of water!

  Trying to describe to my friends at home what camping in a Wayfarer is like, I have used the following analogy: climb into the bath and close the shower curtains; take all your sleeping equipment, cooking equipment, clothes, food, camera, etc., with you.  Turn on the shower occasionally.  Put on your thermal underwear.  Inflate your mattress and go to sleep.  By the way, there are two of you in the bath and it rocks a lot. There is no bathroom.

 Getting ready for bed is a ballet.  Tent erection is the first step.  This is tricky as you are inside the tent.  Once up, this is a major advance.  Next follows the lighting of the Coleman lamp.  One of life's great pleasures.  Suddenly it is light, and a lovely warmth replaces the damp, mosquito ridden darkness.  Next the sleeping gear needs to be extracted.  This is tricky.  The gear is in the forward compartment.  An athletic feat of burrowing in the front of the boat is required.  A mound of dry bags soon gives way to a comfortable bed.  All extraneous gear is piled  fore and aft.  This is fine until the early departing lobster boats wash creates a minor avalanche!  Sleeping in a Wayfarer is really rather comfortable.  I was surprised.

 The worst thing about Wayfarer camping is the lack of  'bathroom'  facilities.  In the daytime devices like 'Little John' work fine.  At night the 'over the side' route is OK.  The problem lies in the morning.  The etiquette of the morning 'bathroom stop' needs further development.  Maybe the technical committee could work on the problem?  We developed a system of grading islands/harbours/woods etc. in the manner of the number of  'forks' awarded to restaurants!
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 The navigation along the coast was interesting.  I had bought some US charts and a pilot book (Taft) whilst in England using the internet.  The charts are similar to Admiralty charts but with lat/long scales in degrees, minutes and seconds of arc.  They were not corrected up to date as would be the case in UK.  We came across an isolated danger buoy which was shown as a port hand mark on the chart.  Another difficulty for Europeans is the use of IALA System B for buoyage.  This has green cans to port, the opposite of our IALA System A.  Finally, the magnetic variation is 18 degrees west so certainly cannot be ignored.

 One morning in the White Islands we had a mussel 'cook out'.  We were in a fantastic anchorage with big rocks and many tidal beaches showing.  We rowed ashore to explore.  Near the shore, in the clear water the mussels were fantastic.  Abandoning plans for an early departure we decided to have a mussel feast.  The big three gallon pan, stove and condiments were taken ashore.  Picking the mussels took no time as they were so prolific.  I outlined the moules mariniere method.  This was abandoned in favour of the local method thus:
  1  Open lots of cans of beer
  2  Boil 1 inch sea water in big pan
  3  Chuck in the mussels and boil for five minutes
  4  Eat, dipped in hot butter
They were very good!

 Still on the culinary theme, there are lobsters.  Maine is the lobster capital of the USA.  You buy them from a passing lobster boat or more easily from the local lobster co-op.  We went for 'peelers'; these are lobsters who have recently grown a new shell.  They are easier to eat on board as their shells are softer . Six big lobsters cost us $40.  I can tell you, it's difficult to eat more than two whole lobsters! 

 Most mornings we awoke early, often by the roar of engines and violent rocking caused by the wash of a lobster boat.  Lying in bed we would listen to the NOAA Weather Radio.  This is a superb service broadcast on VHF.  It operates continuously-I wish we had such a service in the UK.  The only drawback is the computer generated 'Dalek' voice which is a little difficult to interpret.  Dick had kindly laid in stocks of tea bags.  It is well known in North America that Englishmen need at least two cups of tea to get going in the morning.
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Duck Harbour on Isle au Haut, Burnt Coat Harbour on Swans Island, Southwest Harbour on Mount Dessert Island, Soames Sound...
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Devil Island, Stonington and Hall Island
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 I should like to record my grateful thanks to Dick Harrington for organising the cruise and for entertaining me so well on his boat Blue Mist.  Thanks also to Abbey Gura for some good companionship. My lobster pot buoy hanging on the wall reminds me of a brilliant cruise.