What can I tell you about today, really not much to report. Carl spent the day waiting for the mechanic to show up. He finally got to the boat about 3:30 pm. They found out that the injectors number one and two don't seem to be working. They pulled all 4 injectors and today they will have them checked out to see if they can be fixed or if they have to be replaced. I was lucky enough to get the dock master to let me use his truck and go to town to do our laundry and pick up a few groceries for Carl while I am gone to Tampa. The drive to the other town was lovely. Water on the right then nothing but rolling hills, very rural. I don't thing they have very much in this state. Other than very nice people and good scenery.I was gone a few hours, while Bella and Carl just played at the boat. When I returned was just about the time the mechanic showed up, so Bella and I went and played on  the hill to get out of their hair. Once they were done working I made a pasta salad for Carl to eat while I was gone, then I cooked the last of the lobsters for dinner.  I had to color my hair for the trip home. A quiet evening was spent on the boat, as I am traveling home today  to work the Republican Convention for a week. I will return to the boat on Sept 2, 2012 so there will not be any posting till then. I won't have time to write anything and I will not be on the boat , so nothing to report. Everyone take care and I will fill you all on what happened when I was gone. It will be a complete update.. Love all of you!!!!

 I know your gonna say, really that can't be true, but it is.. We pulled away from the docks with high hopes of putting some miles behind us, but that just didn't happen. We got about 3 or 4 miles out when the engine cut off again.. Yes believe it or not, we had the same old fuel problem again. Needless to say that did not make our day! We called back to the marina that just worked on it and they sent Stuart out to haul us back in.. At this rate we will never get to Gloucester or anywhere else. It took Stuart awhile to find us in the water so we kept drifting farther out to sea.  Never a good feeling, but it was light winds and gentle sea's so we weren't drifting that fast. Back at the dock we just sit and wait. Carl didn't want to touch anything , that way they couldn't say it was his fault.The mechanic had another job to do so it would be some time till he would get here. While waiting we had a lobster man pull up next to us , so we got some more lobsters.This time the lobster man let me get on his boat and pick out the ones I wanted. Now that was fun.. Looking down in that big tank with all those lobsters, picking out the biggest ones I could find..Mike on the A-Salt Weapon was a good guy who goes fishing with his girlfriend as his mate, to keep his costs down. They are not making much money this year with the price of lobsters. We took a walk down to the local store to pick up some bread when we noticed a book store that opened at 2 pm so we will stop back.  This morning while I was cleaning up the cockpit area I dropped my Kindle and broke it. I couldn't believe it, I started to cry.. My kindle means difference between sitting around looking at the ocean or having something to do.I will pick a new one up when I get home. I need to read.. At 3PM we went back to the book store and the lady that runs it was an retired librarian and was a well of knowledge. I couldn't believe she knew so much about all those authors. She asked me what I like to read and helped me find a book. Now it will be the old fashion way , turn the page .Back on the boat I cooked and Carl helped me clean the lobsters that I needed to make dinner.. Tonight it was lobster with macaroni and cheese,you see it a lot on menus here, it was pretty good only, . I must say I think we have had our fill of lobsters, we are getting tired of eating them. Are you kidding me , is that what you said.. Tired of cleaning and eating lobster... Crazy.. But it's like anything else you eat to much of, and you are ready for a change.. We are still sitting at the dock waiting to get fixed. Today we hope for the best..

As the early morning sun met our eyes and the dew danced across our cockpit, we were glad to see we had not drug anchor. Windward Spirit was just were we left her the night before, at the entrance to the harbor.The first thing we did was get on the computer to find the man who was recommended to us, to repair her. Knowing we were not in the best place to spend the day and that we had to have a mechanic on board we talked about how we were gonna move her up further into the harbor. Again this morning it was a very light wind, so both the main and the jib were put up so we could slowly move her along the other boats. It was very hard to get her to move in the direction we wanted her to go as finally she ghost along the other boats.After a couple of hours of waiting for a return call we started  to call other mechanic's and found one just across the harbor. They sent the harbor master over to raft up to us with his tender and take us to the dock for repairs. We had to wait till the mechanic could get here from their other facility , so I took out the rest of the lobster and cleaned it to make lobster wraps  for lunch. Boy, were they good. Love that Lobster...John arrived and him and Carl got right to work, while I cleaned up from lunch. I was walking the trash to the dumpster, when I told the girl at the dock that I hoped they would have it done soon, so we could go to my friends house and get a shower today. That's when she said to Stuart who had tendered us over, you didn't tell them about the customers lounge, with showers I could use, with hot water... Needless to say I bolted to the boat to get my shower bag ready and Bella's too. She was not as happy about it as I was , but she was having a shower none the less. I am getting better with the whole dog shower thing on board. I now shower her first, so when she shakes I don't care if it's all over me, cause I still have to shower.. When Stuart showed me the location of the showers , he also showed me a mock up of a 70 foot sailboat his company was building for a customer.The customer had lost all his money when the economy went bad, so they had to sell a 60 percent finished boat. He shows it to me. Like we could buy it, I guess you never know who people are.. I take a tour of it and all I can say is WOW, that's how the other half lives.. Just for fun I ask how much it is only 4 million dollars Stuart says, then he says we could live on it and not leave the dock. I thinking if we could pay $4,000,000.00 we have the money to move it from the dock. Its fun to dream isn't it..   Bella and I played ball most of the day while the guys worked on the boat. John knew just were to look for the problem. It was the old Racor water/ fuel separator , bet you can't say that twice.. It was the original one that had been put on the boat when she was built. Boy was it dirty and clogged. They also replaced some o-rings with aluminum ones cause they work better. It was $325 later but we should have no more problems with it on this trip. We sure hope so, it has delayed use many times, caused a tow or two and put in danger a few times.. Just after he left Carl went to take his shower and I started dinner.He also did a walk through on the yacht. I was making white bean kale soup, without meat. boy was it good. No matter what my buddy Rita says...you don't need meat to make it taste good..Thanks again to Katie I had never eaten Kale before but we will now, it was good..Then I got my first haircut on the trip, yep, doing hair on the dock. Only thing was it was free, cause it was Carl. He had gone and got a big 3 foot long piece of thick docking to sit on, so he would be high enough for me to cut his hair. When his hair was done it was time for dinner and a movie. Being tied to the dock , I can us all kinds of power, cause we were plugged in.. Today we will get as far as we can. we hope to make Gloucester. in 2 days. That way I can catch the train to Boston for my flight home on Friday.. Yes I will be back , I'm just going home to work the Republican National Convention, and go to my grandson's graduation party..More tales tomorrow..

To say that this is a true adventure and not very often do we have a dull day, its by far a true statement. And this day proved to be no different. Carl got the water problem fixed and we fired up the motor at 6:30 am and left Southwest Harbor, we were heading south and ready for our first big day on the way home. The winds were very light and the sea state was smooth as glass and the boat was motoring at 6 knots, we were hauling butt. I was wondering why about a few things, like why are the dolphins so small here, while the warm water ones are much larger, the seagulls are huge, yet the southern seagulls are smaller and how the fisherman here still harpoon tuna, and southern ones just catch them on a long line.. One of the things I wondered about was why we didn't try to buy lobsters straight off the boat of one of the lobster man we passed day in and out. So I mention this to Carl and he hailed one and he stopped.. How awesome was this.. The man pulls his boat over and Carl asks him how much he wants for 6 lobsters and he says we can have them. But this is his livelihood, so we offer him $12.00, and he agree's.. That's right  $2.00 dollars an lobster... Yea, you read that right $2.00.. I am so happy and this was great fun.. Thanks to the father and son on the Split Second Lobster boat.. We hopped to surprise Nancy and Ernie with them..  What a great day this is turning out to be and were making good time,..  UNTIL.... The fuel problem rears its ugly head once again.. What can it be , how is there air in the lines again???? Carl had replaced those lines, found another fuel filter, checked all the fitting, where is this coming from..We got the motor started the first two times but after that it was no go. A couple of sail boats stopped as we were drifting to see if they could help. We told the first one no it was a fuel problem and  we would get it , but the second one we asked if he was a diesel mechanic. He said no but there were many in the area, he named off a few at different harbors, so we set sail for Tenants Harbor. We had been there before so it would make it a little easier under sail to get in.. The winds were blowing at amazing 2 or 3 knots, not much wind to move the boat, but at our best point of sail. So we hosted the sails at 4pm and started heading to the harbor. We were moving at a alarming 2 to 3 knots and we were at least 10 miles away. As night loomed upon us, and the winds died , we wondered how we would get  in . I asked Carl couldn't we us the oars to move the boat, he just laughed and said no,  then I said , It would be nice if we could use our dingy and push the boat. With that Carl goes lets try to pull it. The tide had changed and we were being pulled out to sea with no power to stop it. It was try this or drop anchor right were we where. The dingy was dropped and of course the motor didn't start to easy, I was getting worried, finally it fires up , comes to life.. Carl heads to the front of the boat, where I had a line ready to throw him.  He grabs the line and off we go..Yeah Baby this is working.. We are moving back towards the harbor.. Yippy... He pulls the Windward Spirit about a mile , when his hands hurt and he drops the line, but we have made the harbor... Maybe not a far as we would normally like , but who cares we are here!! So once again, we put our heads together and found a way to alleviate our predicament  All without calling Sea tow.. Yes we are getting better.. It was 11:00PM when we finally came to anchor and I had 6 lobsters to cook. We couldn't take a chance of losing them, and we were hungry. We ate 3 lobsters and have 3 to make something with today.  Today we wait till we hear from the mechanic and hope for the best..

Do to the repairs on the boat , I was unable to post yesterday,since I couldn't charge my computer. Today I will tell you all what has been going on since we were towed in. We slept in late as we didn't really have anywhere to go, but I did want to go to the post office before it closed at noon .  Carl got the dingy ready and we headed to town. I picked up my stamps we headed over to the hardware so Carl could pick up some epoxy and a small wire brush to help clean the motor. Once that was completed we headed over to get a scone from the local bakery and saw a market set up in the square across the street.  That sounded like a good idea a walk though to see all the wares is always nice. Seeing nothing we couldn't live without, it was back to the boat.On the walk back we say a carpenter working on a porch and Carl asked him if he could use his saw to cut down the wire brush, since it was to thick. He said he would do it for him and did.. Thanks Mr. Carpenter.. Carl got to work on the motor and I cleaned the walls in the salon.With the mold you get at sea I have to bleach them once in a while.  I also scrubbed the head and kitchen.I had to hold the flashlight for him while he used a mirror to be able to see to put the epoxy on. It took a lot to be sure it would hold, but then we couldn't run the motor for 24 hours, so no charging system. The rest of the day was spent just hanging around the boat and listening to the big party on shore, they even had fireworks.. Wish I could have crashed it, it sounded like fun...I guess my crashing days are over... The next morning we got up and I made blueberry pancakes, thanks Katie for the fresh blueberries, they were great. We thought we would take a ride on the free bus system and see parts of the island we hadn't seen before and stop at Bar Harbor one more time. Bella was even allowed on the bus, pretty cool since most places won't let you do that. The ride on the bus was about 45 minutes and we saw a few more places, it was great! All without walking..When we got to Bar Harbor we walked around the city park so Bella could sniff the place, then if was off to the free beer tasting. Bella and I waited outside, when it was my turn to go in to taste the wine Carl met a local guy who made fish jerky. He was chewing on it when I returned. Asked if I wanted a bite, I tired but you had to chew the same spot  for a long time to get a piece, not my thing... The guy said that's how fisherman dry the fish for the winter, and I'm guessing make the dentist money..While Carl talked to him I looked at the wonderful art in a studio next store. At the corner we stopped for a couple of Bloody Mary's and cup of soup, back to walking around town. We sat in the park at the water edge for a while and climbed the rocks there too, very slippery. Alas we all made it safely across, but I'm sure we were funny to watch..We decided it was time to head back to the boat and hoped back on the bus. Back on the boat the batteries were so low the refrigerator wasn't working again and all the freezer stuff had thawed out, Someone had left the radio on all night, so the batteries had run way down. I bet you think it was me.. I guess we will be having fish for dinner. Carl started the motor and the epoxy held , while the batteries charged. I made a salad with the lettuce, cukes and tomatoes and steamed  potatoes, carrots and zucchini with the rest of the veggies Katie gave me, again they were wonderful..Katie grew all of them in her garden.. We sat in a quiet cabin since the batteries still didn't charge as much as we wanted and it was early to bed , as today we leave.. Hopefully we will make Nancy and Ernie today..

The day was overcast with heavy clouds, and we milled over whether to leave or not. About 10AM the skies started to clear up , so we checked weather and it was a go.. We had had such a wonderful time at this port with friends it was hard to leave. But since no one was around anymore we headed out. The ocean had a light chop with 1 to 2 foot seas,and a 5 knot wind on our nose. We got such a late start, we decided to only go 25 miles  to our next port.We were heading south, time to start our journey home. It was just  smooth sailing, nothing much to report except it is getting cold for us Florida Kids..So with skull caps and jackets on we continued our voyage. Until Carl yells the motor is over heating and shuts it done. Boy was that motor hot.. Carl kept saying he smelled something and had checked it a couple of times but couldn't see anything. When the pressure was released and he could look inside the motor all the water was gone, so down below he went . Carl had repaired an water leak on the water jacket a couple of years ago and it came loose and failed. Water was all down in the bottom of the boat. All the use and the many hours we have done has put some stress on all the repairs and some are just giving out. The motor was way to hot handle and he didn't have anything he could use as a temporary repair , so we put up the sails and headed back to Southwest Harbor. It was only 10 miles away so it would be the easiest and fastest to get to. Fast may be over stating it a bit.. The point of sail made it real difficult to get enough wind to make her sail. Carl used the whisker pole to hold the sails open.This was very slow going.  It was getting late in the afternoon, and  we didn't feel like we could make it to port before dark ,plus being we are in the North Atlantic, we made the chose to call Sea Tow. I mean what the heck we paid for it.. And we are sure getting more than our moneys worth..The girl there told us they would have to call around to find someone to tow us and she would call us back.. So sail on we did, at a astounding 2 knots, not to bad considering the wind was very light. We came to a turn toward Southwest Harbor and that put the wind at our back, so we were doing pretty good, we were hauling at 3 knots. Done get in our wake.. Just watch out for lobster pots mind field...A man from Charlie's Marine service calls and says he will be there in 2 hours, we said okay and sailed on. I made a pot of beans and bread, which warmed our bodies in the cold weather. By time Charlie got there we were at the first buoy and it was getting dark. Timing couldn't have been better , we were not looking forward to trying to get in under sail. Charlie fly's a pirate flag so we knew we were in good hands, or maybe not.. He hooked us up and we headed in, very proud of how far we had come under such light wind. We worked as a team and did good.. We had Charlie put us right back where we were anchored before. The rest of the evening was spent playing dominos and having a glass of Grand Mainer, thanks Barb! We saved it till we got here and forgot we had it, but with cold weather nothing goes as well as Grand Mainer.. Today we start repairs

It rained most of the night and well into the day. We just laid around the boat, and Carl putter around with a few things. We got a call from Dave and Katie saying they would be here in about 3 hours, so we slowly started getting ready to go to shore. The weather wasn't good so we decided to leave Bella on the boat. I must say I hate doing that, about half way though the day it clears up and we wish she was with us. Once ashore we walked to town, I needed a new can opener so I picked one up at the local hardware. Just about that time Dave and Katie called  to say they were down the street and were coming to meet us. They looked great , I hadn't seen them in years. It was very nice of them to drive 1 1/2 hours to meet us., they live in Rouge Bluffs which is close to Canada, A good 60 miles away. They had their dog with them so I was really missing Bella.. We drove over to Bar Harbor for the afternoon, what a tourist trap. The streets were packed, but we did pick up a t-shirt each and of course ice cream. Dave went with us to walk the stores, but Katie stayed with the dog at the truck ,as she didn't like the crowds. We tired to make the brewery tour but missed it, oh well. At last we were done traversing the town and Katie joined us for dinner and we talked about everything under the sun. It was so nice to spend time with them. Dave drove us back to the dingy just as it was starting to rain again. Kate had brought us veggies from her garden and blueberries she had picked up on the way over.That was very thoughtful of her.and she gave me a survival bracelet.. We said our goodbyes and thanked them for joining us. It is always nice to see old friends.Bella was sure glad to see us when we got home.. Not much to report about the evening just a quite night on the Windward Spirit..

The phone rang and it was Lee saying we better get a move on if we are going up Cadilliac Mountain. It was decided we would meet them in the parking lot a 9AM. We were even a couple of minutes early, when Carl realized he had not put the lock on the outboard motor, so he had to head back to the boat to put it on. I waited at the dock with Bella, and in just a few minutes Lee and Ledra arrived, it was so good to see them. Carl returned and our day began, first stop coffee and a muffin, and the post office, then we headed up the mountain, what a beautiful drive. Once up top we got a chance to walk around for area and check out the view. This was spectacular, very little haze and being able to see all the little islands we sailed by and some we hadn't. We posed for pictures and just had fun. Ledra and I went into the little park shop  while Lee and Carl waited outside.. Guys never like to look around shops like us girls do. Who knew on our sailing trip we would be walking and driving around a mountain, awesome.... We then went into Acadia National  Park. Carl got to talking to Lee about the seniors pass, so he picked one up at the gate and all of us got in for only $10.00  Perfect..Next stop was Thunder hole, where the tide rushing in a makes a sound like thunder.. After that is was a  fantastic drive along the coastal road to see Sands beach, ( I stuck my toes in the water, it was really cold.. how do those people swim in it?) and a place with a large rock tower on the beach. Lee took us on a great tour on the Park loop road. Then he took us to Northeast Harbor, Somesville, and a stop at the park they stay in, it was a complete tour of the area. When it was time for lunch we went to a place he used to play at right on the water, in Bass Harbor. This was great too since it had a patio and we could bring Bella. It was low tide and Carl got a few pictures so we would remember. And if that wasn't enough fun then he took us to Bass Lighthouse , where we could climb down the rocks and get a great view of it and a picture. Plus a stop a Hicnkly yacht company, our friend Bob back home would love that.. Alas, the day was over and  it was time to stop by the place Lee was gonna play at and unload his equipment.  We had the most wonderful day.. It was so much fun getting to see all of that..It  was terrific of them to take us to all those places. They took us back to the dock where our dingy was and we headed back to the boat. After a few hours on the boat it was time to go watch Lee play at the Dry Dock Inn. This was a neat little place and it was wonderful to hear him play again. He is more reserved than he was at Rosie's but still fun. We met a few people who had even been into our place in Florida. All we can say is we had a unbelievable time.. It was great fun from the time picked us up.Thanks for a super day.. We walked back to the dock and had to head out to our boat in a thick fog, what a eerie feeling that was.. We couldn't see more then a few feet in front of the dingy, needless to say we took it real slow and without lights so they wouldn't reflect back in the fog. As you can see by my posting we made it..Bella was very glad to see us she doesn't like it when we leave her on the boat. As the night passed on we sat outside looking at the other boats around us.. It was a creepy feeling, when Carl says" it looks like ghost ships in the fog".. Thanks for saying that, if I wasn't creeped out enough that helped.. We would have taken a picture but our camera wouldn't do it.. After all the fun of the day it was off to bed for these pirates.. In the morning I tired to post but was having trouble with all the bad weather, so I couldn't post.Please bear with me when these things happen.. Plus as you can see something crazy with posting pictures lately, hopefully I will figure it out..

Weaving our way thought the lobster pots is one way to start the day. Carl at the helm and me on the lookout. Hitting one of them could certainly ruin our day.. You can diffidently tell its how a lot of people make their living, plus lobsters are abundant.. As we headed northeast to our next port it was a day of lobster-man everywhere and very few other boats. Sure we saw a sailboat or two and a few power boats, but it was pretty quite on the water. It was smooth as glass and the waves were only 1 to 2 feet. Not much wind but and easy day. The items Carl installed for the fuel system seemed to have helped the problem. When we ran for a 8 hour day before it would always show its ugliness, but not today, lets hope its fixed. The refrigeration system seems to have fixed itself, maybe I hit a knob when I was taking things in and out. As we were having lunch we turned into the  area that is going to take us into Southwest Harbor. This area has mountains and flat beaches, rock but still flat. It is very alluring..We dropped the hook , when a couple in a 1936 wood boat with a cabin went by,  gorgeous.. you don't see many of those... We dropped the dingy and headed into Southwest Harbor, nice small town. Everywhere we went we saw this cakes called Whoopie  Pie's so we tired one.. Oh my god , talk about sugar, we thought our teeth would fall out of our heads,, We tried them  and that's the last of that..Today we meet Lee and Ledra and check out the area... What fun...

Carl was up and at it early. He  got up at 6 AM and quietly left the bedroom. I never even heard him leave. He got Bella and went  to the dingy and headed over to the boat, in the fog. Bella was going wait, whats going on mom's not with us.. He had to get a gas can so him and Ernie could go and get some diesel fuel at a local station. No marina here. He thought the tide was going to low tide so he docked the dingy at the fort across the harbor, only it was going to high tide. Better safe than sorry.. While over there he took a look around the ammo bunker, and looked through the fence at the fort, since it wasn't open yet. After a 1/4 mile walk around the harbor he returned  to find Ernie was up. They got a couple more gas cans and went to have them filled. Nancy and I awoke while they were gone. I got all our things together and striped the bed we had so much enjoyed, and readied myself to go. Ernie returned with Bella but no Carl, he was filling the diesel at the boat. Upon his return he reported that the refrigerator was staying cold which was great news. I then got all of us food out of their frig and freezer. Carl had coffee while the fog was lifting so it was time to continue our great adventure. We said our goodbye's to Nancy first, as she had to head over to the library she volunteers at on Mondays. We kept a keen eye on Ernie with Bella.. That's right he became very fond of her so we had to make sure ,she made it to the boat... Only kidding but Ernie did really like her.. We bid ado with huge thanks for having us, they were great hosts, we felt right at home at their house. They even loaned us a truck to explore the area with.. Thanks again.. I took a picture of their home as we left the harbor.. Out in the Bay of Maine, boats were on the move. We must have seen 30 to 40 sailboats alone. Most heading south to get out before its to cold. A few of us still had a few stops north of here. It was a beautiful day on the water. We even had dolphins at the bow. The lobster traps are so heavy here it's like traversing a mind field.. I am not kidding.. In some place there is a trap every few feet.. We both have to keep a look out.. The farther north we go the thicker they become... I took a picture but its hard to see.. I did get a picture of a lobster boat with a lighthouse and home in the back ground though.. Pretty neat..We anchored for the night in Tenants Harbor with a mooring field all around us. Commercial and pleasure boats. It was a pretty anchorage and we were able to get back in the cove.  We had a nice evening on the hook and a good night rest back in our own bed. It's great to visit , but always nice to come home..Today it's Southwest Harbor, to catch up with Lee and Ledra..

The first thing we did this morning was post my blog, then we all hopped into Barbie's car and headed to a fifty's diner in Brigdton for breakfast. They had a jukebox so Jim filled it with quarters and it began to play..Only problem was it didn't have speakers  in the restaurant so we couldn't really hear it.. After breakfast we took a ride where Barbie showed us a pretty area ski slope and Moon Pond. The shrubs on the slope spelled love, pretty neat huh... Then it was time for us to head back to Nancy and Ernie's . We said our goodbye's and thanked Barbie for the lovely time and got in the car and started our trip back. The GPS took us a different route so we stopped to check and make sure it was taking us the right way. When we arrived at the suspension walk bridge at Androscoggin River that we had passed on the way to Barbie's we stopped. This bridge was built 1890's for the miners to cross the river, so we crossed like a miner. This is still used today by many people. Next stop was the town of Bath, which was closed since it was to late in the day. Back at the boat Carl headed over to install a new fuel filter he had found earlier, that we didn't know we had.With all the changes he has made to the fuel system this should take care of any more problems.. Nancy and I went over to Percy's store for some vanilla ice cream for the blueberry pie we had picked up. Carl returned and we spent the evening having dinner talking until it was time for Carl to plot our next part of our trip. This is a pretty hard job with all the rocks on the Maine Coast.. He has to concentrate a lot...We headed up to bed for a good night sleep as today we move  on to our last destination in Maine.. We have to move while we can. The fog get real thick and the weather can change at the drop of a hat.This has been a wonderful stop and we can't thank everyone enough for such wonderful hospitality.. It was a great time with all.