Beautifull Camden, Maine , U.S.A.

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 26 Aug 2011 00:25
THURSDAY  25th  AUGUST 2011
 
Ohhhh, what a dull morning and whats more, things are not looking good for the weekend, Hurricane " Irene"
is heading north along the U.S. coast and is expected here by Sunday, and this is not a place to be, so we will
have to leave tomorrow, and go and hide in Smiths cove which is about 25miles from here,
Gawd, this place was buzzing today where they lifted out 20 boats and another 20 tomorrow, all trying to be secure
for the weekend, mind you, some of them are comming out because its the end of the season as far as they
are concerned,
 
At 07.00 hrs this morning, skipper went to the " Ships Store " and got some 3M caulking and alcohol and returned to
the boat and began the long overdue task of removing the aft deck hatch to the master cabin and resealing the thing,
It did not take long to unscrew and remove the hatch, The bedding was scant and perished , with little or no
adhesion to the cabin top and only about 40% of adhesion to the hatch itself,  This was one of the new windows
installed at " Fox's" boat yard, Ipswitch early in 2007, and like the rest of the new windows they installed , have
leaked almost from the beginning, and their only response was to suggest that the bedding or caulking suffered
from the changing climates on our way around the world,  
Amazing,  none of the original windows on the boat , now 10 years old, ever leaked ! only the new ones installed by Fox's boat yard.
It would be interesting to have their response to that !
The whole project took skipper about 2 hours, which included cleaning all the frames and cabin top before rebedding
the hatch again,
Later, like 5 hours later, it got well tested with some torrential rain, and to our delight, no leaks ..........
 
 
At lunch time , Gerard returned with the parts for the generator, and after a couple of hours got the generator running and
shutting down as it should, but the thing was still overheating so more work there tomorrow,
Skipper continued with replacing the linings to the insulation in the engine room with a new adhesive silver tape , It
looks great, but only time will tell if it is the right stuff or not,
 
On the home front. Our friend Margaret How is making slow progress from her newmonia , and our daughter " Leah"
and her son Jamie have returned from India to Ireland for a few days to the delight of their friends, not to mind
our daughter Sarah and son Stefan who are so happy to see their sister,  ( their real mother )
 
Now back to last Monday  22nd  ,
In the afternoon we went to " POINT  LOOKOUT " resort for 2 nights,  this was one of the prizes we won at the weekend
so we decided that now was the right time, We were given a tour to the top of the resort by the staff and we were bowled over
with the sheer beauty and views from that location,
The views across " Penobscot Bay " were simply stunning.....................
 
The resort hold their weddings and receptions here and on a cclear day it is just magnificant, but the building really
impressed skipper, the architectural details were really special and the model yachts and ships were awsome,
This place was the HQ of MBNA and it seems our Irish friend " Shane Flynn" was the boss there before it was all
bought over by " Bank Of America" and subsequently shut down,
Now , it is a posh holiday resort,
 
We had dinner later in the " LOBSTER POUND "  down in Lincoln Ville village and the value was great, a pair of
lobsters for $ 32...... plus all the trimmings, like fresh sweet corn on the cob, baked potatoe, salad, etc,
Later we watched telly , something we are not used to before crashing out for a good nights sleep in a real bed,
 
Tuesday 23rd,
Skipper returned to " A lady " and worked on re-covering the insulation around the generator and watching the mechanic
work on the generator itself, 
Later, skipper got a loan of  Brian Smullen's V.W . a tourag which skipper had a few years ago. but, BUT, But, this was
a V8 , grab that , a beautifull car and responded to the owners touch, the doors would lock or open just at the touch
of the owner or driver, incredible,,,,,,  
So , skipper used the car to return the the " point Lookout " and the 2 of us went off for anothe great meal in " Chez Michel"
Skipper had a lobster and crab pie, it was one of the best dishes had in a long time,,  yum, yum,
 
Wednesday  24th 
Up early, we packed our bags and signed out of  " Piont Lookout " resort and drove to Belfast , for breckfast and a look
around the place before returning to " A lady"  
The breckfast included Irish " corned beef hash" a pair of eggs, bacon, english muffins, beans, coffee,  It was massive,
we were bursting when we finished and struggled our way to the car just a couple of hundred meters up the road,
 
10.30hrs  we reached the boat in Camden and got ourselves ready for our guests, Micheal, and his mother Beverly
and father Rick Peiser,  
Micheal is a good friend of our son " Stefan" and he lives in Ireland at present, but is American and his father is a proffessor
in " Harvard University "   Boston,
They arrived at 12.15 and we went for a sail in " A Lady" , we sailed to Rock port  , just about 10 miles south of here
and had a great sail in 22 / 25 knots of wind, we had a great beat down and a fetch back by tacking downwind,
Rick steered the boat most of the time and really enjoyed the day, as did Beverly and Micheal, later when we reached
port we guzzeled a bottle of white wine before our guests departed back to " Booths Bay" where they are staying for a few days,
They were really impressed with our beautifulll " Oyster 56 "
 
We , on the other hand, drove in our beautifull V.W over to " SHEPPARDS PIE "  restaurant in RockPort for dinner,
RockPort is only a few miles from Camden, so we arrived in less than 10 minutes,
the place was mobbed and we had to mope around for 40 minutes before we got a seat,
We met people from " New Orleans" and they never met Irish People before, they dont even know Irish people, but were
very familier with " St Patrick "  and the parades,   dumb, dumbs,
We enjoyed the night  even though the food was only so,so,
 
That brings us up to date, and today,
Sooooo, thats it for now,,, ,,,,,,,,,,    EarthQuakes, Hurricanes, and rain, whats next !  !  ! 
 
Signed  ;-   Stephen Hyde   ( Skipper )