Pulpit Harbor, North Haven Island, Maine
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Thu 30 Aug 2007 15:09
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44:09.289N 68:53.264W
It's warm. On Sunday (8/26) we motorsailed
[Non-boater translation: motorsailing is when you motor with one or more sails
up. This way you fake other sailboaters into thinking you are actually
sailing, making them feel guilty, and causing them to attempt to sail in
wind that is too light, resulting in them turning on their motor and
motorsailing.] from Merchant Island to Pulpit Harbor, North Haven Island in
Penobscot Bay. This is the first time daytime temperatures greater than or
equal to 70F have been recorded on Harmonie since the first day we entered
Nova Scotia, 20 days ago. Twenty days at sub 70 in August. Can you
believe it? Did I ever mention that the lowest recorded nighttime
temperature on Harmonie in Nova Scotia was 53F?
Maine, on the other hand, is warmer, and more
crowded. Pulpit Harbor is one of those places that comes highly
recommended in all the guidebooks. It's a snug little harbor with an
entrance guarded by Pulpit Rock, on top of which is an osprey nest that has been
there (according to the guidebooks) for close to 150 years. When we went
by on our way into the harbor, three not so small baby ospreys were in the
nest waving to us. Ok, not really waving, but wouldn't that have been
cool? Pulpit Harbor is on the swanky island of North Haven, which is
populated with 'cottages' owned by the families of people whose names grace
buildings all over the northeast. I remember the Cabot gym at
Northeastern University in Boston. Yup, the Cabots had (maybe still do?)
several 'cottages' on this island. Anyway, we were thinking that
Pulpit Harbor would be this somewhat remote, beautiful place that we would have
mostly to ourselves. Wrong. It was pretty, but also pretty
darn crammed with sailboats and lobster boats anchored and on
moorings. Oh, and there were quite a few lobster pot buoys here and
there too. We squeezed ourselves in and stayed for two
nights.
We had a chance to take a long walk around the
island, and aside from the many cars that kept buzzing by (everyone waved, so it
wasn't that unpleasant, but where were all these cars coming from and going to?
it's an island, there's no where to go.) there wasn't much to see in terms of
buildings or a town, but the scenery was very nice. See the first picture
below for a view of Penobscot Bay taken from North Haven
island.
Later, after about 8 more boats squeezed into the
harbor, a big schooner made it's way in and plopped down an anchor in the
only spot that was left - directly in the middle. Below is
a picture of the schooner making it's way in. Note Pulpit Rock and
its osprey nest to the left of the schooner. Can you see the baby
ospreys waving?
Even later, the full moon appeared,
transforming the crowded harbor into a bit of a dreamscape. See
the picture below.
Crowded or no, we can see why Pulpit Harbor was
highly recommended. The scenery was nice, the harbor secure (even
with the multitude of boats) and the moonrise the best we've seen so
far.
And it was warm.
Anne |
