Castine 44:22.50N 68:49.05W
Lotus
Mon 23 Aug 2010 21:26
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From Pulpit Harbour we sailed in a gentle breeze on
a dead run to Castine the site of a 17th century trading post, fort and
battleground between the English/French/American over a number of years.
Whist walking around the next day some senile old git spent twenty minutes
recounting some local history; it was almost worth the agonizing wait as he
described Americas worst naval defeat after Pearl Harbour. Four British
Men of War routed 20 American boats, sinking 16 and forcing the crews of the
other four to flee up the river, disembark and walk 150miles over land, with
their tails between their legs, back to Boston.
Over the next few days we had leisurely day sails
stopping in some beautiful anchorages before arriving in a small bay in Isle au
Haut which is part of the Accadia National Park. As we dropped anchor we
were thrilled to see our first American Bald Eagle, initially perched on a tree,
then as it flew above the boat it attacked a seagull that attempted to rob it en
route and then flew off to a distant perch. After we'd anchored we
tried to chase it down, in the tender, camera at the ready, determined to
get our National Geographic front page picture. Unfortunately the
eagle had other ideas and every time we got close it flew off to another perch
with us in hot pursuit. Still at least we did get a
photo!
 We moved a few miles to the tiny little inlet of
Duck Harbour, which served as our base for a couple of days. We enjoyed a
fantastic walk up and over duck mountain and were rewarded with great views
before taking the cliff top path back round to the yacht. One of our
evenings was spent with a lovely French couple and their daughter who had just
started sailing and had come up from Boston on their annual holiday. They
had just received their full US citizenship after 10years of working in the
states. They had nothing but praise for the American system and confirmed
much of what we had thought about the generosity of spirit of most
American.
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