Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. We have had a couple of wonderful three day cruises this past week. The weather has continued fair and the sailing has been brisk. We are all hunkered down for Irene and the tropical storm warnings she brings to the Maine coast. Looks like we will get a bit of wind and rain. We take these storm warnings seriously even if we know in the back of our minds that seldom are they as bad as the forecasts predict. We would rather err on the side of caution. One thing I try not to take seriously is myself. Guests peeking into my office last week wondered about the carbide scraper I was hiding. I shave with it of course. No silly little razor for me. With a beard as tough as mine a carbide scraper is still kind of skimpy. With a little "help" from one of our guests I managed to apply some shaving cream to my beard. Washing up with a swab? How salty is that? Maybe I should try a weed wacker next time. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We enjoyed a wonderful lobster bake Wednesday afternoon at one of my favorite little haunts. We managed to work our way out the bay against wind and tide in a lovely and light southerly wind. The fog hung thick until noon time and gave way to deep blue skies and plenty of sunshine. We anchored last evening in Bucks Harbor where the water is quite warm for swimming and the phosphorescence flashes in the wake of evening swimmers. We sailed close to this ledge earlier in the day and, by luck, I captured this seal waving to us. Have a great day. Be well. Do good. PS We have a couple last minute openings for the 3 day cruise we are offering in the second half of next week. The trip boards Wednesday afternoon, sails Thursday morning and arrives back in Camden Saturday morning. Wouldn't it be nice to have a last minute get-away?

Good morning everyone. After an overcast Monday and a mostly rainy Tuesday the sun finally poked out yesterday afternoon and the skies cleared beautifully. I wish you could have been here to witness the grandeur. I have not seen a full rainbow in quite some time. At one moment a double rainbow began to tease us but faded as the rains pulled further and further away. After dinner the sky turned the deepest golden color that I can remember. Could I have bottled it up to send to each of you I would. Low clouds scudding across the sky were in constant flux against the high clouds that held a glow of their own. If you look closely at the middle image you can even see a tiny wisp of a rain shower delicately falling. And while the sunset faded over an hours time the memory will warm me through the coming winter. I remind myself that we have plenty of sunsets to go before this season reaches any kind of finale. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We are very excited to announce that we are partnering with the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) for our September 5th, 6 day, lighthouse tour with pharoalogist Ted Panayatoff. We are offering a 10% discount to anyone that mentions supporting ALF and then donating 10% of that fare to ALF. Your cost will be $832.50 and we will donate $83.25 per person to ALF. You win, ALF wins and we get a chance to show off Maine's extraordinary lighthouses and give back to our community. For more information check out the ALF web page . Call or email Jen in the office to make reservations. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. Epic seems to be the word for everything these days. So pardon me if I go with the trend but yesterday was "epic." We took a hitch offshore to tour Mt Desert Rock Lighthouse. The storm damage from several years ago is still apparent but the stone tower stands true and the horn still sounds. What struck me most about the day was the number of birds we saw. The air was just alive with gannetts, shearwaters, storm petrels,and semi-palmated plovers. Watching the gannetts diving from 40 feet up gave me a headache but nature has provided airbags in their skulls to absorb the shock. Watching the shearwaters take off I realized that they run across the water in an effort to become airborne. How cool is that? We also saw a shark that passed just under the stem of the schooner and the flapping flipper of an ocean sunfish, also known as a mola mola. It was big! Last night we had some good soaking rains here along the coast but things have cleared off nicely

Good morning everyone. Well this has been one crazy but beautiful summer. I am not certain how it happens but life gets busier by the day. And not necessarily easier I might add. Of course it doesn't help that this writer tries to do more than one person is capable of. I know the lack of a blog may appear as though I am not doing much but any of you that have been aboard know we have been busy little bees. This years Sweet Chariot Folk Festival was another great success. We were quite fortunate to have the performers come aboard to perform a few shanties. Cameras were clicking and I am guessing a few videos will appear online somewhere. I will hopefully upload a video to our Facebook page . I have never done this so let me know if it doesn't work. If you haven't been to our Facebook page you should check it out. Some cool stuff there. Guests really enjoyed this years show. Leaving Camden on Monday was quite interesting in a very thick fog. As happens often we found a scale