Moving once more, a short distance to the majestic fjord: Somes Sound. Somes Sound is a glacial river valley tucked in between the rounded mountains of Mt Desert Island. What a beautiful cruise in, even though there was fog in the area, which added and subtracted to the surroundings. We followed Last Dance in, dodging the submerged lobster pots, which Jill so nicely would warn us about. We snagged a mooring ball in Somes Harbor @ the head of the Sound. This is the prettiest place yet and we are not alone. There are quite a few boats moored, along with 100 year old David Rockefeller & his crew who comes in with his Hinkley yacht: Sea Smoke. Sea Smoke arrives a couple times per week to enjoy lunch aboard surrounded by the beautiful mountains, rocks, trees and cliffs. The Rockefeller family have been very generous to Acadia, donating 11,000 out the total 46,000 acres and constructing the carriage trails.
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| David Rockefeller's boat |
Since Glen & Jill, have been here before, they have the bus routes all figured out, so we took off to catch the Park loop bus, which took us to some beautiful spots along the dramatic coastline. Before catching the bus, they showed us the library and the historical center, which is in a very picturesque spot. There is not much else in Somesville @ least by the dinghy dock.
Our next morning, we packed lunches & grabbed a bus that took us to Acadia Mountain. We hiked up to the summit and were rewarded with breathtaking views of the nearby coves & harbors. It was a 3 mile hike rated strenuous by the park service.
August 6, Jill & Glen invited us over for breakfast on Last Dance. Jill served us her homemade blueberry bread, of course made from fresh Maine blueberries. We topped it with Esther's homemade Raspberry jam, of course made from fresh Maine raspberries. When we saw Esther, she had given us some Raspberry & Strawberry jam-yum! We certainly eat well while on our adventures.
Doug & I took off to catch another bus, (love these free buses) this time to Echo Lake & Beech Cliff trail. We hiked about 3 miles up some steep rocks that the park service so graciously installed iron ladders in. We lunched on the beach and enjoyed the great warm weather.
For dinner, the four of us joined the locals @ the Somesville Fire Station for Lobster & Mussels dinner with all the fixins, including homemade blueberry cake. Doug & I split 3 whole lobsters & I ate mine & Doug's mussels (he doesn't like them) washing it all down with wine we brought from the boat! Not only did we have a great meal, we then walked across the street after dinner to be entertained by the Community Theater Group performing a comedy called Sylvia. Dinner & a play-all in small little tucked away, Somesville Maine. Our wonderfully full day was topped off with a serene, calm dinghy ride and a sky full of stars. WOW!
As much as we loved Somes Harbor & our free mooring, it was time to move back to NE Harbor and finish exploring that part of Mt Desert Island. While we were in Somes Harbor, one of our Krogen friends, Bill & Lisa on Changing Course had arrived in NE Harbor. We wanted to meet & greet them too. We snagged a mooring ball this time round and then took the dinghy to say Hi to Lisa (Bill had left for Michigan) so Lisa was going to be on her own for awhile. We spent the afternoon, catching up on chores and then enjoyed cocktails on Changing Course, catching up with Lisa & their adventures. It sure is nice to have friends in so many places along the way.
We anchored off the shore of Jewell Island along with a few other sailboats. It is a longer, narrow cove so it doesn't have a lot of swing room, but we found a good spot & our anchor held well. It was just after high tide, so we took our dinghy into shore and went exploring. The island is a park with some primitive camp sites scattered around. There is a big tidal pool & beach on the opposite shore, so we checked that area out. We went back later @ cocktail time during low tide to see the difference, these large 10-12 feet tides truly fascinate us. The rock formations here were so different from any we have seen in Maine. There is a lot of gold & silver slate & slag with many ridges. Very pretty & interesting.
Our last stop in Maine, Biddeford Pool was a place we stopped on our way heading north. We knew the moorings were good and it was quite protected. It was a hot day when we arrived and we saw several large pods of dolphins playing on our way in. We decided to explore the nearby Saco River after we settled in by dinghy. It was a long, hot ride. Most of the river is no wake and there was not much of a breeze. We haven't had this hot of weather all summer & I'm kind of glad we haven't. There were pretty sections of the river and a damn @ the end of it, in the town of Saco. 
