Monday was a grey day but with a nice wind and no fog we decided to sail the 15 miles to Frenchboro where we had heard great things about the lobster rolls at their dockside deli.
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| Grey sails on a grey day |
We were having a lovely time and really enjoying our first sail in what felt like ages and then the sails backed.... at first we thought it was a wind shift but luckily before we did anything else we noticed a line trailing from behind Askari to a lobster pot float that was underwater- arghhhhh! In Maine there are about three million lobster pots and we are diligent about trying to dodge them. Its complicated because some pots have a float which is attached to a second float with a trailing loop that hangs just beneath the surface. Sometimes these floats are colour matched to help identify which are pairs, and sometimes not. The floats also end up submerged in the strong currents so in reality if you sail here long enough you are going to pick one up.
We quickly furled the sails and Andrew managed to hook the connecting line with the boat hook, we tried to follow it but could not see the pick up buoy anywhere - it must be under the boat. Andrew hauled it with all his might and I took up the slack and managed to secure it on a cleat hoping that by making it slack the buoy might pop up but it didn't. At this point we had two choices - cut the line and sail on or get in the water. Either way someone was getting in the water at some point. We both volunteered but the captain didn't take to long to consider my offer and I was in the water before i had time to reconsider. It was actually the safer option and after the initial shock it wasn't dangerously cold so long as I could free us in a few minutes. If it had been more complicated then a wet suit would have been required for sure. The pickup float had a ring on it which had caught on our rope cutter- that's ironic and an absolute fluke. Five minutes later I was in a hot shower and we were on our way again.
We arrived at Lunt Harbour in Frenchboro - population just 60!!! The harbour is rocky and a mooring is essential and lucky for us one of the 5 moorings belonging to the Dockside Deli were free so we grabbed it and zoomed ashore for a lobster roll - no hard feelings to the lobstermen and their pots as the lobster was delicious.
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| Dockside Deli |
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| Lobster Roll tour continue |
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| Shack at the Deli |
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| Beautiful Frenchboro |
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| Love this sign |
We visited the museum and met a lovely lady who was born on the island - she had never had an Australian sign the guest book so was very excited. She gave us a map of hiking routes on the island. Everyone here knows everyone and everything, I love these small communities.
Our hike turned out to be amazing, through forest, over marsh land, cliff walks and rugged ocean views all without a single other hiker - wowser!
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| Artwork from pots washed ashore |
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| Rocks and trees |
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| Rugged coast |
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| Sunset at Frenchboro |
This spot made what could have been a very bad day a highlight of our time in Maine to date.
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