..."to the vagrant gypsy's life"... WHERED THE SUMMER GO?

Well, IApetus is running like a fine dishwasher so we are set to go down to Buzzards Bay and Woods Hole for the next weeks or so. Well live on board and just have to find suitable docks with hookups (Ive got a great piloting guide fo Maine. It even has car rentals) Were going to sail over to Pubnico NS for a craft festival, then down to the ISlands around Acadia. (Most of the people should be gone but the season still alive) Another Craft festival in Bar Hrbor. Then to Portland, Portsmouth, Gloucester an CApe Cod Caqnal and finish up at Woods Hole. Well come home by sea rather than "Island hop". Im taking my new WiFi gizmo I got from Verizon, so maybe Ill check in for the next two weeks(whenever we find a hot spot).

Then we have to pull er out and have er gone over and winterized . Sure does pass quickly but after this summer of just hanging out with the other pelagics, Ill be looking forward to land and the farm(and getting back to my job, my woodwork, and my painting)

AS I said before, nothing, not even the realization of our own mortality , has as much impact as knowing that vacation is soon over and we have to get back and earn some more money to scrape by..Its always a bittersweet time, you dont want it to end, but you can see the winter time and its attendant activities.

Ah, but it's a wonderful life!

Put in to Digby NS. Its a harbour of refuge with afine seawall. The crossing from Manan was dicey with rather hiigh storm waves for a sheltered Bay. Hotspot(new and unlisted ) at the CN terminal.. Now comes the crossing to Acadia where theres a few folks still hanging around defying winter. If I dont write by Wed--send help.

Ethanol and fibereglass fuel tanks do not mix- beware. See here:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1362654.ece

McTag, all Ive got to worry about is the amount of ether in my diesel fuel mix. They add MTBE up here all year round and its not necessary.

Were at Southwest Harbor and its a nice mooring, a sheltered harbor and lots of neat boats to ogle. People who are stopping by from world sailing trips. We just saw W F Buckley and Evan Galbraith. Martha Stewarts Talaria is here and its a neat brown chicken egg color with what looks like a dark green bottom. The Talaria is Hinckleys finest boat. Hers is a bout a 48 footer and should really be run frequently.

Internet spots abound and well just sit out a day or so here, I want to look at some of the old granite quarries and do some sketching. My wife is busy trying to convince my son to return to college.

I dont really give a **** as long as he feels hes doing something he wants and doesnt have to mooch off us .

Ill catch up when we reach Portland or Portsmouth, depending on how rough the seas get with this little front coming through. We have 2 more weeks (Till the 25th and then we have to be back and have the boat pulled and stored).

This trip has been a test of boatsmanship. The seas have been rough and our crossing to here has not made us look forward to the long haul down to the Cape. We may just hang around here and go island hopping around Penobscot and then go back to Eastport sometime next week.

When the sea state is higher than I like , its a real grind. So weve decided to stay here in Souwest Harbor another day till this front quiets down. Its actually not bad, just too windy and the waves are still pushing 15 ft offshore.

A former Abuzzer and very very very occasional A2K'r worked in her partner's business in Southwest Harbor when Setanta and I visited her about 5 years ago.

I remember wondering whether I got better photos in Southwest or Northeast Harbor.

You were on our mind today, FMan. Setanta and I took a little driving trip up the Rideau Canal - checking out a buncha the locks. He spoke to some of the boat folks who were on their way back down to the Chesapeake and South Carolina.

Thats a neat trip beth. Its a nice ride on the St Lawrence until about Anticostia and the Madelaines. It can get really foggy in that area of the St Larry Gulf.
Were sitting out some small problems but well be back underway probly tommorow.. Our boat is not as much freeboard as some of the trawler types and the decks get awash in really high seas (for us anything 15 ft or higher is insane ). We admit that we are not the bold sailors ,but as they say. about old v bold, "one doesnt get old by being bold at sea"

HEY beth, heres something to do while around the Rideau area. Get on the road (2?) towards two connected lakes called Bob's Lake and Desert lake. As I recall, they are near Kingston. along the walls of Bobs lake is an old feldspar mine with huge crystals of greenish black tourmaline (they call it schorl locally) it has a really dark green color that is able to be faceted into dark green cut stones. Maybe you can find some along the streams, since its a heavy mineral. If not, I know that they make good butter and maple sugar pies over there. (forget what theyre called but theyre damn good).

Im always good for rock hunting almost anywhere on the map of US and Canada

I know Bob's Lake very well, FMan. Kingston is my hometown, and the hamburgers and I cottaged on Bob's Lake for 25+ years.

Rockhound central is just about an hour or so northwest of here.

Butter tarts

I picked some up to share with hamburger, in Athens on our way back down to the St. Lawrence this afternoon.

The route we took up toward the locks on the Rideau went past my favourite rockcut on the 401, where you can see a great dip of the Canadian Shield. Lotsa cool erratics used as driveway markers along some of the farm properties going north.

The backroad we took to get from Smiths Falls down to Athens went past quite a few active quarries.

A couple of hamburger's buddies were fairly serious rockhounds and had grinding and polishing equipment at home. I've seen quite a few nice tourmaline bolo ties in that crowd.

BETH_The technical name for a glacial erratic is a BFR (Big "Fifriigen" rock), or some other choice of adjective that fits. We had a seminar on moraines and gold resources of the Shield once by a very famous geoguy from the Cnadian Geo Survey. He kept referring to every rock as a BFR and finallt some one asked out in the audience. The laughter went on for about 10 minutes cause people were taking notes.


BUTTER TARTS MMMMMM , people who aint ever haddam , need to get up to the Kingston area (or are they ubiquitous in the State of Ontareararaio?)


WELL, here we are, fogged in. That just about shoots it in the ass for just screwing around locally and heading back maybe next week sometime. Radar works ok but all these work boats and bigass ferries just dont pay attention to little 40 ft craft. I have a telescoping radio mast with a radar target but all that helps em do is take better aim at swamping us. I dont like to get behind or beside a big ship and in its wake boil because the bouyancy of the foamy **** is almost zero. The CAT hasnt killed anyone for 2 years now so they are getting better , but big draggers dont really give two shakes, they call us all "The Wess Vaginyer Naveh"
Weve parked at Belfast and have gotten a nice hotel and a car, maybe well do some antiquing tomorrow.. SOmetime ya just go with the hand ya got.

BFR - taking a note of that

South-Eastern Ontario seems to be the home of the best butter tarts - especially when you get into the Ottawa Valley.

Fogged in. Not a great phrase for a sailor.

Set and I took the dogs for a walk along the Kingston waterfront early today. Lotsa sailboats oot and aboot. I'm not much of a sailor, but I know a good-looking spinnaker when I see one, and there were lots of them out there this morning.

Funny how differently the wind seemed to be running from one end of Wolfe Island to the other. Funny in an interesting-to-a-non-sailor way.

Enjoy the antiquing. I used to be a regular reader of the Maine Antique Digest - devotee, even.

I save Maine ANtiques Digests like others save national Geographics.

I dont know how people can stand sailboats. Ive watched some skippers try
to sail out of Eastport by just putting their kicker engines out about 1/4 mile and then raising sail, only to wind up standing still for 3 hours.

I once crewed for a "friend" in a race from Baltimore to Block Island. We almost killed the guy by the time we reached Annapolis. Sailboat captains have a habit of becoming total nut job Capt Queegs in less than 20 minutes.

Yeh fog really sucks, were sitting here watching C-Span 2 "Book TV' its about all thats on .that isnt stupid.



DO you know how to make Butter Tarts????

well, tomorrows supposed to give us better weather so well continue sailing south maybe Monhegan. If we go there, well probably not check in till Tuesday from someplace that is on the return trip to Eastport. Maybe BAHH HABBAH or Winter Harbor. See yas,

SAY goodnight to the people Gracie.

well, still a bit foggy. I hate driving by radar, you cant see floating cable spools or logs. Looks like its over to Winer Harbor and we ditch the Woods Hole entirely. Oh well, we still have to do the Lans AUx Meadows trip .

Deisel has actually come DOWN about 40 cents a gallon so were getting 50 free gallons for every tankful. I dont know whether to top off the tank or save the money for my kids tuition , should he decide to go back to school this semester.

Ha! of course I know how to make buttah tahts, FMan. I'm from Ontario, from the valley in fact.

Made Set laugh on our little driving tour up the Rideau. By the time we were on our way home I was greeting everyone with "g'deh, eh", and doing the finger wave over the steering wheel. Old home week indeed.

~~~~~~~~~

Winter Harbor's where the ex-Abuzzer, MarleyFrances, lived when we visited her. A buncha the Abuzz Crones visited her earlier the same year.

Winter Harbor's been seen by a surprising number of Abuzzers. Someone there silk-screened us some unofficial Abuzz t-shirts.

well, finally fog's outta here. this AM we can leave for Monhegan and then Winter HArbor and then back to EAstport.

Made it to Bar Harbor, the ride out of Frenchmans Bay will be super. The weather was great and sunny. We decided to do some post season stuff. Theres a couple of craft shows this weekend , then we will head to Eastport and home.
The whale watching was great today but the pro watching boats have no class. They just push and parade themselves inside the whale protection zone and when you tell em to back off they get snotty, like its their ocean or something.

Went from Bar Harbor and are in a nice hotel in Halifax. Wow you dont have to charge up the water with pressure in order to shower, and the lights work all night without starting the engines. AND AND , weve got n internet lounge. COOOL. But we gotta leave for The bay and then home. Ill probably be off for a coupla days as we have so much **** to do come Monday.. Ill be back in PA by Sept 25

<putting out some marker lights>