We were motoring back to Portland (wind heading the wrong direction and Trip pouting) when we got a call that friends couldn’t meet us as planned. Though disappointed, the timing was good because it allowed us to a) change tack to set sail and b) head to one of our favorite spots called the Basin.

The Basin’s only entrance is a small channel that’s hard to find if you don’t know about it. Once you get through it, everything opens up into what appears to be a large lake in the middle of the woods. Another recommendation from James and Jenny – we had stopped here last year during our first Maine cruise and fell in love so we couldn’t resist coming back.

As huge as it is, there’s only 6 local boats on moorings and we found two others at anchor, so we had a nice quiet afternoon and evening. One bit of excitement did come from a neighboring boat. I freely admit that I consider it a spectator sport to watch other boaters’ anchoring techniques. Other boaters who claim they don’t are lying. I got hooked (no pun intended) years ago when I first started sailing with Trip and we watched someone on a small boat come into an anchorage, grab an anchor with a hornet’s nest of line and toss it overboard, hoping it would set. (I’d go into detail on correct anchoring technique but it would make most of your eyes glaze over, so I will spare you.) Well it was déjà vu all over again – little boat, mess of line in a five gallon bucket, anchor simply tossed over the side, and backing into reverse with not nearly enough line down for the anchor to set properly. They did this three times, the last getting much too close for comfort, so Trip went up to the bow to glare at them. They finally gave up and went over and took an empty private mooring, hoping it was late enough that no one was coming into claim it (a common practice up here).

Since we were finally somewhere less exposed to the Atlantic for a day or two, I decided it was time to set up my skin-on-frame kayak. It packs up into a duffle bag, and is really quite a fun thing to have along for some exercise and exploring. (I had asked Trip why we couldn’t bring my wooden kayak this year and he just rolled his eyes – an 18 footer does get in the way on board, I guess.) I’m a little rusty on setting it up and of course had to do it on the deck of the boat rather than on a boat ramp, but we had it all assembled in 20 minutes.

Trip decided to set up the sailing rig on the dinghy to sail while I paddled. I noticed a few more boats coming in while setting up. And then a few more. And then more. Concordia yawls, wooden schooners, old fashioned trawlers – nearly two dozen came in over the next two hours. Turns out it was the Eastern Yacht Club from Marblehead on a Maine cruise. This stop was particularly special – the basin is so big they were able to raft up all the boats in a star pattern with the bows facing out. It took nearly four hours to get all the boats in place, but it was rather fun to be paddling around observing all the festivities. And my, what beautiful boats! Amazingly, it took less than 30 minutes the next day to dissemble and move on to their next destination.

When we were in the Basin last year, I had read that it was one of the few places in Maine with water warm enough to swim. However, I watched two guys jump off a neighboring boat and heard their voices go up multiple octives, so decided it wasn’t for me. This year there were multiple people swimming again, but no piercing screams, so we decided to give it a shot. Not quite as bad as three-strokes-and-you’re-out but it was a bit more bracing than refreshing so I didn’t last that long.