I scoffed at the people who told us they spend weeks or even a month on Mt Desert, but we’re now at Day 11 so I’m not one to talk anymore.   Anchoring has made a big difference, not having to pay a nightly mooring fee makes this much more affordable.

Somes Sound, Post Sunset

 

Realities of owning a boat set in on Wednesday.  Despite having both a solar panel and a wind generator, we noticed the battery levels dropping daily and barely registering input.  Trip originally thought it might be a bad regulator for the wind generator and started looking into options.  We’re nowhere near Florida for a technician to look at it directly and the company would have to fedex a new one ($250+) to us in Maine and only reimburse us after we send the defective one and have it confirmed faulty.  After some more inspection Trip suspected something was wrong with the batteries after two days of bright sun and almost no increase from the solar panel.  Which meant pulling everything out of the aft cabin (which we’ve been using as a temporary storage unit) so Trip could inspect the batteries.  Which started the worrying anew – our batteries are only at 50% of their shelf life and would cost $1,600 to replace.  Fortunately Trip discovered a lot of corrosion which he could manage with a bit of elbow grease.  Half an hour later everything was cleaned and reassembled and two days later we’re back to 99.5% battery charge.  Whew.

 

Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup over Cheddar Polenta with Sourdough Croutons

The nights are really cool here, so I had  made my favorite version of a chicken noodle soup (I think the recipe has more notes than ingredients and instruction so bear with me).  With the battery problems our day got screwed up so I mixed up a batch of cheddar polenta and served the leftover soup over it.  The leftover focaccia got toasted up as croutons and all was good in the world again.

 

Birchbark Canoe at the Abbe Museum

We finally made it back into Bar Harbor to visit the Abbe Museum, specializing in the history, culture and artwork of the Wabanaki, the original collection of native American tribes that lived in northern Maine.  The history is somewhat depressing as it follows the same path as many other native tribes in this country, but recent attempts to preserve the culture and the artwork look to have been well received.  One collection at the museum was of artwork done by local students – there were pieces by 6-10 year olds I would have happily bought if they were for sale!

 

Trip at Bubble Rock

The weather was finally cooling down during the day so we also decided to do some hikes.  We climbed both Bubble Peaks at the northern end of Jordan Pond and were duly impressed by Bubble Rock, a huge boulder that looks like it’s ready to drop off the side of the mountain.   Trip with his mountaineering days was more adventurous than I was and ventured out to the rock directly.  We also decided to do the Northridge Trail up Cadillac Mountain which gave us spectacular views from all sides.

Near the Cadillac Mountain Summit

 

 

Cadillac Summit, Almost

We’re doing a final day in Bar Harbor today catching up on wifi, paying bills, sipping cocktails and then taking in a movie – The Big Sick has made it to little old Bar Harbor.  Tomorrow we’re heading back to Southwest Harbor to do laundry, re-provision, get organized and take off to meet James & Jenny who are sailing east on vacation today.