Monhegan Island has been one of the highlights this summer. We had read about this island in the past, and were warned that it’s only worth visiting in settled weather, and even then you had to have an escape plan in case all (6) transient moorings were taken, since anchoring isn’t permitted. Still no wind but settled seas, so off we went. We managed to catch one of the moorings and put on our hiking shoes to go explore.
Monhegan only has about 50 homes, all of which are on the western shore & within a mile of each other. There’s two inns (each of which has a nice restaurant), two casual snack bars, and a package store. No paved roads. The rest of the island is 17 miles of hiking trails, many going along the rocky exposed Atlantic coast.
We started off with a walk to the local brewery for a bite to eat and something to drink. After that we continued south to Lobster Cove where we explored the tugboat wreck that washed ashore decades ago. The trail continued on, wrapping around the island and following the coast with some spectacular views.
After showers aboard we hosted cocktail hour with a fellow sailor we met hiking that afternoon. While chatting we noticed an ocean sunfish floating through the harbor past our boat. There’s no explanation, but we had already seen 6 that day and the harbormaster reported seeing 20 the day before. Quite an addition to the usual seals and dolphins we’re used to.
Over breakfast the next morning, watching the goats graze just a few hundred feet from the boat on Manana Island, we opted to stay an extra day – we didn’t know if we’d ever get back. Back on went the walking shoes and we rowed back to shore.
We headed up to the historical society museum and spent the hottest hours of the day pouring over all the amazing artifacts about the island’s history that have been preserved. After that we headed out to hike more of the coast, and even managed to come back on a trail that featured lots of creative fairy houses on the side of the trails.
We picked up a bag of ice (the fridge was reluctantly starting to work again but needed some encouragement), snagged the last two bottles of tonic on the island at the package store (critical for a Friday night) and headed back to the boat.
We knew it was time to leave the next morning when at slack tide the next morning (conveniently over breakfast), our boat collided in slow motion with the lobster boat behind us (no current to pull us both in a common direction). We took turns fending it off with the big oak boat hook, cleaned up quickly, and left before anymore contact could occur. The mooring was now free for the next set of visitors.
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