We were hopeful that we would see old sailing friends this summer, but the past several days have been an absolute blitz of old friendships from the water.
After our stop at Warren Island, we headed to Rockland, knowing that friends Klaus and Katrin would be in soon on Saphir. To our surprise they were already at anchor when we came in and motored over with a bottle to celebrate. It had been two years since we had seen them and it felt so good to reminisce. The only ones missing were Mads & Lotta who had rounded out our group last time in Maine. The next day we had oysters and more champagne at Archers, and then we all returned to Kalyra for dinner and lots more catch-up conversation.
Yet more friends were on their way. We went ashore Sunday to see a local group of musicians that gather every weekend at the local Sail, Power & Steam Museum to play and sing anything from sea shanties to the blues to classic rock. We had to hustle back from that performance when we learned that s/v Tivoli was in town. We spent months sailing with Judy and Torben in the Caribbean 4 years ago and were thrilled that they were in Maine (and with their new puppy Scuppers!).
While we were catching up on Tivoli, John of s/v Clarity sailed in. John is a friend of Torben and Judy’s who we also met in the Caribbean, and he was with his new girlfriend Melanie and of course, Captain Jack (canine companion). We all went into town to Cafe Miranda, and though we were too late for the live music, we managed to score some really good wood oven pizza and seafood appetizers.
We learned that the next day John and Melanie were picking up friends Mark and Ann to sail for a week. Mark and Ann had been with John when we all connected in Dominica – what were the odds???? Judy and Torben hosted us all onboard Tivoli for an amazing dinner of barbecued shrimp and smoked Gouda grits that night. (I have hosted up to nine around our table down below, but it’s amazing how much easier it is to do it on a 50 footer!!!)
We followed Tivoli over to Pulpit Harbor and had a nice walk on North Haven to stretch our legs. Tivoli headed back to Rockland just as Clarity was coming in. John and Melanie invited us over for after dinner drinks and we had one final catch up with them and Mark & Ann before they started to move south and west.
Then it was back to Rockland for Trip to finally have a checkup on his swelling feet. He’s had this problem every summer, but Judy finally convinced him to have it looked at. Both the walk in clinic and and the hospital were incredibly professional and expedient at checking everything out and ruling out issues like blood clots that might be worriesome. He got the good/bad news that this was simply a case of getting older and nothing more.
Torben and Judy came over for a final round of drinks before we headed north and they started a weekend trip with friends and then went off to Mt Desert. I was sorely tempted to kidnap Scuppers, she is such a good boat dog…..
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