We had skipped the Basin on our way up to Penobscot Bay, so decided to take a couple of days and decompress there on our way back to Portland. Fiscal Stray was back on the water, changed their plans once they radioed to see what we were up to and followed us over to the Basin. What a sail. Jib only run and we were surfing over 7 knots at times. The waves were stacked so the roll was noticeable for the middle hour, but what a sail. Especially after all these days of motoring or motorsailing at best.

We tucked into the Basin and invited Anne & Tod over for cocktails. Once again, we had met them through the mini-cruise, but spent little time getting to know them because of the volume of people, so it was fun to have them aboard. That night we happened to go outside after dinner – the clear sky was filled with stars that were reflecting perfectly on the water that was as still as a mirror. Absolutely spectacular.

The next morning we were visited by the owners of Tatiana, another Tayana 37 anchored in the Basin. It turns out we had met them in Seal Bay 2 years ago but had not talked much because they were sick at the time. They came aboard to inspect and we traded Tayana stories. After that Trip went sailing in the dinghy, I settled in to catch up on knitting and managed to make some foccacia (hard to bake when you’re moving all the time). Then Five & Dime sailed in (yet another OCC boat) and it was time for cocktails on Fiscal Stray for all six of us.

Most of the anchorage emptied out the final day but another familiar boat sailed in – Bunny and Bill Bailey on Onset. We all met on Five and Dime for cocktails, where I learned an amazingly simple recipe for homemade kettle corn, and I also had the chance to drink cocktails out of hand blown glassware that Curt and Kathy had watched being made during one of their many visits to a glassblower in Nova Scotia (one more reason for us to make the visit). Of course we waited just a tad too long and it started to rain. Kathy was kind enough to give me a trash bag, I made Trip strip off his handknit sweater (didn’t want him smelling like a wet dog) and we rowed back to the boat.