O.K. I`m still here.We have sailed so much since our trip up the Intracoastal, that it's hard to keep track of it all! I thought the ocean sail from Norfolk to Greenport was awesome although poor Captain Geo. had a rough stomach and crossing-never seen him green before-but it was an actual bug and not seasickness. Greenport was a true shipping center in the late 19th century with cobblestones and chandlery stores to prove it. Preston`s is there on the wharf still welcoming ships from the sea with it's 2 inch thick pine floors and everything under the sun for sailors. Viewing Long Island from the water was unique-after growing up there, I couldn't believe I was looking at "my house". The lighthouses and hilly coastline are gorgeous! Sailed to Port Jefferson which originally was swamp land at low tide but became a great port in the 1800`s.Many of the original captains` homes are still there complete with widow's walks and cobblestone paths-but it was very expensive and too too! The traffic and zillions of fru-fru stores took away a lot of the charm that I remembered. Northport was still charming with friendly people and a small-town feel. After seeing my Auntie Anna and cousin Johnny and Arlene-which was wonderful-and having Noelle and newly formed pirate, Johnny, join us-we sailed to Center Island-a place that I literally lived at all through high school. How great it was to sail and achor there overnight, when all I use to say back then was that someday I would be doind exactly what I`m doin now. How does that song go?-"If they could see me now!" Heading north-to Fischer Island and then to Newport where we saw my brother's beautiful sailboat but sadly not him-maybe on the trip south. Newport was a zoo-a total free for all when it came to sailors and not the friendliest lot. The locals said that no one is very friendly and that was the case. The town is lovely and of course there are the mansions-but after just having been on the "Gold Coast" as was called the north shore of Long Island during the 1800-to early 1900'snd viewing F. Scott Fitzgerald's mansion and many others like it-I preferred the ones closer to home -call it local pride. Cumberland Island was not on my list of places to go in terms of sailors. The sail itself was very rough due to high winds and equally high seas-but when you are on moorings 10 feet away from each other (pardon me- do you have any grey poupon?) and no one says anything much less acknowledge that your boat could literally hit them- you can keep it and the attitude. Onto to Buzzards Bay, the Cape Cod canal -Marion and Scituate- gorgeous and tons of sailing history. You are literally anchoring on the wooden bones of these old schooners. There were so many of them left after the early 20th century that docks did not know what to do with them-so many were scuttled in harbors-others brought to remote places to slowly rot away-like on the North River on the Intracoastal where you can see the frames of these old masted ships slowly fading into history-quite a sight-our nation's history is waterbound. When we finally arrived in Salem, I didn't know what to do first-celebrate Halloween, (my favorite!), or check out the history ASIDE from the witch trials which are tourist  death traps. Salem, was called Shalom and changed to Salem in the 1600's. It became such a huge shipping port from 1787 to 1808 that foreign countries thought that Salem was a country as well. Ships left for Asia and returned with pottery and silk and new spices that thrilled the colonies. On display at the museums are many of these treasures which captains loved to save and show. I was in history overload and then I had to go to the House of Seven Gables. I had taught Hawthorne at the high school level and here I was standing in front of the Customs House where all of the world sailing ships had to check in to pay duty and where Hawthorne, a duty clerk , sat and wrote The Scarlet Letter-even mentioning in the story how boring his job there was. Walking through there and the historical cemetery and streets loaded with homes dated 1640,1760 etc. was overwhelming for me and I definitely was born in the wrong century. I know I'd probably be dead at this age-but what a time to live in. The Fourth of July was great with a fireworks show right above us as we sat moored in the harbor. Our "famiglia" Joanne and Luciano and children joined us for 2 days of fun but HEAT!!!!!!!It was such a kick to be together in such a special place! Onto Maine.......Now I am in scenery and memory and lobster overload! You know you're in Maine when McDonald's has a lobster roll on their menu!!!! I had a lobsta roll an' chowda heya today! The rugged, rocky coastline is too beautiful to describe-go look at a magazine! After spending all of my youth summers with my family in Ellsworth-near Bangor- in a log cabin on Graham Lake-fishing and fishing-the memories are as thick as lobster traps here. It was tough the first day coming here and knowing that my Dad and Mom should be here with us-bittersweet....We have been told that the lobsters are molting right now-Geprge says they knew I was coming-the terminator- and they planned to molt now-that's o.k. fellas- I can wait! I have the whole summer and the ones that have a hard shell -don't have a chance! I'm reading a book on colonial life in America-written in 1898-describing life in these New England states, so it becomes more vivid and personal-so much history- so little time to take it in! More later-time for maple syrup and the next lobsta!//JB

After staying one night in beautiful restored Portland, we sailed a few miles up Casco Bay to Falmouth Foreside where we picked upn a mooring for a couple of days and walked a lot of miles exploringn the coastline. From there we sailed about 10 miles to Long Island (Maine)...a small Island with a lobster pound, bicycles for rent and sandy beaches but COOOOLD water. It was beautiful and the isolation of the island keeps things low key. Our reservation to visit LL Bean in Freeport didn't work out so we'll have to do that on the way back home... I nnever thought I'd need reservations to visit but Freeport is apparently a zoo this time of year.

We decided to hop further up the coast and went about 35 miles "east" up the Sheepscot River to take a mooring in Robin Hood Cove. This is where the RobinHood sailboats are manufactured and the marina and setting about 10 miles south of Bath are both lovely and we're going to stay here a few days. The marina lets us use a courtesy car, has a wonderful library building including PC hookup and in general try to do everything possible to make your stay great. Highly recommended!! Dockage prices in Maine are typically in the $1.50-2.00/ft range but moorings are $15-25 per night and often include launch service and all the marina amenities. The depths and tidal ranges in many spots preclude anchoring but we plan to do more of that as we get into more isolated and protected spots. From here we plan to visit Wicasset, Boothbay Harbor and Christmas Cove in the next week. Camaraderie is doing fine with both electrical and fuel problems cured for the time being! The weather has been lovely with temps in the low 80's to low 50's at night and just one day of fog so far. More to come...//GB