new technology gadget: Sailing The Maine Coast ? Spirit Lights The Way

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sailing The Maine Coast ? Spirit Lights The Way

Posted by nrhatch in Nature, Sustainable Living, Travel & Leisure.
Tags: Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor Maine, Maine, Mercantile, Schooner
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For our 20th Wedding Anniversary, we decided to cruise the Maine coast?for a few days before heading to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

As we researched possibilities, we learned that the Maine Windjammer Association includes 13 traditional sailing vessels in its fleet.?

The?windjammers?range in length from 46 to 132 feet, and accommodate?6-40 guests.? We selected the?Mercantile (pictured above):

The 78? Mercantile?was built in Little Deer Isle, Maine in 1916 to carry salt fish, barrel staves, and firewood. The Mercantile?became a cruise schooner in 1942 under the ownership of Frank Swift, the founder of the Maine windjammer trade. Guests: 29.

The largest boat in the fleet, The Victory Chimes, is featured on the Maine quarter:

Built in 1900 in Bethel, Delaware to carry lumber up and down the shallow bays and rivers of the Chesapeake, the 132? schooner Victory Chimes?is the last three masted schooner on the East coast, and the largest passenger sailing vessel under U.S. flag. Guests: 40.

Riding the wind along the rocky coastline provides an eco-friendly way to enjoy spectacular scenery?as well as the opportunity to spot ospreys, eagles, terns, and puffins from the decks.?

The schooners also offer delicious meals prepared on board ~ from blueberry pancakes in the morning to sunset lobster bakes.? That?s Anna (above), the cook on our cruise,?who made vegetarian versions of everything?for us.?

Except the lobster . . . which we ate the night of the Schooner Gam?while rafted up to several other Windjammers in the fleet.

Meals are served buffet style?on deck, weather permitting, starting with a before breakfast snack of?fresh-baked blueberry muffins or coffee cake and ending with a sweet treat after dinner.

Between meals, guests?kick back and relax . . . or help the crew hoist the sails.

The first day out (mid-June), we froze . . .?despite?thick layers of? turtleneck, sweatshirt, wool sweater, jacket, hat, scarf and mittens.?

Every twenty minutes, I?d head? down to the galley?to warm my bones beside the welcoming wood stove used to prepare all meals.

We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner? below decks that day, with choppy seas and swells tossing us around as we tried to carry bowls of piping hot chili from stove to table without sloshing it over board (or bowl).

No mean feat on wobbly sea legs.?

The second day, the sun joined us and we peeled the layers off . . . down to short sleeves and bare feet.?