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We have been in Port Clyde Harbor on a mooring ball since Sunday, 8/22, (today is Wednesday). We will be here until at least Friday when we hope this storm will pass. We had hoped to leave yesterday but the storm has brought lots of rain, high winds and high seas. We can’t complain because we have had such great weather so far. So, we are both catching up on miscellaneous ‘stuff’.
Port Clyde’s claim to fame (I think) is that it’s where one gets the ferry boat over to Monhegan Island, Maine’s artist’s island, also called Maine’s Brigadoon. Rick and I spent a couple of nights on Monhegan 13 years ago. There is no electricity on the island so each room had a kerosene lamp!! But it is the home to lots of artists and it has some very cool hikes and fairy houses.
On the way to Port Clyde Best shot we’ve gotten of a seal
Aside from the Port Clyde General Store and Restaurant, which is owned by one of LL Bean’s granddaughters, Linda Bean, there are just 2 or 3 other gift shops. Mostly, it is home to many lobstermen and women. But it is picturesque, just the same.
View of the town and the General Store and Restaurant
The restaurant is very good! The small Monhegan Ferry
The ice cream float menu Love the restaurant entry
Cool lobster holding tank!
This is a privately owned Vietnam era ‘Sea Truk’. It is an amphibious vehicle which is used to take heavy equipment or materials to the islands. We heard that the guy charges $1,000 a trip! Wonder where he gets replacement parts.
Dingy Dock LT enjoying the sunshine
Inside Port Clyde General Store Waiting for the launch driver, Ted
We walked around as much as we could and saw that there is a cove that goes behind the little town. This is, apparently, where many of the lobstermen live and keep their equipment and boats.
While Rick was taking the pictures below he had an opportunity to talk to one of the lobstermen who was also waiting out the weather. He’s the one who owns the plain yellow floats, and was about to open a can of yellow paint to paint them all. He was a rather senior fellow, which is reflected in the simplicity of the color on his lobster floats … almost all others have multiple colors. Anyway Rick had heard recently that the government has mandated ALL lobster traps change their rope (lines) to be of a certain kind, so he asked this lobsterman. The gentleman said ‘yes’ that was true, but it was all ‘BS’ mandated by the federal government to have all their trap warps (lines) made of material that sinks rather than floats. The reason was that floating lines present a danger to whales … which of course the lobsterman disputed. Anyway, he was in the process of doing this, and could sell his old line back to the government for $1.40/pound, and purchase new sinking line for $1.80. Not sure if anyone cares about such trivia, but Rick finds it interesting.
We learned that the lobster boats all have cages around their props so that they don’t get the lobster lines tangled in them. Good idea!
So, we’ll hang here until the weather breaks then make our way to Portland which will probably be our last stop in Maine. Then on to New Hampshire. We are also keeping an eye on the Hurricanes. Even if they don’t come this way they will most likely have an impact on the seas and since we will be in the Atlantic until we cross the Cape Cod Canal, they could impact when we can get underway.
