June 21, 2021
Hurricane Island
Latitude 44o 02’ N
Longitude 68o 53’ W

Technically we did depart on June 20, Summer Solstice, as planned. My sisters organized a small bon voyage gathering with friends and family at the Rockport Boat club to wish us well and around 1:30 pm we cast off our lines and headed out to sea. However we didn’t go far, since we’d already decided to make a stopover at Hurricane Island which lies about 13 miles off to the Southeast. Hurricane is an island with magnificent vistas of the surrounding waters and islands and is crisscrossed with hiking trails that lead through deep Maine woods and over granite shorelines with views back of the Camden hills. At one time a thriving quarry and later a center for Outward Bound, it’s now home to the Hurricane Island Foundation, promoting research & education.
It’s a great place to visit but mainly the crew, myself included, sorely needed a rest after a hectic five days of getting the boat ready. Even normally simple preparations had required extra effort. For one, don’t try to buy propane tanks the day before Father’s Day. Apparently, every father in Knox County is getting a grill. Home Depot was completely out, as was Trackor Supply. Brimmer searched around using his cellphone. We ended up getting Browns Propane’s last two tanks down in Waldoboro. Then we were off to try to find ethanol free gas for the outboard. That’s not easy to do on a Saturday. And there were still plenty of small but critical tasks that remained, like running the reefing lines and making sure the life raft was properly secured to the deck.
So we departed Rockport Harbor and had a brisk sail across Penobscot Bay where we picked up a mooring at Hurricane Island. Last night Brimmer prepared a fabulous dinner of shrimp and grits, prepared according to Bobby Flay’s recipe, which was followed by a full night’s sleep. This morning we rowed into the island and enjoyed a short walk about; then came back to the boat and finished off our action item list at a relaxed pace. Our plan is to leave early tomorrow morning, having given the latest tropical depression time to pass us by, with Ireland as the next stop.