8/22/22 -- Rockland to Camden

                                         8/22/22 -- Rockland to Camden

            We woke to find Rockland's harbor heavily fogged in. I walked into town to a local pastry shop and a marine supply store. There was no fog ashore. We walked to Eclipse of the Pearl for an early lunch, and by the time we were done the fog had lifted. We got underway at 12:45 for the marina we had booked in Camden, where our friends Ted and Julie were to meet us. The original plan was that we would both be in Camden in time for lunch, but the airlines messed with their flights, and they were now due in around 7pm, so the fog didn't mess up our plans. It was only a ten-mile run to Camden and we took it slow to enjoy the views. 

            This photo was taken about 1.5 miles from Camden Harbor, with the Curtis Island Lighthouse in the foreground, Camden Harbor in the background to the left, and Mounts Battie (900+') and Megunticook (1385') in the distance.

Here is an example of the kind of mega-yachts that one encounters in Maine. It was anchored in the outer harbor at Camden. The flag indicates that it is registered in the Cayman Islands. Mount Megunticook is in the distance.

Here is the inner harbor at Camden:

            Camden is a beautiful little harbor but with very few fixed docks. They use floating docks, about 6' by 30', anchored to the bottom at both ends, with a boat tied up to either side. Our dock mate was a couple about our age with a beautiful 27-year-old 38' or 40' Hinckley sailboat. They dock their boat in Port Washington on the north shore of Long Island but keep it in Camden for a couple months each summer and use it as their base for overnight trips along the Maine coast. They were fun to chat with, but we both respected each other's privacy (as much as that is possible on a shared floating dock). We were originally signed up for a mooring with the Lyman-Morse Marina, but got a floating dock at the last minute, which was a very nice bonus, as our floating dock was very close to the town dinghy dock while the mooring would have been half a mile or more away. Here we are at our floating dock...

            Our friends Ted and Julie arrived in Camden a bit after 7pm after a long cab ride from the Bangor airport. We took the dinghy ashore and found ourselves a place to eat (not many places with openings for dinner reservations) and a couple seats at the bar to wait for them while they checked in and walked down to the dock area. They were happy to see us after a 14+ hour day of traveling and we were happy to see them and had drinks waiting for them. It started raining while we were at dinner, and it was dark and raining pretty hard when we left, which made for an interesting dinghy ride back to our floating dock. For some reason the dinghy's electric motor didn't want to work (in retrospect the rain screwed up the electrical connection to the tiller and I could/should have dried and redone it) and so we needed to row out to the boat. But I made a dumb mistake earlier and didn't load the oar in the dinghy, so we borrowed one from one of the boats on the public dinghy dock and I paddled out to the boat and got our oar and then paddled back to the dinghy dock to return the borrowed oar and pick up Janet. We were both soaking wet by the time we finally got back to the boat -- as were Ted and Julie, as they waited at the dock to make sure we got home safely.