We had the smoothest sail of the voyage so far, sailing along gently rippling ocean with the large green spinnaker style sail, at a modest 3-4 knots. We headed towards Monhegan, which was our first stop in Maine last year when we crossed over from Provincetown. When we arrived we found a patch of sandy bottom in which to anchor. Just as I was questioning the solidity of our anchorage a white haired man rowed over to our boat. “You WILL drag there,” he said. “You can use my mooring.” We exchanged gifts and stories briefly, he seemed to be a Chet Atkins fan. He now lives in the house on the facing island once owned by “the Hermit.” The island is still largely wild except for his sheep, goats, and chickens wandering about. He was very kind and charming although he told us he didn’t like when tourists would use his dinghy tie-up and come on his property, a rocky steep island sporting a view of Monhegan. He told us we could use the coast guard landing, only accessible at high tide.

There was still time to walk to the Monhegan lighthouse. In the photo taken from that point, you can see our boat Avocet just to the left of the Monhegan Inn, nestled against the facing Manana Island. It’s near the spot where Bryan’s great uncle Junius Allen painted a classic work shown in episode 3 of youtube.com/acousticsailing