Mariners 2008 Final Post

The Mariners 2008 wilderness trip was a blast! We began in Rockland with a fantastic tour of The Apprenticeshop where we learned about traditional wooden boatbuilding and gained an appreciation for Chewonki’s two double masted ketch sailboats that we would soon live on for three weeks. We sailed across Penobscot Bay to Vynalhaven, explored Green’s Island, with its sunset-facing driftwood house, granite pier and crystal clear waters. The Mariners began to learn how to handle the boats as we sailed through rocky off-shore bird-covered islands to Isle au Haut. We survived the wild night thunderstorms at Seal Trap, and discovered a mossy woods trail that lead us to an old 1929 Modle-A Ford on an island gravel road. We battled the white-capped seas and howling wind through Isle au Haut thoroughfare and spent a few foggy days at Harbor Island in Merchant’s Row (where we found many delicious blueberries!) We had our ups and downs: we had to cut our anchor loose after she was fetched up somethin’ wicked one morning, but while looking for a new one in Stonington we happened upon a New Orleans rag-time jazz parade, and we shared ice cream on the docks. We spent a night on the boats in a white-sand cove at Marshall Island, and we sailed into the only fjord in Maine at Mt. Desert Island, hiking in Acadia National Park the next morning. Passing giant old schooners and working lobster boats everywhere we went, we absorbed the culture and stunning beauty of the Maine coast.. At Woodenboat in Brooklyn we learned more about boatbuilding during a great shop tour and we sailed trough the middle of a hundred classic wooden sailboats in the Eggemoggin Reach Race. Navigating in the fog with a map and compass, and eating fresh mussels at Calderwood Island in Fox Island Thoroughfare, were also parts of our journey. Some days we sailed 30 miles through pristine sunny waters, other days we read books in our tents and waited for rain storms to pass. We sang many good improv sea chanties while under way and were welcomed home to Chewonki under full sail to a rousing cheer at the last Sunday Service of camp on the Point. In total we sailed 216 miles, and shared many good laughs with all the participating Mariner trippers.