{"id":16883,"date":"2011-07-24T22:43:13","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T03:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=16883"},"modified":"2011-07-24T22:47:40","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T03:47:40","slug":"round-pond-maine-and-the-cruising-paradigm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/round-pond-maine-and-the-cruising-paradigm\/","title":{"rendered":"Round Pond, Maine, and the Cruising Paradigm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We are in lobstah territory, which means paying close attention to where we are heading and lots of dodging and weaving.<\/p>\n
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The lobstermen lay their\u00a0traps everywhere, millions of \u00a0them.<\/p>\n
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Their boats have cages around their props, as do many of the yachts in Maine.<\/p>\n
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We are anchored at the entrance to Round Pond harbor (in Maine). The harbor proper is chock full of fishing boats and a few yachts, with traps liberally sprinkled here and there. In most locations the harbor master would tell us to move on. But here he just wants us to be secure.<\/p>\n
The original \u00a0plan was to stop for the evening, say hello to former SetSail correspondents Dave and Jaja Martin (authors of Into the Light<\/em>), and proceed.<\/p>\n But the folks are friendly, and the little village so charming, that four days later we are still here, and in no hurry to go somewhere else. This is primarily a working harbor and there are no facilities for visitors, other than a dinghy dock (but no trash receptacles), which suits us just fine.<\/p>\n The pleasure craft are mostly traditional, with more woodies than plastic, and more sail than power.<\/p>\n A few boat lengths away is our new favorite for boat of the year, a lovely Buzzards Bay 25, a turn of the (last) century design from the Wizard of Bristol.<\/p>\n This is kayak country.<\/p>\n And hard dinks outnumber inflatables ten-to-one.<\/p>\n At the \u00a0head of the dock you have your choice of fare, three restaurants offering the sea’s bounty.<\/p>\n Do you want lobster, steamer clams, oysters, or fresh fish? And don’t forget the fresh corn.<\/p>\n Since we can’t decide we have oysters and steamers with cruisers we met in Tonga years ago, then lobster with the Martin family.<\/p>\n And today steamers for Sunday brunch.<\/p>\n A walk ashore will reward you with a variety of visual stimulii.<\/p>\n The vistas are entrancing.<\/p>\n And the wild flowers call out to be sniffed.<\/p>\n There are no marine stores, to visit the supermarket requires a car (we have had four offers of loaners), cell coverage is spotty, and Internet signals weak.<\/p>\n But there is a small local store, a few unlocked wifi signals for Internet, and the anchor has a good bite. We are in no hurry to move.<\/p>\n The sunsets linger and so far have been stunning.<\/p>\n This series is from Saturday night.<\/p>\n The show goes on for 45 minutes to an hour, and you don’t want to miss a minute.<\/p>\n Today there are cumulous clouds, a sure sign to stay awhile. We are going to relax for a couple of days, do a few boat chores, and then think about where next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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