A beautiful four masted ship waiting for the tourists n Bar Harbor.
We landed in Bar Harbour, Maine and had a painless check in with U.S. Customs and Border Control. They just renewed our permit that we got in Puerto Rico and we were good to go. Bar Harbor is a tourist town, a lot of the cruise ships stop here. I had trouble avoiding the North Face and Patagonia shops but managed to bypass them on the way to the grocery store. 
Maine is touted as being an awesome cruising ground with thousands of little islands and some great harbours. There is a problem though, lobster pots. They are absolutely everywhere, we have had to weave our way through them even in the smallest pass which is only a hundred meters wide. Apparently they can leave them in year round and today we discovered one small bay where we could anchor and there were no pots, YEAH. Truly it almost makes you give up cruising the area and just take off. In our cruising guide of the area there is mention of a feud between the lobster fishermen and the sailing community, claiming in some areas the lobster fishermen will come as close as possible to your boat for the sport of it. We thankfully have not experienced that yet, although it is a bit disconcerting when they are steaming at high speed at your boat and veer off at the last minute to pick up their pots, we understand they are out to make a living but surely in this lovely area there is room for both!!
Our first night after Bar Harbor we anchored in a very small spot in between the lobster pots. The next morning we went ashore and Barry wanted to pick up the stray markers that have escaped duty from their pots. We had fun tramping around the island and collected quite a number. There were three raccoons down by the water as I walked past between them and the shore. One in particular watched me very closely and I talked in a soothing manner and just kept walking. I turned around a few meters down the beach and one of them was attempting to return to the woods. He arched his back at me which I took not to be a good sign, then he growled and rushed at me. I got the message and scampered on my way down the beach. On the way back past that spot I made sure I had some rocks in my hands but they were not in evidence any more!!
I have decided that if we win the 649 I would like to buy this house. It is gorgeous, the setting is stunning and the best thing is it has it's own dock. Perhaps if you ask nice I might invite you to stay in the boat house.
It has been quite cool here and most places are now on winter hours, so we are getting out of season prices for moorings, etc, which helps to offset the hit we are taking because our dollar is so low. We did a tentative plan the other night and it involves about another week in Maine, stops in Boston, Cape Cod and perhaps Atlantic City and then on to the Chesapeake again. Hopefully the weather will co-operate.
