July 13, Sunday – Dockside

I wanted to see Marquiot Bay at Freeport but kept getting lost until I saw a trailer with a boat on it and back tracked on it down a side street and there was a tiny marina. Most of the boats most of which were lobster boats were anchored out in the harbor and were served by the work dinghies tied up at the dock. Capping the wharf system was a small restaurant loaded beyond capacity. It was a local secret because there was no advertising on the main roads up above the harbor. And I had to have (Very seldom do I get the “Have-To-Have” syndrome much to the chagrin of the credit card companies) their T-shirt. It had their name on the front (Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster) but on the back it had in bold block letters: SO. FREE. ME. Translation: South Freeport, Maine. Loved it!
The small bay could have been anywhere in the Gulf Island sets: open water with long fingers of water with narrow passes between the island, dozens of islands. The coastal edge of Maine is like a piece of paper with multiple scissor cuts along the edge - think of someone wanting to rent a house and puts up a sheet on a bulletin board that has tear-off phone number tags along the bottom. Re move some of those tags and you have their coastline: Long multiple peninsulas with both wide and narrow bays in between. The two major bays are Casco and Penobscot. The Maine coast is prime cruising grounds with the mighty Atlantic just outside the door.