Ira says that boating is a metaphor for life. One moment the seas are calm with fair winds and blue skies and the next, wind gusts to 30 knots with 12- foot seas. We experience it all for the love of the sea. Five years ago, Ira and I were married barefoot on the bow of our 58-foot Satori at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla. The time came and we upgraded our 58-foot Satori to our new 74-foot Satori and began enjoying the summer months cruising to Maine from our homeport in Miami. As the season is short in Maine, we travel north quickly and take our time returning home to Florida.
Provisioning begins in late May insuring that we have everything on board for our ex- tended cruise including meals, walkie-talkies and spare tires for our bikes before we depart in June. Given a weather window, we depart from Miami to Coinjock, N.C., spending two nights on board Satori. Coinjock Marina is a welcoming place smack in the middle of the boondocks, where we feast on their great prime rib and fried chicken. We stock Satori with 2,100 gallons of fuel, and we’re off at first light the next day through Norfolk, Va. to overnight in Greenport, N.Y. on the Long Island Sound.
Mitchell Park Marina in Greenport is a great base for experiencing over 30 wineries. Corey Creek Vineyard has Moonlight Monday with oysters and barbeque, while Sparkling Pointe has live music and tapas and Jamestown has wood fired pizzas and oysters every Sunday. Greenport is also a wonderful place to spend the 4th of July! We enjoy all the celebrations and fireworks that spread over all the adjoining towns night sky from our aft deck. Our three daughters, son in law and two grandchildren will spend long weekends with us on board Satori. The world famous Claudio’s Restaurant is adjacent to the marina and we spend many nights on our deck listening to their live music while watching the party scene.
Then we’re off to New England through the Cape Cod Canal to Portland, Maine which is a foodie’s delight. Duckfat Restaurant has a creative menu that any cardiologist would run from. They prepare a “poutine” with duck fat French fried potatoes. We never miss the Portland’s Farmers Market and on a calm day, we dinghy on the Casco Bay to charming Dia-ond Island for a relaxing lunch on the lawn at the Diamond’s Edge. We dock for a week or two at the Maine Yachting Center, just a few minutes from town.
Our next stop varies. At Boothbay, Maine we dock at the friendly Carousel Marina and walk over to the lobster pounds where we enjoy watching the lobster boats unloading our lunch and dinner. At Rockland, we dock at Trident Marina and dine at the famous farm to table Primo’s for dinner. We enjoy the emerging art scene, too. In Camden, we dock at Wayfarer Marine and enjoy the countless restaurants in this quaint little town.
Looking back, our first voyage from Camden to Northeast Harbor plunged us into fog that was quite challenging. I stood a careful watch on the bow announcing every lobster pot and sound through my headset while Ira insured that every other boat knew where we were as we headed with the rhythmic foghorn soundings and radioed point to point. After hours the sun finally peaked through just in time to see hundreds of colorful lobster pots blocking the entrance to Northeast Harbor.
At Northeast Harbor Town Dock, we are greeted by John, the Harbormaster, who sports a quintessential Maine smile. A short walk from the docks is the charm- ing little town with a few boutiques, hardware store, galleries and housewares. We eat our weight in fresh lobsters each season either boating, biking or driving to our favorite lobster pounds: Abel’s, Beal’s, Thurston’s and Trenton Bridge, just to name a few. A short drive takes us to the Burning Tree Restaurant and Town Hill Bistro for a change of menu to gourmet delights. The Ilseford Dock Restaurant is a local gem on Little Cranberry Island, a short dinghy ride away.
We look forward to our daily hikes up the hills and mountain trails of Acadia National Park. Our favorite is the hike from the base to the peak of any one of the four trails on the face of Cadillac Mountain — the highest point on the Eastern seaboard. Achieving each summit makes us feel decades younger gazing down at the most majestic views of the many sounds and tiny surrounding islands. From the peak of Cadillac Mountain, we see the Town of Bar Harbor, one of our favorite destinations.
Towards the end of our stay in Northeast Harbor, one of our friends invites an extended guest list to a boat house on Great Cranberry for a real down- eastern Lobster Bake with dozens of freshly caught lobsters steamed in sea- weed with all the pot luck fixings that everyone brings. Now it is late August and time to journey back down.
The Itinerary South
- LEG 1: Northeast Harbor Marina – NE Harbor, Maine
- LEG 2: Carousel Marina Boothbay – Harbor, Maine
- LEG 3: Maine Yachting Center – Portland, Maine
- LEG 4: Provincetown Marina – Provincetown, Mass.
- LEG 5: Newport Yachting Center – Newport, R.I.
- LEG 6: Dodson Boatyard – Stonington, Conn.
- LEG 7: Mitchell Park Marina – Greenport, N.Y.
- LEG 8: Danfords Hotel & Marina – Port Jefferson, N.Y
- LEG 9: Liberty Landing Marina – Jersey City, N.J.
- LEG 10: Golden Nugget Marina – Alantic City, N.J.
- LEG 11: South Jersey Marina – Cape May, N.J.
- LEG 12: Schaefer’s Canal House – Chesapeake City, MD
- LEG 13: South Annapolis Yacht Centre – Annapolis, Md.
- LEG 14: Solomons Yachting Center – Solomons, Md.
- LEG 15: Tidewater Yacht Marina – Portsmouth, Va.
- LEG 16: Coinjock Marina – Coinjock, N.C.
- LEG 17: Beaufort Docks – Beaufort, N.C.
- LEG 18: Southport Marina – Southport, N.C.
- LEG 19: Charleston City Marina – Charleston, S.C.
- LEG 20: Harbour Town Yacht Basin – Hilton Head, S.C.
- LEG 21: Golden Isles Marina – St. Simons Island, Ga.
- LEG 22: Beach Marine – Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
- LEG 23: Old Port Cove Marina – North Palm Beach, Fla.
- LEG 24: Home – Miami, FLA.
