Mostly just family and a few friends on daysails, but we took some good friends overnight and used a few ideas to get the most out of it. These friends are a special case. From the UK, they spend winters in Rockport teaching at a local school so they miss the summer sailing season.

Just arrived from Wales a few days before, they met us at the ferry docks on North Haven Island. We use the convenient ferry boats to in Penobscot Bay to pick up daysailing guests. It gives me better options for weather and route planning. We don't cross the same water, can be twice as far from the end to experience the most of what this area has to offer.

A boat is not a house so these guests were easy. They're sailors! They have everything from a transatlantic east to west crossing to racing in the Hobart for experience so we didn't need to explain anything. In fact, we listened to them. But beside a bit of light daysailing, they hadn't sailed the Maine coast.

We ditched our plan due to the forecast for our 24 hours. Not a problem from North Haven, it's the center of a sailing area. Very light air gave us a drifting sail through the Fox Island Thoroughfare, by Perry Creek, and the little town of North Haven. Then a complete wind turn off gave us a scenic motor along North Haven island to (you probably guessed), Pulpit Harbor. If you have one night to take a couple from the UK, it would be hard to find a better spot.

And it was(at that point) dead calm where we anchored in the center for a row to shore and hike around the harbor. We threw in the gratuitous lobster buying adventure and called Randy that owns the floating lobster dock inside. He showed up a while later and we rowed to his floating store. A great Maine accent going, he's the best floating fishmonger I know. This is Zip, his clerk.

Then the West wind piped up mostly as forecast(what was I thinking?), and blew straight into Puipit, and we had a fire drill raising anchor, and heading into snug Cabot Cove. What a difference we all experienced. It blew hard all night, we just listened to it far overhead as others in Pulpit kept anchor watch. They were fascinated by the old fireplace below on Xmas that's draft changed pitch with the winds above.

We gave them the veeberth as it's the only "cabin" on Xmas. It's private and they loved the old feel of a step back in time the cabin gives, especially in the stillness of Cabot Cove.

The next day, it was a full reef in the main, and a 90% jib. They saw both sides of Maines coastal weather in 24 hours. The boat battered wind and wave to claw westward and we arrived in the relief of Rockport Harbor in a stiff September Westerly. They were impressed with Xmas(I think) being used to more EU boats that as well as being smaller than what we consider "normal", they're boats have been ocean going, heavy, and some ocean racers.

It was terrific experience for us. Next best thing to traveling is spending time with people from other parts of the world. Isobel took these photos(tons and sent them to me). I like to see what others see through their lenses.

Their thoughts were interesting. For one, they were amazed at the openness of the water here. The space to anchor where you want, the room. Rare in their experience to be so accessible to the sailor.

On the other hand, they were surprised by the private property along the water. In their area, the whole coast is public(to the high water line), walkways are preserved between private property, always to be public accessed. I think that's amazing, I wish we were similar on our coast.

How did Maine rate? Aled and Isobel have chartered many areas in their waters and say this part of Maine is most similar to the west coast of Scotland. That's a nice compliment.