Penobscot Bay – Dinghy Adventures

After Matt and Amy left, we decided to re-connect with Russ and Jax of InQuest, who were heading towards Penobscot Bay. We hadn’t visited much in this area when we were in Maine before and we were only too happy to explore with friends.

Our first stop was Stonington, where we picked up a mooring. David and I worked for the day, and then Russ and Jax picked us up in their dinghy and we went to town for dinner at the local ice-cream place that also served lobster :). David wore his full rain gear, partially as a joke since he’d gotten soaked in the last dinghy ride, but that turned out to be a smart move since as we were about 15 feet away from the dock, a lobster boat drove by at full speed and swamped the dinghy again!

David and Russ had noted that just around the corner from Stonington was a locally famous Portuguese restaurant called the Cockatoo. We decided the next day to head around the corner and anchor in Webb Cove just outside the restaurant for dinner after work. Once again, our amazing friends picked us up in their dinghy to take us to shore. As we neared the restaurant (at low tide) the water shallowed out and we couldn’t see an official place to tie up the boat. There was a washed up dock structure near the restaurant, so we headed towards that. As we approached the dock, we ended up ‘floating’ in about two inches of water and used the paddles to push our way towards the dock gondola-style. I used my splits flexibility to step ashore and pull the boat in the rest of the way. We tied up the boat and used a sketchy looking ladder to climb to land.

The good news was that the tide would be coming up as we ate, so we’d have more water below the boat when we would leave. Adventures in boating! Dinner was excellent.

David and Russ had also independently discovered that also on Deer Isle was a tasting-menu only restaurant called Aragosta. They both tried unsuccessfully to make reservations, but while we were eating at the Cockatoo someone must have cancelled, because we discovered there was an available reservation for 4 for the next night! We booked it.

The next morning, we did another short cruise to Crockett Bay, where we dropped anchor. We were a little nervous since a storm was predicted that night (which was why we decided not to take the two moorings outside the restaurant which were more exposed to the predicted wind direction).

After work, we dressed fancy, then pulled on our full weather gear and hopped in the dinghy to head to shore. We were able to use the bungie anchor to beach the dingy, but Russ’s bow line was not long enough to reach to shore, so David constructed a sand anchor by moving a driftwood log down the beach. The tide was rising, so we knew in an hour or so, we’d have to go out and move the log further up the beach.

Dinner was absolutely excellent. The food was delicious, and they made the necessary accommodations for Russ and Jax who are pescatarians.

David and Russ ducked outside half-way through dinner to check on the dingy and move the driftwood. Just as they were coming back inside, it began to rain and the wind picked up.

We enjoyed the rest of our meal. After we finished, we all changed back into our weather gear and loaded into the dingy. It was quite windy with a good deal of chop in the water.

I took up a spot on the bow to watch out for lobster pots, while Jax held up the light in front of the boat. Meanwhile David used Navionics on his phone to shout directions to Russ in order to navigate us safely out of the cove. I was getting face-shotted with waves up front. Luckily we weren’t going that far, and we got back to the boats safely.