Good morning everyone. Wow what a couple of days we have had. Monday we left Camden and the heat behind. It was clear up into the 70s here in town and 80s further inland. This captain was more than happy to leave the humidity on shore. Something peculiar was in the air for everyone including the wildlife. I don't know if I will ever see it again but we sighted 18 razor billed auks and a puffin without leaving the bay. Generally these birds are seen offshore outside of the bay. Now I have seen one or two razor bills inside the bay but never this many with such consistency. The winds were light all day so we sailed right through dinner. The light was just phenomenal at sunset.
Tuesday we enjoyed a very lively sail with the wind southeast which blew us back through Merchant Row and up here to the head of Eggemoggin Reach. Fog was thick so we may have to get back to Merchant Row to enjoy it in the clearer weather but the fog does lend a certain mystical whimsie to the spruce and granite shores. Thunderstorms were looming here in Maine so we headed for the anchorage at 9.6 knots with all sail flying and managed to get a walk ashore before supper. We were up for a good part of the night as the wind gusted from passing storm cells. It was all quite thrilling.
During this Audubon naturalist cruise we are looking for new connections between us and nature. One not need look far but the example set by the first Audubon wardens here in Maine is of special interest. The lighthouse keepers at Matinicus Rock, Great Duck Light and Eagle Island Light, just to name a few, assured that the puffin and auks we saw on Monday were not just an accident. I can hear a bald eagle chirping outside my cabin in the pines onshore. Its call reminding me that wildness still stirs my heart and that saving threatened species, large or small, is a good thing to do.
Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
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