Ram Island Light marks the island lying off the entrance to Boothbay Harbor. In the distance, Hendricks Head Light can be seen. The Maine coast has many interesting lighthouses. Navigating the Maine coast, with islands and shoals scattered randomly, must have been a huge challenge to mariners centuries ago.
This area of the Maine coast is filled with rivers and bays. Boothbay was chosen as the descriptor because it is the best-known place name, due to its success as a tourist destination. This small area of coastline also has the Sheepscot River, Kennebec River, Damariscotta River, Cross River, Robinhood Cove, Ebenecook Harbor, Linekin Bay, Johns Bay, Pleasant Cove, Poorhouse Cove, and another Seal Cove - cruising destinations that are seemingly endless, as goes much of the Maine coast.
Arrival in Boothbay Harbor was on a day with a bit of fog. Time on the water in Maine teaches mariners how to navigate in the fog quickly, or the mariner rarely leaves anchor. The Catholic Church watches over the lobster boats in the bay. Catholic Churches are easy to spot, they don't have weather vanes on the steeples.
There is some quaintness remaining in the downtown section of Boothbay, although much of it has been populated by tourist trade shops.
For a small town, Boothbay Harbor has a nice-sized library and an amazing large Friends-of-the-Library used bookstore. It fills an entire house located directly behind the library. There are so many books for sale that the lower priced ones are relegated to the porch for display.
A Morning Dove, that was hatched in a nest on top of the bookshelves, returned this year. He sits on the books and is quite tame. Wildlife and books, two of the pleasures of cruising.
Love Cove was a must for the Last Dance crew. Spending a night in Love just seemed appropriate. The narrow cove proved to be a great shelter on a windy day and the guest mooring made the stay easy. This image is looking into Love Cove through the cut, near high tide.
Looking from Last Dance back through the same cut near low tide demonstrates the importance of checking charts before even taking the dinghy on a trip through a cove. A ridge of rock lies exposed by a couple feet.
The third crew member stands watch on the dinghy trip back to Love Cove.
