Life after Irene

Ahoy!
 We did arrive into Benjamin River on Friday . We were greeted by Richard Holk who motored out the mouth of the river to meet us and say hello before he took off to play his sax in a local civic band concert in Castine, Me.
Soon we met John Dunbar the owner of the small marine works: Ben River Marine who settled us on a mooring ball, and we began to pack up clothing and secure gear and strip the boat of canvas bimini, enclosure, dodger, etc. By the next morning, we were in high gear preparing to leave the boat with homemade tunafish and black bean and corn salad and our favorite gluten free items. Lulu got excited seeing her red carrier come out of storage.
 After lunch, we dinghied ashore several times to deposit our belongings into Richard's Dodge Ram camper van. We tied our dink behind the boat and stored the motor on the holder on our stern. D dropped our anchor  so it would not interfere with the 2 tethers that extended from our mooring ball to each side of Second Wind on the forward cleats. We checked all ports and hatches and closed the thru hulls and turned off everything but refrigeration and took Richard's "Chick Magnet" of a van to Ellsworth where he had arranged a reservation for us at a new Comfort Inn. It was a nice ride thru the country, and we had a great view from atop Catepillar Mountain. We traveled thru the quaint town of Surray and Blue Hill and on to Ellsworth which has a lovely main street, town hall and quaint shops.
 We dined at Cleonice Bistro both nights and had fabulous meals. The fish was fresh and the vegetables were locally grown. The building has been a cafe for many years and in 1938 beautiful woodtrim and bar were installed. Very quaint with original wall sconces and mirrors.
We watched the storm updates and experienced a bit of rain Saturday late night and on into Sunday morning. Then the day stayed gray and only light rain fell until late afternoon when the wind began to pick up and rain came on again.We spent our time doing the laundry, reading, answering email and lounging while watching the cable tv ! At 4pm, Richard called to say there were 4-8 foot waves in Eggemoggin Reach outside the Benjamin River , but the sandbar was keeping the harbor quiet with only 1 foot chop, and our boat and the others were doing fine! The wind blew well into the night and the most severe of weather came thru, and we heard from our new friends Lorrie and Pat Harris from Wyoming who stayed on the boat that it blew until 3 or 4 am. The next day found that one sailboat had blown ashore and a barge that had been moored broke loose and was on shore. By Monday noon the winds were blowing 15 knots, and the barge had been pulled off shore and people were beginning to return to check out the boats.
We can't thank Richard enough for his generosity and help! And thanks to everyone who said prayers on our behalf. We are grateful for having been in a safe place.
We shared dinner with Lorrie and Pat who had met Jim and Joanne Matthews in Deltaville, N.C. last year. They just bought a boat and sailed to the Bahamas last year then jumped on sailed to Maine this year! Pat is an aircraft mechanic and has taught himself alot in a short amount of time. We enjoyed getting to know them!
This morning we awoke to sunny skies and lighter winds. After a leisurely breakfast, we departed Ben River and sailed 5-7 miles to Bucks Harbor. We took on fuel and water and rented a mooring that comes with a shower from Bucks Harbor Marine. We have just had lunch and now prepare to go ashore to hike the short distance to the general store of South Brroksville and see the Yacht Club and its building constructed in 1912. A burgee hangs there which was the first private burgee to go thru the Panama Canal and also the first to go thru the Cape Cod Canal! Locals say "Change is all around us, but nothing changes here."