Archive | M/V Dirona RSS feed for this section

Southwest Harbor to Belfast

We departed Southwest Harbor for Belfast in a fog so thick we could barely see 100 yards in front of us. We ran at six knots with our big floodlights lit all around and the fog horn sounding. Dodging the moored boats and lobster traps in the thick fog was difficult, but the lobster boats…

Southwest Harbor, Maine

The Hinckley company was founded at Southwest Harbor, Maine in 1928 and continues to operate there today. We spent two excellent weeks there at Dysart’s Great Harbor Marina, where the docks are full of beautiful Hinckley jet-drive boats. We completed several large boat projects, including changing our engine mounts, and also spent time visiting nearby…

Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor has been a popular tourist destination since the mid 1800s as tourists flocked in to experience Mt Desert Island’s incredible natural beauty. Thirty hotels operated in the town by 1880. Today Bar Harbor is the gateway to Acadia National Park, where over two million people from around the world visit annually. This year…

Acadia Carriage Roads

Between 1913 and 1940, millionaire philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. built 45 miles of carriage roads on Mt. Desert Island that were closed to automobiles and remain that way today. Rockefeller also financed the construction of sixteen stone bridges at gorge and stream crossings. The majority of the roads are within Acadia National Park and…

Crane Maintenance

In Newport we found a washer on deck below the crane and concluded we likely had a critical crane issue, so stopped using it until we understood the problem. We later found a bolt on deck as we arrived into Baltimore. It was pretty clear that something was coming apart in the crane. James took…

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is Maine’s most popular tourist destination, with miles of rocky coastline and fabulous mountain-top views. With clear and calm forecast, we spent the day taking in the highlights and natural beauty of this impressive park. Trip highlights from September 26th, 2016 follow. Click any image for a larger view, or click the…

Nova Scotia to Maine

From Lunenburg, Nova Scotia we made a 225-mile overnight run to Southwest Harbor, Maine. We initially were planning to stay at least another night in Lunenburg, but the weather models showed a storm system arriving earlier than previously indicated with several more following, so we decided to leave a day early. We timed our Southwest…

Lunenburg

Historic Lunenburg was settled in 1753 and is home to the Bluenose II, a replica of the famous racing and fishing schooner Bluenose. The town has long had a major wooden-boat-building industry, particularly at the Smith & Rhuland Shipyard where hundreds of ships were launched between 1900 and 1970. The most famous include the Bluenose…

Peggy’s Cove

Peggy’s Cove is about 35nm by water and less than an hour’s drive from Halfiax. The lighthouse there is one of the most accessible, well-known and photographed in Canada. We spent two final days in Halifax and attended a Davis Cup tennis match, then stopped off at Peggys Cove en route to Lunenbug to add…

On Board a Canadian Scalloper

While we were in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, the crew of a 134-ft scalloper in port for maintenance work gave us a tour of their factory ship. (We were asked not to include boat, crew and company names.) The ship was built in 1997, but is well-maintained and is equipped with the latest scallop auto-shucking equipment….