Adventures of the Geritol Gypsy: Ahoy Mates.....or Why Make Plans

I got up Friday morning to go to Camden, Maine, for the day to take a 2-1/2 hour schooner trip and attend the Camden Windjammer Festival. I am glad I decided to leave early because all I could find was 2 hour parking until I met some volunteers that told me that they were told to park in the parking lot of this office complex. I thought that if it was good enough for the volunteers, it was good enough for me.

I arrived on the docks but could not find where to go to sign in for the Olad. I went into a storefront that had a sign saying Maine Schooners. The lady inside was nice and told me that she would show me where to go and by the way they did have one more spot available on the schooner "Grace Bailey" for a weekend cruise. Since I would not be spending the day on the schooner for lunch and sightseeing, she was sure the captain would give me a discount and I could come back to meet her on the schooner when I arrived back around 2. I walked to the door.... turned around..... then said "Book me!"

Don't forget, I was only going down for the day so I had no clothes or anything else. I went to Rite Aid and got the necessities and headed back to the dock to take my 2-1/2 hour schooner cruise. When we arrived back to the dock, Margaret, the culprit that signed me up, met me and took me to the schooner, everyone else was already aboard. She had one of the deck hands drive me back to my car so that we could move it to the lot they had reserved for the cruise parties. I had my dirty clothes in the car because I had planned to do laundry later that day, so I went through the clothes trying to find the least dirty as well as grabbed two sweatshirts. I think I was still in shock that I did this.

I have no way to tell you in words about my weekend, so I have decided to do it in pictures. Hopefully, you will feel the happiness that I did.

Ship building demonstration at the festival by a school nearby.

Yarn of course....The Cashmere Goat.

Painters everywhere.

Demonstration of how the cooks have to cook on the schooners.

My home for three days and two nights.

The Grace Bailey

Fellow passengers --except that the two in black tee shirts won the silent auction for dinner on board the Grace Bailey and would be leaving after dinner.

Dinner was lasagna, three types of salads, and eggplant towers.

Deck hand handing out corn and lobsters.

My dinner.

Waiting for the fireworks on the deck of Grace Bailey.

Fireworks.

My cabin was next to the kitchen so I woke to the smell of fresh made muffins!

The chef uses a wood stove to cook all the meals.

Pre-breakfast was sitting on deck when I went up for the early risers. I was not aware that breakfast was coming later.

Calling all hands..... raising the sails.

The faces of Captain Ray.

This is the figure eight flake. This is what we did to the rope once we took down the sail. There was no wind.

This tiny motor boat pushed our boat while the Captain steered the schooner. The deck hand is just getting the boat in position and then she came aboard. The motor is left turned on in the boat which is tied close to the schooner and it pushed us out into open water.

Lunch-salad, butternut squash soup, focaccia.

She was afraid of the water but because some of the passengers went for a swim, she tried to go but only got as far as you can see. The captain told her to put her foot in the water so she could tell her friends that she got in the water.

Snack...salsa and chips, brie with chopped mangos drizzled with brown sugar and placed on the brie. This was put in the oven for 12 minutes.....YUMMM

Closeup of Grace Bailey.

Fog in the back of us.

Fog in the front of us.

Jonathan, deck hand, blowing a shell to let other boaters know that we were close and was under motor (being pushed). He said that he blows differently if they were under their own sail. Jonathan just bought his own schooner and will be in Key West this winter. He told me to to stop by if I go to Florida this winter.

Once the fog lifted it got really hot so some of the passengers helped the deckhands raise the shade cover.

Just had to take that picture. He was one of the passengers.

The captain told us that anyone that wanted to go ashore at the island we were stopping for the night could go for a walk or there was a little store about 2 miles away if we wanted to get something. A few of us decided to take the motorboat to the dingy dock and walk to the store. We were happy that it was really only about a mile there.

We passed this boat as we were walking and I loved the name.

The little store.

More scenery as we walked.

I bought a bottle of this beer. Well......it was different.

Chef dishing out breakfast. He had made different kinds of frittatas.

Vegetable storage.

Breakfast is served.

Bringing up the anchor.

You will love this shower. You have to put your foot on the pedal at the bottom and pump to get the water to flow.

This is my bunk. Trust me, it was hard. That little crystal that is called a deck prism in the ceiling, brought in light from the outside.

Once we got back to dock, goodbyes were said and I headed back to the campground. I had received a text from my daughter that the campground owner had been concerned because I had not been back and was suppose to be gone for the day.

Once I got back to my site, the neighbors started coming over telling me how concerned they were because I was only suppose to be gone for the day. Even the campground owner had been asking the neighbors if they knew if I was alright because he had not seen my car. WOW!!!!!!! I did not think anyone would have even cared. Yes, I spoke to everyone but this was quite unexpected.

That evening was the seasonal campgrounds people's end of season get together and I had been invited earlier in the week.