Mini Casco bay cruise

So after a long winter and not having the boat in the water last year because I was ill and not up to it I finally got Mallard rigged and all set to go. Rita and I both managed to sneak away for a few extra days after the July 4th celebrations and went on a mini cruise of sorts. Although we keep the boat in a small marina in Casco bay we tend to head even further east to Penopscot bay and so actually spend less time than we perhaps should in our own back yard so to speak. So it was something of a rather nice change to sneak up Quahog bay for a couple of days and visit Great Island Boat Yard. At the very head of the bay it is at the limit of navigation. With the wind off our quarter we had a very pleasant sail up past Pole island then delightful Snow island before arriving at the boat yard which has very nice docks. Rounding up as we approached the moorings we dropped the sails and fired up the diesel for the last couple of hundred yards to the docks. Beautifully protected the yard was only recently rebuilt after a disastrous fire but has fine rest rooms and showers and up the hill a rather nice cafe and coffee shop which we made use of. No more than 15 miles from our home port it was a stress free destination and gave us a good chance to make sure that everything worked on the boat before undertaking a longer trip in a few weeks time.