Coastal mail delivery…

I specifically chose to do a boat tour last Friday because I was so aware of the holiday weekend looming.  It would get crazy busy, I thought.  And the weather was fabulous for a leisurely cruise out of Portland Harbor.  They, brilliantly I thought, combine a boat tour with the necessary mail run to five of the outlying islands.  I was surprised that there were passengers too, disembarking and being met by family members on the docks.  Of course that’s how they’d get there to visit, but I hadn’t ever considered the reality of living on an island.  One stop that was interesting was Cliff Island, which was the town that hosted the filming of The Whales of August.  I saw that movie and loved it, I should look for it on Netflix or Prime.  We stopped there for a few extra minutes, long enough to get an ice cream cone at the little general store right there at the dock.  But we only had twenty minutes or so, or else wait four hours for the next ferry.

I found that once we had stopped at our last mail drop however, the boat picked up speed and we were now headed back to port in a hurry.  I considered putting on the jacket I had been carrying with me, but instead I wrapped the camera in it in case of spray.  In the nick of time too, because we got a direct hit from a wave that splashed up over those of us sitting in the bow of the boat.  Twice.  Lucky for me there was no harm done.  And some fellow passengers moved over and told me to sit with them just in case.  Very nice of them, and a very nice way to spend a day.  But I have to say that the crowds I expected to see never materialized.  Or else what constitutes a crowd here in Maine doesn’t compare to spring break at the Florida beaches.  It’s been fun and it’s not over, even if the rest of the campers here seem to be pulling up stakes and heading out.