The Morning After

     As I walked back with Baxter after his morning constitutional, I was struck by the lonely nature of the deserted Allegro Bus.  It was a really beautiful morning, 70 degrees, clear and almost calm.

     By 0930 or so everyone was back and all things returned to normal.  Well, almost normal...there was the chore of washing the salt spray off the exterior of the rigs.  They picked up a pretty good layer.  Later in the morning our resident tugboat returned from one of his escort errands and passed between a large sailboat and a small freighter as he made his way back into the Belfast harbor.  By the way, that "large sailboat" turns out to be the Mirabella V, the world's largest sloop.  The mast is 290 feet tall.  It and its 14-person crew can carry twelve guests in six guest cabins and can be rented for $250,000 per week!  According to Tuesday's (30 August) Bangor Daily News," (It) was commissioned by Luciana and Joseph Vittorio.  He is the former CEO of both Hertz and Avis.  It took three years to build the $50 million vessel which was launched in May 2004.  Amenities aboard the sloop include a Jacuzzi, a dip pool, a gym and a sauna.  Guests also can tool around in the alternative watercraft the boat carries, including a 29 foot Hinckley Picnic Boat, four Laser sailing dinghies and kayaks."  For further info check www.mirabellayachts.com.  

     Later a lovely, smaller sail boat headed out for a fine fall sail and passed by the cormorant-studded,19th century navigation monument.

     I'll close with a picture of the bus taken from the ocean side of the campground.

     All things considered, we fared very well.  I saw a video of one of Vermont's classic covered bridges being washed away.  Here there was only a scattering of twigs as you would find after a strong thunderstorm, but no real limbs down.  There was a hurricane party at the restaurant that apparently was a roaring success.  We missed it.  I guess the only casualty was the loss of one of our happy hours.  We'll see if we can catch up tonight.