Castine.

     Today was a wonderful trip to Castine, the home of Maine Maritime Academy.  It was wonderful because we had five couples who have been camping together for a decade that met at Dennett's Wharf in Castine.  Castine is an hour plus from Belfast.  We can see it from the campground, but we have to go north, east and then south to find our way to the next south pointing peninsula.  

     Maine Maritime trains cadets to become qualified to be certified in the various specialties necessary to operate commercial seagoing transport.  There are elements of the training that are reminiscent of the military academies.

     A principal piece of their training environment is the "State of Maine"  It is a large commercial ship that provides them hands-on application and also serves as a platform for the summer long cruises.

     I thought it was noteworthy that the pleasurecraft activity has already started its late summer decline.  Note the dinghys which should be tied to deep water moorings.

     Dennett's wharf has been a well known restaurant in Castine for many years, and they did not disappoint.  

     They had some fine local oysters on the half shell and many varieties of beer on tap.  

     The crew included the Andrews, the Roths, the Cloutiers, the Dunns and the Pecks.  'Twas a nice lunch.  After lunch we (the Andrews and us) drove around the town looking at the fine old homes.  You might be surprised to learn that Castine was settled seven years before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.  On the way back I got a nice shot of a large sailboat sailing up the river.

     There were a few more pictures after we got back to the Moorings.  One was a magnificent sailboat illuminated by the late evening sun.

     As the evening was winding down, Durelle took Baxter for a walk and passed the "Bambi" that I included in a previous post.  They left and came back.