11 August 2025 – Monday
Today we plan to follow route 1 up the west side of Penobscot Bay.
1015 72,486 73°F Leave Pepper Hill Farm
1053 72,491 74°F Rockland
There was plenty of good, level parking available at the Harbor
Good parking is also available for dinghies!
What drew us to Rockland, aside from the pretty harbor, was the Project Puffin Visitor Center.
We learned that newly hatched puffins are about the size of Beth’s hand.
Though the center doesn’t have any live puffins, they do have lots of information and they show an interesting movie about how puffins were reintroduced to Islands off the Maine coast. Returning to the area earlier in the summer for a Puffin Cruise is now on our list!
For more information on Puffins and links to Puffin webcams, visit the puffin pages at Audobon.com.
We’ve ordered boat and RV parts from Hamilton Marine, so it was fun to visit the actual store. They have a full selection of Blue Sea electrical fittings.
The Sail, Power & Steam Museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, but we did look at some of the outside exhibits.
Looking out over Rockland Harbor we found the El Faro Salute! sculpture, a tribute to sailors lost at sea.
1316 72,419 78°F Leave Rockland
Proceeding north from Rockland there was lots of traffic & road work in and around Camden, so we decided not to stop this time, even though it is one of our favorite coastal Maine towns.
1449 72,518 75°F Belfast
In Belfast, we parked by East Coast Yacht Sales.
If we had an unlimited maintenance and varnish budget, I could be very happy with s/v Felicity.
Front Street Shipyard has tours at 2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.The extensive facility offers every kind of boat service I can imagine. Here are just a few examples of the vessels docked around the shipyard.
Belfast isn’t just pleasure boats, it is also home to some serious commercial tugs and pushers.
After walking the harbor trail we indulged in an ice cream treat at the Wild Cow Creamery.
1528 72,518 Leave Belfast
1405 72,505 Lincolnville
There are a few shops here and a BIG lobster restaurant. It isn’t really a walking harbor, so we didn’t stay long.
The most direct route to Bucksport, takes you across the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. One of the bridge towers hosts “the tallest bridge observatory in the world. A park on the west side of the river offers access to the tower and historic Fort Knox.
1628 72,537 86F Bucksport
Arrived at the Bucksport Trading Post, our Harvest Host spot for tonight.
Met the kind owner and purchased some goodies to enjoy in the van.
It’s more than the Google Maps marking as a wine store, they have a lovely collection of local artwork as well.
A little while later, Jean from Massachusetts pulled into the other HH site in a Pleasure-Way Plateau. She is a book editor and former sailor. Worked on windjammers and crossed the Atlantic on the Pride of Baltimore.
The hostess invited us to pick cucumbers from her tiny garden boxes. Serving dual purposes, the gardens also marked the edge of the parking lot. It was quite a steep drop off from there to the water, so you didn’t want to back up too far!
We highly recommend visiting Bucksport Trading Post. They sell a delightful selection of wines, treats, and local art. The view is wonderful and the front porch rocking chairs are the place to relax and visit after hours.
Today’s Route along Penobscot Bay
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