After returning to Rhode Island in June 2008, we spent 6 weeks undergoing repairs and upgrades. Finally, at the end of July, we set sail for the Maine coast!

During the passage north we had a night of the worst thunderstorms ever -- one would pass by only to be followed by another, and you could see the lightning strike the water around us. Yikes! Merrie stayed below decks, in the center of the boat, for most of her watch (periodically heading above decks to perform her watch duties).

We made landfall on July 24 in Tenants Harbor, ME and sailed up Muscle Ridge Channel the next day.

This is the lighthouse on Whitehead Island at the south end of the channel

and this is the Owls Head lighthouse at the north end of the channel.

There's also a lighthouse at the entrance to Camden Harbor.

On July 26, we attended a reunion of sailors who have taken part in the Caribbean 1500 rallies (which we did in 2004). The reunion was held in Camden.

Annie Sutton, Svea Fraser, and Merrie help set the table.

Here's the group. Thanks to Julie Palm for both photos! Julie (first row, left) and husband Rick (back row, right) organized the reunion.

On July 27 we sailed to Northwest Harbor on Mt. Desert, to visit our friend Pat Eagan.

Navigating through the islands north of Vinalhaven ...

... and sailing past the Bass Harbor lighthouse ...

and past the Bear Island lighthouse at the entrance to Northwest Harbor.

We also spent an afternoon sailing up Somes Sound with Beth and Alan McIlhenny, who bought our first Adagio (Saga 43) several years ago.

On August 1st we headed back to Islesboro for a Seven Seas Cruising Association gam. This time we sailed through considerable fog, which is typical along the Maine coast.

We passed a windjammer just off Stonington.

The sun had a hard time trying to break through the fog.

Th is the lighthouse at the breakwater in Rockland

and here's the view from Adagio the next morning.

Mt. Desert faded behind us as we sailed into the Gulf of Maine on August 9th

and a bright moon guided us through the night.

Unfortunately the engine decided to overheat and, with no wind, we spent a few hours drifting while Mike did some troubleshooting. He finally decided that the problem was the thermostat, which he removed and we later replaced in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. While we were drifting in the dark there were sounds of sea creatures around us, very comforting.

We made landfall along the Nova Scotia coast early in the morning on August 10, and shortly thereafter we were boarded by the RCMP Border Enforcement team. They were looking for drug runners -- not us!

Here is a lighthouse in the channel to Shelburne Harbor.

We passed the Freedom Schooner Amistad along the way -- she was in Shelburne to mark the 225th anniversary of the arrival of the black loyalists in Nova Scotia.

Historic buildings line Shelburne's waterfront.

On August 13 we sailed to Port Mouton. We had a delightful time watching dolphins swim in Adagio's bow waves!

We also saw whales along the coast of Nova Scotia but didn't grab the camera quickly enough. Nevertheless, we did see 'em.

This the lighthouse at Port Mouton

... and the moon over the bay.

We sailed to Mahone Bay on August 14, stopping first at Lunenburg Yacht Club at the west end of the bay.

Then we sailed to the town of Mahone Bay. The town is easily recognizable by the three churches along the waterfront.

We spent a 3rd night at Chester on Mahone Bay and then set sail for Halifax on August 18. We took a mooring at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club.

We spent a week in Halifax, most of it devoted to fixing bigtime plumbing issues. Yech.

We did get to spend one day touring the city of Halifax, which is lovely. By the way, that's a tugboat at the bottom of the street.

We spent August 23 - 28 sailing back to Jamestown. We would have loved to spend more time in Nova Scotia, but we had repair work and equipment installations scheduled in Jamestown and then in Norfolk a few weeks later.

A visitor came aboard during our overnight sail from Northeast Harbor, Maine to Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Ditty, as we called him, seemed quite tame and enjoyed hopping all over us as well as around the boat. But a sad note: he died overnight -- which surprised us because he had been so lively the day before.

Nevertheless, the sunset that evening was lovely.

Sailing under one of the Cape Cod Canal bridges the following morning...

...and later past the Beavertail Lighthouse as we head into Narragansett Bay.

The first round of repair and installation work done, we sailed from Jamestown to Norfolk, VA on September 15 for the next round.

While work was being done on our boat in Norfolk, we rented a car and drove south to visit friends and relatives and then north to see our new grandson (and our first grandchild!) Drew Michael Rosnov, son of Ann and Todd. Here are some pictures from those trips:

Mike with Doug and Kathie King in New Bern, NC. Kathie was a high school friend of Merrie's.

Doug and Kathie aboard their trawler, the Winnie W.

Mike and Merrie with Wilbur and Morgan Chapman in Raleigh, NC. We met the day that Mike and I made landfall in the US Virgin Islands last year (Nov. 2007), and Adagio crossed paths with the Chapman's boat On the Wings of the Wind several times during our winter in the Eastern Caribbean.

Joe and Peggy Medeiros -- Joe worked with Mike at Verizon. We visited them at their home in Manning, SC. Here we are spending a day in Charleston, SC.

The streets of Charleston are lined with beautiful homes

and stately buildings like the US Customs House.

The day before we left, Mike and Joe managed to sneak in a round of golf -- first time for Mike in quite a while!

And our road travels ended a month later in Greenville, NH. Mike is showing off our first grandchild, Drew Michael Rosnov.

It's now December 6, and we are preparing to depart for Bermuda tomorrow. Our target is Puerto Rico, but we can't seem to find a weather window that's long enough to make the trip in one leg. We'll wait in Bermuda for the next good weather to make the 2nd leg of the passage to Puerto Rico. Can't complain about that!