We took our time to get going this morning with a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes. It was about 11:00 before we hit the road. Today was overcast and 73 degrees, but you could feel the humidity in the air. We had some light rain as we left the campground. This is our last day in the Boothbay area and we had a few more things to do before we leave tomorrow. On the top of the list was a drive to East Boothbay, which is a peninsula community along the Damariscotta River. This was another day of exploration.
Highway 96 would take us there. In the town of East Boothbay, we stopped at the Ocean Point Marina to check it out.
From there, we could see down the shoreline to Washburn and Doughty, which looked like a commercial boat repair facility.
This restaurant, Lobsterman's Wharf, was closed when we went by, so we'll check it out on the way back.
We turned off on King Phillips Trail which took us on a loop road along the shore.
There were many cool houses there, sitting on the shore and on the rocky bluffs. Many boats were moored there in that quiet cove.
We stopped at the Boothbay Shores Association's pier to get a better look at the surroundings.
The views around every bend in the road were remarkable.
The road was very narrow and often only wide enough for one car. We went very slowly to see everything and to avoid any collisions.
We continued on Ocean Point Road (Hwy, 96), weaving in and out of the coves, as we traveled south on the peninsula. Luckily, we were going slowly when a large doe crossed the road ahead of us.
We stopped to watch when another one followed and trotted across the road.
She stopped to look right at us. After they entered the woods, we continued on. From a distance we could see Burnt Island Light at the entrance to Boothbay Harbor.
The humidity in the air made it somewhat hard to see.(That was the lighthouse that we couldn't get a good view of from town the other day.) As we curved around the bay on the road, it became a little clearer. The homes along this road were beautiful and unusual, but nothing was more unusual than these two homes built next door to each other. Bob called it the "Hobbit House". Even the garage was odd-looking.
On one end of the cove was the Smuggler's Cove Inn.
From the front, it looked like any other motel, until we came around to the other side. Then we saw how the motel rooms were built out over the water.
We saw quite a few commercial lobster boats running around the bay and a few pleasure boats out and about. This one was one of them.
At Ocean Point, the very tip of the peninsula, we finally saw what we came to see…the Ram Island Light.
It sits on the eastern side of Boothbay Harbor across Fisherman's Island passage.
At the end of the cove was a boat launch area and nice beach that people were enjoying.
We totally enjoyed our drive along the coastal coves today. There were so many beautiful views around every turn.
We stopped at Lobsterman's Wharf on our way back. By now it was open for business.
Lobsterman's Wharf is at Ocean Point and sits on the water. The view was lovely.
We sat at the bar and shared a lobster roll and a couple of beers.
I've eaten enough lobster to now consider myself a "lobster lady".
As we walked back to the truck, we heard the roar of rushing water and went to see where it was coming from. We discovered it was a rapids that had formed with the outgoing tide when the water was emptying out of a pond into the bay through a culvert. Very interesting!
We made our drive back to Boothbay and stopped at the Hannaford's grocery store for a few items and at the gas station to fill up for the drive tomorrow. Back at the campground, we took Auggie for a long walk around the campground. Bob noticed these elk's antlers in the woods. Could there really be an elk there?
Not! But it sure did look like an elk's rack of antlers. We also walked out to Lundy's Island which is part of the campground.
The walk took us across a spit of land to an island. Today the tide was out, so it was dry.
We took the path across the island and sat on a bench overlooking the riverbed, as the tide receded.
Auggie enjoyed the long walk and took a long nap when we got back to the camper.
Bob and I sat on our deck at the campsite and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon talking to our camping neighbors and making a few phone calls to home. We had chicken on the grill and got things put away for our departure tomorrow.
Goodbye Boothbay Harbor! We loved our time here!
