The winds were just right and we had heard too many times how great Belfast was, so we decided to visit. It was a slow, easy jib run from Pulpit that turned into a wicked, fun jib run (7.2 knots under half a jib) as the winds picked up far beyond the predictions in the afternoon.

We got lucky and got a mooring just off the main town dock. Belfast is described as Maine’s largest small town and they live up to it. Relatively compact, easy to walk, beautiful to look at, the hardest part was leaving some of the local shops and picking a place to eat amongst all the options. We settled on Rollie’s, a local institution, and had a great meal at the bar. We picked up some good local cheeses at a local shop, and then headed to the local co-op, which the town is famous for. Organic vegetables, fair trade coffees, artisanal breads, reasonable prices – what a dream.

My only complaint is that our cell service has been horrible. We switched to Google Fi in February so as to avoid international charges when we travel, and the coverage had been excellent and much more affordable than our old plans. Unfortunately, Maine is the test. The phones work just fine in cities like Portland and Rockland, but we’ve hit utter dead zones in Camden, North Haven, and now Belfast. Luckily we had wifi from the Harbormasterā€™s office in Belfast, and ironically we have great coverage under sail in the middle of Penobscot bay, but the lack of coverage in towns is becoming rather frustrating.