Position: N 44 07.472 W 068 21.653
One of the wonderful things about Maine is you never know what to expect. When you wake up in
the morning you could find a thick fog or, just as likely, a glorious sunny morning with the water twinkling and the trees backlit with the rising sun. You plan to travel and it could be thick fog, or it could be a glorious sunny day with perfect wind for sailing. You plan to go for a hike up a mountain and it could be such thick fog you can’t see the next tree or it could be a clear sunny day with miles of visibility overlooking small tree covered islands, mountains and seas covered with lobster buoys. That’s why people keep coming back because, like England, on a glorious summer day you just can’t beat it.We have just spent three days in Long Island, only 6 miles around and 7 miles from the mainland. The only town on the island is named Frenchboro and it is purely a fishing village. People here are friendly, they really seem to like visitors but they do not cater to them. The harbour is small and full of moorings for lobster boats, with a few moorings for visiting cruisers. There was one left when we arrived but, since we prefer to anchor when we can, we left it for the friends we were traveling with. We anchored just outside the harbour in a protected but very currenty channel between two islands.
There is no grocery store. All the islanders must catch the ferry to the mainland for that. No quaint
little shops. There is a fuel dock and deli where you can buy from a minimal sandwich selection, lobster, of course, drinks, and deserts. A lovely museum and library, a post office and a one room school with 13 students ranging from kindergarten to 7th grade (5-13 years old). Almost everyone here is a lobster fisherman and the year round population is 43 at last count.This year another business opened in competition with the sandwich shop. I’m sure that is a big deal and probably caused a little stress in the community. The new café is called Offshore Store and More and is run by Tammy and her husband John, he’s also a lobsterman. The store also sells from a small menu but of course the popular items are the over-stuffed lobster roll (on a homemade roll) and lobster freshly cooked, which they will deliver to your boat, for $4 a pound. We can attest to the fact that both items are utterly delicious!
Frenchboro is like taking a step back in time, kids are all over the one street town playing on bikes, playing in the mud flats at low tide just generally having fun. The ferry only comes 3 times a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. So if you want to go shopping you have to take the Tuesday ferry and stay overnight on the mainland, do all your shopping, and then return on the Wednesday ferry.
Tammy told us that when school is in the kids all come home for lunch. So whichever mom has not taken the trip to town is ‘the Mom for the Day’. All the kids come to her house for lunch, and again after school until the dads return from lobstering.
We have really enjoyed our time here, although it’s hard to imagine what life is like here in the winter. A few years ago they came up with an incentive programme to get more people to move here. A few families took the offer, but only one family has stayed. In recent years a large plot of land came up for sale and there was talk of subdividing and building houses. The town got together and managed to raise enough money to buy the land for a conservation programme and now over half of the island is in its natural state and covered with wonderful walking trails. The residents are happy with their small, sleepy village, they like tourists and cruisers to come over to visit and are happy to see them but they don’t want their island turned into a tourist mecca, they like it just the way it is…….and so do we!! We will definitely make another stop at Long Island next time we’re in Maine.
