9/17/15          Freeport

At last! Off like a herd of turtles but... After a lovely champaigne toast and visit w/our renters, Daric and Ellen, and great hugs from Sharyl, Shannon and Maggie, we picked up our dinghy, slipped our mooring at 7:58 PM, threaded our way in the dark through the lobster pots and picked up a mooring off Bustin's Island...about 1/2 mile from our home mooring. BUT we left our home port. Watched the sliver of cresent moon set while consuming a bottle of wine on the fore deck. Amelia kitty did her own solo tour of the decks before joining us. (Not to share the wine, of course.) Beautiful evening. Beautiful morning. We're off! Send love. We're sending ours out to all who've helped us make this journey possible. 
NCS

Long lists of "to do" shortened, we get off. As we pass out of the mooring field in Freeport,  Susan Hadlock cheered and we heard her ships bell ringing. We responded and off we went. We tooted to Bob Johnson at Pound of Tea. Good luck and be well, Bob.

Beautiful, almost flat calm night we toasted our trip.

Morning rituals begin today. Making Coffee, checking oil, tranny, antifeeze, visual inspections and set course. As John White would say, "It's a beautiful day on Casco Bay." 
DCW