Portland, Peaks Island, MA
Second day of our visit to Portland started with a spectacular sunrise yet quickly was transformed into a total fog soup, as they call it here. Everything was covered with this heavy blanket of impenetrable gray mass yet so light that it could not be held or contained in any form or shape. It was a living and moving thing of its own kind, to me simply mystical and open to any minds imagination. I always saw fairies and beautiful forest spirits dancing their dance of joy in it, for now no one could see or disturb them and they were free to frolic and do their enchantments to their hearts content. Others reported ghost ships or headless men riding on horses of which there are many stories written. I still prefer my version of beauty and joy.

As we prepare to visit our friends who live on Peaks Island which is only some 12 miles away by boat our dear friends Laurie and Troy from Staniel Cay arrive to say hello and reminisce a bit on things we and they have been up to since our last encounter. They live about one hour or so inland from here on a beautiful lake, as they describe it in a small town called Gardiner. It is their place of peace and tranquility where they find respite from daily stress of work and life. One more place on our list to visit and experience for ourselves. One of lessons learned on this long journey is definitely that city life is not something neither of us are longing for and find it rather disturbing and too noisy.

Our friend Charlie has sent a water taxi to come and fetch us and bring us over to their island of refuge. In the interim the fog has lifted over the city but we see it still present out of the harbor and so it was. It took only minutes that we left our dock and the harbor to enter fully into this soupy mass of intangible gray mass of fog. A short ride later we arrived at the dock of the Peaks Island Yacht Club House where both Charlie and Karen waited to greet us and take us on a tour around the island. The island is well populated containing some significant mansions and numerous smaller homes and cottages. The island has a school, fire truck, post office, store, a few restaurants, some gift shops as well as a Lions Club facility with tables and benches for big parties. Still amidst it all is plenty of forest, ponds, creeks and a bunch of left over bunkers from WW II and WWI. Some of the bunkers became basements of mansions and homes, yet this really big one stands as a ghost covered with foliage overlooking the surrounding waterways from once proudly standing observation posts and lookouts. What an eary feeling it is walking into this huge yet dark and empty structure that was once built with serious intention to protect the main land and a fleet of war vessels lingering amongst these beautiful and numerous islands that acted as natural harbors.
Our friend’s cottage is a warm and cute dwelling place very functional yet simple and quaint. May this place continue to be a place of peace and harmony for both of you and those that come to visit! Thank you for sharing your peace of heaven with us!
As we soon learned their neighbors are our neighbors from Florida and there more of people that have their summer homes on this beautiful island and a home in our neighborhood in FL.
Charlotte, Charlie’s mother was a delight to meet and break bread with. Here is a woman in her mid 80 full of energy, vitality and entrepreneurial spirit. She just bought herself a piece of land with a small cottage which she now is renovating and enlarging to her liking. This is a woman full of life that she wants to enjoy and not miss a beat. God bless you Charlotte and may your days be many and filled with blessings and abundance of all good things!
Dinner on the island was delightful at this local restaurant overlooking Portland’s Harbor and the city view at night. As we enjoyed dinner and good conversation a gentle rain emerged and the fog melted away revealing spectacular views. We returned on the local ferry which only took minutes to our surprise.

Next day arrived and in the anticipation of rain and wind we decided to remain in Portland one more day. This gave us the opportunity to visit Joe’s favorite men’s store, Joseph’s which we discovered several years back when we came to visit the Portland Boat Show in March. Mr. Joseph remembered us and was happy to see his old customers. We also found an Ital. deli and a spectacular Oyster Bar that could compete with any oyster place in the world, Eventide Oyster Co. If you did not know but Main has some spectacular oysters and I tasted most of them. Most of them come from the Demariscotta River region and are the sweetest I have ever tasted. Eventide has a great selection of oysters from all over the world.
Bon Appetite!