This morning Allison and I got up very early and headed to Sea Glass Beach. Sea Glass Beach is where you can find lots of sea glass because this is where the fort would dump trash. There was a grind house that took the trash and ground it up and shot it out through a pipe into the ocean. Environmentally not friendly but now things like glass bottles, ceramic plates and pottery pieces that have been tumbled by the surf against the rocks for many years washes up on Sea Glass Beach to adorn the homes of the islanders.

We also walked over to the moon garden. I wanted to get out and take as many pictures of the island as I could. There were some really interesting rock formations on the shores. After our walk we headed back to the house, took showers and had some homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast. Great big blueberries, fresh from Maine.

We took the ferry into Portland and on the way back stopped at Long Island and the Great Diamond Island stop, there are two stops on Great Diamond Island (Great Diamond, village side and Diamond Cove, fort side). Kids will jump off the docks as the ferry pulls away so that the wake propels them. I got a few shots of some jumpers in mid air. Apparently the wake can propel someone about 70 feet or so. Long Island seceded from the city of Portland and is almost entirely inhabited by the local fishermen. It is a very close-knit community. When someone dies the whole island attends the funeral and when a baby is born it is outfitted for the first 5 years of life.

When the ferry docked we walked over to a bazaar that was going on. It was sponsoered by an organization called Cultural Survival. They sell items made by indigenous peoples to help them improve their quality of life and promote the cultures. I bought a pirate thimble from a Russian vendor. It now sits on my Guinness souvenir.

We went over to the mainland so that we could have lunch with Elise’s grandmother, Rosie, and her Aunt Mary. Rosie is in an assisted living facility and we went to visit her and have lunch there. It was a beautiful place and they had a very nice meal that included bread, salad, meal and dessert.

After lunch we walked around Old Port and poked around the shops. Didn’t buy anything, but we would be back the next day to pick up something we missed.

We caught the ferry back to the island and took a swim in the pool. Then we had a nice cookout and headed down to the Bob Marley Show. George Ham opened for Bob and he was the better of the two comedians. It wasn’t so much about the content for me as it was about mic control. Bob was practically swallowing the mic and that made for a very un-enjoyable show. Way too loud. No reason to be that loud at all. The show was to benefit the fire station on the island. On the island if the fire bell rings all people on the island become part of the fire department. It is a volunteer fire department and they have one truck. The show was fun and it was nice to have something to do in the evening and we were happy to finally see Bob Marley even though my eardrums were bleeding when it was over.

Today Allison and I left Manchester early and headed to Portland Maine. We were shooting for the 11:00am boat out of Portland to Great Diamond Island. Despite the rain we made really good time and were able to get to the 10:00am ferry ride over to the island. The weather was really, really crappy on the way to Portland and my rain-x was non-existent and the windshield wipers were doing a very poor job. We stopped once to get some drinks and snacks and I used one of the rain-x d-fogger wipes on the windshield, this seemed to help a bit but I need to get some more rain-x and treat the windows again. That stuff works great!

The ferry ride over was nice, we were a bit cold and wet but when we arrived at Diamond Cove the weather began to turn around. Upon arriving at the island we saw Elise, Charles and Amy. They picked us up in the family golf cart. On Great Diamond Island the only means of transportation (excluding 2 or 3 cars) is golf carts. We drove up to the house, which used to be the bakery back when the island housed Fort McKinley. Fort McKinley was built during the Spanish American War and was used up through World War II. It was decommissioned in 1945. The houses are now in what used to be many buildings of the original fort.

After unpacking and deciding on a course of action we headed down to the general store to have lunch. On the island there can only be 5 commercial ventures, there is a general store, a spa, a restaurant and I’m not sure what else is commercial. The general store made large sub sandwiches, pizza and sold the essentials. There we picked up tickets to see comedian Bob Marley. Bob was doing a benefit show for the island’s fire station and is doing a tour of many islands to perform other benefits for their fire stations.

After lunch Elise’s mom Thea gave us a tour of the island in the limo, a 6-passenger golf cart. Thea is learning to become a tour guide on the island and we were her first tour. The island has many fascinating structures and a rich history. And a developer in 1980 came in at the right time and at the right price to make a killing selling off the island to people for summer cottages. It seems that the right time is always past and the right price will never be seen again. Yay! Thea told us about much of the island’s history and we explored some great buildings including one that had been a lookout during the war and to prevent extra lights from giving away the location of the tower and people inside they came up with a very ingenious way of lighting the building at night. The ceiling has hundreds of round glass disks that had a light pink tint and when the moon shone down the people in the lookout could read by it. Many of the glass disks are still intact.

After the tour we relaxed by the community pool. Elise, Charles, Amy, Allison and I went to the pool and had a great time. I stayed a little longer and got some reading done. We had a great time playing with the noodles and other toys. Amy and Allison had diving competitions and races. It was all very fun.

Dinner was an excellent lobster roll and some delicious corn on the cob accompanied by a traditional Maine recipe coleslaw. This was the first lobster roll I had ever had and I liked it a lot. I had this mental block on eating cold lobster but luckily I overcame it and enjoyed a terrific summertime meal. We ate on the back porch and the weather was perfect.

After dinner Elise and Charles and Allison and I took the golf cart out to get some sunset pictures and to explore some of the coves and beaches before it got dark. We went to the moon garden, which is a garden right on the water in the small harbor of Diamond Cove. There are two Adirondack chairs set up and it is a perfect viewing place to watch the moon. We headed back tot he house and Allison and I walked over to screening on the green. This was where the neighbors in this community get together, set up a giant screen, DVD player and speakers and show kids movies out on the green. There was even a cotton candy maker and popcorn maker. I of course got popcorn.

We stayed in the living room on a pull out couch that was quite comfortable. I fell asleep while reading the second Kathy Reich’s book Death Du Jour. This one was easier to get into because now I know the characters.