A Charming Winter's Destination...Port Clyde

A Sunday morning drive was just the ticket for us a week ago. Agreeing that a ride along the coast would be a very nice way to spend some quality time, all that was left to decide was in which direction. The road we chose was U.S. Rt. 1 South, but only as far as Rockland, and which this time of year would not be cluttered up with copious amounts of flat-landers. 
Turning off Rt. 1 onto Rt. 73 and then to Rt. 131 we were mostly hugging the coast, running down the St. George Peninsula, with the Atlantic Ocean on our left. Passing through South Thomaston we came upon a street sign reading Waterman's Beach and we decided to explore.

 A pretty spot with the tools of the trade piled neatly waiting for next season. 

This was a fairly constant theme of our trip.

 Our next rolling stop was Tenant's Harbor which is a quaint little village just SE of Rockland. We checked out the public boat landing and then moved on.

In no time at all we found ourselves at our destination of Port Clyde and dropped into the general store for a few snacks and a cup of coffee. We had a chance to chat with the locals about last summer and their predictions about the next one coming up.

Port Clyde is probably most famous as the spot to take the mail boat, the Elizabeth Ann, out to Monhegan Island. And for anybody who hasn't done the island, it is highly recommended.  But be sure you don't overlook the charm of the village. You can get a real flavor of a working  Maine waterfront by spending a little time there.                               

As you can see, lobster is the theme, the heart and the soul of Port Clyde.  And, like all the other areas along our ride, traps were stacked neatly on the fishing wharves waiting for their call to duty. 

        
We were able to snoop around a bit among the nooks and crannies of the sleepy little village. Scenes like this, a weather worn shack with lobster buoys hanging off it are pretty typical but special just the same.

I'm sure we will be returning to Port Clyde this summer to take the Elizabeth Ann out to Monhegan and no doubt there will be lots of people from "away" accompanying us. But that's ok...who can blame them?