LUNCH RUN TO MATINICUS
Facebook sent me to Matinicus.
When former Soundings editor-in-chief Mary South posted a spectacular photo of the Maine island that she sometimes calls home, I told her I might have to run my RIB out there for a lunch visit. But before opening my mouth, I should have done my homework. I knew Matinicus was out in the ocean, but a closer look at a nautical chart provided me with a bit of a shock.
A straight run from my homeport of New Harbor, Maine, to Matinicus is 27 nautical miles in exposed waters. My 16-foot Zodiac, Bob, can do 30 knots, but not in a big chop or a short swell, and with Matinicus about 20 miles from the mainland, I pondered whether I was biting off a little more than I should chew. In the previous months I had experienced some shockingly challenging weather while exploring islands inside Muscongus Bay. Was going out to what the Abenaki natives called “far out island” one isle too far?
But the idea of seeing Mary and the U.S. East Coast’s most far-flung inhabited island was enticing, and when the next day’s forecast predicted 2- to 5-mph winds and 2-foot seas, I
