The perfect day off
Every day is starting to feel better than the last here on Monhegan as I continue to transform acquaintances into friends and unknown spots into regular sunset-viewing locations. There was one particular day however this past week that takes the cake for my best memory thus far.
As you know, my weekly day off varies depending on how busy or slow the inn is (the latter seems rare though, according to Sue, this has been our busiest June in the inn’s history). Lately though, my day off has been falling on Wednesday or Thursday which is ideal seeing as two or three of my closest friends here also typically have that day off. In true day-off fashion, the four of us planned this specific whole day off around being outside, eating good food, being by the water, hanging with friends, and consuming alcohol.
First we started with brunch at “The Barn,” which you’ll mostly likely hear thrown around on the blog from now on. The Barn is a friend’s family cabin/camp that used to be a barn and has since been transformed into a two-story party spot with gorgeous views of the water by Deadman’s Cove. The Barn is naturally decorated in empty beer cans and tasteful red solo cups, but to honest, it’s the perfect place and the 21-year-old atmosphere is the best post-work outlet. Anyway, we joined forces to create a lovely late breakfast spread there, complete with local bread from the Trailing Yew, eggs, strawberries, goat cheese, croissants, bacon, and of course mimosas.
After feuling up on carbs and breakfast cocktails with an uneven Prosecco to orange juice ratio, we headed to Fish Beach.
Side note* A little tradition I may or may not have been responsible for is dressing up on your day off. Instant head turns. Last week I wore a long white dress all around town and by the end of the day I had folks I didn’t know coming up to ask if I was indeed “the Bohemian queen of the island they’d heard about.”
So us mini-dress clad ladies and our swimsuit-wearing male accomplice bought some expensive beer (we're strictly motivated by high ABVs or cheap costs when it comes to beer as you can see) and seltzer’s before waiting at the beach for Tristan to take us out to the backside of Manana (the tiny island just in front of Monhegan) on kayaks. Manana is virtually uninhabited with just one house, an information center, and a handful of goats, but it’s the perfect getaway because unless you swim or kayak there, it’s near impossible to visit due to the lack of an actual docking spot.
Monhegan plans are notorious for starting late so we spent a solid hour laying out in the sun before our larger-than-expected group finally clustered together on the sand to get on the water. Thanks to clouds and wind, the water was a little choppy, but we each made it safely onto land with the help of Tristan and a few other experienced guys in the group who yanked our kayaks onto the rocks.
The backside of Manana is a great place to party because A. It has great swimming and jumping spots; B. The rocks are perfect for laying out, standing, sitting, dancing, etc. and; C. It’s facing away from Monhegan, giving us practically full authority to whatever we want i.e. have a fire (which is a big no no on Monhegan). Once we got the speaker set up with proper day-off tunes and our coolers unpacked, we started swimming and exploring. There’s a great little cliff jump spot which I somehow mustered the courage to participate in and it was an absolute rush both due to the altitude and water temp.
Then we set up a fire for grilling while some other folks started fishing for our dinner. We ate scallops and pork (not from Monhegan unfortunately) and fresh mackerel which had been caught right there on Manana. We spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening chit-chatting with one another and sitting by the fire, singing along to folk music and oldies. Seeing as watermelon margaritas and a lack of daylight don’t always make for the best kayaking circumstances, we headed back to Monhegan around 7:30 PM to freshen up and regroup before meeting at a friend’s place for games and more hanging out. Oddly enough, the house we were in actually had an attic chock-full of old island artwork from a gallery that no longer exists so we had to explore those for a bit. Eventually we found ourselves back at The Barn to end the night with card games, music, and late-night bagels.
We’ve since made it a pact to visit Manana whenever a group of us has a mutual Thursday off again, and with a little luck (which seems to be abundant on Monhegan) we’ll have another opportunity to do so very soon!
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