Wilma the Whale has resurfaced

Thu, 09/03/2020 - 8:15am

Good news everybody!

Wilma the Whale of Southport fame has just surfaced from five years of hibernation at her new East Boothbay home.

Thanks to the muscular efforts of her neighbors, Rich Elliott, Esq. Peter Hunter, and David Smale, she now rests comfortably (when not in the water) on her dolly. Some of you may remember her from early Boothbay Region Boatyard’s family barbecues where the children had a blast tooling around the anchorage in her. Her dry land gig was the wine bar for Lincoln Arts Festival’s Arts for Arts Sake shows at BRB.

After five years' slumber, she needed scraping and a new paint job. Thanks to my perfect wife, Dee, Wilma sports new new paint and trimming. I don't know what amusement park sent her out-to-pasture, but there she was sadly sitting by the road, Route One, Downeast. Dee said, “Don't even think it!”

Well, to make a long story short, my next trip to Southport was solo. There she was, still by the road looking so sad, so lonely. She was first known only as #24. I just “happened” to be pulling a small trailer. The next thing I knew, #24 (our new Wilma) was sitting happily on the trailer.

Her eyes originally had lightening bolts in them. Thanks to that talented sign painting artist from Southport, Jeff Brown, she now flashes her “Baby Blues.”

In a pre-christening photo, a neighbor's granddaughter, Emma, is ready for her first sea trial. She's the daughter of Ms. Alejandra Claro. Emma lives with her proud grandparents, David and Betsy Smale, while mother is away in the Coast Guard.

Lastly, keep your eyes open on our local waters for possible Wilma sightings. Hopefully she will be featured in next year's Antique Boat Parade.