Larry A. Smail's Blog

Laurie and I enjoyed being part of the Boothbay Harbor cruise in Maine. This harbor like the others has low-lying islands scattered all about the bay. Boat building has been a thriving industry for close to 300 years. The oldest builder has been in operation since 1816. Hendrick’s Head Lighthouse of the Nubble Lighthouse are nearby. We visited the Nubble Lighthouse. This structure was built on an island.

While we were on site the community was having the Windjammer Days.  WE enjoyed watching teams from across a body of water participating in a tug-of-war.

The harbor was filled with many and varied boats and ships. This bay, as all bays, have white round ball-like object floating about. This is called  moorings. These balls are stationary and individuals have to rent a mooring to keep their boats in place. this is because there is not enough shoreline areas to park boats. So you have these moorings and elsewhere you have many lobster buoys used to mark lobster traps.

Of course, lobster and seafood are always available to eat.

During the cruise occasionally metal signs with numbers on steel posts were clearly viewed. These were markings of a dangerous situation under water. Interestingly, ospreys use these man0made structures for nesting. These were two such structures each having a nest.

Ospreys

Heron on rock

Eider Duck-male

Barnacles

Cormarants

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Nubble Lighhouse

As the crow flies Maine has over two hundred miles of coastline. However, if one adds up all the coastline as it actually is then the result would be approximately 3, 478 miles of coastline and that is not including the many, many islands of Maine. Because of all these rugged and rocky shorelines and the multitude of islands featuring the same rocky outcrops, many lighthouse were constructed to help aid in the shipping travel. There are almost seventy lighthouses situated at various areas of Maine to help the wayfaring stranger along.

We saw a lot of lighthouse, but I don’t know many by name or even remember all their locations.  Two of them are the Nubble and Portland Lighthouses.  these two are, probably, the most photographed and painted lighthouses of Maine. they are readily easily  to find and get close to paint of photograph.

Portland Lighthouse

The Nubble Lighthouse, or the Cape Neddick Lighthouse, was began in 1879 and is seventy-two feet high. The Portland Lighthouse is forty-one feet tall and was erected in 1790. At the Portland site names were painted on a rock of those who perished on site.

At the shoreline at the Portland Lighthouse  one can see and hear the mighty waves crashing over and among the rocky outcrops. The noise is, soemhow, soothing to listen to.

A very common flower is visible most everywhere. the attractive flower is the Rugosa Rose. However, this specie is a non-native plant to Maine and is consider invasive.

Rugosa Rose

We visited other coastlines to see what things of interest were available. the answer..LOTS!  Among the rocks were areas of standing water. I noticed dense black mussels of some specie. Removing one to study was difficult for the darkened mass was anchored tight together. Barnacles were common throughout Maine bays and ports. They could be spotted on rocks, piers, boats and about everywhere.

The black mussels

One site was a good one… a Harbor Seal. We actually saw them at various areas, but the first one shown in this picture was a special find to photograph.

Harbor Seal

Seaweeds were common on the rocks. High tide would have seaweed drift and settle on rocks.

Seaweed

I noticed hundreds of small fish swimming in the clear water. They may have been Mackerel since that fish is common to the area.

Lots of fish

Various Mollusk shells are scattered along the beaches.

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Acting silly!

There is no denying the importance of the lobster in the State of Maine. Lobsters are everywhere! They even had a lobster ice cream. Lobster images appear on every restaurant. Tourist areas see many lobster images on clothing, mugs, glasses, stationary………… everywhere!

Yes, the infinity of the Atlantic Ocean.

At Perkins Cove we embarked on a lobster boat to learn about lobsters and lobster fishing.                                                          

In 2018 there were 120 million pounds of lobsters harvested. That is a lot of lobsters! the largest lobster on record was a forty-nine pound beauty. This one was three and a half feet in length. I would like to see that one personally.

In those years of the past, Indians would gather lobsters to eat whenever they could use the tides to their advantage to find them. Years later, the lobsters were considered food to give to servants or prisoners.  they would use them as fertilizer as well. Hmmm…something drastically changed for the lobster became a status symbol of the elitists and today lobster is relished by all.

We took part in a boat with a guide and lobster fishermen.  We set off to check his traps and harvest some lobsters. The bays are inundated with buoys making individual lobster traps. each fisherman has a unique paint job on his buoys to identify his traps.

This day was windy and I must say I was concerned with the swales and waves as we ventured out to check the traps. My concern was for what might happen to me as many know I do have issues with vertigo. Would the movements on the waves stir anything up? I hoped not.

This trip the fisherman headed out along the coastline and eventually went out a little into the Atlantic Ocean. I found my thoughts interesting as I looked out at the ocean’s horizon thinking of nothing but water until we reached the old world. Mind-boggling!

Gulls, Eider Ducks and Cormorants were scattered about the air and waves. Some gulls actually landed on the boat hoping for a morsel of leftovers from the fisherman.

The fisherman caught a few lobsters and crabs and checked them for legality. Lobster laws insist on they be of a certain length to be harvestable. Females with eggs are to be returned to the sea.                                                                  

Black-backed Gull on lobster traps.

Female Eider Duck

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Harbor Seals

From Bailey Island in Maine we boarded a boat for an educational cruise in Casco bay. This trip would move along among the many islands of the bay.  Some islands have summer homes on them reachable only via boats, most often a ferry boat. Such islands are privately owned and the individual home is the only home per island. Such wealth is abundant around the islands and coastal properties. Million dollar summer homes are lived  in such areas only in the summer. Many celebrities have such homes for the summer.

Eagle Nest

Some interesting history abounds among the bay islands of Casco Bay. Lots of history stems from the World war two era. There were actually artillery

Osprey and Nest

batteries  in place to protect from any German invasion plans. Ships were sunk in some areas purposely in an attempt to keep German boats and submarines from entering the bay area. Submarine netting was erected in the bay, as well. Bailey Island actually had a radar system in place although it was camouflaged to avoid detection.

Another fort named Fort Gorges still stands on an island. This fort was erected in the 1858-1864 era. The builders added tons of ground over the fort to thwart any chance of mortar shells damaging the roof. Today the roof is covered with vegetation.

Many species of wildlife were viewed along this route. We saw Bald Eagles and their nest. Ospreys and their nests were, also, observed. Cormarants, many gulls, Eider Ducks, Harbor Seals, Terns were visible throughout the cruise event.

We docked in Portland, Maine.

Male Eider Duck

Horseshoe Crab (Deceased)

Cormarant

No idea??

Black-backed Gull. These gulls look like bald eagles at a quick glance.

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The Acadia National park is a beautiful area to observe. The park consists of about 49,075 acres of rugged rocky coastlines, woodlands, wetlands, lakes and ponds. Words can not describe the beauty. For someone to arrive at this park, which is actually an island called Mount Desert Island, one needs to cross one bridge or use a boat. I suppose helicopter would work too if permitted.

  The island was named in the far off years as Sieur de Monts National Park and changed to Lafayette National Park in 1919. The name of Acadia  National Park came to reality in 1929. The original inhabitants were various Algonquin Indian tribes. They would canoe to the island to trap furs for trades.

Some of the highlights on the island are: the 1530 foot Cadillac Mountain; Thunder Hole; Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake. (Cadillac Mountain was mentioned in the previous entry.) Unfortunately, the conditions were not correct to see the power of the crashing waters at Thunder Hole.  The water becomes intense enough that people have been washed out to sea. Bar Harbor is northeast of the park and can be viewed from Cadillac Mountain.

A massive fire in 1947 burned over 10, 000 acres of the island including many Bar Harbor area homes. The area had recovered nicely.

Unfortunately, Acadia national park was very crowed on this trip. the last time we visited the crowd was not nearly as an impact.

Jordan Pond

Beaver lodge

View from Cadillac Mountain

Wetlands

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View from Cadillac Mountain.

Laurie and I just returned from a trip to Maine. We visited a number of sites from mountains to bays and harbors. We were on three cruises along Maine’s rugged coastline and ventured a little out into the Atlantic Ocean. We spent time on lobster boats watching the lobster fishermen gather and check his lobster traps.

 This entry details some of the Acadia National Park. More specifically this entry will deal with Cadillac Mountain.

Bar Harbor

Cadillac Mountain is a 1,530 foot high mountain located within the Acadia National Park. This mountain was formally known as Green Mountain, but later received the name from a French explorer named, well just take my word, his name had “Cadillac” in it. During the early tears of colonization of around 1534-1763 this area was part of New France.

The surface of the mountain consist primarily of a pinkish granite. The granite is everywhere. Vegetation is sparse, but spruce tees dominate the tree species.

The view from the mountain is breathtaking indeed. Many of Maines’ local islands are viewed form the top. Once one looks in another direction the infinitieth of the Atlantic Ocean is obvious. That view is eerie in one way since the next land mass to be found is thousands of miles away. I couldn’t help wondering how these men of exploration managed to move along those many miles in the boats of their times. remarkably brave men they were!

Far off the community of Bar Harbor is made known along the coast. Later, I ate a nice lobster in the community.

Low tide at Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor views are beautiful with the many boats and lobster boats either anchored or moving along. Tourism is the primary income of the community. Tourism is seasonal since many leave the area as winter approaches with closed shops.

The area is grandeur  as the million dollar summer homes are viewed. These homes are called cottages, but they are usually huge as what I would call mansions. The winters along Maine’s coast become very harsh. Oceanfront properties sell starting into the upper six figure range. Many of these  people are politicians, celebrities and other people of much wealth.

The winds on the peak were very strong. I had prepared with taking coats with me in case of such weather events. Amusingly, several Ravens were enjoying the winds. the black birds would appear to be stationary in flight. At times they came as close as thirty yards to me.

My lobster

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