Maine; Bar Harbor Lighthouse Tour and Whale Watch

     Welcome back to Bar Harbor Maine where we have an awesome day lined up.  This is the third article on this area, if you have not read the previous two, I suggest you do. Click Here for article #1 and Click Here for article #2.

     We are back with the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company, heading out on two excursions.  The first is to visit several of the area's lighthouses, and on the second we will head out to sea to spot some whales.

     Bar Harbor is quiet in the early morning - this place will be full of traffic and pedestrians in a few hours.

     In the early hours the fog lurks just off the land as though waiting for any excuse to creep onto the shores.  No wonder there are so many ghost stories in this area.

     For the lighthouse cruise we are heading out on Bay King III.  The  boat has two observation decks and is quite comfortable.

     Our Captain on this trip is 38 year old Chad Stevens, who is spending his 10th year here piloting boats.

     And our guide is Gene Torbeck, a retired naval officer.

     Back in 2000, Gene's three children started a company called Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, a unique puppet troupe that entertains children with unique puppets and choreography.  Gene has that typical wry sense of humor so common in Maine, making the trip fairly light and fun. 

     The sign outside the bathroom is ominous for those of us who smoke.

    The puffin is a local bird specie that is popular with photographers.  We head out of the harbor, passing the Porcupine Islands.

         Heading south out of the harbor, we pass numerous homes and towns along the coast of Mount Desert Island.  One of the island's harbors is Southwest Harbor.

     Then on to the first stop.  This is Bear Island Lighthouse.

     

     A lighthouse was here in 1839; this one was built 50 years later in 1889.  A private party owns the lighthouse and has spent much time and effort refurbishing it over the last few years.

     Then we are on to the Great Duck Island lighthouse.  

     This one marks the entrance to Blue Hill Bay.  Gene shares all kinds of great facts and stories about the area.  It seems that this lighthouse keeper held a sort of record for Maine's lighthouse keepers - 17 children.  Not much else to do on an island a couple of miles out to sea I guess.

     The 237 acre island and the lighthouse are owned by the College of the Atlantic, which has students conduct various research experiments here.

     Next up is an old life-saving station.

     This is very similar to the one we saw at the abandoned settlement on Portsmouth Island NC.  This too is kept as a museum which folks who can catch a tour boat can explore.

     We passed Baker Island Lighthouse, which I didn't get a good photo of, and then headed over to Winter Harbor Lighthouse.

     This lighthouse was built in 1856 and is a private residence today.  The lighting made for a few good shots of it.

     And then back past Egg Island at the mouth of Bar Harbor.

      This lighthouse was built in 1875 and is unique because the light is built on the top of the keeper's house.  This was because there wasn't enough space on the island to build them separately.

     That is a quick compilation of a three and a half hour trip.  Once a year the company runs a full day excursion that runs clear up into Canadian waters and visits 17 Maine lighthouses - that is over a quarter of the 65 total.

     We arrive back at Bar Harbor and jump right on the Friendship V for the whale watching excursion.

     This boat is eager to run.  It is a catamaran, and has a water jet propulsion system in place of the more typical propellers.

     2,500 gallons of water a second pumped out by four engines generating over 5,000 horsepower - the boat just eagerly sits up and glides out to sea at better than 30 miles an hour.  The boat is equipped with a full snack bar and large comfortable lounges.  It also has almost 1000 feet of railing alongside the decks.  We zoom back past egg island with its seal colony.

     Quickly we are passing the channel markers that point the way out to the open sea.

     In short order the land slips over the horizon.

     We are heading out to a shelf on the Gulf of Maine, an area that hosts much aquatic diversity.  Our guide is the lead naturalist with Bar Harbor Whale Watch - Zack Klyver.

     46 year old Zack, who studied environmental science and education at the nearby College of the Atlantic is part encyclopedia of knowledge and part prize-fight announcer.  He has a way of getting the passengers whipped up and involved in watching for whales.

     The Gulf of Maine has underwater banks the turn away the warm northward flowing waters of the Gulf Stream.  This allows the cooler waters from the Labrador current to hug the land.  The net result is that the waters are much richer in microscopic life.  This in turn works up the food chain and makes for an area flush with marine life.   

  

     Veteran whale watchers bring binoculars - but if you don't there are some on the boat that you can borrow.   As the boat makes slight course adjustments, trailing waves create patterns that novices call out as whale plumes.  Zack refers to them as "wake whales."  We pass numerous types of sea birds, and encounter a few sun fish along the way. 

     It's hard to see it down in the water, but a sunfish looks like it is missing the trunk of its body.  Here is an online photo.

     The coloration is different, but you get an idea of the size.  These are also occasionally called moonfish.

     Before long we spot a whale.  Sharp eyed folks call out the direction and the boat hums within photo range.

     The company observes a strict set of guidelines for approaching and observing whales.  Before long the whale takes a dive, and in the process exposes the underside of his tail.

      Lying about the tables in the lounge are identification books.  Each whale has a unique pattern of markings on its tail, and this one turns out to be a visitor who hasn't been spotted here in a couple of years.

    The whales are named as soon as they separate from their mothers, and this one was named Blako.  (I hope I have the spelling correct.)  Back in the nineties he was a lot more the frisky teenager and would cavort about the boats.  Today he is all business, and we get to watch him surface and dive numerous times.

     Along for the trip is Walter Churchill, the official photographer for the company.

     If you look them up on Facebook, he takes most of the images that post - and he gets some great shots.  He is a fun guy who does things like take school class photos for kids who don't have the money to get them.

     And the puffins - I have been jonesing for a puffin since we left this morning - seven hours ago.

     These were a bit out of the camera lens's reach - hopefully as we continue to move south in Maine we can find a spot that we can get some good shots.

     Before you know it the whole day has passed and we are heading back to Mount Desert Island.  A big thanks for all the help to the kind folks at Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company !!

    Before we leave the island, I wanted to touch on a couple of things.  This is the library in Bar Harbor - a beautiful building. 

    There are several museums on the island that we didn't get to visit, and a dozen or so villages left unexplored.

     There are also a lot of talented artists here.

     Just outside of town is what used to be a car ferry terminal that ran up to Nova Scotia Canada.

     It now sits abandoned.  I heard several reasons for its final demise - including the difficulties added to cross border travel following the 911 incident.

     Before 911, college students from all over the world came here to work the summers in the restaurants and hotels.  Since, it is primarily Jamaicans who come here six months a year.

    One of them I met is Natesha, who like many of them work several part time jobs for the season.

     Most stay in a nearby town called Trenton.  The city and the local businesses run shuttles back and forth for them each day.

     And today's "Faces in the Crowd" belongs to Chris Brunick.

     Chris is the manager of Bar Harbor Beer Works - a great little restaurant that let me use their wi-fi for a week.

  When you get to Bar Harbor please stop in for a meal.  Many thanks to you guys.

    And today's parting shot, spotted in a local church parking lot:

     I was hoping to find a enterprising local youth in the "Dashboard Jesus" business, but none were apparent.

Click Here if you can contribute a few dollars to help me with this effort - it would be a big help at the moment.  Click Here to email me.

Make it a great day !!
David

Maine: Bar Harbor lobstering and seal watching

     Welcome back to Mount Desert Island in the "Down-East" area of Maine.  If you missed the first article in this series, please Click Here.

     

     Around the perimeter of this island, the second largest off the coasts of the United States, there are many bays, inlets and harbors. Nestled into the hills and cliffs that fall to meet the tides are tucked numerous towns and villages. Today we are going to look around the most populous one, Bar Harbor.

     Bar Harbor was settled in 1763 in this spot for a couple of reasons.  The harbor is well protected, in fact the town gets its name from a natural break-water (or bar) that is exposed during low tide.  

     The bar runs out to an island, and during low tide tourists like to walk out to it.  Now and then someone who doesn't understand tides parks their car on it.  Soon these become submersibles.  And on occasion folks get stuck on the island that the bar leads out to.  They have to hope one of the fishermen will come out or they have a twelve hour wait. 

     And if you are confused about the annunciation of the town's name, there are plenty of t-shirts for sale that help you with the phonetics.

      The site of the town had the best soil on the island, making it the best spot for agriculture.  Early on this was primarily a fishing and boat building community.  Today its primary industry is tourism.

     A wide variety of shops and restaurants line the streets.  All are small businesses - there are no chain stores here.

     Its the type of place that you can catch a concert on the lawn of the village green.

     The band was quite good, and looked to be made up of people ranging in age from their teens to their seventies.  But a banner said they had been playing since 1898, so I am not sure of the ages.  They must be tired by now.

     There are a number of hotels and cottage courts further up the hill - along the water-front it appears there are numerous condos.

  

      Most anywhere you look you will see a decorative moose, a puffin or a lobster.  I have yet to see a live moose on the hoof though.

     The harbor is a busy place, shared by commercial fishermen, pleasure boaters, kayakers and paddle boarders.

        On this waterfront you cannot help but notice a group that is very active here - the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company.

     This is a 26 year old company that allows visitors to experience the waters around the area in a number of ways.  They employ sixty folks in the season, and ten year around.  Many of the great photos used in yesterday's article were only possible because I was out on these boats - much thanks to Bar Harbor Whale Watch's general manager Michael Siemion.

     Among other things, they offer a number of different excursions including whale watching, light house viewing, nature cruises, lobstering and seal watching and photography tours.  They are active and engaged in the local community, and over the next two days we are going to experience several of their day trips.

     Our first trip is the lobster and seal watching trip that takes about three hours.  Lobstering is a big deal here.

     This last year Maine harvested a record haul of 125 million pounds of lobster.  Today we are heading out on the Samantha, a boat built specifically to be an educational craft that both carries passengers and winches up lobster pots.

     We have two tour guides on this trip - first is Angi King-Johnston.

     Angi has worked 25 years as a naturalist in this area - 13 were as a ranger in the park and the rest serving as a guide on these tours.  

     The captain and chief lobster-man is 51 year old Andrew Russo.

     He has six years on the job here, and with a 100 ton master's license, we should be in good stead on this lobstering boat.

     On the way out we pass the Bar Harbor Club.

     On the way out of the harbor we pass the Bar Harbor Club.  This was built in the 1920's for the rich vacationers.  During the prohibition the rounded section was called the "reading room." This was actually a speak-easy where the men would go in the afternoons and evenings for cocktails.

     Professor Marcus Librizzi told a tale about this place.  It seems that this place was out of business for a number of decades, and the local kids would come here to do their partying.  Rumor has it that there was a young girl murdered here, and it is said that there never was a police investigation because her body was dumped out at sea.  It seems that to this day people report smelling a strange perfume - the type that the girl wore all those years ago.

     In fact, the old name for the property that it sits on was "Hell's Half Acre," given it because of all the "dark energy" in that spot.  I walked through it a time or two and didn't smell any strange perfume or feel any malevolent influences, but it seems I am pretty dense when it comes to sensing ghosts.

    Plenty of large estates don the cliffs you pass on the way out of the harbor.

     Soon we are passing the "Porcupine Islands," so named because of how they appear with their covering of spiky spruce trees.

     A number of eagles were hanging out along the way - they seem used to the boats and rather bored with all the gawking.  

     In a short while we reach the lobstering grounds.  Bar Harbor Whale Watch has a license with the State of Maine that allows them to keep lobster traps for educational purposes.  This means they cannot actually harvest any of the lobster they catch.

     Angi is a wealth of information on many aspects of the area.  She explains Maine's regulations that are designed to keep lobstering a viable industry.

     A measurement from the base of the eyeball to the edge of the shell is the primary determinant of whether a lobster can be harvested or not.

     The tool she has in her hand is a universal measuring device.  If the measurement is less than 3 1/4 inches or more than 5 inches the lobster has to be thrown back.

     Also, if it is a female carrying eggs it has to be thrown back.  Further, if a female is carrying eggs you are required to cut a v-notch in the tail for identification.  Once a lobster has this V cut it is safe from fishing as it is a female that has shown that she is a breeder.

     Some say that the regulations on harvesting are what is responsible for the state's record lobster catches the last few years.  Others say it is that the waters are warming and it is the increase of lobster moving up from the south.  And indeed, in states to the south the catches are way down.  

     Traps always have "by catch."  In this trap today is a stone crab - quite a handsome fellow.

     And, of course you cannot pull any type of marine life out of the water without gulls coming after a free meal.  

     This guy wheeled around the boat as though he expected someone to hand him some fish.

     The children have a blast on this trip, as they are allowed to touch all manner of sea life and they get to push the lobsters off the table and back into the sea.

     Then we head out to Egg Island at the mouth of the harbor.

     Here we find two populations of seals.  These are the harbor seals, and they seem perfectly content lying about on the granite shelf.

     This one seems to be trained - no sooner did we arrive than she started waving.

      The trip is very informative as Angi brings up seaweed with all manner of life on it and allows the children to pet a jelly fish she caught.  As we head back toward the pier we see those that lobster for a living at work.

     We spent a day with the Commercial Lobstermen up in Eastport; these seem to be smaller operations.

     They load their lobster into plastic bins, then carry them over the pier to a winch.

     The winch hauls them up to a refrigerated truck operated by the fishery they are selling to.

     Out on the water different lobstermen have built a number of small floating docks.  Here they can temporarily stow gear and hang the bins of lobster in the water while they wait for the fishery to pick them up.

     Atop the pier a fellow has loaded his traps on his truck.

     That looks real stable.

     A note of interest - glaciers were very active in this area.  Every once in a while you can spot a random boulder that matches the chemical composition of rocks many miles away.

     They were carried here  by the ice sheets and then deposited.  It gives an idea of the power of those glaciers.

      I didn't get to pet a jellyfish, but Angi did let me hold a lobster.  

     But she banded the claws up first.  I think she was afraid I would get my nose pinched off.

     And that brings us to today's "Faces in the Crowd."  This is a young lady posing for her mother in a plywood lobster cutout on Whale Watch's dock.

     And today's parting shot - spotted in a local tee-shirt shop.

Click Here if you can contribute a few dollars to help with this effort, it would be most helpful at the moment.  Click Here to email me.  Thank you for your support !!

Make it a great day !!
David