Red sky at night, sailor’s delight (All photos by Fay Beaudoin)
Our local library offered a 90-minute harbor cruise on Friday as a fundraiser/friend-raiser. We boarded the Otter, which serves as the mailboat to nearby Isle au Haut (part of Acadia National Park) and Captain Tracy and his deckhand Pat guided us away from the dock. My bird of the day (on the Merlin app) was the herring gull (Larus smithsonianus), so I had no problem spotting these ubiquitous birds as we picked away through the moored lobster boats. We made north-northeast and threaded some of the many islands that constitute the Deer Isle archipelago, passing a couple of a two-masted schooners at anchor.
As we circled back toward the south, we caught a glimpse of a distant seal bobbing in the water off the starboard side. Before we could get our phones out, the seal ducked underwater. In my experience, harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) — which are one of two species of pinnipeds we typically encounter — are more curious than frightened by boats. So I thought that was interesting.
We motored past Stonington Harbor and got a striking view of Isle au Haut on the port side. Then, on a distant ledge, we spied a dozen or so gray seals enjoying their haul out. The gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) is bigger than the harbor seal; while the latter often appears alone or in a pair, bobbing in harbor, these gray seals tend to stay in groups. My wife had her phone ready, despite the distance, and captured some of the big grays just before they slipped back into the water.
Gray seals on a ledge.
We motored around Mark Island as the sun set. It’s a remarkable sight. One minute the full sun is just hanging above the horizon, and a minute later it has fully descended below the horizon. When you take it for granted, or when the view of the horizon is blocked, it can seem like sunset is a long, slow transition. But when you see the sun rise or set over a body of water, the speed at which it passes seems… cinematic, unreal.
Seconds after sunset
We got a last good look at the Mark Island Light and then motored back to the Isle au Haut Mailboat wharf. You couldn’t shake the feeling that you had been a part of something very special; serene yes, but also ecstatic and inspiring. We somehow were sensing both our smallness and the security of being in the world. Right place, right time. We returned to the more familiar world of our house, traffic on the streets, dogs barking — but we were, perhaps just for the rest of the evening spent in front of the fire pit, beneath the stars, transformed into better versions of ourselves.
The lighthouse at Mark Island
Postscript — On the following morning, during our morning run, we saw the sea begin to boil near an old lobster impoundment. As an occasional kayaker, I knew it wasn’t the arrival of Poseidon but a school of pogies (also called Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus) that sent the sea surface a-rippling. This kind of disturbance usually meant something was chasing the school, and that was likely a seal. So we stopped our run and watched; it didn’t take long for at least one of the pursuers to surface and reveal itself as a harbor seal. He had the pogies hemmed inon three sides, between the shore, the impoundment and the causeway out to Moose Island. We watched for a little while more, then continued our run. But we stopped again on the return and our harbor seal was still patrolling the area. A cormorant (likely a Double-Crested Cormorant, Nannopterum auritum) suddenly shot off the surface, probably having eaten its fill as well. There’s a great article about this unpopular bird (The ‘Undeclared War’ on the Reviled Cormorant - Island Institute) over at The Working Waterfront.
Almanac
Today’s Forecast: Sunny conditions expected around 11AM. Wind gusts up to 28 mph are making the temperature feel like 59°.
| Weather | ||
|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature: 60 | High Temperature: 71 | Precipitation (in): 0 |
| Wind Direction: 71 | Max Wind (mph): 28 | |
| Sunrise: 5:09 | Sunset: 8:13 | |
| Lunar Phase: Waning Crescent | Days to Next Full: 22 |
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