Thursday, 06/26/03, Day 8. My plan was to get up by 4 AM this morning to be on the shore at sunrise. No surprise here, I didn't make it. I almost make it though, I made it to the shore by 6 AM so had plenty of good lighting and no crowds. In fact, until about 9 AM, I saw no one. I hiked the same part of the coast as yesterday, just with better lighting conditions. I made pretty much the same pictures too. To say I hiked is generous - it's more like non-technical rock-climbing. In the afternoon I went to the easternmost part of Acadia - actually on another peninsula - the Schoodic Peninsula. There's a little town there called Winter Harbor (actually, there is a Summer Harbor too!!) and some of you on my mailings will know where that is - there is (or used to be) a Navy facility there. I hiked around the point some and didn't really see anything that struck me as particularly photogenic - I mean, how many pictures of "Rugged Maine Coastline" can you look at!! I did take some pictures of the Winter Harbor Lighthouse from a distance, but the haze in the air was a problem. From there I traveled up the coast and found another Lighthouse at Prospect Point -amazingly called the Prospect Point Lighthouse. The buildings on the grounds are leased by the government and are protected by a ten foot chain link fence topped with barbed wire and numerous "US Gov't Property, Stay Out or Die" signs - standard issue for the government. The local story told by the government is the buildings are leased as a “recreational” facility for Navy personnel. I don't think that explains away the several big radar type enclosures however - what kind of recreation goes on in those? Whatever - I managed some pics of the lighthouse and keeper's house by scrambling over some rocks on the shore for a better angle. Good thing it was low tide! I'll have to go back for sunrise or sunset too.

Here's a shot of the lighthouse. Note that it sits on the left edge of my frame. That was to exclude any of the other buildings on the compound - plus compositionally it works better that way - it's as if the house is "looking" out on something. (There's some tension or anticipation as you view the composition.) Because of my history (to say nothing of recent world events), I feel a little uncomfortable taking pictures of what is obviously a government facility. I guess I figured that with only the lighthouse in the frame - I could talk my way out of any trouble!!

I had the requisite Lobstah Bake tonight - it was not too bad - and I really don't like Lobster that much. The claw meat is usually tasty enough, even sweet, but the tail always seems chewy to me. Seems everyone sells Lobster  around here so business is pretty competitive. You pick your own, they weigh it and you are charged by the pound. They throw it in a wood fired steamer and then call you when it's done. You can tell you are getting close to one of these places, called a Lobster Pound, by the smell of the wood fires under the steamers. This place, at the bridge to Mt Desert Island, has four steamers - four pipes belching wood smoke out front in the parking lot!  

There was a giant cruise ship in the harbor when we left - the Rotterdam from (where else!) Rotterdam. Pretty impressive as we went by - just makes you feel really, really small!

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